Baseball History — As Seen From The Shadows of Cooperstown: Part IX

In the ninth of a 10-part series, the author takes an in-depth look at Major League Baseball history from 1981 to 1989.

As I finished moving thru the Eighties for this issue, I was reminded of how superficial this history, or any history of baseball, really is. First, as I got into the late ’80s, I could look up games in a scorebook I started keeping. (The first scorebook I kept, probably starting in 1958, is long gone, and how I wish I had it back — if only for the names of the players and the ballparks ( Connie Mack Stadium , Candlestick , and so many from Forbes Field ), and the umpires ( Jocko Conlan , Frank Dascoli ). To look back at games I scored is to remind myself how each game contains its own twists and turning points, its little dramas (long at bats) within the innings, as things unfold.

Then I watched a couple games of baseball on TV, the Pirates losing in extra innings to the Mets (I thought the Bucs were had on a couple close calls), then pounding them 13-1 the next day. And again, especially in the close game, I was reminded of just how much baseball is packed into every game. My summaries in this history are inadequate, they rarely capture the chess match in progress, as the benches and bullpens dwindle, for pinch hitters or runners or relievers. They rarely describe well the little things that turn out to mean so much — a missed DP, an extra base not taken (a run not scored), a called third strike that sure looked like ball four. Not to mention the plays that rate stars in my scorebooks — the 7s or 8s or 9s that were almost doubles or triples.

The dazzling thing is that every game is a kind of microcosm of the sport. The games are always strings of innings, the innings strings of at bats, the at bats, strings of pitches. Each at bat might be over in a second, or stretched by foul balls to minutes, minutes that wear out arms, or the patience of batters. To realize this is to discover something like the molecular level of the universe. Yes, it’s only a game , but it is so much more, it is built up, in time and outside of time, by discreet plays, pitches, swings, misses, hits, and those precious runs that determine which column, in the end, the game will rest in — W or L. And the piling up of W’s and L’s determine who keeps playing, when the season ends. Sometimes a pile of W’s a hundred or more high is not enough. You never know, till it’s over, how many W’s it will take. And every so often — in 1981, for example — the team with the most W’s does not play on. It’s baseball , Ray.

Introduction

Although this decade is closer in time than the Sixties and the Seventies, it is actually blurrier to me. My son was born in 1981, so the first years of that decade were “wonder years” — and you wonder now how you got thru them sane. Besides having two kids going from diapers to toddlership to kindergarten and then to their first taste of independence, things were distracting (from baseball) at work. I hung up my Red Cross spikes — one of my last memories was the day after a kid named Roger Clemens fanned 20, in April 1986, a month before I left — and signed on with the local (as it was then called) Assn for Retarded Citizens, now The Arc. I imagined it would be a stop on my way to somewhere else, kind of like a year in the minors. As it turned out, I retired from The Arc last year, after 20+ seasons.

It was at the end of the Eighties that I started writing baseball. At the start, I almost turned into one of those fans who skims the standings for six months, then perks up for October. I recall trying to watch the Pirates, when they played teams who were televised here in the Shadows — the Mets and the Braves, and when they made a rare national TV appearance. I had become a fan of the Minors at the end of the 70s, and this continued throughout the 80s. (My daughter threw out the first ball for the Utica Blue Sox in 1983, Roger Kahn’s summer here in the Shadows, immortalized in Good Enough to Dream .) I remember well taking my kids to the park, teaching them how to keep score of games. In 1991 they both were playing on ball teams; the 80s, mostly games of catch.

But if my interest in MLB ebbed in the early 80s, perhaps hitting a low in 1985 with the drug hearings, held in Pittsburgh , it also revived by the decade’s end. Indeed, in 1987 and ‘88 I got hooked on baseball all over again — it was like 1957-58. And when the Eighties finally slid away into history, my Pirates were winning again. Life was good. My fandom got a big boost from the Pirates of 1990-1992, enough to carry me through the strike — but we are getting ahead of ourselves again.

To sum up, the Eighties were primarily my kids growing up, my changing jobs (my wife, too), suffering along with all fans as MLB took some hits, but finally enjoying the game again, with renewed interest. All’s well that ends well.

1981

I’ve written about 1981 a few times since I was there, and every time I’ve looked back, I got a bad taste in my mouth. It is 2008, and the bad taste remains.

There was a “work stoppage” in 1981, and I do not recall the details (1994 remains vivid). It was like World War I — senseless, costly, and poorly resolved. The stoppage occurred about 50 games into the season; about 50 games were lost; when the show started again, MLB declared “First Half” winners and all teams started the “Second Half” with a clean slate. My Pirates were not going anywhere that year, but I found myself actually feeling bad (still do) for their rivals, the Cincinnati Reds. They were at 35-21 when time was called; they went 31-21 after play resumed, for a sparkling 66-42 record, 4 games better than the Dodgers, who had the next-best record in the West. BUT, the Reds were a half-game behind the Dodgers in that “first half,” and then trailed Houston by 1.5 games in the second. So, even though they had a record that would shame many “Wild Card” teams today, the Reds were shut out of the 1981 post-season.

A post-season that I felt like boycotting. I think I ended up rooting for Montreal — I also got Expo games on TV, and got to know and enjoy Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Gary Carter and Steve Rogers; and Warren “Crow” Cromartie. The Expos played the Phils, ( best of five, ugh! ), for the NL East, and won in five games over the then-World Champs. Los Angeles beat Houston , also in five, for the NL West crown, that rightfully belonged to Cincinnati . The Dodgers then ended my season by knocking off Montreal , again in best-of-five, 3-2. A wonderful 1-1 duel in the clincher, between Rogers and Dodger Fernando Valenzuela, ended on a ninth-inning HR by Rick Monday. “Fernandomania” was perhaps the brightest memory I have of 1981, the rookie from Mexico burst on the scene, like Detroit ’s Mark “the Bird” Fidrych had five years earlier, creating a sensation, so that if he was pitching on TV, you didn’t want to miss it.

In the AL , the Yankees took 3 of 5 from the Brewers, while the rebuilt Oakland A’s and Billy Martin swept three from the reigning AL Champs, Kansas City . Then the sweepers were swept, the Yankees moving on to the Series. Which ended October 28, a week later than the year before. The Dodgers prevailed, 4-2, and Yankee reliever George Frazier lost three games — a “feat” not accomplished since Lefty Williams in that old 1919 Series. Was Frazier tossing? No one remembered 1919, no one asked. Pedro Guerrero was the hero of the last two LA wins, and Fernando won his only start, a gritty 5-4 9-hitter. Good riddance, 1981.

1982

‘82 was a “return to normalcy” of sorts. All 162 games got played, more or less. Whitey Herzog assembled a team of Cardinals that included Keith Hernandez, Ozzie Smith & Willie McGee, and edged the Phils by three games. Steve Carlton had won 23, the most since his spectacular 27 wins (of the Phils’ 59) in 1972, which I neglected to highlight last issue. The Cards met and defeated the Atlanta Braves in the NL playoffs, 3-zip. Dale Murphy had brought the Braves home an inch ahead of the Dodgers.

In the AL , Harvey Kuenn took the reins mid-season and drove the Brewers home by a nose over Earl Weaver’s Orioles. The new manager and a Milwaukee team rippling with power (Gorman Thomas’ 39 dingers led the league, as did the team’s 216 HRs), produced one of the more memorable nicknames: “ Harvey ’s Wallbangers.” How could you root against a team with a nickname like that? If you preferred beer, “Brew Crew” would do. The Bangers went up against Gene Mauch’s Californians (Reggie hit 39, too), who earned their second post-season trip. It was the Brewers’ debut in playoffs. I must have rooted for the Angels, despite those nicknames, because they started the former Pirate, Bruce Kison, in two of the best-of-five. He won one, but left the finale early, as the Crew score two in the 7th off the bullpen to win, 4-3.

That set up a St Louis-Milwaukee WS, and the Cards, with Joaquin Andujar winning two, and Bruce Sutter saving two, took the Series in seven games. The Brewers took the opener by 10-0, and after splitting the first four, they also won Game Five. But they could not put it away. At home, the Cards triumphed 13-1 and then 6-3.

1983

The Utica Blue Sox won a championship. Their first and last, I believe, and it is amazing that it’s now been 25 years since it happened. Since my daughter threw out the first ball, we took full credit for this triumph.

Meanwhile, in MLB, the Phils (40 from Schmidt) took the NL East by 6 over the Pirates, while LaSorda’s Dodgers ended up three ahead of Joe Torre’s Atlanta Braves. Fernando won just 15; he was human after all. In the AL East, Baltimore finished six up on the Tigers ( Murray 33 HR, Ripken 27). In the West, the White Sox (under Tony LaRussa!) finished a whopping 20 games ahead of the Royals. LaMarr Hoyt had a peak season of 24 wins.

Both playoffs were over in four: the Phils over the Dodgers (Carlton with two W’s and a 1-0 shutout in Game One, Gary Matthews the hitting star); and the O’s over the Sox (who won Game One behind Hoyt, 2-1, then were held to one run in the last three games; Baltimore’s staff’s ERA for the series: 0.49.

The Orioles pitchers remained tough in the Series, 1.60, and the O’s took it in five games. Three of the games were one-run affairs. I honestly do not remember this October much at all.

1984

The Orwellian year had Ronald Reagan, not exactly Big Brother, sweeping to the White House, for four more years. In baseball, I recall ‘84 best for Sparky Anderson’s Detroit Tigers. They started the season by winning 35 of their first 40 games, and ended up with 104, ahead by 15 over Toronto in their division. This was a team led by Jack Morris, Alan Trammell, Kirk Gibson, and catcher Lance Parrish. They swept past Kansas City in the playoffs. In the National League, it was one of those years . The Chicago Cubs and the San Diego Padres won their divisions, and handily. The Cubs had an infield of Leon Durham, Ryne Sandberg, Larry Bowa and Ron Cey, and a staff led by Rick Sutcliff. But they couldn’t get past the Padres, who had Tony Gwynn (.351) and Dick Williams at the helm.

The Tigers’ juggernaut continued rolling right to the end. They won the Series in five, 3-2, 3-5, 3-2, 4-2, and 8-4. Jack Morris tossed two CG wins, and why this guy is not in Cooperstown has always puzzled me. Kirk Gibson was the hero in the clincher, but his most famous moment was still in the future.

1985

For the next couple years, if you were paying close attention — and I wasn’t — a couple words stole headlines away from the players and teams: drugs , and collusion . I’d have paid even less attention, I think, if the most famous drug trial had not been in Pittsburgh , or if the Pirates had not sued Dave Parker for PWI (playing while impaired). Peter Ueberroth (I still have to look up the spelling) took over the Commish job after the ‘84 season, and gets credit for the huge increase in revenues for MLB via television contracts. But he is also blamed for helping to orchestrate the owners’ attempt to end free agency. He was an anti-drug Czar, though, and we can wonder how he might have handled the steroid/etc issue, a decade or so later.

Meanwhile, back on the diamonds, the Cardinals won 101, three more than Davey Johnson’s Mets. Willie McGee hit .353, and Jack Clark (22 HR) was the power threat; Tudor, Andujar and Cox headed up the starters, the trio combining for 60 wins. In the West, it was back to normal, the Dodgers battling the Reds (now under Pete Rose, a playing/betting manager) and winning six more. In the playoffs — now best-of-seven , finally! — the Dodgers won the first two, then dropped four straight to St Louis . My memory is blurry, but I remember Cards’ reliever Todd Worrell best, even though he didn’t get a save.

Toronto edged the Yankees by two in the AL East. I rooted a little for the Jay because they had Jesse Barfield, who started his career in Utica ; a delight for fans of the Minors is to see guys they know, make it not just to the Majors, but to the fame that goes with post-season play. In the West, Kansas City edged California by an even slimmer margin (one game), with Brett slugging and Quisenberry saving 37. Their playoffs went seven, the Blue Jays going up 3-1, then dropping three to KC. Dave Stieb, who had pitched well in Games One and Four, Toronto wins, could not pull it off in Game Seven. A few years later, Stieb would just miss a flock of no-hitters, but his coming close habit started in this Series. George Brett hit .348 with three HRs, and was simply fun to watch.

The name that lingers from the 1985 Series is Bret Saberhagen — 2 CGs, 1 run, and the shutout came in Game Seven. Which was an 11-0 blowout, not the Game Seven fans hope for, but at least we saw seven. Kansas City and St Louis are linked by an interstate, making this “the I-70 Series” and unless I’m mistaken, it also featured a series of national anthems that somehow became a competition all by itself. I think most fans would just as soon do without the anthem, but if it must be sung, make it brisk. The renditions served up for the World Series had become ever more show-biz, and in football they would have rated delay-of-game penalties. Fans were also seeing a lot more of the players wives than we wanted. Not to mention celebrity fans. Oh, there’s a game in progress?

Anyway, Saberhagen, Danny Jackson, and Quiz, combined with Brett, Willie Wilson, and Dick Howser’s touch, were too much for the Cards. But it was very close. St Louis went up in games 3-1, then dropped three, and Game Six was decided on a disputed call. Up 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth, umpire Don Denkinger called a batter (Jorge Orta) safe at first. In football, his call would have been overturned after a look at the replays. But this is baseball , Ray, the safe call stood, the Royals plated two runs to win, then took Game Seven in that blowout. If fans ever get to vote on Instant Replay, look for a landslide YES from St Louis .

1986

Now this was a year and a post-season to remember.

Doc Gooden, who skyrocketed to fame with the Mets in 1985 (24-4, 1.53), a year after winning 17 as a rookie, was part of a NY staff that was truly Amazin’. Doc went 17-6, Ron Darling 15-6, Sid Fernandez 16-6, Bob Ojeda 18-5. And the bullpen was tough, so no small wonder the Mets won 108, 22 more than St Louis . The Mets now had Gary Carter, and Keith Hernandez, and Darryl Strawberry whacked 27, and by the end of the ride, I actually rooted for the Mets, even against my Pirates — heresy! They were that good, that much fun to watch, and most games were on my TV that year.

In the West, Houston , under Hal Lanier, put together a fine team and won 96, ten more than Cincinnati . Mike Scott was their ace, at 18-10 and 2.22. The clash between the Mets and Astros this post-season furnished some of the best baseball I had ever seen, and it still glows, 22 years later.

It seems strange to look up the series and see that it went just six games. It felt like nine, and it also felt like had they played fifty, each team would have won 25. I think every fan in the world — except Mets fans — wanted this one to go seven, because Mike Scott was rested and ready, after out-dueling Doc Gooden 1-0 in Game One, and then Fernandez, 3-1, in Game Four. We all wanted to see Scott out there one more time. And we almost got our wish, as Game Six went 16 excruciating innings, a day after Game Five was decided, 2-1, in twelve.

The series was chock-full of heroes on both sides, and there ought to be about six good books written about it. Game Six was one that you simply could not leave — well, I couldn’t. The Astros went up 3-0 in the first; the Mets scored three in their ninth to send it to extras. After four gooseeggs each, both teams scored a run in the 14th. Then the Mets broke through with three in the top of the 16th. But it still wasn’t over, the Astros came back with two, and had two on, when Jesse Orosco fanned Kevin Bass to end it.

What made this playoff even more fun, somehow, was that over in the AL , there was a series just as much fun going on. The Red Sox had won five more than the Yankees, sparked by Wade Boggs (.357) and Roger Clemens (24-4). Gene Mauch steered California back to the post-season, past Texas by five. It looked like it was finally the Angels’ year, especially after they took three of the first four games, and led 5-2 going into the top of the ninth in Game Five. But this is baseball , Ray, and this October, nothing was over till it was over. The Sox rallied for four to go up 6-5. The Angels were an inning away, then an out away, then one strike away from their first World Series. But Dave Henderson took a Donnie Moore pitch deep with a man on. Deflated but not dead, the Angels tied it, only to lose on a sac fly in the top of the 11th — Henderson again.

Back in Boston , resurrected, the Sox bashed the Angels 10-4 and 8-1. But the games could not eclipse that Game Five.

And that set up a World Series that pitted both miracle survivors against each other. Boston jumped up with two wins in New York , 1-0 (Hurst) and 9-3, over Darling and Gooden. But in Boston , the Mets regrouped, 7-1 (Ojeda) and 6-2 (Darling). Game Five went to the Red Sox ( Hurst again), 4-2, and now it was the Mets with their backs to the wall. But this October, that was the place to be.

I’ve listened to replays of Game Six — which has gone down in history as the Mookie Wilson/Bill Buckner game — and it is worth the re-listening. Boston had chances to put it away early, but instead led just 3-2 into the 8th, when the Mets tied it. Then the Sox scored two in the top of the tenth, to go up 5-3. With two out — of course — and nobody on, and the Sox twice a strike away from victory, the Mets strung together three hits, a wild pitch, and then that error , for the win. Their 8-5 win the next day (again coming from behind, as the Sox took a 3-0 lead into the 6th), was not nearly as memorable. But that gave them the Series, and capped a post-season that was the best ever.

COMMENT:
Adding to the enjoyment of the seasons in the 1970s and 1980s, were the New Yorker columns of Roger Angell. For readers who simply want to relish baseball, few writers serve it up as tasty as Angell. For a wonderful trip thru the 70s, get his book Five Seasons . I predict that will hook you on Angell, and you will then go out and get Season Ticket , his take on much of the 1980s. His descriptions, especially of pennant races and playoffs and World Series, are incomparable and entertaining .

1987

By 1987, my kids were 7 and 5 (going into the season), and if the post-season of ‘86 had injected me with new interest, the serum worked its cure in ‘87. I was 40 myself that spring, but somehow it seemed like I was 30 years younger, getting hooked all over again. Such is the magic baseball can work.

Never mind that my Pirates only won 80, and lost 82 — that was up from 64-98. More importantly, by the end of 1987 the team had turned around, under Jim Leyland, and could beat anybody. Even the Cards, who won 95, and the Mets, who won three less. And the Giants, who won the West over Cincy by six. The Cards knocked off San Fran in seven, with a jackrabbit offense featuring speed and more speed (who needs power?) Vince Coleman, Ozzie, McGee. And fine pitching — Danny Cox tossed a 6-0 shutout in Game Seven.

The American League had Detroit on top by two over Toronto , as the Red Sox sunk to fifth. So close! The Tigers had to get by the Minnesota Twins of Tom Kelly, led by a sparkplug named Kirby Puckett. The Twins edged the Royals by two, then upset Detroit with surprising ease, 4 games to 1. It was Bert Blyleven’s turn in the spotlight, with two of the wins, one over Jack Morris.

The Series, if my memory is correct, was the first in the Dome, and the Minnesota fans made so much noise (while waving their homer-hankies), that fans watching on TV were shown some sort of noise-o-meter from time to time. Anyway, the Series started and ended in the Dome, and the Twins won all four; the Cards won all three in St Louis . Again, trusting my memory, I think this was the first time that the home team won every game in a World Series.

Frank Viola won two of three starts, including Game Seven. The Cards had a 5-2 lead in Game Six, five innings away , but the Twins roared back with a couple 4s to win 11-5. In the finale, it was just a grind-it-out 4-2 win, with no hankie-inspired homers, no fireworks, nothing as exhausting as 1986. But it is always fun to see a franchise win its first world championship.

1988

For 1988, I can dip into my old scorebooks for help — but I won’t, lest this year go on for twenty pages. The Mets of ‘86 were back, sort of, with David Cone at 20-3, and Gooden and Darling and Fernandez and Ojeda; the team won 100. My Pirates finished fifteen games back, but second , and even now it seems like they were much closer to the Mets. The Pirates actually had built a modest dynasty, probably just an ace away from a Yankee-level dynasty. Like the Bucs in 1958, they had made a quantum leap, from nearly last, to nearly first. OK, 15 back is not that close. But there was a point in June when the Pirates seemed to have the momentum, but a Howard Johnson HR off Jim Gott snatched away a win at Three Rivers. OK, now I’ve peeked at my scorebook, and I kept score of nine Pirates-Mets games in ‘88 — the HoJo HR isn’t there, I was at that game and it’s in the scorecard. The Mets won nearly all of them. All I will say is that when the Pirates played the Mets in those days (and for the next few years), it was like the Big Red Machine and the Lumber Company facing off in the 70s … the atmosphere was post-seasonal and the games played that way.

But the Mets won, and then had to go up against the Dodgers, winner in the NL West by 7 over the Reds. This was the year of Orel Hershiser, who won 23, and finished the season in a blaze, five shutouts and a 10-inning no decision in his last start, to break Don Drysdale’s old streak by an inning. Naturally, he drew the start in Game One, and held the Mets scoreless for eight more innings — it was getting ridiculous — when suddenly the dam burst, the Mets scored three in the ninth (the last off reliever Jay Howell) to win it, 3-2. Another charmed Mets team?

Not really, but it took the Dodgers seven games to finally nail down this pennant. LA won Game Two by 6-3, and after an extra day off (rain?), Hershiser started Game Three — another no-decision, another Met win, 8-4, thanx to a 5-run eighth. But the Dodgers took the next two at Shea, 5-4 and 7-4, Hershiser saving Game Four. The Mets tied the playoffs with a Game Six win, 5-1 behind Cone. Then the series ended like the Dodger season did, with Hershiser tossing goose-eggs and winning 6-0. The Mets had taken 10 of 11 from LA during the regular season, making the Dodger win somewhat of a surprise. I kept score of the final game, and noted that Kirk Gibson, after driving in the first run with a sac fly, left the game early, with some sort of injury.

Boston bounced back, taking the AL East by one game over the Tigers, Boggs hitting .366. Oakland roared to 104 wins and the AL West title by 13 over the Twins. Their playoff series wasn’t nearly as interesting, as the A’s swept the Sox in four. After losing 2-1 and 4-3 at the Fen, the Sox went quietly in Oakland, 10-6 and 4-1. Jose Canseco homered in three of the games, Mark McGwire (the other Bash Brother) connected in the other. Dave Stewart pitched with (Bob) Gibsonian October flair, and MVP Dennis Eckersley was on the hill at the end of each of the four wins, the four saves setting a playoff record.

If the Dodgers’ win over the Mets was an upset, then surely their win in five over this Oakland team was, too. The Series seemed to hinge on Game One, oddly enough — Oakland had the lead, 4-3, with the stopper Eck on the hill. Kirk Gibson, who led LA that year with 25 HRs, was unable to play — but wait, there he is, hobbling to the plate with two outs and a man on in the ninth. How he did it is still a mystery, but the image of Gibson lofting that HR and then chugging around the bases, remains one of the game’s most dramatic. It would be Gibson’s only WS at bat.

Orel Hershiser started Game Two and — ho hum — tossed a 3-hit CG shutout. The teams split Games Three and Four, both close, 2-1 and 4-3. Then Orel was out there again for the clinching Game Five, going nine again, winning a 5-2 four-hitter. Fans had tired of hearing Tommy LaSorda praise his “Bulldog,” much more than they had tired of hearing about Hershiser’s devout Christianity, I think. But no one was tired of watching a guy this hot on the mound, it was a dazzling, unforgettable finish.

1989

1987 had been like ‘57 for this Pirate fan, and 1988 like ‘58, and in 1989, the streak continued. The ‘59 Pirates had gone in the wrong direction, back a few notches, plagued by injuries, and so did the ‘89 version. Oh well, at least there was another team I could root for — the Chicago Cubs , under Don Zimmer, put together a team good enough to rack up 93 wins, six more than the Mets. Ryne Sandberg and Andre Dawson and Mark Grace led the offense, Greg Maddux (still throwing), Rick Sutcliff and Mike Bielecki were the arms. In the West, LA dropped from the top to 77-83 (Orel to 15-15, and only four shutouts). San Francisco won 92, three more than San Diego, aided by Kevin Mitchell’s 47 HRs (I’d forgotten that entirely), Rick Reuschel (17-8), and a very steady season by 1B Will Clark (.333-23-111).

If you recall the NL playoffs from 1989, nothing stands out like the duel between two first basemen, Grace and Clark. It was as if each of them was carrying their team, and maybe they were. When the smoke cleared, Will Clark had 13 hits, a .650 average, six extra base hits, and 8 RBI in the five games. Mark Grace had 11 hits, .647, five for extra bases, and also 8 RBI. The two played evenly, and the series was even, too, even though the Giants took it in five. After the first two games at Wrigley were split, the Giants took three straight at home, but each by the thinnest of margins: 5-4, 5-4, 3-2. The Cubs led in all three, and lost the finale when Clark’s hit in the 8th knocked in two. This was just the second time in my life (’84 was the first) when I could root for the Cubs, post-season. In the end, I was rooting for the series to go seven. I just could not get enough of Mark Grace and Will Clark.

Toronto won the AL East by two over the Orioles, and they had a pretty good first-sacker, too, Fred McGriff (36 HRs). They took on Oakland 99 wins, 7 more than Kansas City. Oakland had four starters with 17 or more wins, and that Eckersley guy (33 saves, 1.56). Mark McGwire — whose 49 HRs as a rookie in ‘87 did not escape my notice, by the way — hit 33 more, and at age 25 had 117 HRs. Like the Cubs-Giants, the AL series also ended in five games, with Oakland on top. Two more October wins for Stewart, three more saves for Eck, and eight stolen bases for MVP Rickey Henderson, who also slugged a couple SkyDome HRs to help win Game Four. In the duel of 1Bs, it was McGwire .389, McGriff .143.

And that set up what went down in baseball history as “the Earthquake Series.” It was shortly after this WS that I started writing baseball, so it has remained a personal landmark of sorts. The devastation of the Bay Area was a rude interruption, making fans forget about baseball, right in the middle of the World Series. Fay Vincent, the new (and last?) Commish — Bart Giamatti has died suddenly, not long after a stressful public battle with Pete Rose — postponed the end of the Series for ten days. When it started up again, it was hard to care who won.

COMMENT:
Pete Rose, a fellow I respected for his play, but never much liked as a person, remains a kind of loose end from 1989. For more on Rose, go to the “Older Issues” in the NOTES Archive, and almost to the bottom of the list (1995). Also, see Notes #203 . I continue to push for Rose to be inducted into Cooperstown, to punish him — that is, to remove him from the spotlight.

But it’s an easy Series to summarize. Oakland won the first two games at home, Stew a CG five-hit shutout, then Mike Moore a 5-1 (combined) four-hitter. Fans were settling down for Game Three on October 17, wondering if the Giants could turn it around, when the earthquake struck. On October 27, play resumed, and the answer came swiftly. They could not. 13-7 and 9-6, but neither game was that close.

I’ve been ending these installments with the first years of the new decades, but this time, it seems like the Earthquake Series is a good place to stop.

For the 1990s, I think I’ll do something different. First, because I started filling scorebooks in 1988, thanks to the return of the Pirates to the major leagues, I have a unique source to rely on, for those three wonderful (for Pirate fans) seasons of 1990, ‘91, and ‘92. (OK, the last three wonderful season, I know.) And by 1993, I was doing Notes from the Shadows of Cooperstown , and “covering” the seasons in my own way here. So I can share my own reporting from those seasons — stuff that you cannot look up in any record book. Besides, my own record books, my Big Mac and Total Baseball , are of no help in the Nineties.

Looking back on the Eighties — were they really that long ago? Again , each season was packed with so much! I also wish that I had started writing baseball sooner — long before 1989. Like in the Fifties! Since ‘89, I’ve written a lot about my baseball memories, many of which are vivid, but it’s not the same, I’m looking back ; having my immediate reactions on the record would be a lot of fun. Oh well.

So, one more decade to go — I’m not going past 2000. Again, thanks to those who have given me feedback on this series. It has been quite humbling, by the way. It seems that for everything I remember, there are ten things I have forgotten — no, more. At least I have not just remembered the good things — as we will see next time, when 1994 rolls around, I remember some pretty bad and ugly baseball stuff, too.

The above is an excerpt from Issue #445 of Gene’s Notes From the Shadows of Cooperstown. To read the rest of the issue (or past issues), click here .