1989 American League Championship Series

Game 1

Tuesday, October 3, 1989 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

McAfee Coliseum

O.co Coliseum is a multi-purpose stadium, located in Oakland, California, in the Coliseum Industrial area...

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

The A's went off as heavy favorites largely due to their status as defending American League champions. The Blue Jays had been in second place much of the year before catching and passing the Baltimore Orioles on the final weekend of the season. Both teams threw their aces against each other, as Dave Stewart, the twenty-game winner, took the mound for Oakland against Dave Stieb

Dave Stieb

David Andrew Stieb [STEEB] is a former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays.-Playing career:Born in Santa Ana, California, Stieb played varsity baseball at Southern Illinois University as an outfielder...

for Toronto.

In the bottom of the first, Rickey Henderson

Rickey Henderson

Rickey Henley Henderson is a former Major League Baseball left fielder who played for nine teams from 1979 to 2003, including four stints with his original team, the Oakland Athletics. Nicknamed The Man of Steal, he is widely regarded as the sport's greatest leadoff hitter and baserunner...

set the tone by walking and stealing second. Although he was stranded at third, it was a mere prelude of what was to come. In the top of the second, George Bell singled and went to third on a single by Tony Fernández

Tony Fernández

Octavio Antonio Fernández Castro , better known as Tony Fernández, is a former Major League Baseball player most noted for his defensive skills setting a record for shortstops with a .992 fielding percentage in 1989.-Career:...

. Fernandez stole second, and Bell scored on a sacrifice fly by Ernie Whitt

Ernie Whitt

Leo Ernest "Ernie" Whitt is a former Major League Baseball catcher and coach who is the current manager for the minor league Clearwater Threshers. He is noted for the twelve years he spent as a player with the Toronto Blue Jays...

. Nelson Liriano

Nelson Liriano

Nelson Arturo Liriano Bonilla is a former Major League baseball player. He played for various teams from 1987 to 1998 batting a career average of .260 over those 11 seasons. In 1999, he played in one game for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan.Before turning professional, Liriano played amateur...

then singled home Fernandez to give the Jays a 2–0 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, Dave Henderson

Dave Henderson

David Lee Henderson , nicknamed Hendu, is an American former Major League Baseball player who played for the Seattle Mariners , Boston Red Sox , San Francisco Giants , Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals . He batted and threw right-handed...

homered to cut the lead in half, but in the top of the fourth, Whitt drove in his second run of the game with a solo homer that gave the Blue Jays a 3–1 lead. In the fifth, Carney Lansford

Carney Lansford

Carney Ray Lansford is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball and the hitting coach of the Colorado Rockies...

singled and stole second on a José Canseco

José Canseco

José Canseco Capas, Jr. is a Cuban-American professional baseball manager, outfielder, and designated hitter for the Yuma Scorpions of the North American League and former Major League Baseball player. He is the identical twin brother of former major league player and current teammate Ozzie Canseco...

strikeout. He came home on Dave Parker

Dave Parker

David Gene "The Cobra" Parker is an American former player in Major League Baseball. He was the 1978 National League MVP and a two-time batting champion. Parker was the first professional athlete to earn an average of one million dollars per year, having signed a 5-year, $5 million dollar contract...

's single to make it 3-2. The game then turned in the bottom of the sixth.

Mark McGwire

Mark McGwire

Mark David McGwire , nicknamed "Big Mac", is an American former professional baseball player who played his major league career with the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals. He is currently the hitting coach for the St...

tied the game with a solo homer to lead off the bottom of the sixth. Then, after Tony Phillips

Tony Phillips

Keith Anthony Phillips is a former Major League Baseball utility player who had an 18-year career from to . He played regularly at three infield positions, primarily as a second baseman, but also had significant time as a shortstop and third baseman...

reached with one out, Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston

Cito Gaston

Clarence Edwin "Cito" Gaston is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. His major league career as a player lasted from 1967–1978, most notably for the San Diego Padres and the Atlanta Braves...

pulled Stieb and replaced him with the recently acquired Jim Acker

Jim Acker

James Justin Acker is a former Major League Baseball pitcher from to . He played college baseball at the University of Texas....

. Phillips stole second and stayed on an infield single by Mike Gallego

Mike Gallego

Michael Anthony Gallego is the Oakland Athletics third base and infield coach, and a former Major League Baseball infielder who played for the Athletics, New York Yankees, and St. Louis Cardinals from 1985 to 1997.-Baseball career:Gallego was the A's starting second baseman during their three-year...

, and Acker then hit Rickey Henderson with a pitch to load the bases with one out. Needing a double play to get out of the inning, Acker did his job by inducing Carney Lansford

Carney Lansford

Carney Ray Lansford is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball and the hitting coach of the Colorado Rockies...

to ground to Fernandez. He got the first out by firing to Liriano at second, but Rickey Henderson upended Liriano, who threw the ball into the stands, scoring both Phillips and Gallego to give the A's their first lead of the game, 5–3.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the eighth, when Blue Jays reliever Duane Ward

Duane Ward

Roy Duane Ward was a Major League Baseball reliever during the late 1980s and early 1990s.Ward went to school and made his early athletic mark in Farmington, New Mexico, a small oil and gas city, and one known for its amateur baseball programs...

replaced Acker. After striking out Terry Steinbach

Terry Steinbach

Terry Lee Steinbach is a former catcher in Major League Baseball who played for 14 years from to . He was drafted in 1980 out of New Ulm High School by the Cleveland Indians. He was the starting catcher for Oakland Athletics teams that won three straight American League pennants from 1988 to...

, Ward walked Phillips. Gallego hit a double in the gap, but a perfect relay nailed Phillips at the plate for the second out while Gallego moved to third. Rickey Henderson then walked and stole second, and Gallego scored on a wild pitch by Ward. On the wild pitch, Henderson moved to third and subsequently scored on Lansford's single. The game was now out of reach, 7–3, as the A's prevailed to take Game 1. Henderson walked twice and reached as a hit batsman, stole two bases, and scored a run. Stewart got the win while Stieb was saddled with the loss.

Game 2

Wednesday, October 4, 1989 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

McAfee Coliseum

O.co Coliseum is a multi-purpose stadium, located in Oakland, California, in the Coliseum Industrial area...

in Oakland, California

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

Game 2 saw the A's throw their number two starter, Mike Moore, against the Blue Jays' Todd Stottlemyre

Todd Stottlemyre

Todd Vernon Stottlemyre is a former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played 15 seasons for the Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks. He is the son of Mel Stottlemyre, former New York Yankees pitcher. His brother...

. All was quiet until the top of the third when the Blue Jays' Lloyd Moseby

Lloyd Moseby

Lloyd Anthony Moseby was a Major League Baseball player. A center fielder, and good all-around athlete, Moseby's nickname Shaker was said to stem from his ability to get away from or "shake" players who attempted to defend him on the basketball court.Born in Portland, Arkansas, Moseby graduated...

scored after singling, moving to second on a single and third on an error and coming home on a fielder's choice ground out to make it 1–0. The A's captured the lead in the bottom of the fourth with the 'Rickey Rally,' a familiar run-scoring method of bygone years. Rickey Henderson

Rickey Henderson

singled, stole second and then third, and came home on Carney Lansford's single to tie the game. Lansford then scored on Mark McGwire

Mark McGwire

's double to give the A's a 2–1 lead. The game stayed close until the sixth.

In the bottom of the sixth, Dave Parker

Dave Parker

led off with a home run. After McGwire singled, Cito Gaston

Cito Gaston

pulled Stottlemyre in favor of Jim Acker

Jim Acker

James Justin Acker is a former Major League Baseball pitcher from to . He played college baseball at the University of Texas....

. Acker then gave up a double to Dave Henderson

Dave Henderson

and a single to Tony Phillips

Tony Phillips

that scored two more runs and made it a 5–1 Oakland lead. Gaston pulled Acker and replaced him with David Wells

David Wells

David Lee Wells , nicknamed "Boomer", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. Wells was considered to be one of the game's better left-handed pitchers, especially during his years with the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays. He pitched the fifteenth perfect game in baseball history...

, who got the final two outs of the inning, but the game was for all intents and purposes over.

Another 'Rickey Rally' ensued in the seventh when Henderson walked, stole second, stole third, and scored on an error by Fred McGriff

Fred McGriff

Frederick Stanley McGriff is a left-handed former Major League Baseball player who starred for several teams from the mid-1980s until the early 2000s. A power-hitting first baseman with a tall, lanky build, the five-time All-Star became, in , the first player since the dead-ball era to lead both...

. The steal of third elicited a reaction from Blue Jays third baseman Kelly Gruber

Kelly Gruber

Kelly Wayne Gruber is a former Major League Baseball third baseman.-Early career:Gruber played baseball at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas where his number was later retired. He was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 1st round of the 1980 amateur draft but did not see time with the team...

when Henderson walked the last several steps to the base because the catcher didn't throw. Gruber accused Henderson of showing up the Blue Jays in the post-game interview. Henderson's run made it 6–1 Oakland.

The Blue Jays put together a mini-rally in the eighth when they loaded the bases against Rick Honeycutt

Rick Honeycutt

Frederick Wayne "Rick" Honeycutt is the current pitching coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Honeycutt was a left-handed pitcher for 21 years from 1977 to 1997. He played with the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, and the St. Louis Cardinals...

with nobody out and A.L. home run champion Fred McGriff

Fred McGriff

at the plate. The A's countered by bringing in Dennis Eckersley

Dennis Eckersley

Dennis Lee Eckersley , nicknamed "Eck", is a former American Major League Baseball pitcher. Eckersley had success as a starter, but gained his greatest fame as a closer, becoming the first of only two pitchers in Major League history to have both a 20-win season and a 50-save season in a career .He...

, who minimized the damage by yielding a one-run single to McGriff and then giving up another run on a double play. Eckersley retired the Jays in order in the ninth, and the A's won 6–3 to go up two games to none in the series. Moore was the winning pitcher, Stottlemyre the loser, and Eckersley got his fifth save in his last five chances in the ALCS dating back to 1988.

Game 3

Friday, October 6, 1989 at SkyDome

Rogers Centre

Rogers Centre is a multi-purpose stadium, in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated next to the CN Tower, near the shores of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989, it is home to the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League...

in Toronto, Ontario
The two teams arrived in Canada for the first-ever post-season game in the new Toronto Skydome. The A's were looking to take a commanding 3–0 series lead while the Blue Jays needed a win to get back into the series. The game pitted Storm Davis

Storm Davis

George Earl "Storm" Davis , is a former professional baseball player who pitched in the major leagues from 1982-1994.-World Series experience:...

against Blue Jays starter Jimmy Key

Jimmy Key

James Edward "Jimmy" Key is a former left-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Toronto Blue Jays , New York Yankees , and Baltimore Orioles...

. As was the case in the first two games, the team that scored first lost.

The A's scored in the top of the first without benefit of a hit. Key walked both Rickey Henderson and Carney Lansford. Henderson moved up on Canseco's fly out and scored on McGwire's sacrifice fly to give the A's a 1–0 lead. In the third, Henderson continued his series dominance by doubling, stealing third (his seventh steal of the series in just 21 innings), and scoring on a Lansford single to give the A's a 2–0 lead. When Dave Parker

Dave Parker

homered in the fourth, the A's had a 3–0 lead to go with their series momentum.

But the Blue Jays responded in the bottom of the fourth. They loaded the bases on a walk to Moseby and singles by Mookie Wilson

Mookie Wilson

William Hayward "Mookie" Wilson is an American former Major League Baseball center fielder and current coach for the New York Mets. He played 12 years in baseball for the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays . He was a switch hitter primarily known for his impressive speed and positive attitude...

and Fred McGriff

Fred McGriff

. George Bell hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Moseby and cut the lead to 3–1. Tony Fernández

Tony Fernández

then doubled to right, sending Wilson and McGriff home with the tying runs. Fernandez also moved to third when Canseco misplayed the ball in right field. When Ernie Whitt

Ernie Whitt

singled, Fernandez scored to give the Jays the lead and bring the crowd back into the game cheering wildly.

The score stayed 4–3 until the bottom of the seventh. With one out and runners at first and third, Tony LaRussa pulled Davis and inserted Rick Honeycutt

Rick Honeycutt

. Honeycutt's relief appearance in Game 2 had been disastrous; this time, it was worse and cost the A's any chance to win. Honeycutt gave up singles to two light-hitting Blue Jays, Manuel Lee

Manuel Lee

Manuel Lora Lee is a former shortstop and second baseman for Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays , Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals...

and Junior Felix

Junior Felix

Junior Francisco Félix Sánchez is a former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from -....

, scoring Tony Fernández

Tony Fernández

and loading the bases with only one out. A walk to Lloyd Moseby

Lloyd Moseby

forced in another run giving the Jays a 6–3 lead. Of the last six hitters Honeycutt had faced in the two games he had walked three and given up three hits and three had scored. Gene Nelson

Gene Nelson (baseball)

Wayland Eugene Nelson , is a former professional baseball player who pitched in the Major Leagues from 1981 to 1993. After beginning his career as a starting pitcher with the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners, Nelson gradually converted to a relief role starting in 1983...

relieved Honeycutt and gave up a single to right by Wilson that scored Lee, but a great throw from Canseco nailed Felix at the plate. Nevertheless, the Blue Jays now had a 7–3 lead with two innings to play.

In the last two innings, Acker and closer Tom Henke

Tom Henke

Thomas Anthony Henke , nicknamed "The Terminator" because of his ability and success as a closer, is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. He was one of the most dominant and feared closers during the late 1980s and early 1990s, pitching for the Texas Rangers , Toronto Blue Jays , and St...

only faced seven batters, getting six outs and giving up a walk to McGwire. The last out was, appropriately enough, Rickey Henderson

Rickey Henderson

, who grounded out to Fernandez to end the game. The win by the Blue Jays was their first post-season win since Game 4 of the 1985 ALCS. Prior to this game, they had lost their previous five contests in LCS play. Key was the winning pitcher while Storm Davis was the loser. The result cut the A's series lead to two games to one in the best-of-seven series.

Game 4

Saturday, October 7, 1989 at SkyDome

Rogers Centre

in Toronto, Ontario
Game 4 was a critical game for both teams. Toronto could guarantee a return of the series to Oakland with a win while the A's would gain a significant lead of three games to one if they prevailed. The match-up featured a former Cy Young winner, Mike Flanagan (1979) against a future one (1990), Bob Welch.

The game was scoreless until the third when Walt Weiss

Walt Weiss

Walter William Weiss is a former shortstop in Major League Baseball.Weiss was a member of the National League All-Star Team...

doubled and stole third. Rickey Henderson

Rickey Henderson

, who was 3 for 8 with four walks, five runs scored, and seven stolen bases, drilled a two-run homer to give the A's a 2–0 lead. After Flanagan retired Dave Henderson

Dave Henderson

, José Canseco

José Canseco

secured the most memorable moment of the series by socking the first home run ever hit into the fifth-tier upper deck of the SkyDome. The Toronto crowd sat in stunned silence as Canseco circled the bases, and while there were whispers of a 500-foot blast, the official measurement was 480 feet. Canseco's home run gave the A's a 3–0 lead and also likely gave Toronto fans a measure of comfort, since the team scoring first had lost each of the first three games.

The Blue Jays got a run back in the fourth, but it was disappointing because they loaded the bases with nobody out and only scored once. In the top of the fifth, however, Rickey Henderson

Rickey Henderson

struck again with another two-run blast that increased the A's lead to 5–1. By this time Henderson was hitting .500 for the series with two homers to go along with his other accomplishments. The Jays got a run back in the sixth when Gruber singled and scored on a double by Junior Felix

Junior Felix

Junior Francisco Félix Sánchez is a former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from -....

. Tony LaRussa gambled with Honeycutt, who had retired no batters out of the last six he had faced over two games. After walking Lloyd Moseby

Lloyd Moseby

, Honeycutt induced a ground out that left the score 5–2 in favor of the A's.

The A's got another run in the seventh when Dave Henderson

Dave Henderson

doubled and scored on José Canseco

José Canseco

's single. The Blue Jays got that run back in the bottom of the inning when Tony Fernández

Tony Fernández

doubled and scored on pinch-hitter Pat Borders

Pat Borders

Patrick Lance Borders is a former catcher in Major League Baseball who is best remembered for being the Most Valuable Player in the 1992 World Series. Borders also won an Olympic Games gold medal with the United States' baseball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney...

' single. Rick Honeycutt

Rick Honeycutt

ran into trouble in the eighth. Manny Lee singled and went to second on a ground out by Junior Felix

Junior Felix

Junior Francisco Félix Sánchez is a former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from -....

. Honeycutt walked Moseby, bringing the tying run to the plate in the person of Mookie Wilson

Mookie Wilson

. With two on and one out, LaRussa summoned his closer, Dennis Eckersley

Dennis Eckersley

. Eck induced a fielder's choice ground out by Wilson that scored Lee then faced 1989 home run champion Fred McGriff

Fred McGriff

, who had not hit a homer in more than a month. McGriff won the battle, lining a single to center field that scored Wilson, but when Eckersley got George Bell to pop up for the third out, the A's still led by one with just an inning to play.

In the bottom of the ninth, Eckersley gave up a single to Kelly Gruber

Kelly Gruber

but otherwise retired the side, getting pinch-hitter Lee Mazzilli

Lee Mazzilli

Lee Louis Mazzilli, , is a former Major League Baseball player, coach, and manager. On December 11, 2006, he was hired as the lead studio analyst for SportsNet New York, the New York Mets' cable television network...

to pop out to end the game. Welch got the win and Eckersley the save while Flanagan was saddled with the loss. Despite a noble comeback effort, the Blue Jays now trailed three games to one and would need to win the final two games on the road in order to reach the Fall Classic.

Game 5

Sunday, October 8, 1989 at SkyDome

Rogers Centre

in Toronto, Ontario
Game 5 was the mirror image of Game 4: an early A's lead and a Blue Jays comeback that fell just short of victory. The end result was a 4–3 win for the A's and a return trip to the Fall Classic

1989 World Series

†: Game 3 was originally slated for October 17 at 5:35 pm; however, it was postponed when an earthquake occurred at 5:04 pm.-Game 1:Saturday, October 14, 1989 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California...

to face their Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

neighbors, the San Francisco Giants

San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....

. The game was also a rematch of Game 1 aces Dave Stewart for Oakland and Dave Stieb

Dave Stieb

for Toronto.

Once again, it was Rickey Henderson

Rickey Henderson

creating havoc for the Blue Jays. Henderson again walked—his seventh of the Series—and again stole second—his eighth stolen base of the Series—and came home on Canseco's single to give the A's a 1–0 lead less than four minutes into the game. In the third, Henderson tripled to right, scoring Walt Weiss

Walt Weiss

Walter William Weiss is a former shortstop in Major League Baseball.Weiss was a member of the National League All-Star Team...

to give the A's a 2–0 lead. It stayed that way until the seventh when Stieb tired.

Dave Henderson

Dave Henderson

walked and moved to third on a Mark McGwire

Mark McGwire

single and scored on Terry Steinbach

Terry Steinbach

's single. Stieb got the hook and Jim Acker

Jim Acker

James Justin Acker is a former Major League Baseball pitcher from to . He played college baseball at the University of Texas....

got out of the inning, but not before McGwire scored on a squeeze bunt by Mike Gallego

Mike Gallego

. The A's now led 4–0 and Toronto had only nine outs left in their season.

The game tottered into the eighth before the Blue Jays finally scored on a home run by Lloyd Moseby

Lloyd Moseby

. But entering the ninth, the Jays needed three runs just to tie. They got the first when George Bell led off the ninth with a home run that ended Stewart's bid for a complete game. Dennis Eckersley

Dennis Eckersley

came on with a chance to earn his seventh save in the last nine ALCS games. And he got it although Tony Fernández

Tony Fernández

scored a cosmetic run by singling, stealing second, moving to third on a fielder's choice

Fielder's choice

In baseball, fielder's choice is a term used to refer to a variety of plays involving an offensive player reaching a base due to the defense's attempt to put out another baserunner, or the defensive team's indifference to his advance...

and scoring on Gruber's sacrifice fly

Sacrifice fly

In baseball, a sacrifice fly is a batted ball that satisfies four criteria:* There are fewer than two outs when the ball is hit.* The ball is hit to the outfield....

. With a 4–3 lead and two outs in the ninth, Eckersley struck out Junior Felix

Junior Felix

Junior Francisco Félix Sánchez is a former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from -....

to finish the last American League

American League

The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...

baseball game of the 1980s.

Composite box

1989 ALCS (4–1): Oakland Athletics
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....

over Toronto Blue Jays

Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball 's American League ....

Stellar performances

Rickey Henderson

was the unanimous choice for Most Valuable Player

Most Valuable Player

In sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...

. He had six hits in fifteen trips to the plate for a .400 battering average, including one double, one triple, two home runs, and eight runs scored. He drove in five runs, walked seven times, and stole eight bases. The only thing Henderson did wrong the entire series was commit an error in Game 4, and the recipient (George Bell) failed to score. But other A's put together tremendous series as well.

Dennis Eckersley

Dennis Eckersley

saved three games in three opportunities while Dave Stewart gave up only five runs in sixteen innings, going eight full innings in both appearances and gaining the win in both the opener and the closer. Mark McGwire

Mark McGwire

hit .389 with a homer while Dave Parker

Dave Parker

hit a miserable .188, but two of his three hits were home runs that made the difference in the first two games.

The most forgettable series for the A's surely belonged to Rick Honeycutt

Rick Honeycutt

, who could not retire any of the six batters he faced in Games 2 and 3, but who came through for the A's at a critical juncture in Game 4.

The one Blue Jay who had a very good series was Tony Fernández

Tony Fernández

, who hit .350, scored six runs, and stole five bases in a losing cause.

Series quotes

Radio and television coverage

NBC Sports
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is the sports division of the NBC television network. Formerly "a service of NBC News," it broadcasts a diverse array of programs, including the Olympic Games, the NFL, the NHL, MLS, Notre Dame football, the PGA Tour, the Triple Crown, and the French Open, among others...

announcer Bob Costas
Bob Costas
Robert Quinlan "Bob" Costas is an American sportscaster, on the air for the NBC network since the early 1980s.-Early life:...

unexpectedly came under fire by many Blue Jays fans. After the A's won the first two games, Costas said the Blue Jays had better win Game 3 (which they did, as it turned out) or "Elvis
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

has a better chance of coming back than the Blue Jays". The Blue Jays fans decided to retaliate by displaying signs reading "Nuke Bob Costas" around the SkyDome
Rogers Centre
Rogers Centre is a multi-purpose stadium, in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated next to the CN Tower, near the shores of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989, it is home to the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League...

.

Besides calling the 1989 American League Championship Series for NBC, Bob Costas also filled in for a suddenly ill Vin Scully
Vin Scully
Vincent Edward Scully is an American sportscaster, known primarily as the play-by-play voice of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team on Prime Ticket, KCAL-TV and KABC radio...

(who had come down with laryngitis
Laryngitis
Laryngitis is an inflammation of the larynx. It causes hoarse voice or the complete loss of the voice because of irritation to the vocal folds . Dysphonia is the medical term for a vocal disorder, of which laryngitis is one cause....

) for Game 2 of the 1989 National League Championship Series
1989 National League Championship Series
-Game 1:Wednesday, October 4, 1989 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, IllinoisThe Giants entered the series as slight favorites due to the MVP season of Kevin Mitchell, the solid play of Will Clark, and the best ERA in baseball by pitcher Scott Garrelts...

. Game 2 of the NLCS occurred on Thursday, October 5, which was an off-day for the ALCS. NBC then decided to fly Costas from Toronto to Chicago to substitute for Scully on Thursday night. Afterwards, Costas flew back to Toronto, where he resumed work on the ALCS the next night.

External links

1989 ALCS at Baseball-Reference

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