October 7, 1984: Gatorade On the Glove

October 7, 1984: Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. Winner takes the Pennant. The San Diego Padres are in their 16th season, and have never won one. The Cubs haven't won one in 39 years victims of the so-called Curse of the Billy Goat during the 1945 World Series. Something has to give, as they begin play at San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium.

The Cubs lead 3-0 going into the bottom of the 6th, but the Padres score 2 runs. Eventual NL Cy Young Award winner Rick Sutcliffe begins the bottom of the 7th by walking Carmelo Martinez. Garry Templeton bunts him over to 2nd.

The batter is Tim Flannery, pinch-hitting for pitcher Craig Lefferts. He was a good-fielding 2nd baseman, but not much of an upgrade at the plate. He hits a dribbler to 1st base, and Leon Durham lets it go through his legs -- much as the man he replaced as Cub 1st baseman, Bill Buckner, will do in the World Series 2 years later. Martinez scores the tying run.

Earlier in the season, Durham had been on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Could he, and the Cubs, have been hit by "The Dreaded SI Cover Jinx" and the Curse of the Billy Goat?

The play became known as "Gatorade On the Glove," because someone allegedly spilled some Gatorade on Durham's glove. That shouldn't have mattered: Durham didn't get his glove in the right spot. It's not as if the ball bounced off a Gatorade spot on his glove, it never even touched the glove.

Then the Padres pile it on. Alan Wiggins singles. Tony Gwynn doubles Flannery home with the go-ahead run. Wiggins also scores on the play. And last night's Padre hero, Steve Garvey, singles home Gwynn. The score is 6-3, and it stays that way.

Because of their games airing on cable-TV "SuperStation" WGN, broadcast nationally out of Chicago. the Cubs had caught the attention of fans who were nowhere near the City of the Big Shoulders. Their move to end a 39-year drought of Pennants, and a 76-year drought of World Series wins, fired people's imagination.

This included me, then a 14-year-old Yankee Fan, who enjoyed that they beat out the New York Mets for the NL Eastern Division title, getting revenge for 1969. There were 3 members of the Yankees' 1981 Pennant-winners on the Padres: Graig Nettles, Goose Gossage, and outfielder Bobby Brown (no connection to the earlier Yankee 3rd baseman of the same name). It had only been 3 years, but, for Yankee Fans, that 1981 Pennant now seemed very far away. Unlike the '81 Yanks, the Cubs couldn't win the Pennant.

For Padre fans, it is their 1st Pennant, and the biggest moment in San Diego sports since the Chargers won the 1963 AFL Championship. For Cub fans, it is a bigger heartbreak than 1969. In 1969, it took them an entire month to melt down; in 1984, it takes less than 24 hours. (They hadn't seen nothin' yet: In 2003, it would take them 15 minutes.)

UPDATE: The Padres have a team Hall of Fame. From the 1970s, they have inducted 1st baseman Nate Colbert, right fielder Dave Winfield, pitcher Randy Jones, owner Ray Kroc, and team president Emil "Buzzie" Bavasi. From the 1980s, they have inducted right fielder Tony Gwynn, shortstop Garry Templeton, catcher Benito Santiago, manager Dick Williams and general manager Jack McKeon.

From the 1990s, they have inducted Gwynn, 3rd baseman Ken Caminiti, pitcher Trevor Hoffman, team owner John Moores, general manager Kevin Towers, and team president Larry Lucchino. From the 2000s, they have inducted Hoffman, Moores, Towers, and pitcher Jake Peavy. They have also elected longtime broadcasters Jerry Coleman and Ted Leitner.

Bavasi, Coleman, Winfield, Jones, Fingers, Templeton, Gwynn and Hoffman have also been inducted into the San Diego Hall of Champions. So have Goose Gossage, Graig Nettles and David Wells, although Nettles and Wells were inducted mainly because they are San Diego natives who excelled elsewhere more than for the Padres.

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October 7, 1984 was a Sunday. While the Detroit Tigers had wrapped up the American League Championship Series 2 days earlier, there was NFL action. Most notably, Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears breaks Jim Brown's career rushing record of 12,312 yards. The Bears beat the New Orleans Saints 20-7 at Soldier Field. Payton would eventually be surpassed by Emmitt Smith, who still holds the record.

Other games played that day:

* The New York Jets beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 17-16 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Minnesota Vikings, 35-31 at Tampa Stadium.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Buffalo Bills, 27-17 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-7 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. This matchup would be revisited in the AFC Championship Game, where the Dolphins again won at Three Rivers.

* The New England Patriots beat the Cleveland Browns, 17-16 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Houston Oilers, 13-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Indianapolis Colts, 35-7 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Detroit Lions, 28-7 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Green Bay Packers, 34-28 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Dallas Cowboys, 31-20 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Los Angeles Rams, 30-28 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* The Los Angeles Raiders beat the Seattle Seahawks, 28-14 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* And the next day, on ABC Monday Night Football, the San Francisco 49ers beat the New York Giants, 31-10 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. The 49ers went on to win Super Bowl XIX, beating the Dolphins.