#24: Young Jays Come of Age, 1983
Kansas City Royals (2) at Toronto
Blue Jays (8)
Monday, July 18, 1983
Exhibition Stadium
When
the Toronto Blue Jays gained membership into the American League East in 1977,
they weren’t done any favours by Major League Baseball. Compare them to the
last expansion teams, Tampa Bay and Arizona in 1998 (more specifically Arizona)
and it’s not even close. While Arizona and Tampa had the luxury of throwing
dollars around to lure free agents, the Jays had to depend on the expansion
draft, and pretty much got no more than cast-offs from other teams’ rosters.
It
took several years of scouting and drafting to gather enough young players—who
worked their way through the minor league system—and bring them along slowly onto
the big league roster. Finally in 1983, their seventh season in the league, the
Jays had a young nucleus that was starting to win with confidence, and
challenge perennial division contenders Baltimore, New York and Detroit.
Unfortunately,
the Jays were pretty much ignored by the American media, most likely because
they were fearful that a team from Canada might one day be good enough to
challenge for it all (they had recently received a scare from the Montreal
Expos two years earlier). However, the night of July 18th, 1983, saw
the Blue Jays host the Kansas City Royals with a special twist: it was on ABC’s
Monday Night Baseball.
The
Jays came into the game with a record of 51-35 and a two-game lead in the
division. They had Jim Clancy on the mound and were up against Royal
left-hander, Larry Gura. After Clancy retired Kansas City in order in the
first, Jays’ centre-fielder, Lloyd Moseby, doubled with one out, and promptly
scored on an RBI single by third baseman, Garth Iorg: 1-0 Toronto.
The
Royals tied the score with two out in the third, when George Brett doubled in
U.L. Washington, but the Jays quickly regained the lead in the bottom half of
the inning. Second baseman, Damaso Garcia, led off with a single to centre and
Moseby tripled him home. A ground out and a walk later, Moseby scored on a
sacrifice fly off the bat of left-fielder, Barry Bonnell: 3-1 Toronto.
Toronto
would erupt for five runs in the bottom of the fourth. First baseman, Willie
Upshaw, led off the inning by being hit by a pitch. Catcher Buck Martinez
followed with a two-run home run to make the score 5-1. Out one later, Garcia
singled, knocking Gura out of the game. His replacement, Mike Armstrong, walked
Moseby before getting pinch-hitter, Rance Mulliniks to fly out. However,
designated hitter, Cliff Johnson, doubled to left scoring Garcia and Moseby.
Johnson would score the eighth Toronto run when Bonnell singled him home.
The
Jays didn’t get another hit the rest of the night, but the damage to the Royals
had been done. Clancy allowed a home run to Brett in the top of the sixth, then
held Kansas City hitless the rest of the way, pitching a complete game. Final
score: Toronto-8, Kansas City-2.
Toronto
showed all of baseball what they could do that night and went through the rest
of the summer considered by the baseball media as a serious contender. While
they hung close with the Orioles for another month or so, they faded down the
stretch as August turned into September and eventually finished in fourth
place, nine games behind Baltimore.
Despite
the disappointing finish after a strong four and a half months, the table was
set for Toronto being a challenger for the division title throughout the rest
of the decade and well into the 1990s.
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