1982 World Series
The 1982 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's 1982 season. The 79th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals and the American League champion Milwaukee Brewers. The Cardinals won the series, four games to three.
The Cardinals had last been in the World Series in 1968, while a Milwaukee team, the Braves, had last contended in 1958. The Milwaukee team of 1982 started as an expansion club, the Seattle Pilots, in 1969, which then moved to Milwaukee in 1970 and changed their name to the Brewers.
The Cardinals made it to the Series by winning the NL East division by three games over the Philadelphia Phillies, and then defeating the Atlanta Braves, three games to none, in the NL Championship Series. The Brewers made it by winning the AL East division by one game over the Baltimore Orioles, and then defeating the California Angels, three games to two, in the AL Championship Series. 1982 is the Brewers' only World Series appearance to date, and remains their only American League pennant winning season: ironically, the Brewers would join the Cardinals as a member of the National League Central Division in 1998.
The Cardinals' victory helped the National League win four straight World Series from to 1982, the longest streak of consecutive titles by the National League in World Series history. The National League would not again win consecutive titles until the 2010 Giants, the 2011 Cardinals and the 2012 Giants.
Though the teams had never met before, their home cities had a commercial rivalry in the beer market, as St. Louis is the home of Anheuser–Busch, which owned the Cardinals at the time, while Milwaukee is the home of Miller Brewing and other past major competitors of Anheuser–Busch. This led the media to refer to the series as the "Suds Series".
To date, this is the Brewers’ sole appearance in the World Series, and they have the second longest pennant drought in the National League behind the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Preview
The 1982 Milwaukee Brewers hit 216 home runs during the regular season, thus earning them the nickname "Harvey's Wallbangers". In sharp contrast, the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals only hit 67 home runs, fewer than the Brewers' Gorman Thomas and Ben Oglivie combined. The Cardinals had built their reputation and won their division behind solid pitching, exceptional defense, and aggressive base running, manufacturing runs in a style that would come to be called "Whiteyball," named for team manager Whitey Herzog. This style would be the hallmark of the Cardinals through the 1980s and see them into two more World Series.The Brewers and Cardinals each boasted a dominant closer, with veteran Rollie Fingers holding the role for Milwaukee and Bruce Sutter for St. Louis. Fingers did not pitch in this series, which would have been his fourth, due to a muscle tear in his arm.
The two teams had made a trade in December 1980 that was expected to benefit both clubs. Milwaukee traded pitchers Dave LaPoint and Lary Sorensen and outfielders Sixto Lezcano and David Green to the Cardinals, with pitcher Pete Vuckovich and catcher Ted Simmons comprising two-thirds of St. Louis' return.
The Cardinals built their team on speed, clutch hitting and pitching. The Cardinals made additional trades for Willie McGee, Ozzie Smith, George Hendrick, Joaquín Andújar, and Sutter, all designed to craft a well balanced championship level team.
The Brewers combined a productive farm system with additional trades as well to build their heavy hitting ball club. Thomas, Moose Haas, Robin Yount, and Paul Molitor came through the system, while the aforementioned Vukovich, Simmons, Fingers, and Oglivie, plus Cecil Cooper and Don Money, all arrived via the trade route. On June 1, with the team 23–24 and floundering in fifth place, Brewer GM Harry Dalton replaced manager Buck Rodgers with Harvey Kuenn. The Brewers responded by winning at a.626 clip the rest of the way, taking first place for good on July 31 and never looking back.
Summary
Matchups
Game 1
This was the Brewers' first ever game in the World Series.The Brewers' left-hander Mike Caldwell pitched a complete-game shutout, allowing only three hits. The Brewers' offense was led by Paul Molitor, who had a World Series-record five hits and two RBIs. Robin Yount added four hits and two RBIs.
The Brewers went up 2–0 in the first when Cardinals' first baseman Keith Hernandez's error on Ben Oglivie ground ball with two on scored a run, then Gorman Thomas's RBI single scored another. Charlie Moore doubled to lead off the fourth and scored on Molitor's single while former Cardinal Ted Simmons homered next inning. Cardinals starter Bob Forsch allowed consecutive two-out singles to Jim Gantner and Molitor in the sixth before both scored on Yount's double and knocked Forsch out of the game. In the ninth, Oglivie walked with one out off of Dave LaPoint, moved to second on a groundout, and scored on Don Money's single. Jeff Lahti relieved LaPoint and allowed a single to Moore. Gantner's triple then scored two before Gantner himself scored on Molitor's single to cap the scoring at 10–0.
This was their last post-season win on the road until October 13, 2011, also against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Game 2
The Brew Crew drew first blood in the second with an RBI double by Charlie Moore. They followed that in the third when Paul Molitor singled, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch by Cardinals starter John Stuper, and scored on a Robin Yount groundout. Ted Simmons stretched the lead to 3–0 with his second homer in two games.The Cardinals scratched back in their half of the third when rookie Willie McGee singled, stole second, and scored on a Tom Herr double. Ken Oberkfell singled in Herr to cut the Brewer lead to 3–2. The Brewers made it 4–2 in the fifth when Yount doubled and Cecil Cooper singled him in.
Darrell Porter tied it in the sixth by doubling in two runs. Then, in the bottom of the eighth, the Brewers felt the effects of not having Rollie Fingers in the bullpen. With one out, Pete Ladd, pressed into service as the closer, walked Lonnie Smith with two on to load the bases and then walked pinch-hitter Steve Braun to force in the go-ahead run. The Cardinals could have made it worse, but McGee lined out to short for out #2, and an apparent base hit by Ozzie Smith struck Braun as he was running to second for the third out.
Bruce Sutter pitched the ninth and got credit for the win.
Longtime American League umpire Bill Haller called his final game behind home plate in this contest. He also was the last umpire to wear a tie on the field, and the last to work home plate in the World Series wearing the "balloon" style outside chest protector.
Game 3
and Pete Vuckovich, each team's pitching aces, were locked in a scoreless pitching duel until the top half of the fifth, when Willie McGee belted a three-run homer for the Cards.The Redbirds added two more in the seventh off Vuckovich. Lonnie Smith doubled to right-center and tried to stretch it to a triple. Smith scored when Jim Gantner's relay throw to third went wild. McGee followed with a home run later in the inning, his second.
McGee also had a couple of defensive gems, running down a deep Paul Molitor drive in the first and robbing Gorman Thomas of a home run in the ninth.
In the seventh with one out, Andújar had to leave the game when a line drive from Ted Simmons struck his kneecap. The Brewers loaded the bases in that inning, but ace reliever Bruce Sutter got the final out to squelch the threat.
Cecil Cooper accounted for the Brewers' only runs with a two-run homer in the eighth off Sutter. Ozzie Smith drove in the Cardinals final run with a bases-loaded walk after George Hendrick reached first on catcher's interference by Ted Simmons and went to third on a ground-rule double by Lonnie Smith with two outs. Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog argued that Hendrick reached second as he was running with the pitch with two outs and should have been allowed to score on the double, but to no avail. McGee was walked intentionally, loading the bases, followed by Ozzie Smith's walk.
Sutter qualified for the save in this game, since he entered with the bases loaded, meaning the potential tying run was on deck.
Game 4
Game 4 of the 1982 World Series pitted Dave LaPoint against Moose Haas. Haas was a veteran of six major league campaigns while LaPoint had just completed his first full season.For six innings, the Cardinals seemed on the verge of taking a commanding 3–1 Series lead. Dave LaPoint held the Brewers to three hits in that time span, while his hitters plated him a 5–1 lead.
In the top of the first inning, Ken Oberkfell doubled down the right-field line and George Hendrick hit a high chopper over the middle which handcuffed Yount and bounced into center-field, allowing Oberkfell to score. In the bottom of the first, Oberkfell dropped a bare-handed grounder from Yount. Both teams had trouble at times fielding, and the Brewers errors in Game 3 may have cost them three runs.
Two Cardinal runs came in the second on an unusual way. With Willie McGee on first and attempting to steal, Brewers catcher Ted Simmons took a pitch-out but bobbled the ball allowing McGee to steal second. After a walk to Ozzie Smith, Moose Haas' wild pitch moved McGee to third and Smith to second. Tommy Herr hit a deep fly. McGee scored easily and Smith took advantage of center fielder Gorman Thomas slipping and falling on the warning track and never stopped, scoring behind McGee for a two-run sacrifice fly for Herr. Ken Oberkfell followed with a walk, stole second and came home when a Keith Hernandez grounder went through Gantner's legs. The Cardinals scored three times despite only one base hit.
In the Brewers half of the fifth, with none out and runners at first and third, Ozzie Smith made one of his famous Wizard of Oz plays. Gantner hit a ground ball through the middle towards center field. Smith, though off-balance, stabbed at the ball while simultaneously stepping on second base, recovered and fired to first to double up Gantner.
In the seventh, things fell apart. With one out, Oglivie reached first when first baseman Keith Hernandez's toss to LaPoint was dropped. LaPoint was relieved by Doug Bair after giving up a two-out RBI double to Gantner. Before relieved by Jim Kaat, Bair walked Molitor and gave up a bases-loaded, two-run checked-swing single to Yount. An RBI infield hit by Cecil Cooper and a wild pitch brought in the fourth Cardinals pitcher, Jeff Lahti. Lahti intentionally walked Simmons and gave up another bases-loaded, two-run single to Thomas. Lahti issued another intentional walk to Oglivie then induced a fly out to left field to end this inning. In this inning, six runs crossed the plate for the Brewers on five hits and one error.
Jim Slaton started the eighth by walking Darrell Porter and giving up a one-out single to Dane Iorg. Bob McClure relieved Slaton and ended the threat by getting McGee to bounce into a double play. McClure went the rest of the way for the save.