October 18, 2024 • 22 mins
At the start of a new year, we're going back to where it all started for us as sports fans: the incredible 1993 Toronto Blue Jays. In this episode we sort through the 1993 regular season, remember that kids under 10 don't remember regular seasons, gaze in wonderment at John Olerud and Paul Molitor, and shake our heads at the idea of adding Rickey Henderson to a championship level roster. Ah, 1993. The Maple Leafs are great, the Blue Jays are unbeatable, and we don't have to go to work or pay rent or make our own food. It'll be like this forever!
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And as always, thank you for listening to another episode of Sportsfeld.
Sick of hearing all the ads? Subscribe to Soda Premium on Apple Podcasts to get rid of them!
Follow @Sportsfeld on X! While you're there say hello to @theZubes and @JGoldsbie or reach out to the show and say hey: podcast@sportsfeld.ca
If merch is your thing, be sure to check out the store: http://bit.ly/merchfeldIf you enjoyed today’s show, please rate Sportsfeld 5-Stars on Apple Podcasts.
And as always, thank you for listening to another episode of Sportsfeld.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Unfair nineteen ninety two World Sevens Toronto Blue.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Jays stand up.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Winning in nineteen ninety two was one thing, but many
key players would not be back in ninety three, and
the question on everybody's mind was could the Blue Jays
do it all over again? No team had won back
to back world championships in fifteen years, and the Blue
Jays were asking a lot from their returning players. But
(00:40):
if any team knew how to win, this one did
tell me back to back the story of the nineteen
(01:03):
ninety three Toronto Blue Jays World champ Because back again
I had to repeat, but first time to limber up.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Hey, you know, if you can't beat them, join them.
Speaker 5 (01:16):
So so Paul Molliner joined the Blue Jays in the
off season, Ed Sprague moved over to third, and there
was also a new shortstop, Dick Schofield, and a new
starting pitcher, Dave Stewart.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Now they ask you what are you gonna do for
an encore? You know, what are you going to do?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
And hopefully we're going to do what you know, no
other team has done since the seventy seven seventy eight Yankees.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
We want to back to back this thing.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Maybe the team that cuts heads together wins pennants together.
Speaker 6 (01:44):
If you go with a smaller look style, get a
little ball spot backer in the back.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
But that's natural O. You can't look no bitter than that.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
On April ninth, at their season home opener, the Blue
Jays couldn't have felt any better. In front of a
sold out SkyDome, they probably accepted their world championship rings.
Speaker 6 (02:07):
That's a daya you will never never forget.
Speaker 7 (02:10):
It's a world champ for ring.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
It's a lot of guys out there.
Speaker 6 (02:13):
They've been playing for fifteen or twenty years in the
big legs.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
I never never have a ring again.
Speaker 6 (02:19):
That ring was probably the epitome of what every baseball
player dreams are and then finally coming true.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Waited so long for that ring. You're just you know,
smiling from year to year.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
The Blue Jays were now on a quest to repeat,
and in the home opener, Ed Sprague got them off
to a convincing start.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Breaking ball laughed to Lapdoul turns sports.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
It is sports felt story time.
Speaker 8 (03:13):
We are looking back, way back, back, back back to
our childhoods. After doing some very recent ones with the
twenty twenty, the twenty twenty Games last month and some
two thousands games, We're going back to where it all started,
the highlight of our childhoods. It is the nineteen ninety
three Toronto Blue Jays. Yes, indeed, we are going back
(03:35):
to the Joe Carter home run over the Philadelphia Phillies
Mitch Williams in Game six. It's gonna be a ton
of fun the next couple of weeks we've been looking back at.
I know, for me, a team that I absolutely took
for granted, just sort of assumed this is what being
a fan of sports was. Your teams are always great.
The Leafs are always a great team. The Jays are
always a great team. The Rafts don't exist yet. But
(03:57):
Toronto sports fan in nineteen ninety two ninety three was
good living. Let me tell you, yeah it was.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
It's funny because, like, I'm just just a couple years
younger than you. But it's funny how it makes sense
why we are the sports fans we are, if that
makes sense, even though just a year later things would
turn around and go the other way for a long time,
(04:26):
but this it was. As a young budding sports fan
in ninety three, it was impossible to not be in
love with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Yeah, oh absolutely they were.
Speaker 8 (04:40):
We've heard said many times on sports radio, the highest
payroll in the league. They're coming off their first World
Series championship in nineteen ninety two, where they went ninety
six and sixty six.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
This team the following year.
Speaker 8 (04:53):
Ninety five and sixty seven, somehow a worst record despite
being just an absolute murderer's row powerhouse of a baseball team.
I'll tell you the first thought that came to my
mind looking back at this team, looking back at the records,
looking back at the schedules, is when you are seven
years old, as I was at the time, you do
not remember regular seasons.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yes, one hundred percent correct.
Speaker 8 (05:20):
Like I guess thats obviously because we're adults now. But
like looking back at the raptors run, like you remember
this some great regular season stuff, you remember the twenty
fifteen Blue Jays regular season. I don't remember a single
moment of nineteen einety two or nine tennety three that
was not a playoff game.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
The only moment I remember of the ninety three regular
season was not even like a specific game, and I
was I was, like I turned five during this season,
So like not the most aware of sports fan yet
just know I like it kind of thing, of course. Yeah,
but I do remember the story of John Oliarud chasing
(05:58):
hitting four hundred and the three big hitters with their
crazy batting averages, that being Ola, Rude Alamar and I
guess Mollitor doing the other one. Yes, yeah, but I don't.
I wasn't in it enough yet to I understand. I
knew what it meant because I understood what batting average was,
(06:20):
but I wasn't in it enough to realize like how
big a deal it was that someone was chasing four
hundred on a Toronto team. But that's the only thing
I remember for the regular season that that was a story.
Speaker 8 (06:30):
And they finished one two three in batting average, which
is like, that's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
I was like the numbers on the like it's funny.
I remember. I've gone back a couple of times in
my more adult years and looked at the ninety two
roster and it's like, Okay, obviously they won the World Series.
Obviously a good team, Like there's some holes in there
that you're like, wow, that was really a starting player
on a World Series winning team. But then you look
(06:55):
at the one through nine on the ninety three team.
It's Jesus Christ.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Of course, it's unbelievable. Unbelievable. How do they not win
more games?
Speaker 8 (07:05):
It's the only question I look back at it and
sort of answer to sort of connect.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
The dots here.
Speaker 8 (07:10):
Between ninety two and ninety three, after they win the
ninety two World Series, Jimmy Key leaves as a free agent,
Dave Steeb leaves as a free agent. Old friend Pat
Tabler leaves as a free agent, along with Mark Korn,
Ransomollinis and Alfredo Griffin and David Cohne and Dave Winfield.
(07:33):
So go, There's there's quite a few holes there to fill.
They filled the Dave Winfield role with fucking Paul Molitor,
a Hall of Fame DH who had just played fifteen
years with Minnesota, a multiple time All Star. He comes
in and immediately hits three thirty two, one forty three
ops plus, just like an absolute beast. To add to
(07:55):
that already great lineup. As you mentioned, you know, you
sort of point out, he ends up helping them finished
one two three in the batting average race. Then they
signed Dave Stewart to fill one of those holds. Former
Oakland a's absolute badass ace Icorn comes back, Griffin comes back.
And they also add they traded Kelly Gruber for Luis Soho,
(08:20):
getting out ahead the fact that Kelly Gruber would be
canceled later on in life for being drunk at a
pitch talks, I believe was the official thing that he did.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Also mid season ad literal Ricky Henderson.
Speaker 8 (08:36):
Yes, of course, yes, of course, that is sort of
your off season to get to your in season transactions.
Why not, why not go right for it an go
right into the ninety three transactions? Just crazy, like just
trying to imagine now trading for Ricky Henderson at the deadline,
like just so sick, just like that's just so so
(08:58):
fucking cool.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
That's unbelievable.
Speaker 8 (09:01):
As a kid, you don't, you just we talked to
this already once, but you just take for granted that
like they they added fucking Paul Molitor and Ricky Henderson,
like they could not have added two better players for
the generation, like the greatest lead off and stolen base
guy in the history of baseball, and like an absolute
unbelievable solid DH To give you some of the idea
(09:25):
of some of the numbers. Alamar hits three twenty six,
four oh eight, four ninety two, who wins a Gold Glove.
That's a one forty one OPS plus. Motor three thirty two,
four oh eight, five oh nine with twenty two home
runs and one hundred and eleven driven in. That's a
one forty three ops plus. Joe Carter, who is obviously
the fan favorite and will be mentioned again, thirty three
home runs and one hundred and twenty one RBI, eight
(09:47):
h two ops plus ops for one hundred and twelve
ops plus. Even Devon White is a positive OPS player
and looking back at the highlights, one of the best
defensive center fielders you will ever see in your life.
Who's actually second on the team in war because his
center field was so damn good. Tony Fernandez hit three
zero six this year with a three sixty one on
base after coming back in a trade during the middle
(10:11):
of the year. Really the only whole offensively. Pat Borders
was not great at seventy five ops plus hit about
two fifty.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
But that's fine.
Speaker 8 (10:20):
He was the reigning World Series MVP. The big one though,
as you mentioned, twenty four year old John Alrud hits
three sixty three, four, seventy three, five, ninety nine at
one point zero seven to two ops A one eighty
six ops plus twenty four home runs one hundred and
seven RBI one hundred and fourteen walks to sixty five strikeouts.
(10:42):
You look back at it and you say, on what
planet did he not win American League MVP?
Speaker 3 (10:49):
To be sure, the Blue Jays were the real thing,
and no player was generating more excitement than John Olaru.
Hitting in a class all by himself. Olarude launched a
sensational assault on Ted Williams, the last batter to hit
four hundred. It was a dream season that Oiler Road
(11:10):
hardly figured on having.
Speaker 7 (11:13):
Last year was my best year hitting two eighty four,
and I think coming into the year, I felt like
hitting three hundred was a reasonable goal. To shoot for
twenty or more home runs and eighty or more RBIs
that's what I was shooting for. And you know this
is all in Chared Waters for me, So just sort
of keep going and see, you know how well I
(11:35):
can finish up.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
The only thing more mesmerizing than oli roads chase of
four hundred was the swing that was launching a thousand adjecutes.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Very controlled swingling that head doesn't hardly move.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Short stride and boil those hands come through quick continues.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Come up with hit, hit after hit.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Stage right on gets great extension.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Good example of how you're head stays and gage and
stays close to the plate, allows you to get through
the ball, stays on the ball, chokes up on the
bat in a little bit.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Well, this is just the textbook swing.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
If you wanted to take pictures and put it in
a book, that's the swing to do it with.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
Right there, It's like.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
A camera pitch your perfuse Kodak moment. Every time he swings,
everything is saying you never see him get full. Never,
Oh this is serious here against California, but.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
He just everything he hit went out. But he hit
four home runs that series.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Here comes the natural and he plants the prs pits,
hit it a ton, It's gone run. Un believable.
Speaker 7 (12:41):
Now, that's something that they've always tried to get me
to do, is be more aggressive early in the count,
because in years past I would really get behind in
the count and have to hit some tough pitches and
battle back. And I think this year I just got
off to a good start and did a better job
of being aggressive early in the count.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Watches fall through. Head is always down. That is a
big key.
Speaker 6 (13:03):
You never see him come up like this where his
head comes out.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
His head is.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Always down through the hitting zone and he just falls
the ball just like a golf swing. Boom, follow the ball.
Speaker 6 (13:14):
You can't teach that.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
All the rude was a model of consistency. In June,
he drove in thirty runs, batted four to twenty seven,
and for the better part of the month, never came
up empty a.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Shot to left field. He's hitted twenty.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Six, the major's longest hit streak of ninety three and
the longest ever by a Blue Jay.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Uh yeah, and like to your point, but not remember
remembering regular seasons. I would have bet my life that
Ricky Henderson was here the whole season, right if you?
Because the exposure as a young person to these teams
through memories and highlights, because like there aren't any fan
shots in the crowd videos of these games because fucking
(14:12):
phones didn't exist yet. But our exposure was the World
Series VHS. I assume you're the same which picks up
this always drove me crazy. The ninety two and the
ninety three VHS, The ninety two VHS has a great
season summary, full ALCS, NLCS recap before it gets the
(14:34):
World Series. The ninety three VHS just like breezes through
the ALCS, nothing really about the regular season, and then
the full thing is World Series. So my like enduring
enduring memories of the nine three season are just the
World Series. Yes, so all these stats and all these
players are kind of like, I know it happened because
(14:55):
I just know these things now, but they are sort
of like, oh, yeah, that's pretty cool. And also, how
did John Older in a l m VP.
Speaker 8 (15:05):
I will say Frank Thomas wins the l MVP that year.
He hit forty one home runs one hundred and twenty
eight RBI. His OPS was lower. John Olrude did have
the highest OPS in the league, but all we would
also finished third in wins above replacement that year. Kenkerfee
Junior hit forty five and one hundred and nine, got
on base a ton and placed center field. Kevin Aper
actually had the highest WAR but all had finished third,
(15:26):
and War finished third and MVP voting, but man man
he used to finished behind Paul Mulerer.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
If you can believe that in MVP voting.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
That's crazy, Nottar drove in. I guess it is like
sign of the time to like was was war even
a stat then? No? So I guess when it was
just you know, average home runs and RBI.
Speaker 8 (15:46):
I guess that does make sense, yes, but still but
still crazy that that is your lineup. Just an absolute
threshing machine, just an unbelievable the likes of which we
would not see again for two decades on the.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Mound, they weren't quite as dominant.
Speaker 8 (16:02):
This is probably where you are seeing, not winning as
many games and not winning one hundred games.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Jan Guzman started the most games. He was fourteen and
three of three point nine nine ERA.
Speaker 8 (16:14):
Pat Hankin nineteen and nine, an absolute legend in Toronto.
Pat Hankin, that's a great year nineteen to nine with
three point eight seven. Todds Tottlemeyer, who focks his chin
up of course, in the playoffs, he was eleven and
twelve with a four point eight four. Dave Stewart, the
veteran at thirty six years old, he was twelve and
eight with a four point four to four, and then
Jack Morris was absolute butt cheeks seven and twelve six
(16:38):
point one point nine ERA four complete games though, because
he's a Hall of Famer. They also had Al Lighter
made twelve starts. If you remember, we love Al Lighter,
don't only folks.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
How can you not love Al Lighter? I love Dal
Lighter as a kid. Yeah, he made, he made the
deep fun came in ninety two. He if he existed
in like the Twitter Stan era of Toronto Sports Twitter,
Al Lighter would be a legend just for ninety two.
Speaker 8 (17:08):
Yes, Dwayne Ward seventy appearances out of the bullpen, forty
five saves, seventy three crazy, crazy crazy Danny Cox, Mark Iicorn,
Mike Timlin, who of course is always in the mix
and all this stuff.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Tony Castillo, your most used relievers.
Speaker 8 (17:24):
Woody Williams also sneakily making thirty appearances for this team
in the back end of this bullpen. Some guys to
remember Darnell Coles, Turner Ward, Randy Nora, Alfredo, Griffin, Rob Butler.
If you will, Iby Domingos, Daniel, Sean Green your boy
played three games for this team, and John Carlos Delgatto
had two played appearances.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
They three tourna Blue Jays.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
That is wild to me that Sean Green and Carlos
Soogatto played for this team. In my obviously yeah, in
my historical brain, like obviously it makes sense. No, no,
But like in my brain, Shawn Green showed up in
like ninety six and like Telgado around the same time.
Speaker 8 (18:05):
Would I would hazard a guess that, like service time,
manipulation was not a thing because Sean Green was twenty
and college to Gota was twenty one.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Right, fair enough.
Speaker 8 (18:16):
Playing playing three games and two games for a ninety
six win team that would never happen.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Now, yeah, they're both post strike players. To me, absolutely,
I think it is how which I obviously their primes are.
But I didn't realize it was necess.
Speaker 8 (18:33):
Early a last sort of run sort of through their
standings there. They obviously finished first in the American League East.
You had to back in the day to make the playoffs.
It was the winner of the East versus the winner
of the West was the entirety of the ALCS. No,
none of this ALDS crap. But as I said, ninety
five and sixty seven, they were the best team in
the American League, one game above the Chicago White Sox
(18:56):
who finished ninety four and sixty eight. They were seven
games up on the Yankees who finished eighty eight and
seventy four, and then it was the Orioles, Tigers, Red Sox,
the Cleveland's, and the Milwaukee Brewers. That was the American
League East in nineteenety three.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
If you can believe that, I so, I'm glad you
sort of ran off that list because it's one of
those what do they call it, like Mandela affect things
with the Milwaukee Brewers for me specifically, where it's like,
I know, we played the Milwaukee Brewers like thirty times
a year, and then but then your brain forgets about
(19:33):
realignment and it's like, oh, no, that can't have happened.
But I'm like, no, I know that I've seen the
Brewers so many times, and then you see that it's
like right because that's how it was, And now I
feel lessons.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
In After sweeping in Oakland, they lost three straight in
Anaheim and came home on September seventh, only to be
swept again, blowing late inning leagues all three times. The
only good news was that the Yankees weren't winning either.
They lost five out of six, and instead of climbing
(20:04):
in the first place, the best they could do was
a time.
Speaker 9 (20:09):
When we lost six in a row in September and
didn't relinquish first place. I think psychologically it gave our
club a big left because we were struggling and no
one seemed to be able to take advantage. And from
that point, on whatever reason, our game got turned down
from pitching an offense and defense and we just haven't
looked backslins.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
On September fourteenth, the Blue Jays took their winning streak
on the road. They swept a pair of wild and
crazy games in Detroit and raised their first place lead to.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Two and a half games.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
From Detroit, they went to the Metro Dome in Minnesota
and kept streaking. Pad Henkin won the first game, Dave
Stewart the second, and with their first place lead up
to three games, they looked to the red hot one
Gouzman to complete the sweep. Had not lost a game
(21:01):
in two months, and against Minnesota his stuff was as
sharp as ever, producing nothing but zero's for eight innings.
Speaker 8 (21:11):
As of September ninth, they were tied for the American
League lead, and they went on a nine game winning
streak from the tenth to the twentieth to the twenty
first part in me to pull away to make it
a five game division lead and never looked back from
that point.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
So the last month of the season they.
Speaker 8 (21:27):
Were really, really really good, which is that's so Blue
Jays anyway.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
That sets you up.
Speaker 8 (21:35):
They are going to take on the Chicago White Sox
in the beginning of the ALCS. We will get to
that next week on sports called Storytime.
Unfair nineteen ninety two World Sevens Toronto Blue.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Jays stand up.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Winning in nineteen ninety two was one thing, but many
key players would not be back in ninety three, and
the question on everybody's mind was could the Blue Jays
do it all over again? No team had won back
to back world championships in fifteen years, and the Blue
Jays were asking a lot from their returning players. But
(00:40):
if any team knew how to win, this one did
tell me back to back the story of the nineteen
(01:03):
ninety three Toronto Blue Jays World champ Because back again
I had to repeat, but first time to limber up.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Hey, you know, if you can't beat them, join them.
Speaker 5 (01:16):
So so Paul Molliner joined the Blue Jays in the
off season, Ed Sprague moved over to third, and there
was also a new shortstop, Dick Schofield, and a new
starting pitcher, Dave Stewart.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Now they ask you what are you gonna do for
an encore? You know, what are you going to do?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
And hopefully we're going to do what you know, no
other team has done since the seventy seven seventy eight Yankees.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
We want to back to back this thing.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Maybe the team that cuts heads together wins pennants together.
Speaker 6 (01:44):
If you go with a smaller look style, get a
little ball spot backer in the back.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
But that's natural O. You can't look no bitter than that.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
On April ninth, at their season home opener, the Blue
Jays couldn't have felt any better. In front of a
sold out SkyDome, they probably accepted their world championship rings.
Speaker 6 (02:07):
That's a daya you will never never forget.
Speaker 7 (02:10):
It's a world champ for ring.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
It's a lot of guys out there.
Speaker 6 (02:13):
They've been playing for fifteen or twenty years in the
big legs.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
I never never have a ring again.
Speaker 6 (02:19):
That ring was probably the epitome of what every baseball
player dreams are and then finally coming true.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Waited so long for that ring. You're just you know,
smiling from year to year.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
The Blue Jays were now on a quest to repeat,
and in the home opener, Ed Sprague got them off
to a convincing start.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Breaking ball laughed to Lapdoul turns sports.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
It is sports felt story time.
Speaker 8 (03:13):
We are looking back, way back, back, back back to
our childhoods. After doing some very recent ones with the
twenty twenty, the twenty twenty Games last month and some
two thousands games, We're going back to where it all started,
the highlight of our childhoods. It is the nineteen ninety
three Toronto Blue Jays. Yes, indeed, we are going back
(03:35):
to the Joe Carter home run over the Philadelphia Phillies
Mitch Williams in Game six. It's gonna be a ton
of fun the next couple of weeks we've been looking back at.
I know, for me, a team that I absolutely took
for granted, just sort of assumed this is what being
a fan of sports was. Your teams are always great.
The Leafs are always a great team. The Jays are
always a great team. The Rafts don't exist yet. But
(03:57):
Toronto sports fan in nineteen ninety two ninety three was
good living. Let me tell you, yeah it was.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
It's funny because, like, I'm just just a couple years
younger than you. But it's funny how it makes sense
why we are the sports fans we are, if that
makes sense, even though just a year later things would
turn around and go the other way for a long time,
(04:26):
but this it was. As a young budding sports fan
in ninety three, it was impossible to not be in
love with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Yeah, oh absolutely they were.
Speaker 8 (04:40):
We've heard said many times on sports radio, the highest
payroll in the league. They're coming off their first World
Series championship in nineteen ninety two, where they went ninety
six and sixty six.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
This team the following year.
Speaker 8 (04:53):
Ninety five and sixty seven, somehow a worst record despite
being just an absolute murderer's row powerhouse of a baseball team.
I'll tell you the first thought that came to my
mind looking back at this team, looking back at the records,
looking back at the schedules, is when you are seven
years old, as I was at the time, you do
not remember regular seasons.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yes, one hundred percent correct.
Speaker 8 (05:20):
Like I guess thats obviously because we're adults now. But
like looking back at the raptors run, like you remember
this some great regular season stuff, you remember the twenty
fifteen Blue Jays regular season. I don't remember a single
moment of nineteen einety two or nine tennety three that
was not a playoff game.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
The only moment I remember of the ninety three regular
season was not even like a specific game, and I
was I was, like I turned five during this season,
So like not the most aware of sports fan yet
just know I like it kind of thing, of course. Yeah,
but I do remember the story of John Oliarud chasing
(05:58):
hitting four hundred and the three big hitters with their
crazy batting averages, that being Ola, Rude Alamar and I
guess Mollitor doing the other one. Yes, yeah, but I don't.
I wasn't in it enough yet to I understand. I
knew what it meant because I understood what batting average was,
(06:20):
but I wasn't in it enough to realize like how
big a deal it was that someone was chasing four
hundred on a Toronto team. But that's the only thing
I remember for the regular season that that was a story.
Speaker 8 (06:30):
And they finished one two three in batting average, which
is like, that's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
I was like the numbers on the like it's funny.
I remember. I've gone back a couple of times in
my more adult years and looked at the ninety two
roster and it's like, Okay, obviously they won the World Series.
Obviously a good team, Like there's some holes in there
that you're like, wow, that was really a starting player
on a World Series winning team. But then you look
(06:55):
at the one through nine on the ninety three team.
It's Jesus Christ.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Of course, it's unbelievable. Unbelievable. How do they not win
more games?
Speaker 8 (07:05):
It's the only question I look back at it and
sort of answer to sort of connect.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
The dots here.
Speaker 8 (07:10):
Between ninety two and ninety three, after they win the
ninety two World Series, Jimmy Key leaves as a free agent,
Dave Steeb leaves as a free agent. Old friend Pat
Tabler leaves as a free agent, along with Mark Korn,
Ransomollinis and Alfredo Griffin and David Cohne and Dave Winfield.
(07:33):
So go, There's there's quite a few holes there to fill.
They filled the Dave Winfield role with fucking Paul Molitor,
a Hall of Fame DH who had just played fifteen
years with Minnesota, a multiple time All Star. He comes
in and immediately hits three thirty two, one forty three
ops plus, just like an absolute beast. To add to
(07:55):
that already great lineup. As you mentioned, you know, you
sort of point out, he ends up helping them finished
one two three in the batting average race. Then they
signed Dave Stewart to fill one of those holds. Former
Oakland a's absolute badass ace Icorn comes back, Griffin comes back.
And they also add they traded Kelly Gruber for Luis Soho,
(08:20):
getting out ahead the fact that Kelly Gruber would be
canceled later on in life for being drunk at a
pitch talks, I believe was the official thing that he did.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Also mid season ad literal Ricky Henderson.
Speaker 8 (08:36):
Yes, of course, yes, of course, that is sort of
your off season to get to your in season transactions.
Why not, why not go right for it an go
right into the ninety three transactions? Just crazy, like just
trying to imagine now trading for Ricky Henderson at the deadline,
like just so sick, just like that's just so so
(08:58):
fucking cool.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
That's unbelievable.
Speaker 8 (09:01):
As a kid, you don't, you just we talked to
this already once, but you just take for granted that
like they they added fucking Paul Molitor and Ricky Henderson,
like they could not have added two better players for
the generation, like the greatest lead off and stolen base
guy in the history of baseball, and like an absolute
unbelievable solid DH To give you some of the idea
(09:25):
of some of the numbers. Alamar hits three twenty six,
four oh eight, four ninety two, who wins a Gold Glove.
That's a one forty one OPS plus. Motor three thirty two,
four oh eight, five oh nine with twenty two home
runs and one hundred and eleven driven in. That's a
one forty three ops plus. Joe Carter, who is obviously
the fan favorite and will be mentioned again, thirty three
home runs and one hundred and twenty one RBI, eight
(09:47):
h two ops plus ops for one hundred and twelve
ops plus. Even Devon White is a positive OPS player
and looking back at the highlights, one of the best
defensive center fielders you will ever see in your life.
Who's actually second on the team in war because his
center field was so damn good. Tony Fernandez hit three
zero six this year with a three sixty one on
base after coming back in a trade during the middle
(10:11):
of the year. Really the only whole offensively. Pat Borders
was not great at seventy five ops plus hit about
two fifty.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
But that's fine.
Speaker 8 (10:20):
He was the reigning World Series MVP. The big one though,
as you mentioned, twenty four year old John Alrud hits
three sixty three, four, seventy three, five, ninety nine at
one point zero seven to two ops A one eighty
six ops plus twenty four home runs one hundred and
seven RBI one hundred and fourteen walks to sixty five strikeouts.
(10:42):
You look back at it and you say, on what
planet did he not win American League MVP?
Speaker 3 (10:49):
To be sure, the Blue Jays were the real thing,
and no player was generating more excitement than John Olaru.
Hitting in a class all by himself. Olarude launched a
sensational assault on Ted Williams, the last batter to hit
four hundred. It was a dream season that Oiler Road
(11:10):
hardly figured on having.
Speaker 7 (11:13):
Last year was my best year hitting two eighty four,
and I think coming into the year, I felt like
hitting three hundred was a reasonable goal. To shoot for
twenty or more home runs and eighty or more RBIs
that's what I was shooting for. And you know this
is all in Chared Waters for me, So just sort
of keep going and see, you know how well I
(11:35):
can finish up.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
The only thing more mesmerizing than oli roads chase of
four hundred was the swing that was launching a thousand adjecutes.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Very controlled swingling that head doesn't hardly move.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Short stride and boil those hands come through quick continues.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Come up with hit, hit after hit.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Stage right on gets great extension.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Good example of how you're head stays and gage and
stays close to the plate, allows you to get through
the ball, stays on the ball, chokes up on the
bat in a little bit.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Well, this is just the textbook swing.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
If you wanted to take pictures and put it in
a book, that's the swing to do it with.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
Right there, It's like.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
A camera pitch your perfuse Kodak moment. Every time he swings,
everything is saying you never see him get full. Never,
Oh this is serious here against California, but.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
He just everything he hit went out. But he hit
four home runs that series.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Here comes the natural and he plants the prs pits,
hit it a ton, It's gone run. Un believable.
Speaker 7 (12:41):
Now, that's something that they've always tried to get me
to do, is be more aggressive early in the count,
because in years past I would really get behind in
the count and have to hit some tough pitches and
battle back. And I think this year I just got
off to a good start and did a better job
of being aggressive early in the count.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Watches fall through. Head is always down. That is a
big key.
Speaker 6 (13:03):
You never see him come up like this where his
head comes out.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
His head is.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Always down through the hitting zone and he just falls
the ball just like a golf swing. Boom, follow the ball.
Speaker 6 (13:14):
You can't teach that.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
All the rude was a model of consistency. In June,
he drove in thirty runs, batted four to twenty seven,
and for the better part of the month, never came
up empty a.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Shot to left field. He's hitted twenty.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Six, the major's longest hit streak of ninety three and
the longest ever by a Blue Jay.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Uh yeah, and like to your point, but not remember
remembering regular seasons. I would have bet my life that
Ricky Henderson was here the whole season, right if you?
Because the exposure as a young person to these teams
through memories and highlights, because like there aren't any fan
shots in the crowd videos of these games because fucking
(14:12):
phones didn't exist yet. But our exposure was the World
Series VHS. I assume you're the same which picks up
this always drove me crazy. The ninety two and the
ninety three VHS, The ninety two VHS has a great
season summary, full ALCS, NLCS recap before it gets the
(14:34):
World Series. The ninety three VHS just like breezes through
the ALCS, nothing really about the regular season, and then
the full thing is World Series. So my like enduring
enduring memories of the nine three season are just the
World Series. Yes, so all these stats and all these
players are kind of like, I know it happened because
(14:55):
I just know these things now, but they are sort
of like, oh, yeah, that's pretty cool. And also, how
did John Older in a l m VP.
Speaker 8 (15:05):
I will say Frank Thomas wins the l MVP that year.
He hit forty one home runs one hundred and twenty
eight RBI. His OPS was lower. John Olrude did have
the highest OPS in the league, but all we would
also finished third in wins above replacement that year. Kenkerfee
Junior hit forty five and one hundred and nine, got
on base a ton and placed center field. Kevin Aper
actually had the highest WAR but all had finished third,
(15:26):
and War finished third and MVP voting, but man man
he used to finished behind Paul Mulerer.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
If you can believe that in MVP voting.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
That's crazy, Nottar drove in. I guess it is like
sign of the time to like was was war even
a stat then? No? So I guess when it was
just you know, average home runs and RBI.
Speaker 8 (15:46):
I guess that does make sense, yes, but still but
still crazy that that is your lineup. Just an absolute
threshing machine, just an unbelievable the likes of which we
would not see again for two decades on the.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Mound, they weren't quite as dominant.
Speaker 8 (16:02):
This is probably where you are seeing, not winning as
many games and not winning one hundred games.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Jan Guzman started the most games. He was fourteen and
three of three point nine nine ERA.
Speaker 8 (16:14):
Pat Hankin nineteen and nine, an absolute legend in Toronto.
Pat Hankin, that's a great year nineteen to nine with
three point eight seven. Todds Tottlemeyer, who focks his chin
up of course, in the playoffs, he was eleven and
twelve with a four point eight four. Dave Stewart, the
veteran at thirty six years old, he was twelve and
eight with a four point four to four, and then
Jack Morris was absolute butt cheeks seven and twelve six
(16:38):
point one point nine ERA four complete games though, because
he's a Hall of Famer. They also had Al Lighter
made twelve starts. If you remember, we love Al Lighter,
don't only folks.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
How can you not love Al Lighter? I love Dal
Lighter as a kid. Yeah, he made, he made the
deep fun came in ninety two. He if he existed
in like the Twitter Stan era of Toronto Sports Twitter,
Al Lighter would be a legend just for ninety two.
Speaker 8 (17:08):
Yes, Dwayne Ward seventy appearances out of the bullpen, forty
five saves, seventy three crazy, crazy crazy Danny Cox, Mark Iicorn,
Mike Timlin, who of course is always in the mix
and all this stuff.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
Tony Castillo, your most used relievers.
Speaker 8 (17:24):
Woody Williams also sneakily making thirty appearances for this team
in the back end of this bullpen. Some guys to
remember Darnell Coles, Turner Ward, Randy Nora, Alfredo, Griffin, Rob Butler.
If you will, Iby Domingos, Daniel, Sean Green your boy
played three games for this team, and John Carlos Delgatto
had two played appearances.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
They three tourna Blue Jays.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
That is wild to me that Sean Green and Carlos
Soogatto played for this team. In my obviously yeah, in
my historical brain, like obviously it makes sense. No, no,
But like in my brain, Shawn Green showed up in
like ninety six and like Telgado around the same time.
Speaker 8 (18:05):
Would I would hazard a guess that, like service time,
manipulation was not a thing because Sean Green was twenty
and college to Gota was twenty one.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Right, fair enough.
Speaker 8 (18:16):
Playing playing three games and two games for a ninety
six win team that would never happen.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Now, yeah, they're both post strike players. To me, absolutely,
I think it is how which I obviously their primes are.
But I didn't realize it was necess.
Speaker 8 (18:33):
Early a last sort of run sort of through their
standings there. They obviously finished first in the American League East.
You had to back in the day to make the playoffs.
It was the winner of the East versus the winner
of the West was the entirety of the ALCS. No,
none of this ALDS crap. But as I said, ninety
five and sixty seven, they were the best team in
the American League, one game above the Chicago White Sox
(18:56):
who finished ninety four and sixty eight. They were seven
games up on the Yankees who finished eighty eight and
seventy four, and then it was the Orioles, Tigers, Red Sox,
the Cleveland's, and the Milwaukee Brewers. That was the American
League East in nineteenety three.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
If you can believe that, I so, I'm glad you
sort of ran off that list because it's one of
those what do they call it, like Mandela affect things
with the Milwaukee Brewers for me specifically, where it's like,
I know, we played the Milwaukee Brewers like thirty times
a year, and then but then your brain forgets about
(19:33):
realignment and it's like, oh, no, that can't have happened.
But I'm like, no, I know that I've seen the
Brewers so many times, and then you see that it's
like right because that's how it was, And now I
feel lessons.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
In After sweeping in Oakland, they lost three straight in
Anaheim and came home on September seventh, only to be
swept again, blowing late inning leagues all three times. The
only good news was that the Yankees weren't winning either.
They lost five out of six, and instead of climbing
(20:04):
in the first place, the best they could do was
a time.
Speaker 9 (20:09):
When we lost six in a row in September and
didn't relinquish first place. I think psychologically it gave our
club a big left because we were struggling and no
one seemed to be able to take advantage. And from
that point, on whatever reason, our game got turned down
from pitching an offense and defense and we just haven't
looked backslins.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
On September fourteenth, the Blue Jays took their winning streak
on the road. They swept a pair of wild and
crazy games in Detroit and raised their first place lead to.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Two and a half games.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
From Detroit, they went to the Metro Dome in Minnesota
and kept streaking. Pad Henkin won the first game, Dave
Stewart the second, and with their first place lead up
to three games, they looked to the red hot one
Gouzman to complete the sweep. Had not lost a game
(21:01):
in two months, and against Minnesota his stuff was as
sharp as ever, producing nothing but zero's for eight innings.
Speaker 8 (21:11):
As of September ninth, they were tied for the American
League lead, and they went on a nine game winning
streak from the tenth to the twentieth to the twenty
first part in me to pull away to make it
a five game division lead and never looked back from
that point.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
So the last month of the season they.
Speaker 8 (21:27):
Were really, really really good, which is that's so Blue
Jays anyway.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
That sets you up.
Speaker 8 (21:35):
They are going to take on the Chicago White Sox
in the beginning of the ALCS. We will get to
that next week on sports called Storytime.
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