Top 25 All-time Blue Jays' Games: #23: Jays Clinch A.L. East 1993

#23: Jays clinch third straight AL East title

Toronto Blue Jays (2) at Milwaukee Brewers (0)

Monday, September 27, 1993

County Stadium

            On a cold, damp night in Milwaukee, the Blue Jays became the first team to win three straight American League East titles since the 1976-78 New York Yankees. It was the start of what would turn out to be the last hurrah for this bunch of players, as less than a month later they would be celebrating their second consecutive World Series Championship.

            However, it was a different team than the one that had won the previous year. While the 1992 team depended on solid pitching, strong defense and timely hitting, the 1993 version clubbed their opponents into submission. This was perhaps the best offensive unit in franchise history as not only could they hit for average and supply power, their effectiveness with runners in scoring position was what defined them.

            The personnel was different as well. A new third baseman (Ed Sprague in for Kelly Gruber), shortstop (Tony Fernandez for Manuel Lee), left fielder (Rickey Henderson for Candy Maldonado), designated hitter (Paul Molitor for Dave Winfield) and new pitchers in the starting rotation. Jimmy Key had signed with the Yankees as a free agent and Jack Morris was injured. Dave Stewart was added as a free agent signing and Pat Hentgen quickly became the ace of the staff after winning 19 games in his first full season as a starter.

            The game in which they clinched was rather dull, but it did have its moments. This would actually be the 19^th win for Hentgen as he pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits while striking out seven. Duane Ward—who had replaced Tom Henke as the closer—would record his 43^rd save of the season.

            Former Brewer, Molitor, opened the scoring in the top of the second when he hit a home run to left field off of Milwaukee starter, Cal Eldred. The few Brewer fans that were in attendance saluted Molitor, who had been a superstar while with the Milwaukee organization for more than a dozen years, when he circled the bases.

            The second run was scored an inning later when centre-fielder, Devon White, hit a sacrifice fly that scored Sprague from third. After that, not much happened in the way of offense.

            Probably the most exciting moment of the night occurred in the top of the eighth when home plate umpire, Ken Kaiser, called White out on strikes. Devo, obviously mad at the call, stewed in the dugout. After someone from the Toronto bench complained about the strike call, Kaiser—a former professional wrestler—just glared at the Blue Jays’ players.

            Fernandez, jokingly held out his arms as if to say, “What’s the problem?” and looked like he was about to get tossed until back-up shortstop, Alfredo Griffin, pulled Fernandez back into the dugout and made the motion with his arms for everybody to calm down.

            The bottom of the ninth ended on a 6-4-3 double play (Fernandez to Roberto Alomar to John Olerud) and the Jays celebrated the fifth division championship in club history. It was a muted celebration—not like the previous four—as the team took a business-like approach and new that what they really wanted to celebrate had not yet been achieved.

            At the time, no one would have ever predicted it would be another 22 years before the Toronto Blue Jays would celebrate another division championship.

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Cubs: 100 Years At Wrigley: Part I: The Ball Park

**Writer’s Correction: In earlier posts, I mentioned we would be having a five-part series on the 100^th Anniversary of Wrigley Field. That was an erroneous comment on my part: Wrigley Field actually opened in 1914. The Chicago Cubs started playing there in 1916, meaning they have played in Wrigley for 100 years. It is this milestone that this series was meant to celebrate. My apologies if I misled anyone.**

The Cubs at Wrigley 100 Years

Part I: The Ball Park

                Depending on who you talk to, the best ballpark in all of Baseball is either Fenway Park in Boston or Wrigley Field in Chicago. While I’ve never been to either (they’re both on my bucket list) I would probably favour Fenway over Wrigley. But we’re going to take a look at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. While Wrigley opened in 1914 as home of the Chicago Whales of the Federal League, the Cubs were the first Major League club to call Wrigley home, and 2016 is the 100^th anniversary of the Cubs at Wrigley.

                While the ballpark is known for it’s lovely view of the downtown Chicago skyline and the famous, beautiful ivy covering the outfield walls, it wasn’t much to look at back when it first opened. It was a ballpark, plain and simple.

                Originally named Weeghman Park, after the owner of the Whales, Charles Weeghman, the park was constructed the way most of the parks were at the time: angular and shaped by the surrounding streets. The outfield fence was wooden and the distance down the right-field foul line was only 300 feet. Down the left-field foul line, old Seminary buildings blocked the view to Waveland Avenue.

                The park capacity was only 14,000, but that was expanded when the Seminary buildings were knocked down prior to the 1915 season. The capacity increases to 18,000 and a scoreboard was constructed in centre-field, where it has been since (in one form or another).

                But the Federal League folded after the 1915 season and Weeghman Park would have a new tenant for 1916: the Chicago Cubs of the National League. In 1918, Charles Weeghman would sell his stake in the club to William Wrigley, who renamed the park “Cubs Park” for the 1919 season. By 1922, Wrigley decided that he needed to expand the ballpark in order to seat more fans and have some updated facilities.

                By Opening Day in 1923, Cubs Park would have a seating capacity of 31,000. The wooden bleachers had been replaced by steel-framed wooden seats. In 1926, the grand stand would be double-decked. The following season, Cubs Park would be renamed “Wrigley Field.”

                But it wouldn’t be until 1937 that the ivy would start to grow on the outfield walls. First the wooden bleachers would be replaced by concrete, fronted by brick and then the ivy would be added. A new scoreboard was built and the outfield wall would have a symmetrical and graceful look to it.

                The next major change to Wrigley would not happen for another 51 years. While all parks around MLB would introduce night games, Wrigley would be the only park not to follow suit as there were no lights towering over the stadium. The Cubs had been scheduled to put up lights for the 1942 season, but after the attack of Pearl Harbor and America’s entry into World War II, Wrigley’s son (Philip) donated the materials to the war effort.

                Philip Wrigley would then decide never to install lights and it wasn’t until the Wrigleys no longer owned the Cubs that the lights would be installed. But by the time the new owners took over in 1981 (The Tribune Company), the city of Chicago had instituted an ordinance that prohibited night events in the area as it was primarily a residential neighbourhood.

                Finally, in February of 1988, a proposal for night games, provided it was for a limited number of nights during the year, was agreed upon and the lights were installed atop Wrigley Field, with the first night game being on August 8^th of that year against the Philadelphia Phillies.

                Some other traits of the stadium, include the “W” and “L” flags that are flown depending on what the result of the last game was: obviously the “W” flag flies if the Cubs won and the “L” flag if they weren’t so fortunate. During the seventh-inning stretch, the singing of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” is usually led by a celebrity of some sort. Past singers have included football’s Mike Ditka and Jay Cutler, hockey’s Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, actors Tom Arnold, Bill Murray and Gary Sinse, and musicians Ozzy Osborne and Eddie Vedder.

                Besides the Cubs and the Whales, other teams who have called Wrigley Field home are past and present NFL teams, the Hammond Pros (1920-26), the Chicago Cardinals (1931-39) and the Chicago Bears (1921-70).

                On February 1^st, 2004, Wrigley Field was designated as a Chicago landmark.

Next week: we will look at some of the great Chicago Cub players who called Wrigley “home”.

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Top 25 All-time Blue Jays' Games: #24: The Jays Come of Age

#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 18^th, 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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