1992 World Series: Blue Jays Make History

[00:00:00] On October 24, 1992, the final game of Major League Baseball was played that year when the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves in the World Series, winning their very first World Series and becoming the first team in Major League Baseball history to win a World Series outside of the United States, showing the growth of the league and how strong of team the Blue Jays really were.

[00:00:28] Today we're going to dive into how they won this World Series on Daily Sports History.

[00:00:38] Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide as you daily learn about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge.

[00:00:47] Now Major League Baseball is primarily known as an American sport.

[00:00:53] We call it America's pastime and it really did start in America.

[00:00:57] But Canada isn't too far from where a lot of the teams play.

[00:01:02] And despite most of these, most of the U.S. professional sports teams primarily playing in America, except for the National Hockey League, we still call them World Championships, even though we don't play against the world.

[00:01:14] But in 1976, baseball started to change their strategy.

[00:01:18] The Toronto Blue Jays, as baseball was expanding, and they were one of the new teams to join the Major Leagues.

[00:01:24] Although they weren't the first Canadian team to join Major League Baseball, as that was given to the Montreal Expos.

[00:01:31] And we mentioned them briefly on our episode about the Seattle Pilots, who expanded that same year in 1969.

[00:01:37] And baseball continued to expand, and Toronto was prime, as they were a major city.

[00:01:42] Now, for them to join, they needed to pay a franchise fee of $7 million.

[00:01:47] And they held a contest to name the team, naming it the Blue Jays, after the Labatt's Brewing Company from Toronto were the Toronto Blues.

[00:01:56] And they struggled that first decade, as many expansion teams do, as we talked about in the Seattle Pilots episode.

[00:02:02] And they didn't win a division title until 1985.

[00:02:05] But they started to put things together as the 90s came around, winning the AL East in 1989, 1991, 1992, and 1993.

[00:02:15] And at this time, in baseball, they did not have the wild cards.

[00:02:19] So whoever won their division would play in the ALS or NLS, depending on which conference you were in.

[00:02:26] So winning your division at the time was huge.

[00:02:29] It meant you had the chance to go in the postseason.

[00:02:32] And in 1991, they had a good team.

[00:02:34] But unfortunately, they lost out to the eventual World Series champs, the Minnesota Twins, in five games.

[00:02:41] But they would come back stronger than ever in the 1992 season.

[00:02:45] As in the offseason, they would sign pitcher Jack Morris, who had just won a World Series with the Minnesota Twins,

[00:02:51] giving them that World Series veteran that they needed to get over the hump.

[00:02:54] And they also signed Dave Winfield to help solidify their team in the outfield, as well as being led by returning veterans in Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter.

[00:03:04] They would go on to win 96 games that year, with the goal coming in to win the division and make it to the World Series.

[00:03:13] And they made it.

[00:03:14] And they would win their division, beating out the Milwaukee Brewers by four games.

[00:03:18] And at this time, the LL East consisted of seven teams, including the Orioles, the Indians, the Yankees, Tigers, and Red Sox.

[00:03:28] And they would go on to face the Oakland Athletics, who they would take care of in six games, winning their very first American pennant,

[00:03:35] and becoming the first non-U.S. team to make it to the World Series.

[00:03:39] And they would face off against the Atlanta Braves.

[00:03:42] Now, we briefly mentioned this team in this series in the episode about Deion Sanders trying to play in the NFL and Major League Baseball in the same day,

[00:03:50] as he was one of the best players on the Atlanta Braves.

[00:03:54] And they would win the AL West by eight games, but would face a daunting Pittsburgh Pirates team, led by Barry Bonds,

[00:04:02] who took them all the way to seven games where they would win that crucial seventh game and to go to win the pennant and go to the World Series.

[00:04:11] And they were led that year in pitching by John Smoltz and Tom Glavin.

[00:04:16] And their hitting lineup was led by Terry Pennington and David Justice.

[00:04:19] So we come to game one of the World Series on October 17th in Atlanta, Georgia,

[00:04:25] where Hall of Famer Tom Glavin takes off, pitches against Jack Morris in a hard-fought game.

[00:04:30] Jack Morris, who was the MVP of the 1991 World Series.

[00:04:34] And it wasn't until Joe Carter put the Blue Jays on, hit a solo home run in the fourth inning to give the Blue Jays an early lead.

[00:04:41] But that would be the only time they would score.

[00:04:44] And the Braves would hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning, which gave them the lead and the final score of 3-1,

[00:04:52] giving the Braves the early series lead.

[00:04:54] The next game was the following day, still in Atlanta.

[00:04:57] And before the game, when they were doing the national anthems, as when you play a Canadian team playing against a U.S. team,

[00:05:04] they played both the Canadian and the U.S. national anthem.

[00:05:07] But the color guard accidentally flew the Canadian flag upside down.

[00:05:11] Now, this wasn't meant to be malicious, but it was kind of a diss.

[00:05:15] But many took it as a diss.

[00:05:16] And it gave Toronto a little bit of incentive.

[00:05:19] But in the first four innings, Atlanta would take the lead 2-0.

[00:05:23] And both teams would score two runs in the fifth, having a score of 4-2.

[00:05:28] But to close out the game, the Toronto Blue Jays would score three runs, winning the game, tying the series 1-1.

[00:05:34] As they would go back to Toronto, playing the first World Series game outside of the U.S.

[00:05:39] In another close game, where Toronto would take an early lead in the fourth, 1-0.

[00:05:44] And they would go on trading runs until the ninth inning when it was tied 2-2.

[00:05:48] When Toronto would drive in a run in the bottom of the ninth, winning the game in walk-off fashion, taking a series lead 2-1.

[00:05:55] The following game was on the 21st, still in Toronto.

[00:05:58] In another close game, Toronto would score in the third and go on.

[00:06:02] But Atlanta would tie, but score in the third and in the seventh, giving them a 2-0 lead.

[00:06:07] Atlanta would score one time in the eighth, but falter in the ninth, giving Toronto, again, the win.

[00:06:13] As they would go up 3-1 in a pivotal game five, which would be the final game in Toronto.

[00:06:19] Toronto really wanted to win this game to have the chance to celebrate in Toronto with their fans.

[00:06:25] But unfortunately, John Smoltz and the Atlanta Braves had other plans, especially in the fifth inning.

[00:06:30] As the game was tied 2-2, heading into the fifth, Atlanta would go on a run, scoring five runs in the fifth.

[00:06:37] Effectively ending the game 7-2 for the Braves, giving the Braves another chance to fight at their home stadium in Atlanta.

[00:06:45] So on October 24, 1992, was game six of the World Series.

[00:06:50] Toronto only needed one more game to win it all.

[00:06:53] And they had David Cohn and Lamont facing off against Steve Avery for the Braves.

[00:06:58] And the scoring started in the third inning when the Blue Jays were able to get on the board

[00:07:02] when Devin White hit a sacrifice fly to send a runner in to make the score 1-0.

[00:07:08] But in the bottom of the inning, the Braves were able to match it with David Justice driving in a run, tying it 1-1.

[00:07:14] And they would stay tied until the sixth inning when the Braves took the lead when Ron Gant hit a home run, putting them up 2-1.

[00:07:22] And that's what the score would stay until the ninth inning, winning with two outs.

[00:07:26] Braves closer Jeff Reardon gave up a single to Roberto Alomar in another hit to David Winfield.

[00:07:33] Having two runners on base, the Blue Jays were able to drive in another run, tying the game, sending it into extra innings.

[00:07:39] And in the tenth, both teams would remain scoreless until the top of the eleventh when Dave Winfield came up with two runners on,

[00:07:46] hit a double, driving in two runners, giving the Blue Jays the lead 4-2.

[00:07:50] And the Braves had a chance to match it in the eleventh.

[00:07:54] And Otis Dixon was able to drive in one run.

[00:07:57] But unfortunately, with two runners on, Blue Jays closer Mike Timlin was able to shut the Braves down,

[00:08:03] getting them to ground out and giving the Blue Jays the win in their first World Series.

[00:08:08] In the first World Series for any team outside of the U.S.

[00:08:12] Not only that, their manager, Cito Gaston, became the first black manager to win the World Series.

[00:08:19] And they would have a lot of success as they would come back the next year and win it all again.

[00:08:26] Unfortunately, in 1994, though, there would not be a World Series due to the strike.

[00:08:31] But the following year, 1995, the Braves would actually win their first World Series in Atlanta.

[00:08:37] And they would make it to the World Series five times during the 90s.

[00:08:41] But only winning that one in 1995.

[00:08:43] And if you want more Blue Jays content, check out Bat Flips and Maple Dips,

[00:08:48] where hosts Justin and Mark dive into everything you need to know about the Blue Jays

[00:08:53] and what's going on with the team so you can become more of a Blue Jays fanatic.

[00:08:57] We'll put a link in the description below so you can check them out.

[00:09:01] And if you enjoyed today's episode of Daily Sports History,

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[00:09:09] We'll be back tomorrow for more Daily Sports History.