Defending World Champions Deliver Rare Road Fireworks: Minnesota Twins at Toronto Blue Jays, August 3, 1988

August 3, 1988, was a scorching day on the north shore of Lake Ontario; in Imperial-averse Canada, the temperature reached a high of 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit). Playing an evening game offered little relief from the heat for the Toronto Blue Jays and their visitors, the Minnesota Twins. When Jeff Musselman of the Jays threw the first pitch at 7:40, the temperature had fallen to only 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit). Despite the oppressive heat, the announced crowd was 31,340.

What made this game special was that it was the author’s first trip to a major-league ballpark. An event that will forever hold a special place in his memory.

Little had been expected of Minnesota in 1987. Described as “rank outsiders” by author Mike Ross in a review of the 1987 season, the Twins had been forecast to compete with the Seattle Mariners and the Chicago White Sox for the cellar of the American League West.1 Once the season began however, the Twins got off to their fastest start in years. On June 10, they crept into first place, and they never looked back.

In a strange season in which only 10 games separated first and last place, the Twins won their seven-team division with a record of 85–77. What’s more, the Twins were outscored by their opponents in the regular season, 806–786. They went on to defeat the Detroit Tigers, owners of baseball’s best regular-season mark, 98–64, in the American League Championship Series, before winning the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Despite winning baseball’s ultimate prize, the Twins had one glaring Achilles heel: their inability to win on the road. They registered an abominable record of 29–52 while wearing their new gray pinstriped road uniforms. During the World Series, their road record was even worse than that. All four of their victories occurred amid the madness of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, while they went 0–3 against the Cardinals in St. Louis.

Although the Twins improved on the road in 1988, they still had their moments of ineptitude. Facing the Blue Jays at Exhibition Stadium on August 2, the Twins, behind Charlie Lea, lost an 11–1 decision to Jim Clancy. The loss dropped their record to 57–47, good for second place in the West, 6½ games behind the powerhouse Oakland A’s.

 

 

The Blue Jays were wading through strange waters of their own. On September 26, 1987, they had sat atop the American League East with a 3½-game lead and seven games to play.2 They skidded to the finish line with a seven-game losing streak. When the Jays reconvened in 1988, manager Jimy Williams sought to tinker with the lineup by moving center fielder Lloyd Moseby to left to make room for rookie Silvestre Campusano. The move relegated George Bell to designated hitter.3

Bell was a man of complex contrasts. An offensive titan and a defensive liability on the field, he was both generous and histrionic away from the diamond. For example, when he was booed after committing two errors in a loss to the Baltimore Orioles, Bell told the press that the fans could “kiss [his] purple butt.”4

Needless to say, a year after hitting 47 home runs and driving in 134 while batting .308, the reigning American League Most Valuable Player did not take his demotion well.5 Ernie Whitt remembers:“George arrived in camp on March 2, making a lot of statements I’m sure he would have liked to have taken back… [but] once the media gets a hold of it, there’s no taking back anything.” Whitt continued that Bell “thought the organization was [mistreating] him, and he seemed to blame Jimy more than anyone else.”6

Predictably, a row between Bell and Williams ensued, splitting the Blue Jays clubhouse, which seemed to affect their performance on the field. Only the ice cream treats sold on Dickie Dee bicycles were colder than the Blue Jays in the spring. But for the grace of the Orioles and their 0–21 start, the Blue Jays would have ended April in last place. By the morning of August 3, the Jays had improved to 53–54, tied for fourth place with the Milwaukee Brewers, 10½ games behind the Tigers.

The Blue Jays would face not Frank Viola or Bert Blyleven that night but spot starter Juan Berenguer. The well-traveled Panamanian had developed a cult following in the Upper Midwest. Known for his alter ego of “Señor Smoke,” complete with briefcase, trench coat, and sunglasses, Berenguer raised his arm toward the sky each time he struck out an opposing hitter. He even inspired a music video, “The Berenguer Boogie.” Occasionally, he tired early, and in those outings, he was known as “El Gasolino.” Which pitcher would show up?

The first inning was not pretty for the Blue Jays. Danny Gladden led off for Minnesota, drawing a walk against Musselman. With second baseman Steve Lombardozzi at the plate, Gladden reached second on a passed ball by Whitt. It was a play that would irrevocably alter the dynamic of the game.

After a single by Lombardozzi and a double by Gary Gaetti, aided by a Bell error in left field, the score was already 2–0 for the Twins. The visitors made it 3–0 when Gene Larkin clubbed a single to right, just beyond the reach of Rick Leach. It would have been a four-run inning but for Jesse Barfield, usually the right fielder but playing center in this game, throwing Larkin out at the plate.

Señor Smoke retired the Blue Jays in order to start the game. With two outs in the bottom of the second, Kelly Gruber walked and stole second, but was unable to score when Leach flied out to Gladden in left field to end the inning.

In the top of the third, Gaetti singled to left, reaching second on yet another error by Bell. When Larkin grounded to shortstop Tony Fernandez, Williams sent Musselman to the showers. Musselman may not have had the highest salary of his graduating class from Harvard University, but he had the highest earned-run average.

The Blue Jays’ luck did not improve with Frank Wills in relief of Musselman. In the fourth inning, Kirby Puckett came to the plate with Gladden and Lombardozzi in scoring position. Wills yielded a double to Puckett to extend the Twins’ lead to 5–0. In the bottom half of the inning, El Gasolino showed up. Whitt and Rance Mulliniks each walked to start the inning. With runners at first and second, Bell was given a perfect situation to show why he was the MVP in 1987. But this was 1988, a year when Bell never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. He was called out on strikes. Young Fred McGriff then offered a preview of what was to come in his Hall of Fame career, clearing the bases with a three-run homer. Minnesota 5, Toronto 3.

In the bottom of the fifth, Keith Atherton entered the game in relief of Berenguer. He held the Blue Jays scoreless for three innings. The Twins added another run in the top of the seventh when Larkin doubled to right to score Gaetti. That marked the end of Wills’ evening, as he was relieved by Doug Bair. Recently recalled from Syracuse, the 38-year-old right-hander enticed Greg Gagne to pop up to first, ending the inning.

With the Twins leading by three, closer Jeff Reardon was summoned from the bullpen in the eighth inning. Known as “The Terminator,” Reardon was only three years removed from a 41-save season with the Montreal Expos. In the top of the ninth, Minnesota extended its lead by two as Gaetti rapped a triple to center, driving in Puckett, who had singled to start the inning. With one out, Kent Hrbek grounded out to score Gaetti from third base. The Blue Jays were down to their final three outs, trailing the Twins, 8–3.

Reardon struck out Barfield to lead off the bottom half of the inning and followed that up by enticing Manuel Lee to ground out. Fernandez hit a two-out single but failed to score as Whitt hit a pop fly into John Moses’s glove in right field to end the game. Atherton was credited with the win, Musselman took the loss, and Reardon earned his 27th save. It was a rare display of fireworks for a Twins team known for its offensive paucity on the road.

With the temperatures beginning to abate in August and September, the Blue Jays found their stride. They overtook the New York Yankees but could not surpass Detroit. The Tigers themselves were overrun by the Boston Red Sox, thanks to “Morgan Magic,” highlighted by a 24-game winning streak at Fenway Park. The Blue Jays finished the 1988 season with a record of 87–75, tied for third once again with the Brewers.

As for the Twins, they set an American League record by selling 3 million tickets to watch a team that finished 91–71, 13 games behind Oakland. After a heart attack ended Musselman’s baseball career at the age of 29, he found a better use for his Harvard degree, one that has allowed him to have a greater impact on baseball than he ever did while on the mound. He is now the vice president of Boras Corporation. Yes, that Boras.

Included among the 31,340 who passed through the Exhibition Stadium turnstiles on August 3, 1988, were MAXWELL KATES and his family. As a 10-year-old, it was his first in-person baseball game. Now an accountant living in Toronto, he has attended 14 SABR conventions, beginning with Milwaukee in 2001. He wrote a monthly column for the Houston-based Pecan Park Eagle, and in 2018, he and Bill Nowlin co-edited Time for Expansion Baseball. Past speaking engagements include the University of Toronto, the Limmud Conference, the Canadian Baseball History Conference, as well as SABR conventions in Seattle, Houston, and Baltimore.

 

Sources

Historical records and game information are drawn from these websites:

Baseball Reference, https://www.baseball-reference.com/.

Retrosheet, https://www.retrosheet.org/.

Government of Canada Weather Information, https://weather.gc.ca.

 

Notes

1 Mike Ross, Baseball (London: Hamlyn Publishing Group, 1988), 171.

2 Bob Elliott, Canada’s World Champions: Blue Jays Trivia Quiz Book (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1993), 81.

3 Ernie Whitt and Greg Cable, Catch: A Major League Life (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1989), 55–56.

4 Jim Prime, Tales from the Toronto Blue Jays Dugout (New York: Sports Publishing, 2014), 28.

5 Eric Zweig, Toronto Blue Jays Official 25th Anniversary Commemorative Book (Toronto: Dan Diamond & Associates, 2001), 76.

6 Whitt and Cable, 58.