Four managers came together once again for a face-to-face Season Ticket Baseball showdown, this time each skipper bringing their choice of a non-playoff edition of their favorite franchise. A double round-robin FTF tournament with no playoffs - winner takes all!
| Manager | Team |
|---|---|
| Joe Costa | 1942 Boston Red Sox (93-59) |
| Bob Militello | 1985 New York Mets (98-64) |
| Scott Needle | 1998 St. Louis Cardinals (83-79) |
| Bob Zuhlke | 1982 Chicago White Sox (87-75) |
- 26-man roster, named prior to start of tournament
- Pitchers must have 15+ GS to start, any pitcher starting a game is ineligible to relieve
- Position players with less than 150 AB may not start; they are eligible to PH at any time, but may only stay in the game (or enter as defensive replacement) in 6th inning or later, and pitchers may not pinch hit or pinch run unless they have a separate batting card
- Starting pitchers (i.e., no relief Stamina rating) who are not used to start may relieve with a relief Stamina equal to one-half their starting value (rounded down), but they can only be used (1) when the original starter hits a Fatigue of 4, or (2) the game is in extra innings
- Pitcher injuries will be ignored, and any other injuries are in force for the remainder of the current game ONLY; if a player is injured (or ejected), his replacement is not subject to limits specified above.
- Season Ticket “Season Play” pitcher fatigue rules (page 28 of the Rules) will govern usage and in-game Fatigue; the “Pitching on Short Rest” rule will be in effect for pitchers who qualify.
- Designated hitter rule in effect for home games of DH-era teams
- No zombie runner in extra innings
- Games tied after twelve innings are recorded as ties in the standings
Once the managers had arrived at the tournament site and the lineups had been considered, the rotations weighed, and the competition sized up, the dice rolling began . . .
White Sox hitters pounded Red Sox pitching for fifteen hits and eleven runs, chasing Boston ace Hughson from the game after just three innings. The Chicago attack was led by Rudy Law's five-hit, nine total-base, four-run, one-steal explosion out of the leadoff spot; Law reached as the leadoff batter and scored in the 1st, 3rd and 4th innings as the Pale Hose built an 8-3 lead, and then homered in the 5th as if to convince the Comiskey crowd that the first three trips to the plate hadn't been a fluke. Burns was not overpowering for Chicago, but he didn't need to be given the level of offensive support; he allowed a two-run homer to Ted Williams in the 3rd that briefly gave Boston a 3-1 lead, but settled down from there and lasted seven useful innings before yielding to the mop-up crew for the final six outs. Ted homered again in the 8th, and reached base three times, but two GIDPs from Dom DiMaggio short-circuited potential Red Sox rallies and Boston pitching just could not figure out how to retire the ChiSox hitters until finally recording a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the 8th. Johnny Pesky and Harold Baines each recorded three hits, while Carlton Fisk knocked in three runs. Chicago (A) 11-15-1, Boston 5-11-1. [box] [pbp]
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| Rudy Law torched the Red Sox with one of the great performances in Showdown History |
The Cardinals used two-out hitting to build an early lead, and withstood a late New York rush for hold on for a high-scoring opening-round victory. The home club scored twice in the bottom of the 1st to take the lead, when Fernando Tatis and Tom Lampkin singled home runs with two away after a Keith Hernandez error had put them in position to do damage. In the 3rd, Lampkin's groundout for the second out scored one run, and Ron Gant's double another to make the score 5-1 St. Louis with Matt Morris allowing just one run over the first six innings. But his stuff went south, and quickly, in the 7th as Howard Johnson led off for the Mets with a long home run and Mookie Wilson followed with a double to the wall in left-center. Donovan Osborne came on to limit the damage to two runs, and the Cards pushed back hard in the bottom half. Gooden, lifted for a pinch-hitter after six innings which were ineffective on balance (although he did allow only one hit, with three Ks, over his last three frames) was replaced by Terry Leach, and the Auburn University side-armer got a rude welcome from the Redbirds. A single and two walks loaded the bases with one away, and Tatis (3-for-3, three RBI, walk) singled home two of them while Lampkin cleared out the third with an RBI double.The Mets did their best to make the five-run lead seem vulnerable, touching up Lance Painter for three runs in the 8th, but Juan Acevedo tossed a perfect 9th to finish it off. St. Louis 8-11-3, New York (N) 6-8-1. [box] [pbp]
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| Fernando Tatis reached base four times and had three RBI |
It was the Fernandez and Hernandez Show at Shea Stadium, as Sid completely overpowered Chicago by striking out twelve while allowing only five baserunners, and the New York offense rode Keith's four hits to a comfortable victory that evened the Showdown record of both clubs. "El Sid" fanned four of the first nine White Sox hitters, but Chicago actually took the lead in the 3rd when a leadoff walk to Billy Almon (Fernandez's only free pass of the afternoon), a groundout, and Tony Bernazard's RBI single produced the game's first run. But the Mets began to roll out the big swings in the 4th - Hernandez led off against Hoyt with a a two-bagger and Darryl Strawberry followed him with a drive into the right-field seats for a 2-1 Mets lead. In their next at-bat, the boys from Queens doubled down on the deep drive. With two outs, Wally Backman singled and Hernandez homered; Strawberry then singled, and Gary Carter left the ballpark with a fly ball that stretched the New York lead out to 6-1. It was all a formality after that as Fernandez blew away the final sixteen Sox, six of them on strikes. New York (N) 7-12-0, Chicago (A) 1-4-2. [box] [pbp]
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| Sid Fernandez was dominant - a four-hitter with twelve Ks |
St. Louis rallied to overcome Boston's early lead, but then had to watch as the back end of its bullpen (and its defense) handed the game back to the BoSox in the final innings. The game was scoreless - despite a combined ten baserunners - when the Red Sox came up to bat in the 4th, and Stottlemyre ran into immediate difficulties. He walked Lou Finney to start the inning and Tony Lupien followed with an RBI double before the Cardinal hurler retired the next two men. But Dom DiMaggio then skittered one down to third base which Fernando Tatis could only parry into foul ground to put Sox at the corners, and Johnny Pesky delivered a two-run double to center field to make it 3-0. After allowing just two hits in the first five innings, Wagner came unstuck (again, with "help" from the defense behind him) in the 6th. With one away, Jim Tabor bobbled Mark McGwire's grounder and Wagner walked Ray Lankford. Fernando Tatis singled home the first STL run and Tom Lampkin singled to load the bases; a second run scored on a groundout, and a third on Wagner's pitch in the dirt to pinch-hitter J.D. Drew to tie the game. Ted Williams doubled in a run in the bottom half, but Lankford's two-run homer in the 7th was the end of the line for Wagner and brought St. Louis all the way back to a 5-4 lead. It was now up to the pens, and Boston got to St. Louis's first. Johnny Pesky led off the bottom of the 8th with a slow roller wide of first, and McGwire lobbed the throw wide of the covering Donovan Osborne for an error. Lance Painter came on and loaded the bases on a single and a walk, and was summarily dismissed in favor of Curtis King who allowed a game-tying fielder's choice grounder to Jim Tabor. A Delino DeShields caught stealing in the top of the 9th ensured that Boston would come to bat up in the bottom half with a chance to win, and King walked Johnny Peacock to start the inning and set the walk-off wheels in motion. Pinch-batsman Pete Fox dropped a sacrifice bunt to third base, and Dom DiMaggio blooped one into shallow right that allowed Peacock to strut home with the game-winning run. Boston 6-8-2, St. Louis 5-6-2. [box] [pbp]
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| Ted Williams reached base five times on a single, double and three walks |
The Red Sox took advantage of three unearned runs to edge New York. With the Sox leading 1-0 in the 3rd on Johnny Peacock's 2nd-inning RBI double, they put runners on first and second with one out. Bobby Doerr than lined a single to center field and, when Dom DiMaggio rounded third and headed for home, Mookie Wilson threw wildly up the third-base line allowing Ted Williams to follow him across the plate. In the 5th, after Johnny Pesky had tripled DiMaggio home once again the Sox shortstop scored when Howard Johnson kicked a ground ball from opposite number Jim Tabor. The 5-0 lead looked insurmountable as Dobson recorded out after out, retiring twenty of twenty-one Mets at one stretch, but the spell was broken in the top of the 7th. Danny Heep led off with a home run, and Johnson followed with a double; Dobson recovered to out out the next two batters, but Rusty Staub was called upon to pinch-hit and he doubled Johnson home. That brought Ken Chase out of the Boston bullpen and he was greeted by Wally Backman's single that made it 5-3 and a ballgame once again. Chase, though, got out of the inning and then set the Mets down in order in the 9th inning. Ted Williams reached base four more times, as the Mets issued him three free passes, and DiMaggio had three hits. Boston 5-6-0, New York (N) 3-5-3. [box] [pbp]
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| Joe Dobson stymied New York for six innings |
Chicago got the upper hand out of an early-inning dinger barrage and kept that until the end behind eight shutout innings from three pitchers. St. Louis jumped on Dotson for four runs in the top of the 1st inning, courtesy of long balls from Brain Jordan and Ron Gant, but the Sox would show off their own lumber when their turn came to bat. After two walks and a Fernando Tatis error loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the 1st, Bottenfield whiffed Harold Baines but hung one to Tom Paciorek who ripped it into the cheap seats for a game-tying grand slam. Bottenfield's bothers were not over yet, not by a long shot. Or, rather, two long shots - a three-run bomb off the stick of Carlton Fisk in the 2nd and a solo shot by Baines in the 5th that made the score 8-4 for Chicago. Dotson pitched spotless ball after the rough 1st inning, and he made it into the 7th before handing the ball over to Salome Barojas and Kevin Hickey, the latter striking out Mark McGwire and Ray Lankford as the tying run at the plate in the 9th to end the game. Chicago (A) 8-8-1, St. Louis 5-10-1. [box] [pbp]
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| Tom Paciorek's grand slam turned the game in Chicago's favor after a rocky start |
After the rest day, the action continued . . .
Jerry Koosman and Kevin Hickey held New York to four singles and Chicago scored four times in the 6th inning to break open a pitchers' duel and lead the Sox to victory. Lynch set down the first ten White Sox, and escaped an leadoff triple by Harold Baines in the 4th, while Koosman was allowing just two hits over the first five innings as the game wound on with no score. The Mets got two men on in the 6th, but failed to score, and Chicago finally cracked the seal in the bottom half of the inning. Koosman singled with one gone, Rudy Law followed with a three-base hit, and he was immediately sent home by Tony Bernazard's base hit. Rick Aguilera replaced Lynch on the bump, but a single and hit batsman loaded the bases again with two outs and Steve Kemp then produced a clutch two-run single to make the score 4-0 in favor of the Pale Hose. Koosman pitched a three-batter 7th and was then replaced by Hickey. who gave up a single to the first batter he faced, but a double-play ball and two strikeouts made quick work of the visitors' remaining outs. Chicago (A) 4-7-1, New York (N) 0-4-0. [box] [pbp]
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| Jerry Koosman pitches seven spotless innings |
St. Louis belted eight extra-base hits, while Kent Mercker and three relievers kept Boston off the scoreboard at Busch Stadium. The early innings were largely quiet - a scoreless tie was broken in the 3rd by doubles from Brian Jordan and Fernando Tatis, and Royce Clayton's homer made it 2-0 an inning later - and the game was still tight at 2-0 through five innings before Hughson lost the plot in the 6th. A leadoff walk and single out runners at the corners with one out, and Clayton then beat the throw home on a ground ball to shortstop. That brought up Mark McGwire, who launched a 475' blast to left field that made the 6-0 for the Cards, and they weren't done punishing the Boston ace quite yet. Roy Lankford doubled and, one out later, Ron Gant showed McGwire how it was done with a 489' shot to straightaway center field that erased any doubts about the outcome. Mercker departed after six innings and three pitchers each contributed a scoreless inning of relief work despite two late-inning doubles from Bobby Doerr (3-for-3). St. Louis 8-14-0, Boston 0-7-2. [box] [pbp]
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| Ron Gant crushes a prodigious home run to put away the Red Sox |
Mookie Wilson's three-run home run was the difference between Boston and New York at Shea Stadium, as the Mets used clutch hitting to overcome an 11-to-4 disadvantage in base hits. Both clubs were busy in the opening frame, Boston scoring once on three straight singles (Bobby Doerr delivering the RBI) while New York countered with a pair after Judd walked two straight men after two were out and Geroge Foster and Howard Johnson each whacked RBI hits. The Sox came right back in their next at-bat, when Lou Finney took a Gooden fastball in the ribs and lived long enough to score on Tony Lupien's double; the Boston first baseman then scored when Judd aided his own cause with a run-scoring single, giving the BoSox the 3-2 lead. Judd was characteristically wild (three walks in the first four innings), and it came back to bite him again in the 4th. A leadoff free pass to Johnson appeared to be harmless when Judd retired the next two Mets, but Gooden singled off the first-base bag to put two aboard and Wilson was next. Judd against got behind in the count, and Wilson lifted a 3-1 pitch over the fence in right field for a circuit clout that jumped NY into the lead. Meanwhile, Gooden was working himself into the game as it developed, using GIDPs to work out of a little trouble in the 3rd and the 6th, and fanning at least one batter in every inning through the 8th. After the Wilson home run Judd also composed himself, holding the Mets hitless until he departed after seven innings, and so the game went to the 9th inning with the Metropolitans still holding onto the one-run edge. Lupien led off the Boston inning with a base hit, and Davey Johnson decided that Dwight was not Goodenough to finish the game himself, so Roger McDowell was summoned from the pen. Johnny Peacock greeted him with another base hit, and the stage was set for a Sox rally with the tying runs at the corners and nobody out. Jimmie Foxx grabbed a bat off the Red Sox rack and came up to hit, one Double X swing away from grabbing the game back for Boston, but he hit the bal on one hop right at Johnson, who started a 543 double play that allowed a run to score but effectively killed the uprising. Dom DiMaggio then flied out to medium right field, and New York had held on for the win. Of the Mets' four hits, three of them came in their four at-bats with runners in scoring position. New York (N) 5-4-0, Boston 4-11-0. [box] [pbp]
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| Mookie Wilson drives a game-deciding three-run homer |
A four-run 4th inning overcame an early Chicago lead and propelled St. Louis to a come-from-behind win in the Gateway City. The two teams traded runs in the first couple of innings, the irrepressible Rudy Law tripling and scoring in the 1st and Royce Clayton doubling in the 3rd and scoring on Tom Paciorek's error two batters later. Steve Kemp's homer with a man aboard in the 4th gave the White Sox control of the contest, albeit briefly; Lamp was rocked in the bottom of the inning with a double-single-Gant homer for three runs and the lead, and St. Louis added a fourth on Morris' RBI base hit. Two more Cardinal runs scored in the 7th on a walk, hit batsman, and two groundouts while the ChiSox went hitless in the middle innings as Morris set down thirteen of fourteen at one point. Juan Acevedo came on in the 9th to finish up and Kemp victimized him for his second home run of the game, but it was too little, too late for Chicago. St. Louis 7-10-0, Chicago (A) 4-9-1. [box] [pbp]
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| Matt Morris goes eight strong innings to beat Chicago |
The Cardinals came out of the gate looking like a club that knew it was one win away from a title, as Mark McGwire ended Fernandez's shutout streak in the tournament by ripping a pitch out of the park to left. But Rafael Santana's RBI double tied the score in the 2nd, and the game settled into a tense arm-wrestling match. St. Louis put the first two men on base in the 4th, but Sid fanned Ron Gant and Eli Marrero to end the inning with Cards on the corners, and then STL did push one across in the 6th when Ray Lankford singled. stole second, and scored ahead of Ron Gant's two-out single. Stottlemyre, meanwhile, was retiring nine Mets in a row. The tenth, however, was Darryl Strawberry leading off the home half of the 6th and he launched one into the RF stands to tie the game again, and Gary Carter then went back-to-back with a shot of his own to nudge New York in front. Fernandez and Aguilera pitched scoreless innings in the 7th and 8th, and the Mets then put a stranglehold on the outcome in the bottom of the latter inning. Keith Hernandez led off with a two-hopper to second which Delino DeShields failed to field cleanly, putting Hernandez on first where he had a nice view of Strawberry's majestic second home run of the game, giving NY a three-run lead going into the final inning. That was not without heartburn for Mets fans, as the Cardinals got two men on with one out, but Jesse Orosco struck out Royce Clayton and got pinch-hitter Gary Gaetti to ground out to third to end the game and relegate St. Louis to watching the out-of-town scoreboard as their tournament fate was decided in Boston. New York (N) 5-7-0, St. Louis 2-5-1 [box] [pbp]
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| Darryl Strawberry cracks his second HR of the game to deal the Cards a critical loss |
With the championship undecided, but Boston limited to the role of spoiler, Ted Williams started the spoiling with a solo shot (his third HR of the tournament) in the bottom of the 1st, and Charlie Wagner held the White Sox hitless through three innings. The first Chicago hit tied the game, Steve Kemp singling Harold Baines home after a one-out walk. A potential Boston rally in the bottom of the inning deflated quickly on a hit-and-run line-drive double play, and Chicago took the lead in the 5th. Billy Almon walked to start the inning, was sacrificed to second, and scored on yet another Rudy Law triple. Tony Bernazard brought him across with a single, and the visitors had a 3-1 lead and the inside track on the title. Burns continued to be a puzzle that Boston struggled to solve, allowing just three hits in the first six innings, but he appeared to tire in the 7th with dire consequences for the ChiSox. Lou Finney and Tony Lupien coaxed walks to start the inning and pinch-hitter Pete Fox roped a double that scored one run. Burns whiffed Jimmie Foxx and Dom DiMaggio and still clung to the lead until Johnny Pesky hit a soft-liner onto the right-field grass for a two-run single that put Boston in front and elicited cheers from St. Louis. Finney's solo homer in the 8th gave Boston some breathing space and they took a two-run lead into the 9th inning, just three outs away from forcing the first four-way tie in Showdown history. Mace Brown, the nearest the Sox had to a closer (23 GF, 6 SV), came on to take the ball for the end and set down the Laws, retiring pinch-hitter Vance on a fly ball to center for the first out and getting the incandescent Rudy (no relation) to ground routinely to shortstop. But, somehow, Johnny Pesky was unable to come up with the ball cleanly and Rudy stood at first and the potential tying run came to the plate. Brown walked Bernazard and Fisk fisted a dribbler down the third-base line which stayed fair and gave Jim Tabor no chance to make a play - the bases were now loaded with just one out. That brought up Harold Baines, having a fine tournament that got even finer when he lined a single to right field that scored Law and Bernazard to tie the game at five. Tom Paciorek skied to center for the second out, Fisk advancing to third base, and then Steve Kemp (also having a big Showdown) lined a ball in front of Ted for an RBI single that gave the White Sox the lead again. Hopes in Boston (and St. Louis) were revived again when Scooter Newsome led off the bottom of the 9th with a base hit, but the top of the Red Sox order could not make Kevin Hickey pay as the lefty struck out Pesky and Williams in succession to end thew game, the latter taking a called third strike that gave Chicago the championship. Chicago (A) 6-9-1, Boston 5-8-2. [box] [pbp]
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| The White Sox celebrate their late-inning tournament-clinching victory |
Final Standings
| Team | W | L | PCT | GB | RDiff | Home | Away |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 WHITE SOX | 4 | 2 | 0.667 | 0.0 | 5 | 3-0 | 1-2 |
| 1998 Cardinals | 3 | 3 | 0.500 | 1.0 | 6 | 3-0 | 0-3 |
| 1985 Mets | 3 | 3 | 0.500 | 1.0 | 2 | 3-0 | 0-3 |
| 1942 Red Sox | 2 | 4 | 0.333 | 2.0 | -13 | 2-1 | 0-3 |
It was nice to get out of the 1960s "Deadball II" era and see some actual hitting and run scoring (teams averaged 5.0 runs per game and hit .250/.323/.416), and the tournament came down to the final one of its 205 innings before the winner was decided, in comeback fashion. Home teams went 11-1 in the tournament, that one road win coming from the White Sox in that final game to win the Showdown. It's a short sample, but you could start to see some of the hurdles that earlier-era teams would have to overcome in such a format (the 1942 Red Sox hit into ten GIDPs, tied for the lead in errors, and didn't have much pitching behind their frontline starters to stay in the game if it went south early). The tournament featured the usual short-schedule assortment of unlikely heroes (Rudy Law, Tony Lupien, Royce Clayton), marquee players who failed to appear (Gary Carter, Tex Hughson) and stars who showed us why they were so (Ted Williams, Darryl Strawberry, Mark McGwire). [Tournament stats]
1B: Tony Lupien, 1942 Red Sox (3)
2B: Bobby Doerr, 1942 Red Sox (3)
SS: Royce Clayton, 1998 Cardinals (4)
3B: Howard Johnson, 1985 Mets (4)
From the start of the the tournament (hitting safely in his first six trips to the plate) to the end (his speed forced the error that began Chicago's three-run 9th-inning rally in the final game to seize the crown) White Sox CF Rudy Law was the engine that powered the White Sox' offense. He hit .423/.423/.808 to finish second in the tournament in batting average, second in slugging, third in OPS, and lead the Showdown field in hits, triples and runs scored.
Showdown History
Showdown 3: 1967 American League pennant race
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