1995 American League Championship Series

The 1995 American League Championship Series featured two teams with a long history of failure. The Cleveland Indians hadn’t been in the playoffs since the 1954 World Series, and the Seattle Mariners were in their first-ever postseason. Even their recent history hadn’t given much room for optimism: “Three years ago, this would have been nobody’s idea of the dream American League playoff series,” wrote Jayson Stark.1

The Indians had cruised for the last month, having won their division by 30 games, and sweeping the Red Sox in the Division Series. This gave them an extra couple of days of rest, and allowed them to line up their rotation, but even though they were heavy favorites, they weren’t counting their wins. “This team is not the champion of the American League yet,” Orel Hershiser said. “What we’ve accomplished is just to qualify to have a shot at that.”2

The Mariners had been fighting though, battling through a one-game playoff to break the AL West tie against the Angels, and then a tough Division Series, losing the first two games to the Yankees before winning the last three. The last of those games was an 11-inning finale in Seattle that had exhausted the team. Mariners manager Lou Piniella had used ace Randy Johnson in Friday’s game, and Johnson threw 117 pitches; and again on Sunday for three innings in relief, winning both games. This put Piniella in a bind, not sure how his rotation would line up against the Indians. “You can tell me one and you might be closer to the right one than I am right now,” he said.3 Piniella ended up surprising everyone by adding rookie Bob Wolcott to the ALCS roster and announcing him as the Game One starter. Wolcott had pitched in Double A and Triple A most of the season, making just six starts for Seattle during the year. He hadn’t pitched in 10 days, and hadn’t started in 23 days.

The one thing the Mariners did have was home-field advantage, which they had used to beat the Yankees. Major League Baseball had decided before the season that the AL East and West champs would have home-field advantage, which led to the odd situation in which the Indians, with by far the best record in the regular season (14 games better than the Red Sox, and 21 games ahead of the Mariners), would have no advantage. The Mariners had a very good record at home – they were 19-3 in their last 22 games in the Kingdome, including the playoffs – and hoped to use that to propel them to the World Series. But the Mariners were still underdogs, so much so that Jim Litke wrote, “Anything beyond a five-game series against Cleveland would be a moral victory.”4

The day before the first game the Mariners held a rally for their fans, who waved signs with the motto the team had adopted: “Refuse to Lose.” At the rally Piniella spoke to the crowd. “When it’s all said and done, we’re going to go to the World Series,” he said, and talked about the crowd noise in the Kingdome. Indians starter Dennis Martinez replied by saying, “The best way to keep the crowd quiet is to win the game.”5

The game started badly for the rookie Wolcott, as he walked the first three batters, throwing just one strike. Piniella came to the mound to calm him down, and had Bob Wells get up in the bullpen. Wolcott got out of the jam, though, striking out Albert Belle, getting Eddie Murray to pop foul to third on the first pitch and Jim Thome to ground out to second baseman Joey Cora, who made a diving stop to save a couple of runs. “That probably was the tale of the game right there,” Indians manager Mike Hargrove said. “That set the tone. I wouldn’t say we were down after that, but we lost a golden opportunity.”6

It was Indians starter Martinez who broke first, in the second inning walking Jay Buhner, then giving up a two-run home run to Mike Blowers, who had struggled so far in the playoffs. The Indians struck back in the third, Thome driving in Carlos Baerga on a single, but Paul Sorrento hit into a double play with the bases loaded to end another threat. The two pitchers then settled down, and although Wolcott was allowing at least one baserunner every inning, the score remained 2-1 through six innings, with Martinez getting out of his own jam, a double play ending the sixth with runners at the corners.

It took Belle in the top of the seventh to tie the game on a 441-foot solo shot, but Luis Sojo untied it again in the bottom of the inning, doubling Buhner home after Thome throwing error. That got Martinez out of the game, and at the top of the eighth Wolcott came out as well, having performed far above expectations for his team. The Mariners loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth with one out, but Eric Plunk came in and struck out Buhner and got Blowers to ground out, to keep the score close. Closer Norm Charlton came in for the ninth, struck out two and had Eddie Murray ground to short to end the game. The Mariners won 3-2, and the home field advantage had worked.

The Indians struggled all night with the bat, stranding 12 runners, one shy of the ALCS record set in 1971 and 1993. “I think as much as anything, we got a little impatient,” Hargrove said.7 But the story of the day was Wolcott, who was nervous at the start but settled down to take the plaudits: “I have to admit, I had my doubts in the first inning. But it all worked out.”8

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Game Two
Cleveland Indians 5, Seattle Mariners 2
October 11, 1995
Kingdome, Seattle

On the road, down a game in the series and with Randy Johnson scheduled to start Game Three, the Indians found their backs against the wall. “They have to win the next one and they know it,” Mariners infielder Luis Sojo said.9 The Indians were feeling the pressure for perhaps the first time in the whole season, while the Mariners felt a weight lifted off their shoulders by the winning performance of rookie Bob Wolcott in Game One.

Game Two would feature two former Dodgers teammates pitching against each other. Orel Hershiser and Tim Belcher had been starters in 1988, when each had won three games in the postseason as the Dodgers won the World Series. Now they would face each other, Belcher hoping to give the Mariners a big lead in this series, while Hershiser just wanted to keep his team alive.

A huge crowd, at 58,144 the largest ever to see the Mariners play in the Kingdome, was excited to get things going. Stomping and yelling throughout Game One, they had clearly had an impact on the game, with several Indians talking about the crowd noise afterward. But Hershiser was used to the noise, indeed he said he often fed off it even when it was coming from the other side.

Just as in Game One, both sides threatened in the first inning of Game Two. Each left runners on first and second to end the inning, with Eddie Murray hitting a fly to deep left to end the top of the inning on a sliding catch by Ken Griffey Jr. But the pitchers settled down, allowing scattered hits until the fifth inning. In the top of the fifth, Manny Ramirez singled, and when Paul Sorrento grounded to first, Tino Martinez threw to second to get Ramirez out, but Luis Sojo dropped the ball when he tried to throw back to first. This opened the door for the Indians, as after Sandy Alomar Jr. flied out, Kenny Lofton singled and Omar Vizquel walked to load the bases. Carlos Baerga came up and singled up the middle, scoring two runs, and all of a sudden the pressure that had been on the Indians since the start of the series seemed to lift.

In the top of the sixth Belcher again got two quick outs, but this time Ramirez homered to right, then a single and a screaming line-drive triple by Alomar past Vince Coleman in left added another run to make it 4-0, Indians. Griffey led off the bottom of the sixth with a home run, tying a record with his sixth home run in a single postseason, but Ramirez hit his second home run of the game in the top of the eighth to put the lead back to four runs. Jay Buhner’s home run off Jose Mesa in the bottom of the ninth did little damage, as the game ended with a 5-2 Indians win and the series was tied 1-1 as they returned to Cleveland.

Hershiser got the win with an outstanding performance, going eight innings and allowing just four hits. His only walk was intentional, and the only runner to pass second base was Griffey on the home run. From a hit by pitch with one out in the third to a Griffey single with two out in the eighth, he allowed just two baserunners, Coleman reaching on a strikeout/wild pitch and the Griffey home run. Hershiser could hardly have been better for his team. Even his former teammate was impressed: “That was the best pitching you’re ever going to see on the planet,” said Belcher.10

The other star of the game was Manny Ramirez. He came into this game 1-for-16 in the playoffs, feeling out of sorts and struggling to get things going. Working with hitting coach Charlie Manuel, he adjusted his batting stance, spreading his feet so he could get a little lower in the box. It paid off this night, his 4-for-4 game with two home runs giving him his first home runs since September 6, and the first multi-homer postseason game in Indians history.

For both teams, the result felt pivotal in the series. “Tonight, as far as we were concerned, we had to win this game. I can’t emphasize that enough. If this was a test of our character, we passed,” said Hargrove.11 Lou Piniella said, “When you win the first one, naturally you get a little greedy. It just didn’t happen.”12 The Indians returned home feeling much better about themselves, while Ken Griffey Jr. summed it up for many people: “It’s still early, man. … We’ve still got a lot of games left in this series.”13

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Game Three
Seattle Mariners 5, Cleveland Indians 2
October 13, 1995
Jacobs Field, Cleveland

The series now moved to Cleveland, where the Mariners were able to get Randy Johnson up for the first time, having rested him since the end of the Division Series. “I’m strong and ready to go. I haven’t had any discomfort,” he said.14 Lou Piniella was feeling confident: “We pitched a rookie in the first game and we haven’t even used our best pitcher (Randy Johnson) yet. Looking at it from that aspect, we’re not in bad shape.”15 On the other side of the field, Mike Hargrove was expecting his team to battle as they always did. “I don’t think anyone has told Randy that if you throw your glove out there that you’re going to win,” Hargrove said.16

Meanwhile, the governor of Washington, Mike Lowry, and state legislators were working on plans to fund a new ballpark for the Mariners. An election in September had defeated a sales tax to pay for a new ballpark. Mariners ownership had indicated that if they didn’t get a new ballpark, they would look to move the franchise. As discussions went back and forth, the knowledge that the Mariners were still playing baseball while they debated was certainly helping the push for the new ballpark. The state legislature went into emergency session on Thursday to discuss the issue, and continued on Friday. On Friday evening the members took breaks in their deliberations to watch the Mariners game, and continued their negotiations afterward.

The Indians changed their lineup to face Johnson, switching to an almost all-right-handed lineup. Herbert Perry replaced Paul Sorrento at first and Alvaro Espinoza was at third instead of Jim Thome. The only left-handed batter was leadoff man Kenny Lofton. On the mound for Cleveland was Charles Nagy.

Jay Buhner followed up his home run on Friday night with a solo shot to lead off the second inning. In the top of the third, Ken Griffey singled with two out, then stole second and went to third on a wild throw by catcher Sandy Alomar, with the ball sailing into center field. An error by Espinoza allowed Griffey to score and made it 2-0, Mariners. In the bottom of the fourth, the Indians pulled a run back when Lofton tripled just over left fielder Vince Coleman’s glove, and scored on Omar Vizquel’s sacrifice fly. From then until the eighth inning, the pitchers began to control the game, although the Indians stranded the tying run at third in the fifth.

In the eighth it all began to go wrong for the Mariners. Espinoza lifted a fly to deep left, and Buhner misjudged it as he backpedaled, his error allowing Espinoza to reach second. Wayne Kirby pinch-ran, and when Lofton singled he scored the tying run. The two managers then got busy earning their keep, making a flurry of changes. In the ninth Piniella let Johnson go to the mound before coming out to pull him, which allowed Norm Charlton some extra time to warm up. The biggest cheer of the night came when Johnson was pulled, as the Indians crowd now thought they would get to the Mariners.

Charlton came into the tied game, and in the bottom of the ninth hit Albert Belle, who twisted his ankle trying to jump out of the way. The Indians couldn’t take advantage of the leadoff runner, though, and the score stayed tied until the 11th. With two out, Tino Martinez worked a 3-and-1 count off Eric Plunk, and Mike Hargrove decided to walk him, setting up the righty-righty matchup on Jay Buhner. His error had allowed the Indians to tie the game in the eighth, but he took care of that with a three-run homer to make the score 5-2. “Now you’ve done it,” Griffey yelled at Plunk. “You gave us three instead of one.”17 After the game the intentional walk was questioned, but Hargrove had no doubt. “That’s a no-decision as far as I’m concerned,” Hargrove said. “You put the lefty on and go with the odds.”18

In the bottom of the 11th, Piniella left Charlton in, even though he’d already thrown two innings. Charlton got Baerga, Belle, and Ruben Amaro (who had earlier run for Eddie Murray) out to end the game, but whether the pitcher would be available for the next couple of days was now in question. “I don’t believe in trying to save too much for the next day. You get what you can and move forward,” said Piniella.19

With the Indians’ first loss in 15 extra-inning games this season, the Mariners took a 2-to-1 series lead and knew that at worst they’d be finishing the series in their own ballpark. As for Buhner, he’d gone from goat to hero in the space of a few innings, and all the talk was about his turnaround. “How’s that for redemption?” said Piniella. “Guy misjudges a fly ball and then redeems himself with a home run. Can’t do better than that.”20

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Game Four
Cleveland Indians 7, Seattle Mariners 0
October 14, 1995
Jacobs Field, Cleveland

On Saturday Albert Belle walked into the clubhouse on crutches, nearly giving manager Mike Hargrove a heart attack. “I thought he was joking,” said Wayne Kirby when Belle walked in,21 but the injury sustained when he was hit by Norm Charlton on Friday night was serious. X-rays were negative, but he was going to miss at least one game. Worse followed for the Indians when starting catcher Sandy Alomar showed up with a stiff neck, which he had slept on badly in the night. Now Hargrove had two starters out of the lineup, and he also decided that Dennis Martinez wouldn’t be ready on three days’ rest, so Ken Hill was sent to the mound to face Andy Benes.

Back in Washington state, the House of Representatives passed a stadium bill and sent it to the Senate, and later on Saturday the Mariners got the good news that the Senate had also passed it, meaning the Mariners would get a new $320 million ballpark. It was contingent on the King County Council passing a sales tax, and although that was going to be a tough sell it was also expected to pass.

Cold weather had come in overnight, with a game-time temperature of 53 compared with 79 the night before, and it was windy and drizzling. In the first Kenny Lofton sparked things again, a leadoff single followed by a steal of second and a throwing error by catcher Dan Wilson allowed Lofton to go to third. With Omar Vizquel up, Lofton kept bluffing to steal home, which so unnerved Benes that he walked Vizquel, who was 0-for-14 in the series. The next batter, Carlos Baerga, grounded to second, allowing Lofton to score the first run of the game. And the batter after that, Eddie Murray, homered to deep right to make it 3-0, and the Indians were rolling.

In the second inning, backup catcher Tony Peña singled. Wayne Kirby hit a chopper to the hole between third and short. Mike Blowers fielded it and threw out Kirby, but as Peña rounded second, he saw that no one was covering third, and beat Blowers to the bag in a footrace. Lofton then hit a sacrifice fly to right and the heads-up baserunning had cost the Mariners a run.

In the top of the third, the Mariners got runners to second and third after Hill had walked two, but Edgar Martinez couldn’t come through. The Indians once more took advantage, a Baerga single to third followed by Jim Thome’s home run, and at 6-0 the home crowd was going crazy. Again and again the Mariners gave themselves chances, and each time they failed to capitalize. In the second, third, and fourth innings they stranded two runners. In the fourth they had a single and a double to make it second and third with nobody out, but Hill came through to strike out Blowers and Luis Sojo, then got Wilson to ground out. “I was fortunate to get out of that inning. That gave me even more confidence,” Hill said.22

In the bottom of the fifth inning, as Baerga was batting, the Indians mascot, Slider, fell off the center-field wall while attempting a somersault. He landed on the warning track unnoticed, and as Baerga stroked a single to left field Slider crawled to the bullpen door. He turned out to have torn ligaments in his knee and would miss the rest of the postseason, although someone else donned the mascot costume and appeared at later games wearing a bandage on their knee and using crutches.

After that the Indians missed a chance in the fifth, leaving the bases loaded, but in the sixth they tacked on a run as Kirby singled and Vizquel doubled him home to make the score 7-0. It would remain that way the rest of the game, despite another flurry of changes in the late innings. The game ended with pinch-hitter Alex Rodriguez making his first ALCS appearance (after one at-bat in the ALDS). He struck out against Alan Embree to end the game and tie the series at two games apiece.

After the game all the talk was about the pitching. Benes had struggled badly, giving up six runs in 2⅓ innings. “I was only ahead of one batter. They took advantage,” he said. “I have no excuses.”23 His manager wasn’t feeling any more charitable, noting that Benes didn’t have a physical problem, it was just bad pitching: “We didn’t notice anything mechanically wrong. … He got a few pitches up, and they hit ’em.”24 Piniella didn’t even seem to be concerned about hitting star Edgar Martinez, who had hit .356 during the regular season and .571 during the ALDS. “His timing seems to be a bit off,” said Piniella about the player who was just 1-for-15 in the series.25

The Indians felt that the tide had turned in their favor. Hill had thrown seven shutout innings in his first postseason start, keeping the Mariners off-balance all night. With the top three starters now available for the Indians and Randy Johnson likely available for only one game, they felt that even though the series would definitely go back to Seattle, they were now in the driving seat.

Meanwhile the NLCS ended as the Atlanta Braves completed a sweep of the Cincinnati Reds, giving them several extra days of rest before the World Series began the following Saturday.

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Game Five
Cleveland Indians 3, Seattle Mariners 2
October 15, 1995
Jacobs Field, Cleveland

The fifth game of the series began with the Indians attempting to reverse their curse by having Rocky Colavito throw out the first pitch. It was a cold day, with a swirling wind making everything feel colder. “The wind was a factor in everything,” said Omar Vizquel.26

Mike Hargrove decided to start Orel Hershiser, moving him up ahead of Dennis Martinez because of the weather and because Martinez had a stiff shoulder. Even so, Hershiser was not expected to go more than five or six innings on short rest.

Lou Piniella changed his lineup, hoping to find the right combination to spark his team. He benched Vince Coleman, 1-for-16 in the series, and Mike Blowers, shifted Joey Cora to leadoff and moved Edgar Martinez from cleanup to the second spot. He then moved the hot-hitting Jay Buhner to cleanup to try to take advantage of his streak. With not many options in his pitching staff, he turned to Chris Bosio to start the game.

Things started quickly for the Indians, Vizquel reaching base in the home first when Tino Martinez let the ball go through his legs for an error, taking second on Baerga’s single, stealing third, and scoring on Eddie Murray’s single. In the top of the third Hershiser had three strikeouts, but wrapped them around a single by Joey Cora, a stolen base, and a ground-rule double by Ken Griffey, which tied the game at 1-1.

The weather bothered everyone all night long, and in the fifth inning a windblown Griffey fly ball glanced off Albert Belle’s glove in left for an error. Cora, running hard from first, came around to score when Belle’s throw home bounced and hit him in the back, giving Belle a second error on the play as Griffey went to second base.

Back came the Indians. With Eddie Murray on base in the bottom of the sixth, Bosio threw a sinker that didn’t sink and Jim Thome hit it 440 feet into the second deck in right field, and the Indians took a 3-2 lead. Bosio was done, but the Mariners were still trying. In the seventh, back-to-back errors by first baseman Paul Sorrento put two runners on base. After a fielder’s choice, the Mariners had first and third with one out, but Hargrove turned to his bullpen. Paul Assenmacher came in and struck out Griffey on three pitches, then got Buhner on a 2-and-2 count. “I just looked stupid trying to hit a couple of pitches I never should have swung at,” said Buhner.27

Through the rest of the game both sides had their chances. “We missed the opportunity this time and others, and you can’t do that at this time in the season,” Griffey said.28 In the bottom of the seventh, the Indians had the bases loaded with one out, but Bill Risley struck out Thome, then got Manny Ramirez to fly to right. In the eighth with runners on first and second and one out, Luis Sojo lined into a double play. The Mariners had sent their runners, which made Vizquel move to cover second base, where he had an easy catch of the line drive and tag of Alex Diaz coming down from first. Had the runners not been moving, Vizquel would never have caught the ball and it might have gone all the way to the wall. A game of inches.

The Mariners’ final opportunity came with two out in the ninth and Edgar Martinez facing Jose Mesa. Martinez hit a deep fly down the right field line but in the gusting wind it curved foul. Finally, on the 10th pitch of the at-bat, he lined a ball to the center-field warning track but Lofton raced back and made the catch, ending the game with a 3-2 Indians win and a 3-games-to-2 Indians series lead.

“That was a big, huge win for us,” said Hershiser,29 who in earning his seventh career postseason win, broke Lefty Gomez’s record for the most postseason wins without a loss. In the other clubhouse, Bosio was disappointed in the outcome but not in his effort. “I kept us in the game,” he said. “I gave it all I had.”30 Piniella was still pushing his team’s chances, saying, “Believe me, we’ve been in this position before, and like I said after the two games in New York, we’re down but not out yet.”31

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Game Six
Cleveland Indians 4, Seattle Mariners 0
October 17, 1995
Kingdome, Seattle

The series now returned to Seattle, where the Mariners were confident they could repeat their result from the ALDS. “We were down two games against New York (in the first round) and we came home and swept them,” said Randy Johnson.32 They were running out of pitchers though, and Lou Piniella changed his rotation once again. Johnson was tired, and the plan had been that if they had the lead in the series they would save him for a seventh game. But without the lead, Piniella was forced to bring him back in game six, and figure out what to do in a possible game seven later. Johnson would be pitching for the fifth time in 16 days. Piniella also changed his lineup back to what it had been, since the changes he made in game five had not worked.

The Mariners did get some good news during the day, with Washington Governor Mike Lowry signing the bill the Legislature had approved to fund a new ballpark for the team. They still had a major hurdle to get over, with the King County Council balking at paying as much money as the bill required them to. The political negotiations would continue.

The Indians had pushed Dennis Martinez back to get him extra rest. With a sore arm and a sore leg (he was planning offseason surgery to repair the knee), he needed the extra time, and being able to pitch in the warmer Kingdome instead of the cold Jake would also help him. Before the game Martinez talked to Mike Hargrove, who then announced that Sandy Alomar was scratched due to his sore neck, and Tony Peña would start. Peña had been Martinez’s favorite catcher during the season, catching all but four of his starts, and Martinez may have wanted the comfort of the catcher he knew best. It would be another game in the series where the starting pitchers were former teammates, Martinez and Johnson having been together in Montreal a few years earlier.

Albert Belle had come out of the fifth game in the seventh inning because his sore ankle had stiffened up, and skipped batting practice on Monday to rest it further. The Indians changed their lineup, putting the right-handers Herbert Perry and Alvaro Espinoza back in to face the left-handed Johnson.

Before the game, Cleveland complained about the height of the pitching mound. After measuring, the umpires made the grounds crew reduce the height of the mound by half an inch. Anything to reduce the advantage the 6-foot-10 Johnson would have. The fans would try to help with that advantage though; with 58,489 in the ballpark, a record was set again for the Kingdome.

The danger man for the Indians was Kenny Lofton, who had been sparking them all series long. Johnson knew it, and in the first at-bat of the game he threw a fastball at Lofton’s head, knocking him down and setting the tone. Lofton struck out and went back to the bench scared, and struck out again in the third before teammates on the bench talked to him and calmed him down. Otherwise there was little action in the early part of the game, both pitchers mostly dominating, but in the fifth Espinoza reached on a groundball to the hole between first and second, when Joey Cora fielded the ball but threw behind Johnson who was covering first. The error allowed Espinoza to reach second, and Lofton, now calm and looking for payback after the earlier brushback, singled to left, scoring Espinoza with the first run of the game.

The Mariners could not get much working on offense, Martinez keeping them off-balance all night long. They wasted an opportunity in the seventh, getting runners to second and third before stranding them. And that proved to be a turning point, because in the top of the eighth the Indians broke things open. Peña doubled to open the inning (Ruben Amaro pinch-ran), then Lofton got a bunt single and stole second. With the next batter up, a pitch tipped off catcher Dan Wilson’s mitt for a passed ball toward the Cleveland dugout. Amaro ran down from third to score, and as Wilson trotted after the ball, Lofton rounded third and kept running. Too late, both Wilson and Johnson realized that Lofton hadn’t stopped, and he slid in to easily score. “I was trying to bluff and run real hard and see how they reacted off me. And they never reacted, so I just kept running,” said Lofton.33 “Kenny scoring from second base on that play probably was the biggest in that it really did seem to take the wind out of their sails and pump us up,” said Hargrove. “I thought it was the determining factor in the game.”34 Two batters later, Carlos Baerga hit a home run to make it 4-0, driving Johnson from the game. “I’m not making any excuses, but I was getting tired. I wasn’t overpowering anybody tonight,” Johnson said.35

The Mariners couldn’t do anything the rest of the way against the Indians bullpen, and the Indians completed the win and a 4-2 series victory. After such a long career Martinez was ecstatic to have earned his first postseason win, becoming at 40 the oldest pitcher to win an LCS game. He had excelled throughout the night, giving up just four hits in seven innings. Even Piniella was impressed, saying, “He changed speeds. He threw to spots. He was like a surgeon out there.”36 The Indians celebrated on the field and in the clubhouse, and when their flight returned to Cleveland in the early hours of the morning they were greeted by thousands of fans at the airport, cheering their team’s first World Series appearance in 41 years.

Although many felt that Lofton deserved the MVP of the series, it went to Orel Hershiser. He had won two critical games, shutting the Mariners down both times when a switch in the result could have turned the entire series in the other direction. Hershiser earned a $50,000 bonus for winning ALCS MVP honors. Lofton had sparked the team all the way, hitting .458, stealing five bases in the series, taking the extra base in game six, and making some great fielding plays.

For the Mariners, they were defeated but not down. The fans had given Johnson a standing ovation when he left the game, and they stayed and cheered the team at the end, until players came out for a curtain call. Some of the players wandered about the field, throwing souvenirs into the crowd. The Mariners had scored just 12 runs in the series, the fewest ever in a six-game ALCS, beating the previous record of 23 scored by the White Sox in 1993. Despite Ken Griffey Jr. hitting .333 and Jay Buhner .304, as a team the Mariners hit just .184, with Edgar and Tino Martinez combining to go 5-for-45 in the middle of the lineup. A disappointing end for the hitters, who had been dominated throughout by the Cleveland staff.

The following Monday the King County Council finally approved an ordinance that would ensure that the Mariners new ballpark would be built. It essentially accepted the plan that had come out of the legislature, putting taxes on restaurants, car rentals, and ballpark tickets to pay for the new ballpark. The team’s performance in the last month was a key factor in getting the plan through the political minefields. “To be brutally frank, this has a great deal to do with the team’s success on the field and that indefinable feeling of public oneness they created in this community,” said Mariners Chairman John Ellis.37 “It was a season where baseball in Seattle was saved,” said Piniella.38

STEVE WEST joined SABR in 2006. He has written several articles for the BioProject.