1992 World Series

1992 World Series
Team (Wins) Manager Season
Toronto Blue Jays (4) Cito Gaston 96–66, .593, GA: 4
Atlanta Braves (2) Bobby Cox 98–64, .605, GA: 8
Dates: October 17 – 24
MVP: Pat Borders (Toronto)
Television: CBS, simulcast in Canada on CTV
TV announcers: Sean McDonough and Tim McCarver
Radio: CBS
CJCL (Toronto)
WGST (Atlanta)
Radio announcers: Vin Scully and Johnny Bench on CBS
Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth on CJCL
Skip Caray, Pete Van Wieren, Ernie Johnson, Joe Simpson, and Don Sutton on WGST.
Umpires: Jerry Crawford (NL), Mike Reilly (AL), Joe West (NL), Dan Morrison (AL), Bob Davidson (NL), John Shulock (AL)
Hall of Famers: Blue Jays: Pat Gillick (GM), Roberto Alomar, Dave Winfield.
Braves: Bobby Cox (mgr), Tom Glavine, John Smoltz.
ALCS: Toronto Blue Jays over Oakland Athletics (4–2)
NLCS: Atlanta Braves over Pittsburgh Pirates (4–3)

The 1992 World Series was the first World Series ever with games played outside the United States,[1] following the 1992 regular season. It pitted the American League champions Toronto Blue Jays against the National League champions Atlanta Braves.

Toronto defeated Atlanta four games to two, marking the first time a team based outside the United States won the World Series.[2] With the Montreal Expos having been replaced by the Washington Nationals, the Blue Jays remain the only Canadian team to have appeared in, and won, a World Series (which they would do again in 1993).

This was the eleventh straight World Series in which the New York Yankees did not appear; as a result, it tied their record for the most consecutive seasons without winning a pennant (previously, their longest stretch between pennants was from 1964 to 1976; these years resulted in the Yankees losing the Series). This drought would be extended over the next three years and two Series, which were won by the Blue Jays and Braves, respectively.

Background

The Blue Jays made it to the Series after beating the Oakland Athletics in six games in the American League Championship Series. The Braves were in their second consecutive series after again knocking off the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games in the National League Championship Series.

Summary

AL Toronto Blue Jays (4) vs. NL Atlanta Braves (2)

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1October 17Toronto Blue Jays – 1, Atlanta Braves – 3Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium2:3751,763[3] 
2October 18Toronto Blue Jays – 5, Atlanta Braves – 4Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium3:3051,763[4] 
3October 20Atlanta Braves – 2, Toronto Blue Jays – 3SkyDome2:4951,813[5] 
4October 21Atlanta Braves – 1, Toronto Blue Jays – 2SkyDome2:2152,090[6] 
5October 22Atlanta Braves – 7, Toronto Blue Jays – 2SkyDome3:0552,268[7] 
6October 24Toronto Blue Jays – 4, Atlanta Braves – 3 (11 innings)Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium4:0751,763[8]

Matchups

Game 1

Saturday, October 17, 1992 at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Toronto 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0
Atlanta 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 X 3 4 0
WP: Tom Glavine (1–0)   LP: Jack Morris (0–1)
Home runs:
TOR: Joe Carter (1)
ATL: Damon Berryhill (1)

Braves fans had plenty to worry about in regard to both starting pitchers. Tom Glavine's post-season 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. In the offseason, the Blue Jays signed free agent pitcher Jack Morris to be the ace of their staff. Morris was coming off a 1991 World Series performance that saw him win series MVP and two of his three starts for the Minnesota Twins against the Braves. This included a complete game shutout in the deciding seventh game, where Morris pitched ten innings. While his 1991 postseason had been historic, Morris' 1992 postseason had been far from it to this point. He lost Game 1 of the ALCS against Oakland despite a complete game, and gave up five runs in the third inning of Game 4 but ended up with a no-decision after Toronto rallied for an extra-inning victory.

Glavine gave up a home run to Joe Carter in the fourth for the first run of the Series, while Morris shut the Braves out for five innings. In the sixth, with two runners on and two out Damon Berryhill golfed a Morris pitch over the right-field wall for a three-run homer. It was all the offense Atlanta needed, and the Braves took the game by a 3–1 count. 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 a Terry Pendleton home run in the bottom of the third inning of Game 4 of the 1991 Series. Morris pitched an additional 3 1⁄3 innings in that game, all ten in Game 7, and the first 5 2⁄3 innings of this game to run his scoreless innings streak in the World Series to 19.

Game 2

Sunday, October 18, 1992 at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Toronto 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 2 5 9 2
Atlanta 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 4 5 1
WP: Duane Ward (1–0)   LP: Jeff Reardon (0–1)   Sv: Tom Henke (1)
Home runs:
TOR: Ed Sprague (1)
ATL: None

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[9][10] 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.. On top of that, 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 a previous version of the song: "... 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 "we stand on guard, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee" before it was changed.

The pitching match-up featured, strangely, the top two pitchers in the National League in strikeouts for 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 their 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 toward the end of the season, finishing with a total of 215 strikeouts to lead the league. Cone, meanwhile, settled for the overall major league lead at a career high 261 strikeouts after recording 47 with the Blue Jays.

As far as the postseason had gone to that point, both men's fortunes varied. Smoltz had 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 five runs (three 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 scored on a wild pitch from Cone. Roberto Alomar was at third base with John Olerud batting. On the first pitch of the at-bat, 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 might have touched the plate with his hands before Smoltz was able to apply a tag.

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 (only the third hit for a pitcher in the World Series since 1979) to drive in Borders and cut the Atlanta lead to 2–1. Lee then scored on a single by Devon White, tying the game. The Braves rallied in the bottom half of the inning as Deion Sanders provided 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. Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston then pulled Cone in favor of David Wells, who gave up the fourth Atlanta run when 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 lifted in favor of Mike Stanton, who retired Olerud, and then closer Jeff Reardon struck out Kelly Gruber to end the threat.

The Jays entered the ninth trailing by the one run Reilly had cost them and turned to their bench, which the team had nicknamed "The Trenches". After a walk to Derek Bell, Toronto reserve infielder Ed Sprague drilled a pitch from Reardon, then baseball's all-time saves leader, to left for a two-run homer to give the Blue Jays the lead. The play was called by legendary Blue Jays announcer the late 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, Toronto closer Tom Henke hit pinch hitter Lonnie Smith with a pitch. Ron Gant came in to pinch run for him and, after Otis Nixon recorded the second out, he stole second. Sanders then walked to put the winning run on base and Pendleton, an NL MVP candidate, came to the plate. Pendleton had led the majors with a .391 average with runners in scoring position and two out. However, he popped out to Jays third baseman Kelly Gruber to seal the victory for Toronto. Gruber then angered Braves fans and players by mocking the "Tomahawk Chop" as he left the field.[11]

Game 3

Tuesday, October 20, 1992 at SkyDome in Toronto

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Atlanta 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 9 0
Toronto 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 3 6 1
WP: Duane Ward (2–0)   LP: Steve Avery (0–1)
Home runs:
ATL: None
TOR: Joe Carter (2), Kelly Gruber (1)

Before this game, the U.S. Marine Corps Color Guard offered to hoist the Canadian flag once more in order to make amends for the inverted flag incident of Game 2. Likewise, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police flew the flag of the United States.

As Game 3 moved across the border (for the first Canadian Classic) the question still remained of the Blue Jays' ballpark benefit. Before this series, the Blue Jays had previously only gone 3–6 in the postseason in their home park. Two of the wins, however, had come in the American League Championship Series as the Blue Jays won Game 2 and the clinching Game 6 against Oakland at home.

In the fourth inning, the first big defensive play of the Series nearly resulted in a rare World Series triple play and another bit of World Series history was made. With Deion Sanders and Terry Pendleton on with nobody out in the top of the inning Devon White made a leaping catch of a deep fly ball off the bat of Atlanta's David Justice, crashing into the center field wall as he did so. While White threw back to the second baseman Roberto Alomar, the baserunners got crossed up between second and third and Pendleton ran around Sanders, resulting in an automatic second out. While Sanders was still standing between second and third, first baseman John Olerud received Alomar's throw and relayed it to third baseman Kelly Gruber, who began chasing Sanders back to second. Sanders dove back toward the bag as Gruber lunged at him to try and tag him to complete the triple play. Second base umpire Bob Davidson ruled that Sanders was able to return to the base, but Gruber protested that he had tagged Sanders on his foot before he could slide back in. The television replays backed up Gruber's case, as he appeared to clip Sanders' heel with his glove a split second before Sanders began his slide.

In the bottom half of the fourth Joe Carter homered off of Braves starter Steve Avery, with the hit scoring the first ever World Series run in Canada. The Braves would tie the game in the sixth when Sanders ripped a double into the right-field corner and scored on a Justice single through the right side. They then took the lead in the top of the eighth. Otis Nixon led off the inning and hit a ball to third base that Gruber attempted to field, but the ball popped out of his glove and went into left field.. Nixon then stole second and with two out stood on third. Juan Guzman then walked Justice to pitch to Lonnie Smith, who delivered with a single that scored Nixon but also ended the inning as Justice was tagged out going to third.

With the Blue Jays coming to bat in the bottom half, Gruber received an immediate chance to make up for his gaffe in the field and in doing so, would erase a long hitless streak. After going hitless in the ALCS opener, Gruber had recorded a home run and a double in the second game. Those had been the only two hits he had recorded to that point in the postseason, as he failed to record a hit in either the remaining four LCS games or the first two games in the World Series and was 0-for-1 in this game with a walk in his previous at bat. After going twenty-three consecutive at-bats without recording a single hit, Gruber worked a full count on Avery and then drilled a home run into left field to tie the game. Gruber would only record one more hit in the series after this.

The top of the ninth inning saw the first World Series ejection since 1985.[11] Sid Bream led off the inning with a single. As was often the case late in games at this time, Braves manager Bobby Cox elected to pinch run for the slow-footed Bream with Brian Hunter, his backup and a legitimate threat to steal a base. With Jeff Blauser batting and the count at 2-2, Hunter took off from first. Catcher Pat Borders threw down to second to beat Hunter to the bag. After he put the tag on Hunter, shortstop Manuel Lee jumped up and told Borders to have first base umpire Dan Morrison rule if Blauser, who had attempted to check his swing, had gone around. Borders appealed and Morrison called Blauser out on a swinging third strike. Cox, who said he had been frustrated with home plate umpire Joe West's strike calls the entire night, picked up a batting helmet and threw it down with enough force that it bounced out of the Braves' dugout and rolled out onto the field. West, seeing this, ejected Cox from the game immediately after the incident. Shortly thereafter Duane Ward struck out Damon Berryhill to end the inning.

Avery started the bottom of the ninth for the Braves and gave up a single to Roberto Alomar. Acting manager Jimy Williams pulled Avery from the game and brought in hard-throwing Mark Wohlers to face Carter. CBS announcer Tim McCarver questioned the strategy, as Alomar was a threat to steal a base and Avery, as a left-handed pitcher, had a quicker pickoff move than the right-handed Wohlers. The Blue Jays took advantage of this as Alomar stole second on a 1-0 pitch. With first base now open and Carter ahead 2-0, Wohlers put him on intentionally to keep a double play possibility alive.

The next batter was Dave Winfield, who had been told by manager Cito Gaston that if Alomar and Carter reached in front of him, he wanted to move them into scoring position. Winfield did as Gaston asked and laid down a sacrifice bunt, which was successful and put the winning run at third base with one out. With the left-handed Olerud due up, Williams took the ball from Wohlers and called in left-handed specialist Mike Stanton. Gaston called Olerud back to the dugout after the change and sent Game 2 hero Ed Sprague, a right-hander, to pinch hit.

With Candy Maldonado due up and the bases loaded, Williams made one more change and brought in Jeff Reardon. Reardon, who had blown the save in Game 2 and took the loss, had recorded some success against Maldonado in his career, and looked to do so again with two curveballs for strikes. However, instead of switching pitches, Reardon elected to throw a third curve and Maldonado, who was expecting it, drove a single to deep center to bring in a Tomahawk Chopping Alomar in from third with the winning run.

Ward, the winner of Game 2, got his second victory of the series. The loss went to Avery as he was responsible for the two lead runners that were on base when the game ended. Reardon would not pitch again in the series after his back to back poor performances, and would not pitch in a postseason game again in his career before his 1994 retirement.

Game 4

Wednesday, October 21, 1992 at SkyDome in Toronto

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Atlanta 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 5 0
Toronto 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 X 2 6 0
WP: Jimmy Key (1–0)   LP: Tom Glavine (1–1)   Sv: Tom Henke (2)
Home runs:
ATL: None
TOR: Pat Borders (1)

The Braves continued to employ the short rotation they had used during the postseason and sent Tom Glavine, the Game 1 winner, out for his second start of the series. For the Blue Jays, veteran Jimmy Key was given the start. Key had been with the Blue Jays since 1984 and was one of several players from their first ever division champion squad that were still with the team. However, he had not performed particularly well during the season and was limited to mop-up duty in the ALCS.

The Braves began the game with a single off the bat of Otis Nixon, who was a threat to steal a base. Although Key managed to pick Nixon off of first, he immediately gave up a single to Jeff Blauser, hitting second in place of the resting Deion Sanders, and allowed him to steal second. Key neutralized the threat by forcing Terry Pendleton to line out and Lonnie Smith to ground out. Over the next six innings, the Braves only recorded one hit (another single by Nixon) and did not advance the runner past first base.

In the third inning, the Blue Jays scored their first run when Pat Borders hit a solo home run. They added a second run in the bottom of the seventh, which would prove decisive, when Kelly Gruber scored on a single by Devon White with two out.

The Braves broke through against Key in the eighth. Ron Gant, starting in place of Sanders, led off with a double. Brian Hunter, starting at first base in place of Sid Bream, followed by beating out a bunt down the third base line to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Key recorded back-to-back outs, retiring Damon Berryhill on a failed sacrifice bunt attempt and getting Mark Lemke to ground out to third. On the Lemke play, Gant scored the Braves' first run of the game and with the tying run now in scoring position as Hunter advanced to second on the groundout, Key was removed from the game. On his way off the field, he tipped his cap to the fans as they gave him a standing ovation.

Duane Ward was brought in for his third consecutive appearance and his first batter was Nixon, who had recorded two of the Braves' hits. Although Ward got Nixon to strike out swinging, the third strike got past Borders and Nixon took off for first base. Nixon then stole second to put the go-ahead runs in scoring position, with Hunter having advanced to third on the wild pitch. Blauser, however, ended the inning by grounding out to Olerud. Tom Henke closed the game for the Blue Jays by retiring Pendleton, Smith, and David Justice in order in the ninth and Toronto found itself a win away from becoming the first world championship team from outside the United States.

In what proved to be his last start for the Blue Jays after nine years, Key recorded his first victory in the postseason since he won Game 3 of the 1989 ALCS. Glavine pitched a second complete game in defeat for the Braves.

Game 5

Thursday, October 22, 1992 at SkyDome in Toronto

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Atlanta 1 0 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 7 13 0
Toronto 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 0
WP: John Smoltz (1–0)   LP: Jack Morris (0–2)   Sv: Mike Stanton (1)
Home runs:
ATL: David Justice (1), Lonnie Smith (1)
TOR: None

Down three games to one and facing elimination,[2] the Braves returned John Smoltz to the mound for Game 5, who was still seeking his first World Series win. Jack Morris, who had lost Game 1 of the series, was given the start for Toronto. Before the game Terry Pendleton, who had seen a 3–1 lead evaporate in the World Series before (having been a member of the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals), reminded his teammates that the possibility still existed that they may win the series. The middle of the Braves' lineup, which consisted that evening of Pendleton hitting third, David Justice fourth, and Lonnie Smith fifth, had been struggling with the rest of the team and to that point, none of the batters hitting in those three slots (Pendleton, Justice, Smith, or Sid Bream who had hit fifth in the first two games in Atlanta) had recorded an extra base hit. The Braves took care of that statistic quickly.

Otis Nixon led the game off for the Braves with a ground rule double due to fan interference. After Deion Sanders struck out, Nixon stole third as Pendleton batted. He then scored as Pendleton responded with a double of his own to right field, scoring the first run of the game and giving Justice a chance to drive in a runner in scoring position. Morris settled down, however, and retired Justice on a strikeout and Smith on a flyball to end the inning.

The Blue Jays tied the game in the bottom of the second. With one out, John Olerud singled and Candy Maldonado reached on a walk. Smoltz struck out Kelly Gruber for the second out, but Pat Borders responded with a double. The slow-footed Olerud was sent home on the play and the throw to the plate was wide, which enabled him to score and put Maldonado on third with the lead run. Manuel Lee ended the threat, however, by lining out to Pendleton.

The fourth inning saw the teams exchange runs again. In the visiting half, Justice led off with a home run for a 2-1 lead. Morris quickly retired Smith and Sid Bream, however, and Borders threw Jeff Blauser out stealing to keep the deficit at one. In the bottom half, Olerud and Maldonado reached base in front of Borders with one out, and as he had in the second inning he drove in Olerud with a single. But once again, the Blue Jays could not score the lead run as Lee grounded into a fielder's choice which forced Maldonado out at third and Smoltz struck Devon White out with Borders at second.

Morris started the fifth inning by striking out Damon Berryhill, whose home run in Game 1 saddled him with the loss, and forcing Mark Lemke to ground out. Nixon followed with his second hit of the game, then stole his second base of the game to put himself in scoring position. Sanders followed with a single to score Nixon, bringing Pendleton back to the plate. The third baseman followed with another hit that a fan reached over the fence and touched. This forced Sanders, who had rounded third and was on his way to score the Braves' second run of the inning, to return to third base. However, the Braves now had two runners in scoring position instead of one and Justice, coming off his home run an inning earlier, was due up.

Trailing 3-2 and with his ace in trouble, Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston decided to make a strategic play. In a move mirroring the one he made in the eighth inning of Game 3, Gaston ordered an intentional walk and put Justice on base. This brought Smith, with only one hit in the series, to the plate. As he recalled later, Smith saw the move as an insult to his ability as a player and said that it showed the Blue Jays saw him as an "easy out".[12] Now angry and determined to make the most of the opportunity, Smith drove a Morris pitch into the Braves' bullpen in right field for a grand slam and a 7-2 lead. That proved to be all for Morris as Gaston pulled him from the game immediately after giving up the home run, and David Wells retired Bream to end the inning.

Smoltz pitched into the seventh inning giving up one hit afterward, a single to Dave Winfield in the bottom of the fifth. After walking Lee to lead off the seventh, he was pulled in favor of Mike Stanton, who got White to ground into a fielder's choice and then induced a double play from Roberto Alomar to end the threat. The Blue Jays only received one more baserunner the rest of the night as Joe Carter singled, stole second, then advanced to third on a sacrifice fly by Ed Sprague in the eighth inning but got nothing additional.

Meanwhile, the Toronto relief corps of Wells, Mike Timlin, and Mark Eichhorn managed to keep the Braves in check from the remainder of the game. Atlanta threatened one more time in the ninth with one out as Lemke, Nixon, and Sanders all reached base, but Todd Stottlemyre induced a fly ball out to Maldonado off the bat of Pendleton and Lemke was thrown out trying to score.

Smoltz took the win, his first ever World Series victory, with Stanton getting the save and Morris taking his second loss. Morris would not pitch another postseason game after this, with Smith being the last batter he would face in the postseason.

Atlanta's offensive outburst ensured the series would return to the United States for at least one more game and dashed the Blue Jays' hopes of clinching the World Series at home on Canadian soil. The Braves would return home looking to force second straight Game 7 of the World Series, and potentially supplant the 1985 Kansas City Royals as the most recent team to come back from 3-1 down to win the World Series.

Smoltz's win in Game 5 was the first of only two World Series wins he recorded in his Hall of Fame career. After recording three no decisions in as many starts (Games 4 and 7 in 1991 and Game 2 in this series), Smoltz would go another four years before winning another World Series game before winning Game 1 of the 1996 World Series. His overall record in World Series play was 2-2; he lost Game 5 in 1996 and Game 4 in 1999. Smoltz's only other World Series start was in the 1995 World Series, where he recorded a no decision in Game 3 after the Braves rallied to force extra innings.

Morris, meanwhile, continued his struggles in the 1992 postseason. In four total appearances, Morris allowed a total of nineteen runs and went 0-3 with an ERA above 7.00. In the World Series alone, his ERA was 8.44, over seven points higher than his performance the year before when he recorded a 1.17 ERA. Game 5 would be his last postseason appearance for his career; Morris was injured toward the end of the following season and did not pitch in the postseason. He would retire from baseball in 1995.

Smith's grand slam was the first in a World Series since 1988, when Jose Canseco hit one in the Oakland Athletics' eventual 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Smith became the first player to hit one for the winning team since Kent Hrbek did so in Game 6 of the 1987 World Series for the Minnesota Twins, and as of the end of the 2015 season is the last to hit one for the visiting team in a World Series. Since then only two more grand slams have been hit in World Series play, one by Tino Martinez in 1998 and the other by Paul Konerko in 2005.

Game 6

Saturday, October 24, 1992 at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Toronto 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 14 1
Atlanta 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 8 1
WP: Jimmy Key (2–0)   LP: Charlie Leibrandt (0–1)   Sv: Mike Timlin (1)
Home runs:
TOR: Candy Maldonado (1)
ATL: None

The sixth game saw Steve Avery return to the mound for Atlanta in an attempt to make up for his Game 3 loss. Toronto countered with Game 2 starter David Cone, who received a no-decision after Ed Sprague's heroics saved him from a loss.

After playing the middle three games as the Blue Jays' designated hitter, Dave Winfield returned to playing right field as he had done in the first two games in Atlanta. Toronto manager Cito Gaston employed another lineup adjustment as well. He decided to keep Candy Maldonado in left field as he had done for the previous three games in Toronto instead of using Joe Carter there as he had done in the first two games in Atlanta. Gaston then placed Carter at first base in place of John Olerud.

The Blue Jays got on the board right out of the gate when David Justice misplayed a line drive by Carter to right field scoring Devon White who had singled. In the third, Atlanta's surprise hero of the Series Deion Sanders doubled off Carter's glove and scored when Terry Pendleton hit a sac fly. Maldonado responded by hitting a solo home run in the top of the fourth to give Toronto the lead again. The Blue Jays threatened again later in the inning as catcher Pat Borders reached on a double with one out. Three batters later, Borders attempted to score on a single and was thrown out at the plate by Sanders. Avery was pulled after this inning in favor of Pete Smith.

The Braves threatened in the bottom of the fifth against Cone, as Mark Lemke walked to lead off the inning and advanced to third on a single by Sanders with two out. However, after Sanders stole second to put the go ahead run in scoring position, Terry Pendleton struck out to end the inning. Neither team saw a runner reach third base in the sixth, seventh, or eighth. Cone left the game after six innings and gave way to Todd Stottlemyre, who recorded the first two outs of the seventh, and David Wells, who finished the inning. Duane Ward, who had won Games 2 and 3 of the series, shut down the Braves in the eighth. Atlanta kept the Blue Jays off the scoreboard as well, with Mike Stanton and Mark Wohlers pitching the eighth and ninth innings.

With the score still at 2-1 and the bottom of the order for the Braves due in the bottom of the ninth, Gaston once again turned to his closer Tom Henke. He and his fellow relievers had not given up an earned run in the previous seventy-seven postseason innings to this point, and the Blue Jays had also not blown any of their save opportunities in the ALCS or World Series. Jeff Blauser led off the inning with a single and with Damon Berryhill batting next, Braves manager Bobby Cox called for a sacrifice bunt. Berryhill, who had not been called on to sacrifice to advance a runner in either the regular season or the NLCS, did as he was asked and Blauser moved into scoring position with one out. With the tying run now at second, Cox called Lemke back to the dugout and sent Lonnie Smith to the plate to try and drive Blauser home.

Henke quickly got two strikes on the Game 5 hero, but Smith battled back to run the count full. On the eighth pitch of the at bat, Henke walked Smith to put the winning run on base. With the pitcher's spot up next, Cox called on another one of the Braves' heroes from the 1992 postseason and sent pinch-hitter Francisco Cabrera to bat. Cabrera had recorded the game and series winning hit in the deciding game of the NLCS and Cox hoped he could come up big again. Henke once again went to eight pitches with Cabrera before he forced him to hit a hard line drive to left that Maldonado nearly lost before jumping to catch it.

With the Braves now down to their final out, Otis Nixon stood in against Henke. After quickly falling behind 0-2, Nixon slapped a line drive into left field on the very next pitch. Blauser rounded third as Maldonado came up with the ball and threw home, but the ball cleared the backstop behind home plate and the game was now tied. With the wild throw, Smith and Nixon both advanced a base and Ron Gant, who had entered the game in the seventh inning as a defensive replacement for Sanders, came up next. Henke got Gant to fly out to end the inning but in the process had brought an end to the Toronto bullpen's aforementioned streaks.

For the second consecutive year, Game 6 of the World Series was headed to extra innings. Atlanta called on Charlie Leibrandt to make his first series appearance in the top of the tenth. His task was to face the fifth, sixth, and seventh hitters in the Blue Jays' lineup. Leibrandt forced a groundout by Maldonado leading off the inning, then gave up a single to Kelly Gruber. Borders then flew out, and Leibrandt forced pinch hitter Pat Tabler to line a pitch back to him to end the inning. Henke went back out for the bottom of the tenth and retired Pendleton on a groundout. Toronto then brought in Game 4 winner Jimmy Key, who retired Justice and Sid Bream on back to back groundouts to end the inning.

Leibrandt started the visiting eleventh by retiring Key on a foul pop. He followed that by hitting leadoff man Devon White with a pitch on a 1-2 count, and then allowed a single to Roberto Alomar. On the CBS television broadcast, analyst Tim McCarver theorized that with Carter coming to the plate, Cox would bring in Jeff Reardon to pitch. Although Reardon was warming in the bullpen and had been ready for some time, he also had not pitched after his back-to-back bad outings in Games 2 and 3 where he allowed the winning runs to score. Perhaps having that in mind, Cox stuck with the veteran Leibrandt and he rewarded his manager by recording the second out as Carter flied to center.

This brought a struggling Dave Winfield to the plate. Winfield, to this point in the series, was hitting below .250 and was hitless in his four previous at-bats in the game. He had also struggled in his only other appearance in the World Series, when he was a member of the 1981 New York Yankees team that lost that year's World Series. Leibrandt was worked to a full count by the 41-year-old veteran outfielder, and on the sixth pitch of the at-bat Winfield connected on a line drive down the left field line. White scored from second and after the ball took a bad hop off the left field corner and skipped away from Gant, Alomar scored without a play. Winfield's hit was his first career World Series extra-base hit, and at 41 he was the oldest player in baseball history to record one in the World Series.[13] Leibrandt managed to retire Maldonado to end the inning, but as he had done in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series, he gave up a run-scoring extra base hit to give the opposing team the lead; in that game he allowed a solo home run by Kirby Puckett which cost the Braves the game.

With a two-run lead, Gaston sent Key out for the last half of the inning to try and pick up his second win of the series. Blauser, as he had done in the ninth inning, led off with a single. On the very next pitch, Berryhill hit a ground ball to short that appeared to be an easy double play ball. However, the ball took a strange hop at the last moment and handcuffed veteran shortstop Alfredo Griffin, who had entered the game in the tenth as a replacement for Manuel Lee and was normally a sure handed fielder. Blauser advanced to third on the error, and Cox sent pitcher John Smoltz in to run for Berryhill. Rafael Belliard, who had taken Lemke's place in the field and in the lineup, stepped in to take his first at bat and Cox called for a sacrifice to move Smoltz into scoring position. With one out and the tying runs now both in scoring position, Brian Hunter was called on to pinch hit for Leibrandt. Key forced him to ground out to Carter at first, and while Blauser scored the Braves were in the same position they were in two innings earlier: tying run on base, two outs, and Otis Nixon batting.

As Nixon was announced, Gaston made his way to the mound to discuss strategy with his infielders. As the Blue Jays knew, Nixon was one of the fastest players in the game; he was one of two players, Sanders being the other, to record five stolen bases in the series. As many players with speed do, Nixon would lay down bunts from time to time and try to beat them out for base hits. Although doing so resulted in a relatively simple putout if not done properly, and despite the Braves being down to their last out, the Blue Jays still needed to consider the possibility of Nixon bunting. With this in mind, Gaston signaled to the Toronto bullpen to bring in Mike Timlin for his second appearance in the series. This move confused both McCarver and his broadcast partner Sean McDonough, who believed Key was staying in the game. Nixon, in addition to all of the aforementioned attributes, was a switch hitter who had better statistics as a left handed batter. Since Timlin was a right handed pitcher, Nixon would be hitting from his stronger side. In addition, the left handed batter's box is located closer to the first base line than the right handed box, which would give Nixon a faster jump toward first if he bunted.

As the conference ended, Carter said to Timlin to be aware that the bunt was a possibility and to "be careful". After fouling off the first pitch Nixon did indeed lay down the bunt. Having listened to Carter, Timlin was able to field the ball quickly and threw to first to retire Nixon and clinch the series for the Blue Jays.[11] In the ensuing celebration Carter was trying to hold onto the ball. Timlin stopped him as he was celebrating and asked for the ball, as even though Carter had recorded the last out Timlin had gotten the save, and said to him "gimme the ball, that's my save, that's my World Series save". Carter slammed the ball into Timlin's mitt and hugged him. The next year Carter managed to keep the ball from the last at-bat of the World Series, as he would be the final batter and won the Series with a home run.

Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston became the first African American manager to win a World Series.

American League president Dr. Bobby Brown presented the World Series Trophy in the place of the commissioner. Just a month earlier, Fay Vincent was forced to resign and was replaced by Bud Selig (then owner of the Milwaukee Brewers) on what was originally perceived to be an "interim basis." Dr. Brown also presented the Blue Jays the trophy in 1993. The last World Series not to be presided over by a Commissioner until this year had taken place in 1919; Selig officially became Commissioner of Baseball in 1998.

It also marked the first world championship for the city of Toronto since the National Hockey League's Toronto Maple Leafs won the 1967 Stanley Cup Finals.

Composite box

1992 World Series (4–2): Toronto Blue Jays (A.L.) over Atlanta Braves (N.L.)

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Toronto Blue Jays 1 1 1 4 2 0 1 2 3 0 2 17 45 4
Atlanta Braves 1 1 1 2 7 4 0 2 1 0 1 20 44 2
Total attendance: 311,460   Average attendance: 51,910
Winning player's share: $144,962   Losing player's share: $84,259[14]

The 1992 World Series is notable for being one of the few in which the losing team outscored the winning team over the course of the series.

Broadcasting

At 30 years of age, CBS' Sean McDonough became the youngest man to call all nine innings and games of a World Series (while serving as a full network television employee). Although Vin Scully and Al Michaels were several years younger when they called their first World Series (1955 and 1972 respectively), they were products of the then broadcasting policy of announcers representing the participating teams (a process that ended following the 1976 World Series). McDonough's record would subsequently be broken by Fox's Joe Buck, who at 27 years of age, called the 1996 World Series. Coincidentally, it was Joe Buck's father, Jack, that McDonough had replaced as CBS's lead play-by-play man. Serving as field reporters for CBS's coverage were Jim Kaat (in the Braves' dugout) and Lesley Visser (in the Blue Jays' dugout). The Series drew an overall Nielsen rating of 20.2, down from the previous year's 24.0 but higher than that of any subsequent World Series.

CBS Radio also broadcast the Series nationally, with Vin Scully and Johnny Bench announcing. Locally, the Series was called on WGST-AM in Atlanta by Skip Caray, Pete Van Wieren, Ernie Johnson, Joe Simpson, and Don Sutton, and on CJCL-AM in Toronto by Jerry Howarth and Tom Cheek.

References

  1. ↑ Bisher, Furman (1992). A Series for the World: Baseball's First International Fall Classic. Woodford Press. ISBN 978-0-942627-05-3.
  2. 1 2 Baumeister, Roy F. (1995). "Disputing the effects of championship pressures and home audiences". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 68: 645. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.68.4.644.
  3. ↑ "1992 World Series Game 1 – Toronto Blue Jays vs. Atlanta Braves". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  4. ↑ "1992 World Series Game 2 – Toronto Blue Jays vs. Atlanta Braves". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  5. ↑ "1992 World Series Game 3 – Atlanta Braves vs. Toronto Blue Jays". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  6. ↑ "1992 World Series Game 4 – Atlanta Braves vs. Toronto Blue Jays". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  7. ↑ "1992 World Series Game 5 – Atlanta Braves vs. Toronto Blue Jays". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  8. ↑ "1992 World Series Game 6 – Toronto Blue Jays vs. Atlanta Braves". Retrosheet. Retrieved September 13, 2009.
  9. ↑ "Canada / Baseball World Series / Flag NBC News broadcast from the Vanderbilt Television News Archive". Archived from the original on May 28, 2009. Retrieved May 25, 2009.
  10. ↑ Wiebe, Todd J. (2010). "A Flag is Flipped and a Nation Flaps: The Politics and Patriotism of the First International World Series". NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture 18 (2): 108–113.
  11. 1 2 3 Major League Baseball Presents: 1992 World Series. Dir. Mike Kostel, Rich Domich. Perf. Len Carlou, Tim McCarver, Sean McDonough. Videocasette, DVD. Major League Baseball Productions, QVideo, 1992, 2002.
  12. ↑ 1992 World Series: Toronto Blue Jays vs. Atlanta Braves. Major League Baseball Productions, 1992.
  13. ↑ Nemec, David; Flatow, Scott. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures (2008 ed.). New York: Signet. p. 367. ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0.
  14. ↑ "World Series Gate Receipts and Player Shares". Baseball Almanac. Archived from the original on May 2, 2009. Retrieved June 14, 2009.

Notes

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, April 18, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.