Joe Carter RF
A lot of guys look at it as pressure because of the magnitude of the games and it being the World Series. But for me it was just the opposite. It was like a time of relief for me. The hard part I feel is getting there, going through the whole season trying to achieve that. And so once you’re there you have to sit back and relax and take it all in and say, “Now I can enjoy myself.” So for me there was no pressure; it was just a lot of fun.
Duane Ward RP
The first time around, it’s overwhelming: the media, the hoopla, the bells and whistles. You’re just like, “Holy cow, this is not a regular game.” The second time we knew what to expect.
The Jays squared off against a colourful Philadelphia Phillies team that had shaken off a 1992 season in which they’d finished dead last in the NL East. The Phillies won 97 games in ’93 and in the NLCS they beat the Atlanta Braves, owners of the best record in baseball.
Darren Daulton Phi. C
I don’t think anybody in America expected us to end up in the World Series. Especially when we were playing Atlanta, you know. We were really the only ones who felt we could win and would win. There really was not a doubt in our minds that we could win.
Jim Fregosi Phi. Manager
Our mentality was to win it. We had a group of individuals that I thought were the last of an old-school group of guys. They had performed extremely well all season long and had battled through a lot of adversity to get where they were. When you finish last the year before and get all the way to the World Series and beat a great team like Atlanta, it was a thrill for all of us.
Bob Elliott Journalist
On the workout day in Toronto, Guzman says, “Man, they look like a bunch of truck drivers.” They didn’t have their shirts tucked in, they had beards and [Pete] Incaviglia looked like he was getting ready for the WWE.
jim fregosi
We saved a lot of money on haircuts that year. I believe individuality is what makes great players. If you try to dictate how everybody is supposed to dress and be and look, you take away from the individuality of the player.
Darren daulton
Oh, [we were] just a bunch of throwbacks not many teams wanted. I always say that we kinda covered all the food groups. Everybody in the country could identify with somebody on that team. We had fat guys. Guys with Tourette’s syndrome. Smokers, drinkers. But all in all, we played very well as a team, and that’s why we were so successful that season. We didn’t have guys on the team who really cared about their stats. They really cared about each other, and it showed.
jim Fregosi
They were hard-nosed; they were a tough group of guys. They never took a back step to anything. They played hard and tough and I thought it was an honour to manage a group of individuals like we had.
Darren daulton
We had a lot of overachievers, and we were a scrappy bunch. We intimidated a lot of teams. We had a bunch of long-haired guys who really played the game hard, and obviously we had a lot of students of baseball.
Like the Jays, the Phillies had one of the most productive lineups in the majors—having led the National League in hits, walks, total bases, runs and RBI—something they showcased early, tagging Jays starter Juan Guzman for two runs in the top of the first. On the mound for Philly, NLCS MVP Curt Schilling retired the side in the bottom of the first inning. But, after Guzman did the same in the top of the second, the Jays flashed a little explosiveness of their own.
Buck Martinez TV
You had Schilling going for them, who was then a big-impact pitcher and would later really develop into a big-game post-season pitcher.
joe carter
I came up in the bottom of the second. [Schilling] threw a fastball and I lined a single back up the middle. We were off and running then.
John Olerud followed with a single to left and both advanced when Schilling threw a wild pitch with Paul Molitor showing bunt.
Paul Molitor DH
I wasn’t really a power guy, so I wasn’t trying to get anything special. It was more about getting the runs that we needed early in the game to give us the lead to work with. I was thinking about how to advance the runners more than I was trying to do any major damage. I thought about bunting, but then I wound up hitting the ball. I hit it to the right of the pitcher’s mound up the middle. They tried to get me but I beat it out.
Carter scored on Molitor’s infield single and Tony Fernandez tied the game on a fielder’s choice that plated Olerud and forced Molitor out at second. The inning ended with the score knotted at two. The teams traded runs in the third and with the game again tied in the top of the fifth, Roberto Alomar made what was likely the fielding play of the series on a bloop shot off the bat of Lenny Dykstra.
duane Ward
It was just perfectly placed over John Olerud’s head where he couldn’t go back on it, he couldn’t jump and catch it, he couldn’t do anything except watch it go over his head and all of a sudden here comes Alomar out of nowhere, diving and making a play.
joe carter
For sure I thought it was gonna drop. There was no way. I’m out there [in right field], I’ll get it on the hop, and all of a sudden Robbie just keeps coming and coming. It shows you how much ground the young man could cover.
Roberto Alomar 2B
I knew they were going to pitch him in, so I was anticipating him hitting the ball to my left side. He just hit a little bloop behind first base and I took off. I didn’t know at the beginning that I had a chance, but the more I was running toward the ball, the more I thought I had a chance. So, I dove and, lucky enough, I catch the ball.
joe carter
He went so far, almost behind first base into short right field.
Pat Hentgen sP
Alomar was the best player in baseball—enough said.
joe carter
I had Devon White to my right and Robbie Alomar in front of me. At times, I should have had my popcorn and bought a ticket.
Alomar’s heroics saved a run as Mariano Duncan followed Dykstra with a triple to centre, but Guzman gave it back on a wild pitch to John Kruk. Devon White tied the game at four in the bottom of the fifth with a booming solo shot down the right-field line. That’s where things stood when Al Leiter came on in relief of Guzman to start the sixth.
Al Leiter RP
Man, you’re nervous. You’ve got all the jitters and energy and fear and uncertainty and holy-shit focus and “make your pitches” and “don’t mess up” and all that. And you’re trying to clear all that to be positive and do all the things that a pitcher has to do to execute quality pitches consecutively, exploit a hitter’s weakness and get him out.
Leiter’s nerves resulted in immediate on-field dramatics. He gave up a single to Ricky Jordan and then got Milt Thompson to hit into a 6-4-3 double play. With two out, Leiter walked rookie Kevin Stocker and gave up a base hit to Dykstra. Duncan then laced a single into shallow centre that Alomar somehow managed to knock down with another diving effort. Jumping up to throw, Alomar bobbled the ball, but the threat of his arm was enough to hold Stocker at third.
Jerry Howarth Radio
Roberto was famous for coming up throwing right to third base on plays like that. You had to be careful on the basepaths because of that tremendous range, arm strength and accuracy. If you wandered too far off a base assuming that he wasn’t going to make the play, then you would be out.
roberto alomar
Getting to know the players and where they hit the ball, it was a big part of my game. He hit it where I was looking and lucky enough, I had the chance to make the play so the guy didn’t score.
jerry Howarth
What I always enjoyed most about [Alomar] is after a play like that, he would always tuck his glove over his mouth. I asked him later about that and he said, “I don’t want the other team in the dugout seeing me grin, because I love making plays like that and frustrating the opposition. So I hide that with my glove.”
Alomar had saved another run, but Leiter still had to get through Kruk with the bases loaded to escape the inning.
al Leiter
I struck out Kruk with the bases loaded. Back then we didn’t have inter-league; the separation of the leagues was legit. So the fact that the Blue Jays, in Dunedin, played the Phillies—jeez, I don’t know, it feels like 20 times—I kept reminding myself: even though it’s the World Series, big deal. I just said, “You know what? I’ve faced these guys already. I faced them down in Clearwater six months earlier.” And that’s how I took the outing.
A solo shot from Olerud in the sixth gave the Jays a 4–3 lead. After a pair of singles from Pat Borders and Rickey Henderson put runners on the corners with one out in the seventh, Jim Fregosi reached into his bullpen and swapped Schilling for David West.
jim Fregosi
[Schilling] over-analyzed everything [in game one]. He was not himself. If you know Curt Schilling, you know he is a perfectionist and he asked so many people about how to pitch the hitters and he just was not himself. He tried to pitch guys differently than how we thought they should be pitched. He called too many people and asked too many questions and he just did not throw the ball.
West fared worse. He gave up a double down the left-field line to Devon White that plated Borders and moved Henderson to third. Another double by Alomar followed, scoring Henderson and White. With Jays now leading 8–4, Fregosi went back to the pen for 40-year-old reliever Larry Andersen, who settled things down, striking out Carter and then getting Molitor to line out to end the eighth inning. The Phillies scored an unearned run with Duane Ward on the mound in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough. The Jays took the game 8–5 and Leiter was credited with his first World Series win.
al Leiter
I remember after the game I was at home plate doing some interviews and Gordon Lakey came over, who was the big scout for the Blue Jays and Pat Gillick. I don’t know who I was being interviewed by, but he just grabbed me and hugged me. He was so happy for me.
The elation was short-lived as the Phillies opened the scoring in game two, hammering Dave Stewart for five runs in the top of the third. For his part, Philadelphia starter Terry Mulholland was solid, keeping the Jays off the board through three.
joe Carter
Mulholland pitched a good game and was able to keep us off balance. We just didn’t put together hardly anything offensively.
Down 5–0, the Jays mounted a rally in the bottom of the fourth. Molitor started things with a line-drive single up the gut and scored on a two-run blast from Carter.
joe Carter
If you can hit the home run that’s going to put you on the board, that’s quick offence. I was able to provide that but it wasn’t enough.
Mulholland limited the damage to two runs, but gave up another and was driven from the game in the sixth. Toronto reliever Tony Castillo came on for Stewart in the seventh and promptly served up a home run to Dykstra that landed in the Philly bullpen and stretched the lead to 6–3. Running out of time in the bottom of the eighth, Molitor got things going with a double to left off Roger Mason. After Carter struck out, Fregosi brought in closer Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams for the first time in the series. Williams had notched 43 saves in the regular season, but had also walked 44 batters in just 62 innings. As he went to work, Schilling made a show of hiding his head under a towel in the dugout.
bob Elliott
I’d seen that in the previous round. I thought that was showing up his guy, like, “Oh my God! This guy’s so awful. I can’t even watch.” Why don’t you just go stand down the tunnel? [Schilling] was not the most popular guy. One manager who had him said, “He’s a horse for one day and then the next four days he’s a horse’s ass.” But he’s a pretty good horse on that one day.
jerry Howarth
Curt Schilling, as good as he was, could put his towel over his head. That was a team that spoke volumes with its body language under Jim Fregosi. Was it the best thing to do? No. Would the Blue Jays have done that? No. But that’s what made the Philadelphia Phillies special.
With one out and the count even at a ball and a strike to Olerud, Williams and the Phillies allowed Molitor to steal third without a throw.
Darren daulton
Everybody knew the book on Mitch. Once he’s on the mound, he’s not a guy who holds runners on. He’s our closer and his job is to get the hitter out. So we try not to put a lot of emphasis on Mitch holding runners on. There were a few times he did take a short step on his delivery, but when the pitcher does that, it takes away some of his velocity. That’s the cat and mouse game of getting runners on, because that puts your pitcher in the stretch, and they’re less effective than in the windup. So, Molly and those guys knew that when Mitch is out in the stretch, if he’s not taking a short step, he’s very vulnerable to stealing on.
paul Molitor
Mitch had a really high leg kick, but he also had a pretty good spin move. So it was one of those things—you’re measuring risk versus reward. I’m a big believer that baserunning is an overlooked part of the game, and stealing bases is not just about numbers, it’s about how it leads to potentially producing runs. I thought that I could make the attempt and still be in control enough if he did that spin move to recover, but once I saw that he was committed to home plate I just went.
An Olerud sac fly cashed Molitor and narrowed the lead to 6–4. After the next batter, Alomar, drew a walk from Williams, the Phillies let him steal second—again without a throw. Misreading the Wild Thing’s delivery before the next pitch, Alomar took off for third and was caught stealing when Williams turned on him instead of throwing home.
bob Elliott
Alomar stole second on his own and there wasn’t any throw because it was a waste of time—he just stole it. There were two scouts: Ray Shore and Jimmy Stewart, and they noticed that Alomar would go back-to-back. He would steal second and then the next pitch, boom, he’d try and steal third.
jim Fregosi
That was something done by our advanced scouting. Mitch Williams did a spin move on him because we knew what counts Alomar would usually try to steal third base on.
roberto Alomar
He knew that if I steal second, on the next pitch, usually I go to third. So, I think he tricked me. It wasn’t a good play at that time. I think I should’ve stayed put there. But sometimes I try to be a little bit too aggressive. I never saw him do the spin move [before]. I should’ve waited a little bit longer. I went to third base on first move.
bob Elliott
It’s easier to steal third on a left-hander because he can’t see the runner, but [Shore and Stewart] told their guys and Mitch just did a spin-o-rama and stepped off and Alomar’s dead meat, out by 20 feet.
The out at third ended the inning and the Jays didn’t threaten again. The Phillies won 6–4 to knot the series at 1–1 heading to Philadelphia, a city that didn’t exactly have an inviting vibe.
Jack Morris SP
I remember going in to Philly and it was raining, crazy cold, uglier than heck, dark. It seemed like every other building had no lights on. And I said to myself, “Boy, this is quite a championship town.”
bob Elliott
The Jays stayed in West Conshohocken [a Philadelphia suburb] because of a screw-up with the rooms. They didn’t have anything in downtown Philly.
Pat Gillick GM
I don’t buy that, not at all. Where they put you is usually determined by the home team, and we just kind of thought, “Well, they kind of put us in the boondocks out there.” It worked out. The people at the hotel were fantastic and we had a great time. The only thing was it was a pretty long ride to the ballpark.
If the weather and accommodations didn’t offer a warm enough welcome, there was always the Philadelphia media.
pat Hentgen
We went into Philly and there was some stuff in the paper about me and Stottlemyre, because I was pitching game three and Stottlemyre was supposed to pitch game four. “Hentgen Who?” That was the headline on the paper the day before I pitched. And I think the mayor came out and said they should be able to beat Hentgen and Stottlemyre. I didn’t get caught up in that stuff. That was another thing Jack [Morris] taught me: When you pitch well, read the paper; when you don’t pitch well, don’t pick up the paper.
jerry Howarth
Pat had his own routine. He’s very confident in who he is, what he tries to do with the baseball. Good concentration, calm under pressure and not affected by outside elements, whether it’s an umpire’s call that didn’t go his way, a play made behind him that didn’t go his way. Pat would not be affected. Look at the position he was in: Cito Gaston has this first-year starter in the starting rotation. He’s got him right there for a reason.
Game three saw Hentgen going head-to-head with Danny Jackson, but the major subplot heading into Veterans Stadium was Gaston’s decision to bench batting champ John Olerud in order to start Paul Molitor, who had played just 23 games at first in the regular season. The only other option was to start him in place of Ed Sprague at third (something Gaston would do against right-handers in games four and five), but Molitor hadn’t played third regularly since 1989.
paul Molitor
The last couple of years in Milwaukee, I had evolved into a sort of full-time DH. I had been injured a lot and the Brewers felt it was a good way to keep me on the field. I felt I was still a good defensive player, but I had kind of adjusted to the fact that most of my at-bats were going to be coming from the DH role.
jim Fregosi
We knew the biggest advantage we might have had was if Molitor did not play in Philadelphia.
bob Elliott
The Jays got to Philly and they were complaining, saying it was unfair. “This is unfair, we don’t know what to do, we’ve either got to sit down the American League batting champ or we’ve got to play a guy who hasn’t played in the field all year.” I phoned Tom Kelly and Sparky [Anderson], and they said they’d sit Olerud. And that’s what Cito did.
paul Molitor
The decision about whether I was going to play and whether the batting champ was going to sit out that first game in Philadelphia, that wasn’t an easy one. But I think with the type of team we had we both of us would have said, “Whatever Cito puts down, we’re going to make it work.”
jerry Howarth
Cito made very good presentations on why the move was made and everybody understood it. The Jays were built with a lot of flexibility to handle a situation on the road in Philadelphia like that.
buck Martinez
Sure, it was controversial because you were sitting down the batting champion. But Cito always made the right baseball decisions based on his players and what he knew they could do on the field. He wasn’t going to give in to any outside pressure at all. He just knew it was right for Molitor to start at first base; he was going to start that game against Danny Jackson, a left-hander.
paul Molitor
I was more than happy for it to go either way. I was more than happy to cheer for John. When it happened John had nothing but encouragement.
roberto Alomar
Olerud was a true professional. He said, “This is what it is.” And Paul was professional, he went out and played the game. We respected Cito so much. We’d do anything for him.
jerry Howarth
Olerud was one of the most unselfish players I can remember wearing a Blue Jays uniform. It wasn’t about John. He could’ve hit .463 and if he didn’t play in that game, it wouldn’t have affected him.
paul Molitor
I do remember he said, “If you need anything, just look in the dugout. I’ll try to help you out, as far as telling you to move out or in [at first base].”
jerry Howarth
Look at the flexibility of Molitor. Paul could probably have played the outfield as well. It just allowed Cito to match up against the opposition as well as possible.
Rain delayed the start of the game by 72 minutes, but couldn’t extinguish a red-hot Toronto start. After Henderson singled to right to start the game, White drew a walk that put runners on first and second for Molitor.
buck Martinez
Molitor hits the triple to right field. Cito had silenced all the critics with one at-bat.
paul Molitor
When I faced Danny Jackson in the AL, he had a really good tendency of pitching right-handed hitters in. When I read the scouting reports, he had kind of changed his style and found a way to work the ball away a little better. I watched him with the first few hitters and remember thinking he was starting everybody out, so I was thinking that I was going to be aggressive early—if he gave me something on the outside I’d try to go with it. And that’s exactly what he threw and I stayed with it. With the wet Astroturf the ball just scooted by Jim Eisenreich and once I saw the angle he took, I knew I had a good chance at a triple. By the time I was pulling up to second, I could see that the ball was just in his hand and I felt comfortable that I could beat the exchange from the relay man to third base.
A Carter sac fly extended the lead to 3–0 before Alomar and Fernandez each lined out to end the inning.
pat Hentgen
Once you get those three runs, it makes a big difference for a pitcher. You’re like, “Whew, that feels good.” Now we can just go out and a solo homer’s not gonna win the game.
If a three-run lead felt good, striking out Dykstra to kick off the bottom of the first felt better.
pat Hentgen
The first hitter of the game—that was pretty cool. That always feels good as a pitcher to get that first out. It was my first appearance in the World Series. I was a little bit nervous—pacing around in the locker room, waiting to get out there and warm up. When I pitched in the playoffs with the Cardinals years later, it wasn’t the same. I was much more relaxed, much more at ease with myself and my career. There’s all that self-doubt when you’re young: Do I belong? I can’t believe I’m pitching here. Holy cow, it’s the World Series.
The rest of the inning proved to be a little tougher. Following a Duncan single, Molitor’s fielding opened up a bit of room for criticism when Kruk turned on the first pitch he saw and pulled a grounder past him at first.
paul Molitor
I was holding a runner on and the turf was a little bit wet so it was definitely a fast surface. I was really trying to concentrate on my footwork coming off the base. I just didn’t get out there quite far enough. It’s one of those ones you play over and over in your mind. You keep thinking maybe if I was in better position I could have got it. I remember thinking this was my first chance to make a play and I let it get by. I was also thinking that John probably would have made the play. It would have been to his glove side. Instead it was to my backhand. Then you’ve got to just think, “What’s done is done,” and you regroup and get ready for the next one.
The mistake wouldn’t cost the Jays anything as Hentgen worked his way out of the jam by striking out Dave Hollins and Daulton in consecutive at-bats. Back on the mound, Jackson looked more comfortable—neither he nor Hentgen allowed a runner in the second. After retiring Henderson and White to start the third, Jackson found himself staring down Molitor again.
paul Molitor
I went for that outside pitch in my first at bat, so I’m thinking he’s going to try to get me off the plate a bit to try to open up that outside corner and he did. I had the opposite approach to my first at bat and just tried to stay short and quick, and he came right inside and I was just able to open up.
What Molitor opened up was a world of hurt, which carried Jackson’s first pitch into the stands in left to stretch the Jays’ lead to to 4–0.
paul Molitor
I felt better after that hit. I’d missed that play on first. Somewhere in your subconscious you want to make Cito’s decision a good one and follow up the two-run triple with a home run. I felt kind of relaxed then on the defensive end. I felt I could just play my game, like I was in there for a reason.
With the Jays up 5–0, Philly finally squeaked a run off the rock-solid Hentgen in the sixth when Eisenreich singled, scoring Kruk. The Jays offence responded immediately, crushing Philly relievers Ben Rivera and Bobby Thigpen for three runs. After Danny Cox gave the Phillies one back in the bottom of the seventh and Larry Andersen allowed Toronto to score two more, Ward came in for the bottom of the ninth with the Jays up 10–2.
duane Ward
Cito was great. Here we are in the first game in Philadelphia and Cito is saying, “Let’s get our guys in there, let’s get them used to the crowd, let’s get them used to the mound, let’s get them used to the feel of the game.” Cito was so good about that stuff. He tried to get as many guys in the games as possible so nothing came as a shock or surprise when he called for them out of the bullpen or off the bench.
Ward gave up a leadoff home run to Milt Thompson and then shut the door, forcing Dykstra to ground out to second before striking out Duncan and Kruk to give the Jays a 10–3 win and a 2-1 series lead heading into game four—a contest no one was likely to mistake for a pitchers’ duel.
bob Elliott
[A journalist named] Peter Pascarelli, he walks by before that game and he says, “Toddy Stottlemyre against Tommy Greene. It oughta be 16–15.” And he just kept on walking.
With the right-handed Greene on the mound, Molitor moved from first to third.
paul Molitor
I played some first that year, so it wasn’t a huge adjustment. Moving to third the next game was more mentally challenging—I didn’t play third base until the World Series.
bob Elliott
Sprague didn’t complain either. Sprague said, “Shit, I’m sitting down for a Hall of Famer.”
paul Molitor
As soon as Sprague saw the lineup chart he came to me with his information about defence and how we were going to play the other team from the third-base standpoint and how to play certain players and things like that. It wasn’t, “Man, I can’t believe I’m not playing,” it was “OK, let’s see what we need to do to get this job done.”
The Toronto offence came out for game four the same way it had the night before, scoring three runs in the top of the first. On the defensive side of the ball, however, things didn’t go so smoothly.
pat Hentgen
[Stottlemyre] just had a tough time. He fell behind. He was trying to be too perfect, trying to be too fine. I remember sitting in the dugout just thinking, “C’mon man, just challenge him, you gotta throw a strike here.” He always could throw strikes. But I remember him falling behind a lot that day.
Dave Stewart SP
Nobody’s ever going to question Stott’s determination. Nobody’s going to question the size of his heart or his bravery, but what people would question was how smart he was when he was out there doing his job. He killed himself more times than he helped himself.
Todd Stottlemyre SP
I was growing up in the game and I wore my heart on my sleeve so there’s never any guessing. I could go out and pitch a great game [or] I could be knocked out in the third [and] we could be in bench-clearing brawls in the fourth. I put stress on [Gaston]. I was a lot to manage.
Stottlemyre saw eight batters in the first inning, allowing four runs. Finally escaping after 43 pitches, he had no time to rest as he was leading off the second. Fortunately, Greene handed him a walk in his first MLB at-bat.
todd Stottlemyre
Greene was having just as much difficulty as I was. I guess misery loves company. Anyway, he walked me and I remember getting down to first base and Kruk was like, “This game is gonna be crazy.” Now this was early. I get down to first base and he says, “Whoever wins this game is gonna have to score 12, 13, 14 runs today.” And I was looking at him like, “Man, I’m the starting pitcher. Does it have to be that way?”
With two out, Stottlemyre was given an opportunity to show his inexperience on the basepaths when Alomar slapped a chopper up the middle. The hit was good for a single but Stottlemye, misreading Dykstra in centre field, rounded second and was thrown out going for third. An awkward face-first slide into the base left Stottlemyre’s chin bloodied.
buck Martinez
People react to Todd Stottlemyre like he’s a free safety playing football. He’s one of those guys who just gives everything he has, whether he’s pitching in the game or rooting in the dugout. I think [the slide] was emblematic of the makeup of the Blue Jays at that time: You’re going to come out dirty and bloody and you’re probably going to come out winning.
al Leiter
Stott is a badass, tough son of a bitch. He was an athlete in all different sports when he was growing up, and there was always that feeling that every player viewed pitchers as “What do you know? You guys are pitchers, you’re not athletes.” And that used to get up Stott’s craw. He was going from first to third, he’s got the coat on and remember, there’s no inter-league back then. Outside of spring training, which is bullshit, the only time you saw a pitcher hit was the World Series. So, there’s no doubt Stott’s going out, “Yeah, I’ll show you. I can hit, I can run, I can field.” And, yeah, he face-planted, man. He got the dirt.
todd Stottlemyre
I knocked myself out. I remember when Cito came out there he was like, “C’mon son, what were you thinking now?” It’s not only that I made an out at third base, but it was the third out. Everything that you shouldn’t have done, I did.
jerry Howarth
Oh gosh, his teammates got all over him for that, too.
jack Morris
“Ugly finder.” That’s what we’d call it in baseball.
jerry howarth
Having said that, he went out and pitched again.
todd Stottlemyre
I wanna forget it. But at the same time, I look back at it and people are like, “Hey, what were you thinking?” Just go for it. All out. I was gonna be all out no matter what.
Stottlemyre began the second by allowing Greene to stroke a single off him before giving up a two-run homer to Dykstra. He managed to stop the bleeding there, retiring Duncan, Kruk and Hollins to get out of the inning down 6–3. The Jays responded, plating four runs in the top of the third to climb back on top and Leiter, game one’s winner, was called on to try to preserve the lead.
todd Stottlemyre
One of the things about the World Series is you can’t hide. I had a knack through my whole career that there was never an in-between in a post-season game. I either pitched really, really good or I pitched really, really poor.
al Leiter
I’m still in the clubhouse ’cause it’s raining, it’s cold, it’s a crappy bullpen down there at The Vet, and Stottlemyre starts getting hit around a little bit. I’m not thinking I’m getting in the game already, and somebody comes running up from the dugout: “Hey! Hey! You gotta get down here! They want you to warm up.” [This is back in] the first inning! I’m like “Shit!” I got a cup of coffee in my hand, so I go running out. It was just so, like, just not the routine, y’know?
Despite the blow to his routine, Leiter made it through the third without allowing a run. The Phillies tied the game at seven in the fourth, but Leiter, up against Philadelphia reliever Roger Mason, got some revenge at the plate in the top of the fifth.
al Leiter
I got a double! The cool thing about that is I did not have an at-bat since high school, which was 10 years earlier. I forgot I had to hit. I’m the reliever, so they didn’t even prepare me to hit because the way Cito was using me, I was coming in before Wardo. All of a sudden now, I get out of the inning and they’re like, “Leit, Leit—you’re on deck!” And I’m like, “I’m on deck? Holy shit I gotta hit!’ So I run down, I don’t know whose helmet I had but I put on somebody’s helmet, I think it was Olerud’s. Ed Sprague gave me his bat and I got somebody’s batting gloves. I run up there, Roger Mason, first pitch, double, left-field line. I’m running to second base and John Kruk’s trailing me, and he looks at me and goes, “Is it that easy?” I’m like “Krukky, you’re right, I haven’t hit in 10 years.” He starts cursing at me. Pure, pure luck, 100 percent. Nothing skillful about it. To this day, I’ve got the bat, I’ve got the gloves, I’ve got the ball.
The Jays stranded Leiter at second, and in the bottom of the inning the Phillies really took it to him. Dave Hollins started things off relatively inconspicuously with a bunt to third that Molitor failed to make the play on.
paul Molitor
I didn’t have a lot of confidence in my throwing; I’d had shoulder issues. I knew I could get it over [to first], but you’re playing on fast turf and in a different position. I was a bit back on that one because I really didn’t think of Hollins as a potential bunter. I made a decent play on it, I think, but my depth on the play allowed him to beat it out. I just had to kind of stash that one away, that even though Hollins was a power hitter he might drop one down in the future. I don’t know if they were picking on me, but if I were them, I sure would have been thinking that way.
al Leiter
I come in and I sucked. The Vet, when everybody was at the stadium, you got the sound from all directions. They were playing “Whoomp! (There It Is).” That was kind of their song.
Daulton followed Hollins’s bunt with a two-run homer to right. Next up, Eisenreich bunted himself aboard and scored on a double off the bat of Thompson. Leiter managed to retire Kevin Stocker and Ricky Jordan before Dykstra took him deep for the second two-run shot, and fourth and fifth runs, of the inning.
al Leiter
I’m telling you, in less than two minutes I just gave up five runs. And around that stadium, people are going, “Whoomp, there it is!” It was so loud that I felt the vibration of the sound on my face and my body. It was nutty, I felt like dancing on the mound ’cause it was that cool. But I was like, “Man, I suck. I just gave up two jacks to lefties.”
The Phillies led 14–9 when, with one out in the top of the eighth, Carter singled to right and was followed aboard by Olerud. Up next, Molitor took Andersen’s 2-1 pitch to left for a double that scored Carter and brought Olerud around to third. Fregosi had seen enough and called for Mitch Williams.
buck Martinez
Kevin Dineen and Eric Lindros [of the Philadelphia Flyers] were sitting in the row next to us and we were all talking about how it was tough now because here comes Mitch Williams.
Paul Beeston President
We had so much talent on that team that nobody ever worried about any situation. If we were down, it really didn’t matter. There was no panic on the bench because they felt if we had three more at-bats or two more at-bats, somebody would do something to get us going and we’ll win.
Going to work with a 14–10 lead, runners on second and third and one out, Williams immediately gave up a run on a Fernandez single to left. He then walked Borders to load the bases. After Ed Sprague, pinch-hitting for reliever Tony Castillo, struck out, Williams fell apart. Henderson singled to score Molitor and Fernandez, and then White tripled to centre to score Borders and Henderson.
Mitch Williams Phi. RP
Everything was hit and found its way to fall. I was walking off the field twice on fly balls. They were routine fly balls.
buck Martinez
Once [the Jays] got the ball rolling downhill it was over.
jerry Howarth
When you look at that six-run eighth inning, Fernandez got an RBI hit, there’s an acquisition in June; Rickey followed with a two-run single, there’s your August addition; and then Devo followed with a two-run triple. That was significant to see what Pat [Gillick] had done to add those pieces together.
pat Hentgen
Devon White hits a ball in the gap. It was raining that day, it rained the day I pitched, so the turf wasn’t dry, it wasn’t a perfect surface. When I watch the highlights, the ball that Devo hit, it just looks like Dykstra doesn’t get a good jump on it and doesn’t look like he’s full out running because I think he’s nervous about slipping. It always kind of looked that way to me, I don’t know if it was a bad angle or what. Maybe the ball was hit harder than he thought.
mitch Williams
I was known as a mudder. Mud never bothered me. We were facing a good lineup.
darren Daulton
We couldn’t get them out. They were just a very explosive offensive team.
bob Elliott
Somewhere in there, Gillick says, “We’re going to win this game 15–14.” They had a chance in the ninth to score some others, and Gillick said, “Nope, we’re going to win 15–14.”
pat Gillick
I was sitting there with Paul Beeston and his wife and my wife. I used to sit out in the stands a lot because I think sitting in the stands shows the players you support the team. We’re sitting in the rain and after the score got run up I said, “You know, this thing’s going to end 15–14.” Just the way the thing was going I picked a number for some reason.
An Alomar groundout to third ended the inning and brought Mike Timlin to the mound to try to preserve the Jays’ momentum in the bottom of the eighth.
jerry Howarth
It was a very delicate situation. You can lose your momentum that quickly.
Mike Timlin RP
When I came in I thought the game was over. I thought we had definitely put it away, but the Phillies didn’t want to give up, we didn’t want to give up, it was such a back-and-forth battle. I truly thought when I finished getting my guys out, “We got this game won.” Of course it continued.
duane Ward
The feel of the game wasn’t favourable. Watching all those runs being scored, I was telling myself in the bullpen, “You know what, I may not pitch in this game.” It just seemed like Philly had some stuff going. And lo and behold, we started to roll and Cito is calling down to the bullpen and saying, “I need you in there.”
jerry Howarth
There’s Duane Ward, he got the last out in the eighth inning, then he’s pitching in the rain in the ninth. At that point, he said, “Gimme the ball.” And he got the last three outs there in the ninth inning to save it.
jim Fregosi
The difference of the whole thing was our closer was tired; their closer was injured for a period of time and he came back and did a great job for them.
buck Martinez
It was cold and miserable and 62,000 people sat in the rain and watched a 15–14 game.
pat Hentgen
My dad fell asleep. He woke up the next morning and he was like, “You guys won that game?! I nodded off. That’s unbelievable.”
The game may have lasted past Mr. Hentgen’s bedtime, but there was still plenty of energy to be found in the Jays clubhouse.
pat Hentgen
That was actually the most incredible atmosphere in a locker room that I’ve ever witnessed in my life. It was, by far, the highlight of my career—there’s not even a question. It was the greatest, the feeling you got as a player was unbelievable. We win the game 15–14 and go up 3-1 in Philly. We weren’t even in that locker room 10 seconds and every guy—I’ll never forget this, it was the only time it ever happened in my career—every guy was in a circle, facing each other and just clapping, loud, in synchronicity. It was just BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. It was like high school football, you just won the state championship. We’re all grown men who have been together for eight months, grinding, playing. I didn’t even play in it, but to be in that locker room after that game and clapping hands like that and the momentum, the intensity was just at the highest level I’d ever seen a team at. I don’t think there were a lot of guys in that locker room who thought [the Phillies] could beat us three times in a row with Guzman, Stewart and myself.
In game five, Guzman was given the first chance. Despite a strong seven innings, over which he allowed just five hits and two runs, he was no match for Curt Schilling. In the pre-game press conference, Fregosi had been asked if would let the NLCS MVP pitch “until his arm falls off.” After waiting a beat, he’d nodded and said, “Uh, most likely.” He delivered on that promise: Schilling threw 147 pitches.
mike Timlin
We knew that Schilling was a force to be reckoned with. Basically he was the guy we couldn’t beat. When he pitched, he dominated. It was amazing. Every team he faced, it seemed like he was on a roll. It didn’t stop when he went to the playoffs and it didn’t stop when he went to the World Series. He was throwing strikes, he was getting guys out, he was getting guys to hit into double plays when he’d give up a hit—we just couldn’t get to him. That’s what it seemed like.
jack Morris
I don’t know how many innings he had that year or where he was at. The bottom line is you have to have that [extra] gear within you. When you don’t, the confidence level isn’t there. You just know that physically you’re not strong enough. You can play all the mind games you want—trick yourself into believing. Ultimately you know what you’re able to do. Confidence comes with knowing what you’re able to do. The good ones just have a finer ability to focus. The distractions don’t come into effect as much, the nerves don’t come into effect, because they are confident in their ability and then they can execute. That’s what the good guys can do.
jerry Howarth
That’s the old: “You’ve got the whole off-season to rest.”
jim Fregosi
He was a great competitor, he loved the action of the game, especially the spotlight. I knew he was going to pitch a good game that day.
duane Ward
He went out there and went after guys. Danny Jackson and Mulholland and those guys, they really tried to pick around the plate a little bit. Schilling went after you and he threw the ball 90-plus.
Down 2–0 and having failed to mount a single significant threat during the game, the Jays had one last chance with Carter, Olerud and Molitor due up in the top of the ninth. Carter flied out to shallow right-centre and Olerud grounded out to short. Molitor was all that stood between Schilling and a masterful complete-game, five-hit shutout.
paul Molitor
Curt had pitched a heck of a game and you’re just trying to find a way to get on base to keep the game alive. I remember just thinking, “Be patient. If you could walk that would be fine.” But, you know, he was throwing strikes and I hit a soft one into centre field and that was that. We were still up three games to two. I remember running back to Cito and then I ran out to Curt and I told him, “Man, you did a heck of a job.” There’s still respect in the game even though you’re trying to win. He gave me a little nod and I knew we were going back home and we still felt good about it.
Darren Kritzer bat boy
On the plane ride back from Philly, the guys were upbeat. They never felt like they were out. There was never any doubt. You would never see any negativity. The mentality was, “Let’s get this thing done. We’re going home, we’re playing in front of 50,000. We’ve got to do this for them.”
Despite the win—and the fact that he hadn’t played in the game—Williams still managed to draw the ire of the Philadelphia fan base before leaving for Toronto.
Darren daulton
I always say that playing on the Eastern Seaboard is the toughest—Boston, New York, Philadelphia. There’s so much heritage in those cities; they really live and die by their sports teams and they’re very passionate. If you spend any amount of time in Philadelphia playing professional sports, at some time or another they’re going to let you know what they think about you.
mitch Williams
I was packing my truck up at two o’clock in the morning. I actually had my nine-millimetre pistol, just to pack it in my truck, in a pillow. And a flashlight came on at the end of my street. I said, “Who the hell are you?” And he said, “It’s the police.” I said, “ What are you doing here?” He said: “They didn’t tell you?” And I said, “Tell me what?” And he said, “You’ve had several death threats.” I said, “F–k no, they didn’t tell me.” So they had armed guards watching my family the whole night and they didn’t let me know anything.
Darren daulton
Mitch took a lot of heat, but there’s one thing about that team, when we walked off that field, nobody was pointing any fingers at one another. We won together as a team, and we lost together as a team, and Mitch just happened to be the guy all the attention was focused on. I’m the catcher. I take a lot of pride in trying to keep runs off the board and I know my pitching staff. I will say that we had a couple of guys who were out of bullets. I was beat, I was tired—I didn’t have a great series. And it’s just a long season. Mitch obviously didn’t have the velocity that he had earlier in the year, when he saved 43 games for us, and he pitched a lot. Now, he’s not gonna admit that; that’s just the way he is. Had Mitch had the velocity that he had during the year, I think it would’ve been a different outcome, but that’s baseball.
jim Fregosi
You have to play with the players you came with. You don’t all of a sudden, magically, find new players when you get to the World Series. My pitching staff was probably extended further than they could possibly imagine. Most of them had never played in the post-season. They had probably pitched more innings and had more appearances than they ever had in their career. And let’s face it: They were a little tired, which, naturally, everybody is at that particular point.
mitch Williams
I came to Toronto [for game six]. I didn’t do the workout after because I didn’t sleep. I mean, I’d never had a death threat, so I stayed up all night after game five. We were flying to Toronto the next day, so I didn’t go to the workout. I went to the hotel and slept.
jerry Howarth
Coming home [for game six], crowds lined the streets from the airport all the way down into Toronto.
paul Molitor
The SkyDome was electric that night. The fans were kind of nuts and they were glad that we’d have the chance to win it on Canadian soil.
In the clubhouse before the game, Toronto’s most vocal leader rallied the troops.
roberto Alomar
Joe was always talking. He came in and said, “Let’s go get them today. We going to win today, so be prepared to celebrate.”
Game six saw Stewart looking to make up for his loss in the second game of the series to Mulholland. The Jays’ offence helped him out with one down in the first inning, when White scored on an RBI triple by Molitor.
paul Molitor
Terry Mulholland wasn’t overpowering, but he knew how to pitch. I was just in a pretty comfortable mindset. I elevated a bit more and got it into the gap in right field. I remember it short-hopped the wall, which caused the ball to kick up in the air. When I saw that, I knew it was a triple. If it hits off the wall and comes back flat then they might have a chance to hold you, but with the bounce it took, again you’re running hard out of the box, you know a triple is something that’s going to happen.
The Jays scored twice more, racking up their third three-run first inning of the series. They added another in the bottom of the fourth after the Phillies plated their first in the top of the inning. As Molitor made his way to the plate with one out in the bottom of the fifth, sections of the SkyDome broke into a prophetic chant: “M-V-P! M-V-P!”
bob Elliott
It wasn’t one of those things on the board: “Let’s make noise!” or anything like that. It wasn’t any of that shit. They were just into it and knowledgeable.
paul Molitor
I was kind of humbled by it. The relationship between me and the Blue Jays fans, the way that it had evolved that year, made it special. Probably some of them were a little skeptical of me at first—you know, losing Dave, who had been an integral part of what had happened the year before—and they were probably like, “Who’s this new guy?” I remember when I got my 200th hit and they put it up on the message board at the SkyDome, I got a standing ovation. Over time I just felt very embraced by Jays fans.
Molitor didn’t disappoint the crowd, launching a solo shot into the second deck in left to push the lead to four.
paul Molitor
Mulholland really hadn’t thrown me a lot of curveballs and he ended up throwing me one. There was just something that I saw in his hand that let me know what it was. I was able to stay back on it. I didn’t hit very many like that. It was one of those moments where you’re running around the bases and you’re able to kind of slow the time down. To respond to the fans’ chant and to hit a home run in that situation just brought chills to me.
jerry Howarth
You don’t see that kind of timing every day. Steps into a pitch and he hit a home run. That’s fairy-tale stuff right there.
The Jays seemed to have the game, and the series, wrapped up until the top of the seventh, when the Phillies finally got to Stewart.
joe Carter
After Molitor hits the home run we’re up 5–1. With Stewart on the mound, we pretty much felt that the game was in the bag. And then in the seventh, Lenny Dykstra connects and hits a three-run homer. We bring in Danny Cox and I don’t think they hit a ball out of the infield on Danny, but they scored a run. We bring in Leiter. The first pitch from Leiter to Pete Incaviglia is a fastball, which it should not have been, and he hits a fly ball to bring in the go-ahead run at 6–5. Just like that, we go from being up 5–1, we’re going to end it right here, to saying, “Uh oh, it’s 6–5. We gotta go!”
duane Ward
They clawed back, like they’d done all year. It was nothing out of character for them, but you look at our team, we did the same thing. It was going to come down to holding them. We knew we had a better bullpen than they did. It was kind of that light at the end of the tunnel. We knew if we could get to their bullpen, we could score runs.
The Phillies threw three different relievers at Toronto to keep the Jays off the board in the seventh and eighth. With two out and Olerud aboard in the eighth, the bottom of the Jays’ order mounted a mini surge.
joe Carter
We were never worried because we had too many weapons. Being down one run is nothing for us. We can score that with Rickey, that’s one walk and one hit and Rickey scores. So we were not worried about that, the only point we were worried about was getting to the top of the lineup again.
Phillies reliever Larry Andersen hit Fernandez with a pitch and then walked Sprague to load the bases and bring Borders, batting ninth in the order, to the plate.
joe Carter
Borders popped up with the bases loaded with two outs. He makes the last out. It was bad because we didn’t score, but it was great because now we have Rickey leading the [ninth] inning off, and we knew that he would be facing Mitch Williams so that was perfect for us.
jim Fregosi
Larry Andersen kind of hyperventilated into my arms after he got out of that inning. But by having the bases loaded, that meant we had to go to the top of their lineup again.
First, the Jays had to get through the top of the ninth. Ward made short work of it, retiring three straight Phillies on seven pitches. The stage was set for history.
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