George Bell
After trying and failing to get a team in the Continental League in 1960, and in the Major League Baseball expansions of 1961-62 and 1970, and the deal to get the San Francisco Giants fell through in 1976, Toronto got an expansion team for the American League in 1977, along with the Seattle Mariners. They were terrible at first, losing 107, 102 and 109 games in their 1st 3 seasons.
But, managed by Bobby Cox, the once-and-future manager of the Atlanta Braves, they won 89 games in 1983, repeated that in 1984, and won 99 games and the AL East title in 1985. That was the 1st season that the League Championship Series went from best-3-out-of-5 to best-4-out-of-7. In the 1985 ALCS, they won 3 of the 1st 4 games against the Kansas City Royals. Under the previous year's format, that would have won them the Pennant. But the Royals won 3 straight, and went on to win the World Series. They Jays followed that huge choke by finishing 4th in 1986.
In 1987, the Jays looked ready. They jumped into 1st place on June 8, with an 11-0 beating of the New York Yankees, part of a 3-game sweep at Yankee Stadium, itself part of an 11-game winning streak. They fell out of 1st place on June 29, but stayed close, and regained the lead on August 9. From August 3 onward, they were never worse off than 2 games out of 1st.
The Jays' run was aided by the collapse of the Milwaukee Brewers. They won their 1st 13 games to open the season, and 17 of their 1st 18. The 9th of those 13 was a no-hitter by Juan Nieves, the 1st ever pitched by a Brewer, and the 1st ever pitched by a native of Puerto Rico.
But from May 3 to 19, they lost 12 straight. After winning 2 straight, they lost another 6 in a row. Had they only split those games, 10-10, instead of 2-18, they would have won the Division. Instead, they finished 91-71, 7 games behind the eventual winners.
Jays left fielder George Bell would be named the AL's Most Valuable Player, batting .308, hitting 47 home runs, with 134 RBIs. They got 28 homers from right fielder Jesse Barfield, 26 from center fielder Lloyd Moseby, 20 from lefthanded designated hitter Fred McGriff, 19 from catcher Ernie Whitt, 15 from 1st baseman Willie Upshaw, 14 from righthanded DH Cecil Fielder, and from their 3rd basemen, they got 12 from Kelly Gruber and 11 from Rance Mulliniks.
Key led the starters with a 17-8 record, followed by Jim Clancy at 15-11, and Dave Stieb at 13-9. Their closer, Tom Henke, went 0-6, but he had 34 saves, his ERA was 2.49, and his WHIP was 0.926. The other Canadian team, the Montreal Expos, had Jeff Reardon as their closer, and he was "The Terminator"; so Henke was nicknamed "The Exterminator."
But the Tigers still had the core of the team that won the 1984 World Series: Shortstop Alan Trammell, 2nd baseman Lou Whitaker, left fielder Kirk Gibson, and center fielder Chet Lemon. Catcher Lance Parrish was gone, but Matt Nokes filled in with similar stats. They had also acquired Bill Madlock, a 3rd baseman who had won 4 batting titles in the NL.
A rotation of Tanana, Jack Morris, Dan Petry and Walt Terrell was very effective, and so was a bullpen-by-committee, including the 1984 AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner, although he was no longer their closer, Willie Hernandez.
On September 26, with 7 games to go, the Jays won their 7th straight, beating the Tigers on a walkoff for the 2nd day in a row, and led by 3 1/2 games. Their Magic Number to clinch the Division was 4: All they had to do was win 4 of their last 7, and there would be nothing the Tigers could do.
But the Tigers won the series finale on the 27th, 3-2 in 13 innings. Then the Milwaukee Brewers came into Exhibition Stadium, and beat the Jays 3 straight: 6-4, 5-3 and 5-2. Meanwhile, the Tigers had their last 7 games of the season at home at Tiger Stadium. They split 4 games with the Baltimore Orioles.
So when the Tigers and Jays began the last series of the season, against each other, on October 2 at Tiger Stadium, the Jays led by 1. Whichever team could win 2 out of 3 would be Division Champions.
On Friday, October 2, the Jays took a 3-0 lead in the top of the 2nd. But the Tigers scored 2 in the 2nd and 2 in the 3rd, and won, 4-3. Doyle Alexander, 37 years old, and the Jays' ace for their Division title team 2 years earlier, was the winning pitcher for the Tigers, over Clancy.
October 3 was the NBC Saturday Game of the Week. It went to the bottom of the 12th, when, with 1 out, Whitaker and Madlock singled. Jim Walewander was sent in to pinch-run for Whitaker. Jeff Musselman walked Gibson, and was replaced by Mark Eichhorn. It didn't work: Trammell singled Walewander home with the winning run, 3-2.
The Tigers now led by a game: The Jays had to win the finale, just to set up a 1-game Playoff. Bur Herndon's home run in the 2nd inning assured that there would be no Playoff. The Tigers had won. They lost the ALCS to the Minnesota Twins in a big upset.
The Jays had been up by 4 with 7 to go, and had blown it. This collapse, on top of their choke in the 1985 ALCS, gives them the nickname "Blow Jays." They did not get rid of it in 1988, finishing 2 games behind the Division-winning Boston Red Sox. They did not get rid of it in 1989, winning the Division, but losing the ALCS to the Oakland Athletics. They did not get rid of it in 1990, again finishing 2 games behind the Red Sox. And they did not get rid of it in 1991, winning the Division, but losing the ALCS to the Minnesota Twins.
They finally got rid of it in 1992, becoming the 1st Canada-based team to win a Pennant, and the 1st to win a World Series. They repeated in 1993.
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October 4, 1987 was a Sunday. These other Major League Baseball games were played on this regular-season finale:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 4-2 at Yankee Stadium. Eric Bell outpitched Charles Hudson. Eddie Murray went 0-for-4, but Cal Ripken Jr. went 1-for-3 with a home run, a walk and 2 RBIs. For the Yankees, Dan Pasqua hit a home run, pinch-hitting for Henry Cotto. Dave Winfield and Don Mattingly each went 1-for-4.
* The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 11-6 at Busch Memorial Stadium. The Mets scored 5 runs in the top of the 9th inning. Gary Carter and former Cardinal Keith Hernandez hit home runs. Too little, too late: The Cards beat the Mets out for the National League Eastern Division title by 3 games.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 7-5 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Roger Clemens won his 20th game of the season, striking out 12, walking none, and allowing only 2 hits: A double to Mike Felder, and a single to Dale Sveum.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-3 with a walk. Barry Bonds appeared as a pinch-hitter, drawing a walk and scoring.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Ron Hassey and Carlton Fisk hit home runs. This was the last major league game for Reggie Jackson. Having played 9 seasons with the A's, 1 for the Baltimore Orioles, 5 with the New York Yankees, and 5 with the California Angels, he had returned to the A's for what he had announced would be his last season.
He doubled home Jose Canseco off Floyd Bannister in the 1st inning, drew a walk against Bannister in the 4th, flew out to center field against Bill Long in the 6th, and then, with 2 out in the top of the 8th, he took his last at-bat, against Bobby Thigpen. It was not the kind of result you would expect from Reggie Jackson, but it worked: He stroked a single up the middle, breaking his bat in the process.
He finished the day 1-for-3 with an RBI, and closed his career with 2,584 hits, including 563 home runs, making him the leading home-run hitter of his generation. But the White Sox won.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 10-1 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett sat this season finale out, but the Royals got a home run from Frank White.
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 7-4 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington Texas. Charlie Hough of the Rangers made his 40th start of the season. No pitcher has been allowed to accomplish this since, not even a knuckleballer like Hough. He was the losing pitcher, and the winning pitcher was Mark Langston.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 2-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. Tom Browning outpitched Nolan Ryan.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 5-3 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn drew a walk, then left the game.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the California Angels, 10-6 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-4 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Bob Brenly, later to manage the Arizona Diamondbacks to the 2001 World Championship, won it with a home run leading off the bottom of the 10th.
And these NFL games were played:
* The New York Jets lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 38-24 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.
* The Cleveland Browns beat the New England Patriots, 20-10 at Sullivan Stadium (formerly Schafer Stadium, later Foxboro Stadium) in the Boston suburb of Foxboro, Massachusetts.
* The Chicago Bears beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 35-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The Washington Redskins beat the NFL version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 28-21 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.
* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 28-12 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The New Orleans Saints beat the Los Angeles Rams, 37-10 at the Superdome in New Orleans.
* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Buffalo Bills, 47-6 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.
* The San Diego Chargers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 10-9 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Detroit Lions, 31-27 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.
* The Green Bay Packers beat the Minnesota Vikings, 23-16 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The Houston Oilers beat the Denver Broncos, 40-10 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
* The Los Angeles Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-17 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Miami Dolphins, 24-20 at the Kingdome in Seattle.
* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the New York Giants lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 41-21 at Giants Stadium.
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