1992 World Series
The 1992 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's 1992 season. The 89th edition of the World Series, was a best-of-seven, or first to four playoff, played between the American League champion Toronto Blue Jays and the National League champion Atlanta Braves. Toronto defeated Atlanta in six games, marking the first time a team based outside the United States won the World Series. Outside the NHL, the Blue Jays became the first Canadian sports team in a major North American league to win a championship since the Vancouver Whitecaps of the North American Soccer League won the Soccer Bowl in 1979. They remain the only Canadian team to have appeared in, and won, a World Series. The 1992 World Series was the first World Series in which games were played outside the United States, as well as the first to have games played in a stadium with a retractable roof, Toronto's SkyDome.
Background
The Blue Jays won the American League East Division title for the second consecutive season and third time in four years. They faced the winners of the West Division, the Oakland Athletics, in the American League Championship Series. The A's were looking to advance to the World Series for the fourth time in five years, having previously been in the World Series in 1988, 1989, and 1990, winning it in 1989. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, were looking to become the first Canadian team to win a pennant. The Blue Jays lost the first game at home but then won the next three to take a commanding lead, eventually closing the series out at home in Game 6.The Braves won the National League West Division for the second straight season and earned another matchup with the three-time defending East Division winners, the Pittsburgh Pirates, in the National League Championship Series. The Braves won three of the first four games in the series, but the Pirates won the next two and were leading in the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 before the Braves rallied, capped off by a single by seldom-used pinch hitter Francisco Cabrera that drove in two runs and won the series.
Summary
Matchups
Game 1
Braves fans had plenty to worry about in regard to both starting pitchers. Tom Glavine's postseason career had been less than stellar, including giving up eight runs in the second inning of Game 6 of the NLCS against Pittsburgh. Entering Game 1, Glavine's career post-season record was 1–5 despite two starts where he had pitched well and only given up one earned run each time. Glavine was 0–2 in those starts.In addition to Glavine's struggles in the postseason, the Braves would be facing their nemesis from the previous postseason. Before the 1992 season, the Blue Jays signed the MVP of the 1991 World Series, Jack Morris. The Braves were more than familiar with Morris' work, as he had defeated them twice in three starts and only allowed three runs. One of the victories came in the decisive seventh game, where Morris pitched a ten-inning complete game shutout. Morris' results in 1992, however, were quite the opposite. Despite leading the Blue Jays with 21 wins in the regular season, Morris had not performed well in the postseason. He lost one of his two starts in the 1992 ALCS despite throwing a complete game and took a no-decision in his other start giving up five runs.
Toronto's other big offensive acquisition had been veteran Dave Winfield, who entered his 20th season in 1992 having yet to win a World Series ring. Winfield, primarily the team's designated hitter, paid dividends by recording his best batting average and runs batted in numbers in several years and hit two home runs in the ALCS. His presence in the lineup was one that manager Cito Gaston wanted to keep, which forced some maneuvering of the lineup for the games to be played in Atlanta under National League rules; Winfield's natural position was right field, which was manned by All-Star Joe Carter during the season. Therefore, for Game 1, Winfield was inserted into Carter's place in the outfield. Carter, in turn, played first base in place of normal starter John Olerud.
Both teams had early scoring opportunities but could not cash in on them. In the bottom of the first inning, Braves center fielder and lead off hitter Otis Nixon singled and stole second. After Jeff Blauser tried and failed to advance him on a bunt, Nixon reached third on a groundout by Terry Pendleton. Morris, however, struck out David Justice to end the inning. Toronto responded in the next half inning with Winfield reaching on a single. After Glavine struck out Candy Maldonado and got Kelly Gruber to pop out, Pat Borders singled to put two runners on. Glavine got out of the inning, though, by inducing Manuel Lee to ground into a fielder's choice that retired Borders at second.
Carter opened scoring in the series in the top of the fourth, pulling a solo home run. The Braves threatened with two outs in the bottom half of the inning. Morris walked Justice and Sid Bream after retiring Blauser and Pendleton to start the inning. Then, on his second pitch to Ron Gant, Morris threw a wild pitch, advancing the runners to second and third. Morris ended the threat, however, by striking out Gant.
After Glavine retired Toronto in order in the top of the fifth, Morris again ran into a jam in the Atlanta half of the inning. Like he had in the fourth, Morris retired the first two batters by getting Damon Berryhill to fly out to deep center field and retiring Mark Lemke on a groundout. But as he had in the previous inning, he extended the inning by walking Glavine and Nixon. Blauser struck out swinging to end the inning, keeping the shutout intact. To this point, Nixon's single in the first stood as the only Braves hit.
Morris went back to work in the bottom of the sixth after the Blue Jays again went down in order in the top half. He got Pendleton to ground out, but walked Justice for the second time in as many plate appearances. Bream followed with a single that advanced Justice to second, but was himself retired on a fielder's choice by Gant on the next at bat. Gant then stole second to put the go ahead run into scoring position.
Up stepped Berryhill, who had hit a deep fly ball against Morris the last time he had faced him. Berryhill later said he had gone up to the plate looking for Morris to throw him a forkball, as he had observed that Morris had been able to get several strikeouts with the pitch so far. The Braves’ catcher took advantage of a pitch that Morris was unable to get enough break on and drove it over the right field wall to give the Braves the lead. Morris said after the game that was the only forkball that caused him trouble.
The three-run home run would prove to be the only offense the Braves would need that night. Glavine retired the Blue Jays in order in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings, while the Braves only managed to have one runner reach base against relievers Todd Stottlemyre and David Wells after Morris left the game following the sixth.
Glavine went the distance for the victory, only giving up four total hits. In taking the loss, Morris suffered his first career World Series defeat in his sixth start, with one no-decision. Berryhill's home run marked the first runs Morris had given up in the World Series since Pendleton hit a home run in the bottom of the third inning of Game 4 of the 1991 Series. Morris pitched an additional innings in that game, all 10 in Game 7, and the first innings of this game to run his World Series scoreless streak to 19 innings.
Game 2
Before the game started, during the performance of the National Anthems of the United States and Canada, the U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard accidentally flew the flag of Canada upside down The Corps apologized for the error and took pains to carry the flag properly prior to Game 3 in Toronto after insisting that they would be honored to do so. Also, Canadian rock/country musician Tom Cochrane sang the Canadian national anthem incorrectly. Instead of singing the line "... from far and wide, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee ...", Cochrane instead sang a lyric that was in the previous version of the anthem: "... O Canada, we stand on guard, we stand on guard for thee ...". Not only did Cochrane substitute the archaic lyric, he also did not sing it correctly, as the lyric said "and stand on guard, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee" before it was changed. Peabo Bryson sang the American national anthem.The pitching match-up featured, strangely, the two leading strikeout pitchers in the National League in 1992. On August 27, 1992, the Blue Jays traded rookie infielder Jeff Kent and minor league outfield prospect Ryan Thompson to the New York Mets for ace starting pitcher, David Cone. At the time of the trade, Cone had been leading the National League in strikeouts and was looking to do so for a third consecutive season. Major League Baseball rules dictate that when a player changes leagues during a season, the statistics he earns in each league are kept separate from each other. As such, Cone's total of 214 strikeouts with the Mets was frozen. Smoltz eventually caught and passed Cone in his last start of the season on October 2, finishing with 215 strikeouts to lead the league. Cone, meanwhile, settled for the overall major league lead, with a career high 261 strikeouts.
Both pitchers had some success thus far in the postseason. Smoltz started three games in the NLCS, winning two and being saved from a loss when the Braves made a two-out rally in the decisive final game; his performance was enough to make him the series MVP. Cone started the second and fifth games of the ALCS, winning his first start by allowing one run over eight innings. His second start saw him give up six runs, three of them unearned, over four innings, saddling him with the loss.
A controversial call was made by umpire Mike Reilly in the top of the fourth inning with Atlanta leading 1–0 after David Justice walked, stole second, advanced to third on Manuel Lee's error on Jeff Blauser's ground ball, and scored on a wild pitch from Cone in the bottom of the second. Roberto Alomar was at third base with John Olerud batting. Smoltz threw a breaking ball that skipped past Damon Berryhill. Alomar broke for home plate while Berryhill went to retrieve the ball. As Smoltz moved in to receive the throw he nearly collided with a sliding Alomar, who had reached the plate at exactly the same time that both Smoltz and the ball did. Smoltz tagged Alomar and Reilly called him out on the close play, despite an angry Alomar's protest, and the inning came to an end. Replays shown by CBS showed that Alomar likely touched the plate with his hands before Smoltz was able to apply a tag. The Braves scored again in the bottom of the fourth, when Sid Bream walked and eventually scored on a Mark Lemke two-out single to make the score 2–0.
In the top of the fifth Pat Borders and Manuel Lee both reached base in front of Cone, who had already singled earlier in the game. Cone responded with his second hit of the game to drive in Borders and cut the Atlanta lead to 2–1. Cone was only the second AL pitcher to get a hit in the World Series since 1980. Lee then scored on a single by Devon White, tying the game. The Braves rallied in the bottom half of the inning, with Deion Sanders providing a spark. With one out, Sanders singled. He then immediately stole second, and after Borders made an errant throw he got up and ran to third. Cone then walked Terry Pendleton, then gave up the go-ahead run when David Justice singled in Sanders and moved Pendleton to third. Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston then pulled Cone in favor of David Wells, who gave up the fourth Atlanta run, all charged to Cone, on pinch hitter Brian Hunter's sacrifice fly scored Pendleton.
Toronto made another rally in the eighth inning. After Alomar doubled to left with one out, Joe Carter and Dave Winfield hit back to back singles, the second of which scored Alomar and cut the lead to 4–3. Smoltz was then replaced by left-handed specialist Mike Stanton, who retired Olerud for the second out.
With third baseman Kelly Gruber stepping to the plate, the Braves called upon their own August trade acquisition to pitch, former Boston Red Sox closer and the then-holder of baseball's all-time career saves record Jeff Reardon. He managed to strike Gruber out, preserving Atlanta's lead, which did not change as setup man Duane Ward set them down in order in the bottom of the eighth.
The Jays entered the ninth trailing by one run and turned to their bench, which the team had nicknamed "The Trenches." After a walk to pinch-hitter Derek Bell, Toronto reserve infielder Ed Sprague Jr. pinch-hit for Ward and drilled a pitch from Reardon to left for a two-run homer to give the Blue Jays the lead. The play was called by legendary Blue Jays announcer Tom Cheek, who said "Watch him hit a homer" during Sprague's at bat.
Atlanta tried to rally in the ninth. After Mark Lemke flew out, pinch hitter Lonnie Smith was hit by a pitch from Toronto closer Tom Henke. Ron Gant came in to pinch run for Smith. After Otis Nixon recorded the second out, Gant stole second. Sanders then walked to put the winning run on base as Pendleton, an NL MVP candidate, came to the plate. Pendleton had led the majors with a.391 average with runners in scoring position in the regular season. However, he hit a foul infield pop up to Gruber to seal the victory for Toronto. After the catch, Gruber did a short, mocking Tomahawk Chop, which upset Atlanta fans.