The 1984 World Series began on October 9 and ended on October 14, 1984. The
American League champion Detroit Tigers played against the National League
champion San Diego Padres, with the Tigers winning the series four games to
one. This was the first World Series that
Peter Ueberroth presided over as commissioner. Ueberroth began his tenure
on October 1, succeeding Bowie Kuhn. Ueberroth had been elected as Kuhn's
successor prior to the 1984 season, but did not take over until the postseason
as he was serving as the chairman of the 1984 Summer Olympics, which ran from
July 28 through August 12. Preview
The San Diego Padres won the National League West division by twelve games
over both the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros, then defeated the
Chicago Cubs, three games to two, in the National League Championship Series. The
Detroit Tigers won the American League East division by fifteen games over the
Toronto Blue Jays, then swept the Kansas City Royals, three games to none, in the
American League Championship Series. The 1984 World Series was a rematch
between managers Sparky Anderson and Dick Williams. The two had previously
faced off in the 1972 World Series, with Anderson managing the Cincinnati Reds
and Williams helming the victorious Oakland Athletics. The 1984 Series was
Anderson's fifth overall as a manager—in addition to the 1972 Fall Classic, he
had also managed the Reds during the 1970 World Series and served as skipper
during Cincinnati's back-to-back world championships in 1975 and 1976.
Anderson's counterpart, Williams, was managing in his fourth World Series; he
had headed the Boston Red Sox during the 1967 "Impossible Dream" season, when
they won their first pennant in 21 years in a tight race over the Tigers,
Minnesota Twins, and Chicago White Sox. After his Athletics won the 1972 World
Series, Williams again led them to victory in the 1973 Series over the New
York Mets. The 1984 World Series was a battle of
sorts between the multi-million dollar American fast food chains. Domino's
Pizza founder Tom Monaghan owned the Tigers while McDonald's founder Ray
Kroc, who died several months before the 1984 World Series, owned the Padres. It
would feature the first World Series game at Jack Murphy Stadium and the
final World Series game at Tiger Stadium.
= Detroit Tigers= By May 24, 1984, the Detroit Tigers had
just won their ninth straight game with Jack Morris on the mound winning his
ninth game of the season. The Tigers record stood at 35–5, a major league
record. In the next three games they would get swept by the Seattle Mariners
and settle down to play .500 ball over the next 40 games. But in the end, they
would wind up with a franchise record 104 wins and become only the third team
in MLB history to lead the league wire-to-wire.
These Tigers were strong up the middle featuring all-stars at each middle
position with catcher Lance Parrish setting a career high in home runs with
33, the record-setting tandem of Lou Whitaker at second base and Alan
Trammell at shortstop and solid center-fielder Chet Lemon. In addition
to Morris, the pitching staff was anchored by starters Dan Petry and Milt
Wilcox, with eventual Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player winner, Willie
Hernández, closing. The Detroit Tigers signed ageless wonder
free-agent Darrell Evans prior to the season, and acquired first baseman Dave
Bergman in a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies that also brought them the
aforementioned Hernández. Bergman would settle in as the Tigers' everyday first
baseman providing steady glove-work. And of course there was "Mr. Clutch",
right-fielder Kirk Gibson, who had a break-out year with 27 home runs, 29
stolen bases, 91 RBIs, and a .282 batting average.
After winning two World Championships with the 1975–76 Cincinnati Reds,
manager Sparky Anderson was primed to win his first in the American League in
his fifth full season with the Detroit Tigers. Anderson had proved to be
somewhat prophetic, as he had made a bold statement in mid-1979 when he
joined the Tigers that his team would be a pennant winner within five years.
= San Diego Padres= Williams’ was in his third season with
the San Diego Padres after leading them to identical 81–81 records in 1982 and
1983. 1984 would mark only the second time in Padre history that the team
would finish over .500, the other being an 84–78 record in 1978. With the
Padres' NL pennant in 1984, Williams became the second manager to take three
teams to the World Series. The Padres set a franchise record for
victories with 92 in 1984, being led by two veterans, first baseman Steve Garvey
and third baseman Graig Nettles. Statistically, this team was not
overwhelming, with Nettles and Kevin McReynolds leading the team with just
twenty home runs. No player came close to 100 RBIs or had over 30 doubles in
the regular season, although stalwart thumper Tony Gwynn won the first of his
eight National League batting titles by hitting for a .351 average with 213
hits. The pitching staff was average—a staff
of twentysomethings and a 33-year-old closer, Goose Gossage, who was signed as
a free agent from the New York Yankees. Eric Show led the staff with fifteen
wins with Ed Whitson and lefty Mark Thurmond having identical 14–8 records.
But the sterling bullpen, headed by Gossage and Craig "Lefty" Lefferts, held
the staff together enough to take this team to the "Big Show" although they
would falter and get ripped by the Tiger bats losing the Series in five games.
To get to the Series, the Padres had to overcome a two-games-to-none deficit
against the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS, rallying to win the final three games.
The 1984 Padres adopted Ray Parker, Jr.'s "Ghostbusters" as their theme
song. During their playoff series against the Chicago Cubs, the Padre fans
turned Ghostbusters into Cubbusters. Ironically, the movie Ghostbusters
starred noted Chicago Cub fan Bill Murray.
Summary AL Detroit Tigers vs. NL San Diego
Padres Matchups
= Game 1= Tuesday, October 9, 1984 at Jack Murphy
Stadium in San Diego, California Game 1 started shakily for Tiger starter
Jack Morris, as he surrendered two-out singles in the bottom of the first
inning to Steve Garvey and Graig Nettles, followed by a two-run double to
Terry Kennedy. Padre starter Mark Thurmond took a 2–1 lead into the fifth,
but then surrendered a crucial two-out, two-run homer to Larry Herndon. Nettles
and Kennedy both singled to open the San Diego sixth, but Morris snuffed out
their momentum by striking out the rest of the side. Kurt Bevacqua started what
looked to be a comeback with a leadoff double in the seventh, but was thrown
out at third while attempting to stretch the hit into a triple. Despite the close
call, Morris remained focused and set down the last nine remaining Padre
batters for a complete game, 3–2 victory.
= Game 2= Wednesday, October 10, 1984 at Jack
Murphy Stadium in San Diego, California Kurt Bevacqua evened the series at 1–1
with a three-run home run in the fifth-inning off Dan Petry. To date,
this remains the only World Series victory in Padres history. Andy Hawkins,
the winning pitcher, relieved starter Ed Whitson in the first inning.
Game 2 at Jack Murphy Stadium marked the last MLB playoff game to date where the
DH was used in a National League ballpark. Since then, any World Series
game in an American League park uses the DH, while pitchers bat in the NL parks.
The next time the DH rule was used in a National League park was during a
regular season series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia
Phillies during the 2010 season. Besides Bevacqua's home run, this game
is also remembered for what happened two batters later. Aurelio Lopez relieved
Petry and walked the next batter, Carmelo Martinez. On the first pitch to
the next batter, Garry Templeton, catcher Lance Parrish called for a
pitchout, but Lopez threw a fastball over the plate that struck umpire Larry
Barnett in the midsection. = Game 3=
Friday, October 12, 1984 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan
By the time the 1984 World Series rolled around, Tiger Stadium became the oldest
ballpark to ever host a World Series. That record was soon eclipsed by
Boston's Fenway Park, which hosted the Fall Classic in 1986, 2004, 2007, and
2013. Tim Lollar failed to make it out of the
second inning as Detroit erupted for four runs, including a Marty Castillo
two-run homer, en route to a 5–2 victory for Milt Wilcox. Willie Hernández
pitched 2 1⁄3 innings of one-hit relief for the save. The victory gave the
Tigers a two games-to-one series lead. = Game 4=
Saturday, October 13, 1984 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan
Alan Trammell drilled a pair of two-run homers in the first and third innings to
account for all of Detroit's offense as the Tigers beat Eric Show to take a
three games-to-one lead in the Series. Jack Morris got his second Series
victory in another complete-game effort. = Game 5=
Sunday, October 14, 1984 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan
For the fourth consecutive game, the Padres' starting pitcher did not make it
past the third inning, as the Tigers jumped on Mark Thurmond for three runs
in the first inning. The Padres rallied to tie the score in the fourth, but the
Tigers pulled ahead again with single runs in the fifth and seventh innings.
After the Padres closed it to a one-run game in the eighth with a rare run off
closer Willie Hernández, Kirk Gibson came to the plate in the bottom of the
eighth for the Tigers with runners on second and third and one out. Gibson had
homered earlier in the game, and Padres manager Dick Williams strolled to the
mound to talk to Goose Gossage, seemingly with the purpose of ordering
him to walk Gibson intentionally. Just before the at-bat, Gibson made a US$10
bet with his manager Sparky Anderson that Gossage would pitch to him. Gossage
talked Williams into letting him pitch to Gibson, and Gibson responded with a
three-run blast into the upper deck to clinch the Series for the Tigers. Gibson
wound up driving in five runs and scoring three, including the run that
gave Detroit the lead for good when he raced home on a pop-up sacrifice fly by
little-used reserve Rusty Kuntz. In the ninth, Willie Hernández closed
out the series for the Tigers by getting Tony Gwynn to fly to Larry Herndon in
left field for the final out. While Alan Trammell won the Sport
Magazine variation of the World Series Most Valuable Player Award, Jack Morris
won the Babe Ruth variation. After being fired by the Cincinnati Reds
in 1978, Sparky Anderson was hired by the Tigers in June 1979. Anderson became
the first manager to win a World Championship in both the American and
National Leagues. Game 5 had a starting time of 4:30 p.m.
ET, following a 1:30 p.m. start for Game 4. These were the last outdoor World
Series games to start earlier than prime time in the eastern United States. In
addition, no World Series has ended as early as October 14 since 1984; in fact,
with the exception of Game 1 of the 1989 World Series, no World Series game has
been played earlier than October 15 since 1984. Format changes—the
best-of-five League Championship Series becoming best-of-seven affairs in 1985,
followed by the addition of wild-card teams, the best-of-five League Division
Series in 1994 and Wild Card games in 2012—have made that impossible, even
when baseball's regular seasons have ended on the last Sunday in September.
Composite box 1984 World Series: Detroit Tigers over
San Diego Padres Aftermath
Three players set World Series hitting records during the 1984 World Series.
Less than twenty years after winning the 1984 World Series Most Valuable Player
Award, Alan Trammell would become manager of the Detroit Tigers.
The Detroit Tigers would not return to the World Series until 2006, six years
after Comerica Park opened. However Trammell was fired before the season
began and was replaced by Jim Leyland, who won a World Series ring managing the
Florida Marlins in 1997. This was the first of two World Series
appearances for Padres outfielder and Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. He would later
lead the Padres back to the World Series in 1998, but his team was swept by the
New York Yankees. 1984 teammate and backup catcher Bruce Bochy served as
manager of the 1998 Padres. Notes
References Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen.
The World Series. 1st ed. New York: St Martins, 1990.
Forman, Sean L. "1984 World Series". Baseball-Reference.com - Major League
Statistics and Information. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007.
Retrieved December 9, 2007. External links
1984 World Series at WorldSeries.com 1984 World Series at Baseball Almanac
1984 World Series at Baseball-Reference.com
The 1984 Post-Season Games at Retrosheet History of the World Series - 1984 at
The SportingNews. Archived from the original on 2008.
1984 NLCS |Game 5 at MLB.com 1984 ALCS |Game 3 at MLB.com
Detroit Jumped All Over 'Em at SI.com Baseball's Greatest Teams: 1984 Detroit
Tigers at baseballlibrary.com 1984 Detroit Tigers: Day-by-Day Summary
at baseballlibrary.com 1984 San Diego Padres: Day-by-Day
Summary at baseballlibrary.com Twenty years ago, Padres concocted
cohesive crew for run at World Series