June 4, 1989: Poland's Free Elections

Tadeusz Mazowiecki

June 4, 1989: The Republic of Poland holds its 1st parliamentary election since 1938. It is considered the beginning of the Eastern European revolutions of the year.

Like many countries, Poland has a bicameral legislature. The Sejm is the lower house, equivalent to America's House of Representatives, or the House of Commons in Britain and its Commonwealth nations. As with America, Canada, and some other countries, the upper house is called the Senate.

After a genuine workers' revolution began to agitate the Polish United Workers Party, the Polish version of the Communist Party, in 1980, the Communists allowed multi-party elections on April 5, 1989, set for June 4. On April 17, Solidarity (in Polish, Solidarność), the trade union led by Lech Wałęsa, was legalized, and allowed to participate in the elections as a political party, the Solidarity Citizens Committee.

Solidarity won 99 out of the 100 seats in the Senate. The United Workers Party won 173 seats in the Sejm, to Solidarity's 161 -- but that 161 was all of the seats that were available, as 299 seats were reserved for the Communists and other parties linked in the Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth.

On August 24, the Communist cabinet of Czesław Kiszczak was rejected by the Sejm, forcing a vote for a new Prime Minister and cabinet on September 12. This was won by Tadeusz Mazowiecki, who governed until January 4, 1991. Replacing the dictatorial Wojciech Jaruzelski, Wałęsa served as President of Poland, head of state but not head of government, from December 22, 1990 to December 22, 1995.

Mazowiecki lived until 2013, Jaruzelski until 2014, Kiszczak until 2015. As of June 4, 2022, Wałęsa is still alive.

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June 4, 1989 was a Sunday. This was also the day of the Tienanmen Square Massacre in Beijing, China. I have a separate entry for that event.

It was the off-season for the NFL. The NHL season was over, as the Stanley Cup was awarded on May 25, as the Calgary Flames beat the Montreal Canadiens in the Finals. And the NBA was between the Conference Finals and the NBA Finals. The Detroit Pistons went on to sweep the Los Angeles Lakers in 4 straight.

But there was a full slate of Major League Baseball games:

* The New York Yankees beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 12-9 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Jesse Barfield hit 2 home runs, and homers were also hit by Steve Balboni, Mel Hall and... Deion Sanders. Yes, the football player. Jimmy Jones was the winning pitcher.

* The New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 at Shea Stadium. Kevin Elster and Mark Carreon hit home runs, in support of Sid Fernandez, but Don Aase (AH-see) ended up as the winning pitcher.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 13-11 at Fenway Park in Boston. Junior Felix won the game with a home run in the top of the 12th inning.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 5-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-4 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 11-3 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-6 at the Astrodome in Houston. Mike Scott, usually a starting pitcher, was relieving in the 13th inning, and hit a sacrifice fly to score Rafael Ramirez.

* The California Angels beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-1 at Anaheim Stadium. (Today, the team is named the Los Angeles Angels, and the ballpark is named Angel Stadium of Anaheim.)

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-0 at the Oakland Coliseum. Dave Stewart itched 7 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, but A's manager Tony La Russa was the original pitch-count guy. Todd Burns allowed a hit in a scoreless 8th, and Rick Honeycutt pitched a perfect 9th.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 2-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle.