A Look to the Past: 1989 World Series

Every week, I look through the weekly match-ups and find one that is a postseason rematch. This weekend starts interleague play which begins a flurry of World Series rematches. Tonight, the Giants visit the A’s which takes me back to 1989 when something far more important than a World Series happened.

1989 World Series
Oakland Athletics 4, San Francisco Giants 0

In 1989, the Oakland A’s were in the midst of a mini-dynasty. Between 1988 and 1992, they won four division titles and three straight American League Pennants from 1988-1990. In each World Series, they were heavily favored but managed to win only one. The San Francisco Giants captured a rare pennant in 1989 by defeating the Cubs in the NLCS in five games. Will Clark had a fantastic series hitting .650 (13 for 20) with two homers and eight runs batted in.

When these two teams met in the World Series there was a familiarity between the fans because of course many of the fans rooted for both teams and there was general feeling that no matter who won, the Bay Area would be a winner.

Turns out the Athletics made it very clear from the start who was going to win this World Series. Dave Stewart, one of the best postseason pitchers of the 1980’s and 1990’s, was given the ball for Game One and threw a five-hit shutout against the hot Giants offense. The A’s put the game away early by building a 5-0 lead after four innings with homers by Dave Parker and Walt Weiss contributing to the rout. Game Two was more of the same. 19-game winner Mike Moore again shut the Giants down, limiting them just to a single run. The A’s scored four times in the fourth when Terry Steinbach hit a three run homer. Hall of Famer closer Dennis Eckersley came on in the ninth to finish up a 5-1 win

Game Three was schedule for two days after Game Two. The fans were filing into Candlestick Park and ABC television was starting their broadcast just after 5:00 local time when an earthquake hit the San Francisco area. ABC Broadcaster Tim McCarver was right in the middle of a highlight of a previous game when the 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit. The ABC feed was cut off and the game was postponed for 10 days.

One of the more remarkable things about this event is the possibility that the World Series actually saved lives, as an article in Sports Illustrated suggested at the time. The Cypress Street Viaduct collapsed which killed 42 people. However, the highway may not have been as busy as it usually was because many people left work early (remember, the earthquake hit during rush hour) to either go to the game or to watch the game on TV.

The World Series resumed after a 10 day delay making the 1989 Fall Classic the longest running series in history. There was a festive mood at the park even though the hometown Giants were being pounded again by the A’s and especially Dave Henderson. Hendu doubled high off the wall in the first to drive in two. Then, he homered in his next two at bats. Dave Stewart was making the Game Three start and handed the ball off to the bullpen with a 13-3 lead. During the ninth inning, a bank of lights in the upper deck in right field went out. The fans up in that deck assisted the stadium by holding out flashlights. Meanwhile, the Giants began to make a dent in the huge lead. They scored four in the ninth and helped set a record for most combined homers hit (seven) in a World Series game.

Game Four was eerily similar to Game Three. The A’s pounded Giants’ starter Don Robinson and reliever Mike LaCoss for seven runs in the first five innings. The Giants roared back with six combined runs in the sixth and seventh to cut the lead to 8-6. The A’s bullpen was too good to let a lead like that completely slip away. Eckersley eventually closed out the game with a nice play at first and and his trademark pump of the fist.

This is unquestionably one of the worst, if not the worst World Series in baseball history. The play on the field was not competitive. Late rallies made the games closer than they really were and still the A’s outscored the Giants 32-14. All of these games were over by the fourth or fifth inning. Yet, after the earthquake, the games themselves didn’t really matter. It was all about the two cities these teams represented surviving the horrible events.

MVP: Dave Stewart