The Ultimate 1984 World Series - American History Information Guide and Reference

The 1984 World Series began on October 9, 1984 and ended October 14. The American League champion Detroit Tigers played against the National League champion San Diego Padres.

Umpires: Doug Harvey (NL), Larry Barnett (AL), Bruce Froemming (NL), Rich Garcia (AL), Paul Runge (NL), Mike Reilly (AL)

Series MVP: Alan Trammell

Contents

Game 1

Game 1 set the tone for the contest as Mark Thurmond managed to last five innings with a 2-1 lead, but surrendered a crucial two-out, two-run homer to Larry Herndon in the fifth. Graig Nettles and Terry Kennedy both singled to open the San Diego sixth, but the Tigers' Jack Morris (a nineteen game winner) snuffed out their momentum by striking out the rest of the side. Kurt Bevacqua continued the fleeting comeback with a leadoff double in the seventh, but was thrown out at third while attempting to stretch the bases. Despite the close call, Morris remained focused and sat down the last nine remaining Padre batters for the 3-2 victory.

 October 9, 1984 at Jack Murphy Stadium (San Diego Padres)

                                1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9     R  H  E
                                -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -     -  -  -
   Detroit Tigers               1  0  0    0  2  0    0  0  0     3  8  0
   San Diego Padres             2  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0     2  8  1

   PITCHERS: DET - Morris
             SDP - Thurmond, Hawkins (6), Dravecky (8)

              WP - Morris

LP - Thurmond

            SAVE - none

  HOME RUNS: DET - Herndon
             SDP - none

 ATTENDANCE: 57,908

Game 2

 October 10, 1984 at Jack Murphy Stadium (San Diego Padres)

                                1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9     R  H  E
                                -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -     -  -  -
   Detroit Tigers               3  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0     3  7  3
   San Diego Padres             1  0  0    1  3  0    0  0  X     5 11  0

   PITCHERS: DET - Petry, Lopez (5), Scherrer (6), Bair (7), Hernandez (8)
             SDP - Whitson, Hawkins (1), Lefferts (7)

              WP - Hawkins

LP - Petry

            SAVE - Hernandez

  HOME RUNS: DET - none
             SDP - Bevacqua

 ATTENDANCE: 57,911

Game 3

 October 12, 1984 at Tiger Stadium (Detroit Tigers)

                                1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9     R  H  E
                                -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -     -  -  -
   San Diego Padres             0  0  1    0  0  0    1  0  0     2  5  0
   Detroit Tigers               0  4  1    0  0  0    0  0  X     5  7  0

   PITCHERS: SDP - Lollar, Booker (2), Harris (3)
             DET - Wilcox, Scherrer (7), Hernandez (7)

              WP - Wilcox

LP - Lollar

            SAVE - none

  HOME RUNS: SDP - none
             DET - Castillo

 ATTENDANCE: 51,970

Game 4

 October 13, 1984 at Tiger Stadium (Detroit Tigers)

                                1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9     R  H  E
                                -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -     -  -  -
   San Diego Padres             0  1  0    0  0  0    0  0  1     2 10  2
   Detroit Tigers               2  0  2    0  0  0    0  0  X     4  7  0

   PITCHERS: SDP - Show, Dravecky (3), Lefferts (7), Gossage (8)
             DET - Morris

              WP - Morris

LP - Show

            SAVE - none

  HOME RUNS: SDP - Kennedy
             DET - Trammell (2)

 ATTENDANCE: 52,130

Game 5

 October 14, 1984 at Tiger Stadium (Detroit Tigers)

                                1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9     R  H  E
                                -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -     -  -  -
   San Diego Padres             0  0  1    2  0  0    0  1  0     4 10  1
   Detroit Tigers               3  0  0    0  1  0    1  3  X     8 11  1

   PITCHERS: SDP - Thurmond, Hawkins (1), Lefferts (5), Gossage (7)
             DET - Petry, Scherrer (4), Lopez (5), Hernandez (8)

              WP - Lopez

LP - Hawkins

            SAVE - Hernandez

  HOME RUNS: SDP - Bevacqua
             DET - Gibson (2), Parrish

 ATTENDANCE: 51,901

Trivia

This was the first World Series that Peter Ueberroth presided over as commissioner.

Three players set World Series hitting records during the 1984 World Series.

While Alan Trammell won the Sport Magazine variation of the World Series Most Valuable Player Award, Jack Morris won the Babe Ruth variation.

After the Tigers won the 1984 World Series, 100,000 poured into the streets of Detroit, with the disturbances resulting in one death.

After being unceremoniously dumped by the Cincinatti Reds in 1978, Tigers manager Sparky Anderson immediately vowed that he would win a World Championship for Detroit in less than five years. Anderson would become the first manager to win a World Championship in both the American & National League.

If the Chicago Cubs hadn't loss the NLCS against the Padres, who were down 0-2 in the best of five series, then their home games couldn't have been played at Wrigley Field. Major League Baseball now had a mandate that all World Series games had to be played at night (for a primetime television audience) even though Wrigley Field wouldn't install lights for another four years. The Cubs would've then played their "home" World Series games oddly enough, not at nearby Comiskey Park, but in Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

20 years after winning the 1984 World Series Most Valuable Player Award, Alan Trammell would become manager of the Detroit Tigers.

The 1984 World Series was a rematch between managers Sparky Anderson (Detroit) and Dick Williams (San Diego). Anderson & Williams previously faced off in the 1972 World Series between Anderson's Cincinatti Reds & Williams' Oakland Athletics. Incidentally, Anderson & Williams were also minor teammates while with the Dodgers organization.

The 1984 World Series was a battle of sorts between the multi-million dollar American fast-food chains. Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan owned the Tigers while McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, who died several months before the 1984 World Series, owned the Padres.

During his pivitol at-bat against Goose Gossage in Game 5, Kirk Gibson made a $10 bet (flashing ten fingers) with his manager Sparky Anderson that Gossage would pitch to him. Padres manager Dick Williams initially wanted Gossage, who had dominated Gibson in the past, to intentially walk Gibson. Gibson & Anderson successfully called the Padres' bluff as Gibson hit a game winning three run home run in what turned out to be the clincher.

Tigers first baseman Darrell Evans' 3 year old son Nicky (while dressed in his Tiger uniform) went around pouring champagne down players' pants during ensuing celebration after Game 5.

By the time the 1984 World Series rolled around, Tiger Stadium became the oldest ballpark to ever host a World Series.

The 1984 Padres adopted Ray Parker Jr.'s Ghostbusters as their theme song (a la the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates using Sister Sledge's We Are Family as their theme song). During their playoff series against the Chicago Cubs, the Padre fans turned Ghostbusters into Cubbusters. Ironically, the movie Ghostbusters starred noted Chicago Cub fan Bill Murray.

External links

Categories: World Series | 1984 in sports | Detroit Tigers | San Diego Padres

Your American History Reference Guide! - 1984 World Series

1984 World Series