Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Toronto Blue Jays 1992 World Series Clincher on The Fan 1430

Episode Date: March 28, 2021

It's October 24, 1992, and the Toronto Blue Jays have clinched their very first World Series. Hear Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth call game six of the 1992 World Series from Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium where the Toronto Blue Jays faced the Atlanta Braves, as recorded live on The Fan 1430

it's the bottom of the 11th inning the blue jays lead atlanta four to two i've had the pleasure of calling dave winfield's two-run double tom cheek my partner has seen every game for the blue jays as we go to the bottom of the 11th my pleasure to give tom cheek the opportunity to take the blue jays home tom you take it in the bottom of the 11. Well, thank you, Jerry. And here is Blauser, who is going to lead it off here. And Blauser has a couple of hits here tonight. He led off the ninth inning with a base

hit, and he scored that precious tying run. Now these Atlanta fans are hoping that they will see two miracles here tonight, and they need two runs to tie this thing up. Now it's 4-2. There's a ball lined to left field.

That is the first pitch, a swing, and for Blauser, his third hit tonight. A base hit for Blauser on the first pitch. Well, here they come. They never say die. They just keep on battling. The batter now is going to be Berryhill, and he'll come up there batting right-handed against the left-hander, Key.

Jimmy in line to win this thing, the winner of game four. Key to the belt, the pitch on the way, a swing, and there's a ground ball. Out to short, jumps over the glove of Griffin. Around the third comes Blauser. The ball took a bad hop and went over Griffin's glove into center field. He could not handle it. Can you believe that? Now we're going to get a pinch runner coming on here for the Atlanta Braves, and it's going to be John Smoltz, a pitcher. Well, we've had Jimmy Key up there taking his cuts

and staying in trying to win this thing. Now Smoltz, who was the winner in game five, is going to come out here to pinch run for Berryhill. You might not see it all here tonight, but you're going to come darn close, I'll tell you that. That is going to be scored. Did they score that on error? Wow, I don't know about that. That's an error

on Griffin. And now Bellyard the batter and he wants to lay a bunt down and he fouls it off on the right side. That is strike one. I thought that ball took a wicked bounce. I don't know about an error there. That looked like a base hit.

That was a tough play. Alfredo went to his left and it really hit him right in the shoulder, but surprisingly, the official scorer calls it an error. Boy, there's three official scorers, too, so I guess you gotta go with the collective call,

but that looked like a wicked hop on that ground ball. Now, Belliard turns the bunt, gets it down to Key. He'll look at second, go to first. Belliard with a nice sack bunt. The two runners are in scoring position here in the bottom of the 11th. Now with one down. Sack bunt.

One-four. Both men in scoring scoring position and the batter is Brian Hunter Brian Hunter coming up here to bat in the LeBron spot. Number nine in the order. Jimmy Key with two in scoring position will get a visit from Pat Borders who goes up to the mound to talk to the left-hander. Kelly Gruber walking in from third. Here's Cito Gaston, Tom, confronted with the same situation Bobby Cox was. He's got the right-handers,

but he's going to leave a left-hander in to face Hunter, the right-handed hitter. Another big moment in a game that has been filled with them. Hunter, right-handed hitter. The pitch to him, and it's inside at the knees. Ball one. Now you get back to the top of the order here, and you're getting back to Nixon, Gant, and Pendleton time.

One out, two in scoring position, bottom of the 11. Key to the belt. Pitch on the way, a swing, and there's a ball hit down the first baseline, taken by Carter. Step on the bag. Two down, and the runner, Smoltz, will come to third. A ground out, a run scores. It's a 4-3 ball game here in the bottom of the 11th, and Otis Nixon coming up with that

big key RBI single in the ninth inning. Here comes Cito Gaston now. And Otis Nixon might be looking at some Mike Timlin gas. As Cito goes up to the pitcher's mound and there'll be a team huddle out there. With all the members of the infield coming in. Cito with his hand on Jimmy Key's back. You know, there's been a lot of analysis of this World Series. We've done our share.

The papers, everybody else. But the bright guys were the ones who used the phrase, two well-matched teams. Because it couldn't be any tighter than what we've seen. No, and Santotis Nixon is a much better hitter right-handed. Cito Gaston's going to his bullpen for a young kid named Mike Timlin, who's coming out of

the bullpen. Boy, you talk about a second-year pitcher out of little Midland, Texas, and suddenly in the spotlight, Tom, in North America, he is going to get his opportunity to close down Atlanta in what would be the biggest save in his career. Well, the ball goes from one hand to another,

from Jimmy Key to Mike Timlin. Key in line to win it if the Blue Jays can hang on to it. Jimmy is going to have a welcoming committee back there at the dugout. And I would just imagine that Mike Timlin is just going to air a welcoming committee back there at the dugout. And I would just imagine that Mike Timlin is just going to air it out here against Otis Nixon. Don't get beat with some lollipop something or other. Mike Timlin's got the kind of gas

that overpowers hitters. And Otis Nixon with two hits and five at-bats here tonight had a base hit in the seventh and an RBI single in the ninth. Griffin and Alomar talking out at second. It'll be interesting to ask Alfredo Griffin after this game, and he'll tell you, Griff, should you have had that ball? I thought that ball took a wicked bounce and came up and got him in the arm and kept right on going.

But it's hard to argue with three official scores. They are Paul Newberry, the Braves' official score, Joe Sochuk, the Blue Jays official scorer, and Neil Holfeld, the Baseball Writers Association representative on that trio of official scorers. Timlin completing his warm-up tosses here. And for the hard-thulling right-hander, this will mark his second appearance in the World Series. He becomes the seventh Blue Jay pitcher tonight.

You don't have to go too far back, Tom, to Game 7 here, just a few days ago, really, when Pittsburgh was in town. And Jose Lean, a great second baseman, made a costly error, and that allowed in that ninth inning Francisco Cabrera to tie it up and win it with his two-run pinch single. And here is the Gryphon error charged by the official score and giving Atlanta yet one more opportunity to try and take this to a seventh game. Well, again, the Braves are down to their last out. But the tying run is 90 feet away.

Four to three Blue Jays. The pitch to Nixon, a swing and a foul off. Strike one. Fouls it into the seats over on the left side. Otis Nixon. Grounded out to short in the first. Grounded out to short in the third. Popped up to short in the fifth.

Base hits in the seventh and the ninth. Waggles the bat and he waits. Timlin to the belt. Pitch on the way. And there's a bunted ball. First base side, Timbaland to Carter, and the Blue Jays win it. The Blue Jays win it. The Blue Jays are World Series champions.

They come pouring out of the dugout, and they are mobbing Carter, and they go down in one big collective heap over by the first base bag here. A big pile up. Somebody on the bottom might be hurt in all of that. The Blue Jays have won the World Series. So Canada, let it all out. It's party time. It was a long time coming, but it's here. A ground ball, a bunted ball picked up by Timlin. He throws it to Joe Carter for the final out of this ball game, and the Blue Jays are the champions of baseball. In their 16thth season with all of those disappointments back through the years the monkey on their back from 85 and 87 and 89 and 91 they do it here in atlanta in a hard fought victory over the atlanta braves they do it in 11 innings as they beat Atlanta by a final score of 4-3.

It is a mob scene on the field, and it's made even more so now as the members of the media are let out of a holding area down the right field line, and they come out in a thundering horde to surround the players with cameras, tape recorders, pads, pens and pencils and now the Blue Jays can gear down, answer the questions,

reflect back on this wonderful season that has culminated in a world championship won here in Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia tonight. It certainly did not come easy. You tip your cap to the Atlanta Braves

who fought tooth and nail, who went down three games to one, came back in dramatic fashion in game five, back there at the Sky Dome, and then battled tonight, taking the Blue Jays to 11 innings before they lose by a final score of four to three so let the celebrations begin the Blue Jays are the champions of baseball we're going to have Scott Ferguson coming in here to pick things up for you Dan Schulman once again standing by back at our Toronto studio.

And we're going to ease on downstairs now. As soon as they open up that clubhouse, there will be a presentation of the trophy. There will be many comments coming out of the clubhouse, and we would like to be there to grab them for you. And I want to get Jerry Howarth in here for a word or so before we head down. I want everybody out there to know, Jerry, that I did not ask you to pass the baton here. I appreciate what you did, though. That was a nice gesture.

And what a great way to finish the season. Well, my pleasure, Tom. You've been there since the beginning, and it was a great thrill. And Otis Nixon had a chance to tie it up again. And Mike Timlin gets the save of his life and Jimmy Key gets the win of his life and the Blue Jays are still celebrating down on the field the fans were asking the Braves to come back on the field but the Blue Jays to a man are coming off the field David David Cohn, we see. A marvelous six innings tonight. He started. He held Atlanta to a run

on four hits. And then the bullpen with Stottlemyre, Wells, Ward, Henke. Tom giving up a run in the ninth inning on the Otis Nixon. 0-2 pitch single to dramatically tie it up. And then he turned it over to Key and Timlin. And Tom, what

a game this was here tonight one that will live in history for canada winning its first ever world series well i think anybody who appreciates the game of baseball has to appreciate what this world series 1992 has been all about it's had all of the drama. It's been a greatly pitched World Series. These were indeed two teams that were very, very evenly matched, and they battled tooth and nail. The pitchers held sway in this, and finally the hitters coming into play here.

When it counted most, when the chips were down, that big, big base hit, the double by dave winfield to drive in two and the blue jays and jimmy key and mike timlin make them stand up now the wives down to our right over there they've been with these guys through the thick and the thin of this season and in support of them and with those blue jays so prominent, they're shaking them and waving them again here and just standing there now in almost stunned silence as they watch their men down on the field slowly peel away from that big media scrum

and make their way to the clubhouse. Tom, and looking back, the New York Mets are still the best expansion team for winning a World Series in their eighth year. The Blue Jays now are second. They win one in their 16th, edging out the Royals of 85. By one year, they won it in their 17th year. And for you folks back there at home listening in, the four million plus who came into our ballpark to the sky dome to support this team over the last couple of years and down through the years this is your championship too and i know we've been watching some of you back there in the sky dome on the monitors here from time to time they would pick

up the 45 000 plus in the dome going wild when Winfield hit the ball down the line earlier in the game as well. So I know that it's party time down home. Our back home there in Canada. We hope that you'll make it a nice, safe, sane one, but enjoy it. Savor it. Who knows when it might come around again. And how about

a rewarding season for Cito Gaston, the man at the helm who orchestrated this playoff season Tom, here in the ALCS and the World Series. You can't give enough credit to Cito, who really came to the fore as a manager here in 92. Never let anybody stampede him out of his way, the way he was going to run his ball team. And now he doesn't have to take a backseat to anyone in the game. He has, in his first bid for a World's Championship, come away with the title, with his Toronto Blue Jays.

They are the champions of baseball as they defeat the Atlanta Braves here tonight by a final score 4-3 in Game 6 of the 1992 World Series. Scott Ferguson is standing by. Jerry and I are going to head down to the clubhouse here, and we'll be back right after these messages. The best form of advertising is word of mouth, especially if these words come from previous customers or clients.

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For environmentally safe paints, you see your nearby Benjamin Moore dealer. Welcome back to Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. What a night. What a ball game. The Blue Jays win their first ever World Series in their 16th year of existence as they win a thrilling ball game tonight, 4-3 over the Atlanta Braves. We'll critically run down the totals on this one. Four runs, 14 hits, one error for the Blue Jays. Three runs, eight hits, one error for a very game Atlanta Braves

ball club and I've got to tell you as the fans make their way out of here in stunned silence more than a few have looked this way up at the booth and said congratulations very classy Atlanta Braves fans some of them are waiting around the Braves dugout hoping that some of their players will come back out and they can say thank you to them

for such a great season it takes two teams to make a great World Series and this is certainly one that's going to go down as a classic the blue jays all four of their victories in the six game series coming by the slimmest of margins just one run in fact atlanta outscored the blue jays in this series and oh so fitting that jimmy key a long time blue jay one of the old horses, one of the veterans, won the final two Blue Jay victories. One game himself as a starting pitcher, and tonight, stepping into the breach in just a couple of days rest to pitch in relief and record the victory.

And how about Mike Timlin, a youngster with relatively little experience being put in in the pressure of all pressure situations, coming in to nail it down. Otis Nixon looking for the element of surprise, to bunt trying to uh squeeze the run home from third base and Timlin picked up the ball made the play through the first base to Joe Carter and touching off pandemonium I wonder if there's still a roof on the Sky Dome in Toronto because I can imagine those 45,000 fans that showed up tonight to be a part of the action back at Sky Dome have probably blown the roof right off the place in that exuberant celebration. And I imagine they're still in there celebrating and pretty soon they'll be taking the party to the streets of Toronto and right on across Canada.

This is indeed an historic evening. It took them two days to do it. They started on a Saturday night and ended in the wee small hours of a Sunday morning. Ten minutes to one, it finally came to an end the Blue Jays winning by a score of four to three in 11 innings over the Atlanta Braves the fans are filing on out of here there was a fairly good size contingent of Blue Jay fans here tonight waving those letter J's and just ecstatic about the fact that the Blue Jays won this ball game and not to mention the group at Sky Dome we saw them a couple of times in the TV monitors I think everybody in the place had one of those big blue letter J's that they were waving like crazy it's incredible that the Blue Jays could draw 45,000 to Skydome on a night when

the team wasn't even there they were watching on the Jumbotron screen and the beneficiaries of all of this the United Way as all the fans that were there tonight made donations to be a part of this and it had to be the next best thing to being here at bolton county stadium in atlanta tonight to watch the blue jays come up with this incredible victory the jays are going in their way now into the clubhouse they are all in there pretty well now i believe except for a couple that may be down in the dugout doing interviews but tom cheek and jerry howarth are making their way down in just a few minutes. We'll be checking in with them and joining the celebration.

And it's got to be one exuberant celebration after the way this game turned out tonight. A thriller. It's just drained everybody in the place. The Blue Jays winning it 4-3 in 10 innings. The hallmark of this series, pitching and defense. And Dave Winfield, some question his ability to play the outfield, but he made a spectacular catch in this ballgame in the late innings and showing the old guy can still do it in the outfield

as he robbed Ron Gant of what could have been a base hit, maybe a double if it had got by Dave in the eighth inning and might have even set up a run-scoring opportunity for the Atlanta Braves. And then Dave Winfield comes through at the plate as well with that two-run double in the top of the 11th inning down the line and left off Charlie Liebrand to propel the Blue Jays to a 4-2 lead. And that was ultimately the difference in the ballgame, although Atlanta did battle back to score that one run off Jimmy Key in the bottom of the 11th. But there were so many stars in this series. At the moment, they have not announced the

most valuable player i would think it would be pat borders but there have been so many stars from a blue jay standpoint especially defensively in this series the play roberto alomar made early in this ball game as he sprawled out behind second base got it back up to his knees and made the throw to retire the atlanta batter there've been just so many plays like that in this series kelly gruber making plays at third base manuel lee made a fine play at shortstop earlier tonight devon white the catch the defensive play that will be talked about for years to come to rob david justice of a potential two-run double maybe

even a triple that could have turned around a ball game at skydome and might have changed the whole complexion of this series just so many defensive plays of note in this series not to mention the pitching if pat borders indeed his name most valuable player you could almost asterisk it and give a collective most valuable player to the Blue Jays bullpen which was simply outstanding even tonight when they had used up Tom Henke, Dwayne Ward and David Wells, Jimmy Key steps into the breach and does the job and even Mike Timlin everybody it was such a great contribution by the Blue Jays bullpen in this series. The pitching right down the line from both sides was truly outstanding. The Blue Jays winning the series by that 4-2 margin, capping it off tonight with a thrilling

one of the great World Series games, winning it 4-3 in 11 innings. And again, in just a couple of minutes, we'll be going downstairs to Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth. They're making their way down to the Blue Jays clubhouse.