August 10, 1989: Dave Dravecky, a 1983 All-Star, returns to Major League Baseball after missing the entire season to that point with cancer in his left arm, his pitching arm.
Aided by a home run by Matt Williams, Dravecky pitches 8 innings for the San Francisco Giants, and beats the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 at Candlestick Park. It is one of the most remarkable comebacks in baseball history. But it will be short-lived.
David Francis Dravecky was born on February 14, 1956 in Youngstown, Ohio, and played baseball and basketball at Youngstown State University. Before becoming the head football coach there, Jim Tressel called the stretch of Ohio east of Cleveland and Pennsylvania west of Pittsburgh "the State of Youngstown," considering it a great recruiting ground for football players.
Dravecky debuted in the major leagues with the San Diego Padres in 1982, and was named a National League All-Star in 1983. On July 4, 1987, the Padres traded him, pitcher Craig Lefferts and 3rd baseman Kevin Mitchell (later converted to a left fielder) to the San Francisco Giants for pitchers Mark Davis, Keith Comstock and Mark Grant, and 3rd baseman Chris Brown.
Davis became a Cy Young Award winner as a Padre reliever, but this trade helped the Giants win the 1987 NL Western Division title, and then the 1989 NL Pennant. Dravecky won Game 2 of the 1987 NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals, but lost Game 6, and the Cards won Game 7.
On Opening Day 1988, Dravecky was the starting and winning pitcher as the Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he only pitched 7 games that season. He was diagnosed with cancer, a desmoid tumor in his left arm, his pitching arm. He underwent a procedure in which half of the deltoid muscle in that arm was removed.
His chances of ever pitching again did not look good, and he was advised to sit out all of the 1989 season. Instead, he worked his way back, and won that game on August 10. It was being hailed as one of the greatest comeback stories in baseball history. He was out from May 29, 1988 to August 10, 1989, but won his 1st game back.
While with the Giants, Dravecky and teammates Scott Garrelts, Atlee Hammaker and Jeff Brantley became known as the "God Squad" because of their strong Christian faith. Foregoing the hard-partying lifestyle of some of their teammates, they preferred to hold Bible studies in their hotel rooms while on the road. Another such player was Eric Show, a pitcher and a Padres teammate of Dravecky's.
August 15, 1989: Dravecky makes his next start, against the Montreal Expos, at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The Giants led, 3-0 in the bottom of the 6th inning, the scoring including a home run by Matt Williams. Dravecky had a 3-hit shutout going. Yet he later said he felt a "tingling" in his left arm in the 5th. He should have left the game immediately, but he went on.
Dámaso García led off the 6th inning with a home run. Then Dravecky hit Andrés Galarraga with a pitch. Giants manager Roger Craig, himself once a successful pitcher, and the pitching coach for the Detroit Tigers' 1984 World Series winners, should have recognized then that something was wrong, and taken him out. Instead, the next batter was Tim Raines, and Dravecky threw the ball well to the left of the plate, for a wild pitch.
It was the last pitch he would ever throw. The humerus bone, the upper arm between shoulder and elbow, had snapped cleanly. Fans said it could be heard from the stands, and TV viewers claimed they could hear it, too. Dravecky went down in agony, and 1st baseman Will Clark was already by his side before catcher Terry Kennedy could retrieve the ball. Galarraga made it all the way to 3rd base.
Craig brought Jeff Brantley in to pitch, and he gave up a sacrifice fly to Raines that scored Galarraga. But he got out of the inning with no further damage to the scoreboard. He and Steve Bedrosian preserved the Giants' 3-2 lead. Dravecky had the 64th and last win of his major league career.
The Giants won the NL Western Division title, and on October 9, they won Game 5 of the NL Championship Series over the Cubs, to win the Pennant, their 1st in 27 years. The players ran out of the dugout to celebrate on the field. In the process, Dravecky's arm was accidentally broken again. He wouldn't have been available for the World Series, anyway, and they were swept in 4 straight by their cross-Bay opponents, the Oakland Athletics.
A doctor found that the cancer had returned to Dravecky's arm, and this was causing the breaks. Dravecky retired from baseball, at the age of 33. He wrote a book titled Comeback, but the cover showed him at the World Series, with his arm in a sling. Shortly after the picture was taken, before Game 3, San Francisco was struck by an earthquake. No one in Candlestick Park was hurt.
He underwent 2 more surgeries in 1990, but the cancer came back again. On June 18, 1991, his left arm and shoulder were amputated. He became a Christian-based motivational speaker, and he and his wife Janice wrote a sequel book, When You Can't Come Back.
As of August 15, 2022, Dave Dravecky is alive and well at age 66, the amputation having stopped the cancer, and still speaking about his life's highs and lows. The Giants have since won 4 more Pennants and 3 World Series, and he has occasionally been invited to throw out the ceremonial first ball. He has done so, with his right arm. He has been elected to the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.
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August 15, 1989 was a Tuesday. Joe Jonas, who starred in a rock band with his brothers, was born.
These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 1-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Teddy Higuera pitched a 6-hit shutout, to outpitch Clay Parker. The only run of the game came in the 4th inning, when Greg Brock singled Jim Gantner home.
Robin Yount went 0-for-3 with a walk. Paul Molitor went 1-for-4. Don Mattingly went 0-for-4. Dave Winfield missed the entire season due to injury.
* The New York Mets beat the San Diego Padres, 3-2 at Shea Stadium. Kevin Elster doubled Barry Lyons home in the bottom of the 9th to win the game. Jeff Musselman was the winning pitcher, in relief of Sid Fernandez. Ed Whitson, a Padre teammate of Dravecky's, and no stranger to frustration in New York due to his Yankee tenure, was the losing pitcher. Howard Johnson and Kevin McReynolds hit home runs. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-4.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Dave Stieb outpitched Mike Smithson. Wade Boggs went 2-for-3 with a walk.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-6 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Ricky Jordan hit his 2nd home run of the game in the bottom of the 8th inning.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. In the top of the 12th inning, Reds pitcher Mike Roseler got the 1st 2 outs, but walked Mitch Webster and Mark Grace, and then gave up a home run to Andre Dawson. Mitch Williams was the winning pitcher, in relief of Greg Maddux.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-0 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Bob Milacki pitched a 3-hit shutout, outpitching Doyle Alexander. Cal Ripken and Joe Orsulak hit home runs.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-6 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. George Brett went 2-for-4 with a walk.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves, 9-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Houston Astros beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at the Astrodome in Houston. Ken Caminiti singled Eric Yelding home with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning. Barry Bonds went 1-for-4 with a walk.
* The California Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base.
* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 2-0 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Brad Holman allowed 10 hits over 7 innings, and Mike Schooler 3 over 2, but, even after 13 hits, the Mariners kept the shutout. Charlie Hough allowed just 1 hit in a complete game, a single by Harold Reynolds to lead off the bottom of the 6th.
But, Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. So can balks, wild pitches and errors. After a balk sent Reynolds to 2nd base, he struck Greg Briley out, then intentionally walked Alvin Davis to set up an inning-ending double play. Then he threw Jeffrey Leonard a wild pitch, taking his strategy with it, and Leonard hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Reynolds. And in the 7th, he led off with a walk to Mike Kingery, who stole 2nd, and scored on Dave Valle's grounder that 3rd baseman Steve Buchele couldn't handle.
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