1984 San Diego Padres season

1984 San Diego Padres
1984 National League Champions
1984 NL West Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
  • Jack Murphy Stadium (since 1969)
  • San Diego, California (since 1969)
Other information
Owner(s) Ray Kroc and Joan Kroc
Manager(s) Dick Williams
Local television KCST
Cox Cable
(Dave Campbell, Jerry Coleman, Bob Chandler, Ted Leitner)
Local radio KFMB (AM)
(Dave Campbell, Jerry Coleman)
XEXX
(Gustavo Lopez, Mario Thomas Zapiain)
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Offseason

Regular season

Team owner Ray Kroc died of heart disease on January 14. Ownership of the team passed to his wife, Joan B. Kroc. The team would wear Ray's initials, "RAK" on their jersey's left sleeve during the entire season.

The Padres started the season 18–11 before losing seven in a row. They finished the season with a 92–70 record, winning the NL the National League West division by 12 games despite having no players with 100-RBI and only two batters with 20-HR.[7] They were managed by Dick Williams and had an offense that featured veterans Steve Garvey, Garry Templeton, Graig Nettles, Alan Wiggins as well as future Hall-of-Famer Tony Gwynn, who captured his first his eight National League batting championships that year. The Padres pitching staff in 1984 featured Eric Show (15–9), Ed Whitson (14–8), Mark Thurmond (14–8), Tim Lollar (11–13), and Goose Gossage as their closer (10–6, 2.90 ERA and 25 saves).[8]

Though he was not even in the line-up for the day's game against the Atlanta Braves, Kurt Bevacqua became the centerpiece of an August 12 brawl. Braves pitcher Pascual Pérez hit Alan Wiggins with the very first pitch of the game. Padres pitcher Ed Whitson responded by pitching inside to Pérez when he came to bat in the second inning. Home plate umpire Steve Rippley warned Whitson, but Whitson threw at him again in the fourth, regardless, causing both benches to clear and Whitson and Padres manager Dick Williams to get ejected. Eventually, Pérez was hit by a pitch from Craig Lefferts, causing benches to again clear. The final brawl of the evening occurred in the ninth, when Graig Nettles, who had homered in his previous at-bat, was hit by Donnie Moore leading off the inning. In total, both managers, both replacement managers, four pitchers and five position players were ejected from the game. After the ninth inning melee, a fan at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium threw a beer at Bevacqua, causing Bevacqua to go into the stands after the fan. He was restrained by security guards.

Opening Day starters

Season standings

NL West W L GB Pct.
San Diego Padres 92 70 -- .568
Atlanta Braves 80 82 12.0 .494
Houston Astros 80 82 12.0 .494
Los Angeles Dodgers 79 83 13.0 .488
Cincinnati Reds 70 92 22.0 .432
San Francisco Giants 66 96 26.0 .407

Notable transactions

Roster

1984 San Diego Padres
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Terry Kennedy 148 530 127 .240 14 57
1B Steve Garvey 161 617 175 .284 8 86
2B Alan Wiggins 158 596 154 .258 3 34
3B Graig Nettles 124 395 90 .228 20 65
SS Garry Templeton 148 493 127 .258 2 35
LF Carmelo Martínez 149 488 122 .250 13 66
CF Kevin McReynolds 147 525 146 .278 20 75
RF Tony Gwynn 158 606 213 .351 5 71

[11]

Other batters

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Luis Salazar 93 228 55 .241 3 17
Bobby Brown 85 171 43 .251 3 29
Tim Flannery 86 128 35 .273 2 10
Bruce Bochy 37 92 21 .228 4 15
Kurt Bevacqua 59 80 16 .200 1 9
Mario Ramírez 48 59 7 .119 2 9
Champ Summers 47 54 10 .185 1 12
Ron Roenicke 12 20 6 .300 1 2
Eddie Miller 13 14 4 .286 1 2
Doug Gwosdz 7 8 2 .250 0 1

[11]

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Eric Show 32 207 15 9 3.40 104
Tim Lollar 31 195.2 11 13 3.91 131
Ed Whitson 31 189 14 8 3.24 103
Mark Thurmond 32 178.2 14 8 2.97 57

Other pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Dave Dravecky 50 156.2 9 8 2.93 71
Andy Hawkins 36 146 8 9 4.68 77

Relief pitchers

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Goose Gossage 62 10 6 25 2.90 84
Craig Lefferts 62 3 4 10 2.13 56
Greg Booker 32 1 1 0 3.30 28
Luis DeLeón 32 2 2 0 5.48 44
Greg Harris 19 2 1 1 2.70 30
Floyd Chiffer 15 1 0 0 7.71 20
Sid Monge 13 2 1 0 4.80 7

NLCS

Cub-Busters T-shirts were popular with Padres fans.

In the 1984 NLCS, the Padres faced the NL East champion Chicago Cubs, who were making their first post-season appearance since 1945 and featured NL Most Valuable Player Ryne Sandberg and Cy Young Award winner Rick Sutcliffe. The Cubs would win the first two games at Wrigley Field, but the Padres swept the final three games at then-Jack Murphy Stadium (the highlight arguably being Steve Garvey's dramatic, game-winning home run off of Lee Smith in Game 4) to win the 1984 National League pennant.[12] Gossage, a former New York Yankee, said the San Diego crowd at Game 3 was "the loudest crowd I've ever heard anywhere."[13] Gwynn agreed as well.[14] Jack Murphy Stadium played "Cub-Busters", a parody of the theme song from the 1984 movie Ghostbusters.[13][14] Cub-Busters T-shirts inspired from the movie were popular attire for Padres fans.[15][16]

Game 1

October 2: Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
San Diego 000 000 000 061
Chicago 203 062 00X 13160
W: Rick Sutcliffe (1-0)   L: Eric Show (0-1)   S: none
HR: SD – none  CHC – Bob Dernier (1) Gary Matthews (2), Rick Sutcliffe (1), Ron Cey (1)
Pitchers: SD – Show, Harris (5), Booker (7)  CHC – Sutcliffe, Brusstar (8)
Attendance: 36,282

Game 2

October 3: Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
San Diego 000 101 000 250
Chicago 102 100 00x 481
W: Steve Trout (1-0)   L: Mark Thurmond (0-1)   S: Lee Smith (1)
HR: SD – none  CHC – none
Pitchers: SD – Thurmond, Hawkins (4), Dravecky (6), Lefferts (8)  CHC – Trout, Smith (9)
Attendance: 36,282

Game 3

October 4: Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego, California

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago 010 000 000 150
San Diego 000 034 00x 7110
W: Ed Whitson (1-0)   L: Dennis Eckersley (0-1)   S: none
HR: CHC – none  SD – Kevin McReynolds (1)
Pitchers: CHC – Eckersley, Frazier (6), Stoddard (8)  SD – Whitson, Gossage (9)
Attendance: 58,346

Game 4

October 6: Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego, California

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago 000 300 020 581
San Diego 002 010 202 7110
W: Craig Lefferts (1-0)   L: Lee Smith (0-1)   S: none
HR: CHC – Jody Davis (1), Leon Durham (1)  SD Steve Garvey (1)
Pitchers: CHC – Sanderson, Brusstar (5), Stoddard (7), Smith (8)  SD – Lollar, Hawkins (5), Dravecky (6), Gossage (8), Lefferts (9)
Attendance: 58,354

Game 5

October 7: Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego, California

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chicago 210 000 000 351
San Diego 000 002 40x 680
W: Craig Lefferts (2-0)   L: Rick Sutcliffe (1-1)   S: Goose Gossage (1)
HR: CHC – Leon Durham (2), Jody Davis (2)  SD – none
Pitchers: CHC – Sutcliffe, Trout (7), Brusstar (8)  SD – Show, Hawkins (2), Dravecky (4), Lefferts (6), Gossage (8)
Attendance: 58,359

As if to tease their fatalistic fans, the Cubs started out well in the final and deciding game of the series. Durham hit a two-run homer in the first and Davis added a solo homer in the second to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead. With National League Cy Young Award winner and Game 1 victor Rick Sutcliffe pitching brilliantly, the Cubs maintained their lead until the bottom of the sixth. Then disaster struck in a way that left many Cubs fans muttering about curses and other storied collapses in the franchise's history.

Chicago's downfall began innocently enough, with San Diego getting two sacrifice flies in the sixth to cut the Cubs' lead to 3-2. But the Padres' seventh proved catastrophic for Chicago. Carmelo Martínez led off the inning with a walk, was sacrificed to second by Garry Templeton, and scored when Tim Flannery's grounder trickled through Durham's legs for a crucial error. Alan Wiggins singled Flannery to second, and Gwynn doubled both runners home to give the Padres a 5-3 lead. Garvey followed with an RBI single to stretch the lead to 6-3. Steve Trout then replaced Sutcliffe on the mound and got out of the inning unscathed. The Cubs got three baserunners over the final two innings against Gossage but could not score, and San Diego took home its first National League pennant.

World series

Main article: 1984 World Series

In the 1984 World Series, the Padres faced the powerful Detroit Tigers, who steamrolled through the regular season with 104 victories (and had started out with a 35-5 record, the best ever through the first 40 games). The Tigers were managed by Sparky Anderson and featured shortstop and native San Diegan Alan Trammell and outfielder Kirk Gibson, along with Lance Parrish and DH Darrell Evans. The pitching staff was bolstered by ace Jack Morris (19-11, 3.60 ERA), Dan Petry (18-8), Milt Wilcox (17-8), and closer Willie Hernandez (9-3, 1.92 ERA with 32 saves).[17] Jack Morris would win games 1 and 4 and the Tigers would go on to win the Series 4-games-to-1.[18]

Reporter Barry Bloom of MLB.com wrote in 2011 that "the postseason in ’84 is still the most exciting week of Major League Baseball ever played in San Diego."[19]

AL Detroit Tigers (4) vs. NL San Diego Padres (1)

Game Score Date Location Attendance Time of Game
1 Tigers – 3, Padres – 2 October 9Jack Murphy Stadium(San Diego) 57,908 3:18
2 Tigers – 3, Padres – 5 October 10Jack Murphy Stadium (San Diego) 57,911 2:44
3 Padres – 2, Tigers – 5 October 13Tiger Stadium (Detroit) 51,970 3:11
4 Padres – 2, Tigers – 4 October 14Tiger Stadium (Detroit) 52,130 2:20
5 Padres – 4, Tigers – 8 October 15Tiger Stadium (Detroit) 51,901 2:55

Award winners

1984 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Las Vegas Stars Pacific Coast League Bob Cluck
AA Beaumont Golden Gators Texas League Bobby Tolan
A Reno Padres California League Jim Skaalen
A Miami Marlins Florida State League Steve Smith
Short-Season A Spokane Indians Northwest League Jack Maloof

[20]

References

  1. ↑ Sandy Alomar Jr. page at Baseball Reference
  2. ↑ Champ Summers page at Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ Scott Sanderson page at Baseball Reference
  4. ↑ Rich Gossage page at Baseball Reference
  5. ↑ Rodney McCray page at Baseball Reference
  6. ↑ Graig Nettles page at Baseball Reference
  7. ↑ Center, Bill (October 7, 2001). "THE GREATEST PADRE: career timeline: '84". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on September 21, 2012.
  8. ↑ Baseball-reference.com San Diego Padres 1984
  9. ↑ http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1984&t=SDN
  10. ↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/n/newmaal01.shtml
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 1984 San Diego Padres Statistics and Roster - Baseball-Reference.com
  12. ↑ Baseball-Reference.com 1984 NLCS
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Johnson, Jay; Hughes, Joe (October 5, 1984). "Full house beats 9 Cubs". Evening Tribune. p. A-1. The scene was joyous pandemonium after the game, as long-suffering fans danced in the aisles, hugged total strangers, whooped and sang along as "Cub-Busters" played on the stadium's loudspeakers.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Staples, Billy; Herschlag, Rich (2007). Before the Glory: 20 Baseball Heroes Talk about Growing Up and Turning Hard Times Into Home Runs. HCI. p. 386. ISBN 978-0-7573-0626-6. Retrieved October 6, 2011. The home crowd had another weapon up its sleeve, a ditty called "Cub-busters," a parody of the theme from the Chicago-based 1984 hit movie Ghostbusters.
  15. ↑ Sauer, Mark (October 6, 1984). "With a toast from the host ... Padres' faithful primed for game 4 -- and maybe game 5". The San Diego Union. p. A-1. 'The Cub Busters T-shirts have been the hottest item, but stuff we hadn't sold in years suddenly started moving,' said Croasdale.
  16. ↑ Laurence, Robert P. (October 2, 1984). "'Busters' promoter Cub at heart". The San Diego Union. p. B-1. Logan came up with the design after hearing the 'Ghostbusters' theme song at a Padres-Mets game in August, and his creation is without a doubt the hottest selling item in the Padres' inventory as excitement builds going into today's first game of the National League playoffs.
  17. ↑ Baseball-reference.com Detroit Tigers 1984 season
  18. ↑ Baseball-reference.com 1984 World Series stats
  19. ↑ Bloom, Barry M. (March 22, 2011). "Dark cloud hovers over 1984 Padres". MLB.com. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011.
  20. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

External links