The 1984

American League Championship Series The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the America ...

matched the East Division champion

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

against the West Division champion

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

. The Tigers took the series in a three-game sweep to advance to the 1984 World Series against the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

. The series was the 16th

ALCS The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the American ...

in all and the last to be played as a best-of-five. In 1985, the League Championship Series changed to a best-of-seven format. Due to a strike by major league umpires, the series was played using local and collegiate umpires, with former AL umpire and league supervisor

Bill Deegan William Edward John Deegan (born April 13, 1935) is a former Major League Baseball umpire who worked in the American League from 1971 to 1980. Deegan wore uniform number 17 when the American League adopted them for its umpires in 1980, later wor ...

working home plate for all three games.

Background

The 1984 American League Championship Series ended in a sweep by the Tigers, although Games 2 and 3 were both close. Game 2 was decided in extra innings, and the Tigers clinched the pennant with a 1-0 victory in Game 3. It wasn't that surprising given the fact the Royals won 20 fewer games during the season and had won the

AL West The American League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. The division has five teams as of the 2013 season, but had four teams from 1994 to 2012, and had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. Although its teams cur ...

by a mere three games over both the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ...

and

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

. The striking umpires originally scheduled to work the ALCS were Marty Springstead (crew chief),

Don Denkinger Donald Anton Denkinger (; born August 28, 1936) is a former Major League Baseball umpire who worked in the American League from 1969 to 1998. Denkinger wore uniform number 11, when the AL adopted uniform numbers in 1980. He is best remembered ...

, Steve Palermo,

Ken Kaiser Kenneth John Kaiser (July 26, 1945 – August 8, 2017) was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the American League from 1977 to 1999. He spent 13 years in the minor leagues and 23 years in the major leagues, a total of 36 ...

, Greg Kosc and

John Shulock John Richard Shulock (born April 29, 1947) is a former professional baseball umpire who worked in the American League from 1979 to 1999 and throughout Major League Baseball between 2000 and 2002. Shulock wore number 29 when the AL adopted them f ...

(who was not a member of the Major League Umpires Association since he was hired by the AL during the 1979 MLUA strike).

Summary

Detroit Tigers vs. Kansas City Royals

Game summaries

Game 1

Tuesday, October 2, 1984, at Royals Stadium in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the List of United States cities by populat ...

Game 1 was a blowout in Kansas City, as the Tigers struck first when

Lou Whitaker Louis Rodman Whitaker Jr. (born May 12, 1957), nicknamed "Sweet Lou", is an American former professional baseball second baseman. Whitaker spent his entire career with the Detroit Tigers. From 1977 to 1995, he appeared in 2,390 games for the ...

singled to lead off the game off of Bud Black, then scored on

Alan Trammell Alan Stuart Trammell ( ; born February 21, 1958) is an American former professional baseball shortstop, manager and coach and member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a player. His entire 20-year playing career in Major League Baseball ...

's triple. One out later, Lance Parrish's sacrifice fly made it 2–0 Tigers. Leadoff home runs by

Larry Herndon Larry Darnell Herndon (born November 3, 1953), sometimes referred to by the nickname "Hondo", is an American former baseball outfielder and hitting coach. He played in Major League Baseball in 1974 and from 1976 to 1988. Born in Mississippi and ...

in the fourth and Trammell in the fifth made it 4–0 Tigers. In the seventh, Royals' right fielder

Pat Sheridan Patrick Arthur Sheridan (born December 4, 1957) is an American former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for four different teams, primarily as an outfielder, between 1981 and 1991. Biography Sheridan grew up i ...

's error on Whitaker's line drive allowed him to reach second, then score on Trammell's single off of

Mark Huismann Mark Lawrence Huismann (born May 11, 1958) is an American former Major League Baseball relief pitcher. Early years Huismann was born in Littleton, Colorado, and attended Colorado State University upon graduation from Thomas B. Doherty High Schoo ...

. Tigers'

Jack Morris John Scott Morris (born May 16, 1955) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1977 and 1994, mainly for the Detroit Tigers. Morris won 254 games throughout his career. Armed ...

pitched seven innings, allowing only one run in the seventh when Jorge Orta hit a leadoff triple and scored on

Darryl Motley Darryl DeWayne Motley (born January 21, 1960) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder who played six seasons for the Kansas City Royals and Atlanta Braves between and . In his MLB career, Motley played in 413 games, hit 44 home runs, 324 ...

's groundout, with Willie Hernández pitching the final two innings. The Tigers added to their lead in the last two innings off of the Royals' bullpen. Barbaro Garbey led off the eighth with a single off of Huismann and scored on

Darrell Evans Darrell Wayne Evans (born May 26, 1947) is a former American baseball player, coach and manager. He played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), beginning his career as a third baseman with the Atlanta Braves (1969–1976, 1989), alternat ...

's double, then

Marty Castillo Martin Horace Castillo (born January 16, 1957) is an American former Major League Baseball third baseman and catcher. Castillo, who is of Mexican descent, is an alumnus of Savanna High School in Anaheim, California. Drafted by the Detroit Tigers ...

's RBI single made it 7–1 Tigers. Lance Parrish's leadoff home run in the ninth off of Mike Jones capped the scoring at 8–1 as the Tigers took a 1–0 series lead.

Game 2

Wednesday, October 3, 1984, at Royals Stadium in

The Tigers took Game 2 in extra innings by a 5–3 score. In the top of the first,

reached on an error off of

Bret Saberhagen Bret William Saberhagen (; born April 11, 1964) is an American former professional baseball right-handed starting pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, Colorado Rockies, and Boston Red Sox fro ...

, then back-to-back one-out RBI doubles by Kirk Gibson and Lance Parrish put the Tigers up 2–0. Gibson's home run in the third made it 3–0 Tigers. Dan Petry pitched seven innings and gave up two runs (on Jorge Orta's groundout in the fourth after a walk and single and

Dane Iorg Dane Charles Iorg ( ; born May 11, 1950) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from (–) for four teams, including eight seasons spent with the St. Louis Cardinals ...

's RBI single in the seventh with two on), but lost his chance at a win when Willie Hernández surrendered the tying run in the eighth inning on

Hal McRae Harold Abraham McRae (; born July 10, 1945) is a former left fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Cincinnati Reds (1968, 1970–72) and Kansas City Royals (1973–87). Utilized as a designated hitter for most of his career, Mc ...

's RBI double after a leadoff single. Detroit's "Senor Smoke",

Aurelio López Aurelio Alejandro López Rios (September 21, 1948 – September 22, 1992) was a Mexican professional baseball player. After pitching for several years in the Mexican League, he spent eleven seasons (1974, 1978–87) with four teams in Maj ...

, held the Royals scoreless in the ninth, tenth and eleventh innings for the win. Johnny Grubb hit a double off Dan Quisenberry in the 11th inning to drive in

and

Ruppert Jones Ruppert Sanderson Jones (born March 12, 1955) is a former Major League Baseball center fielder. He was the first player selected in the 1976 Major League Baseball expansion draft by the Seattle Mariners. Kansas City Royals Jones was born in Da ...

for the game winning runs.

Game 3

Friday, October 5, 1984, at Tiger Stadium in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

The first postseason game at Tiger Stadium in 12 years was a pitcher's duel between Milt Wilcox and

Charlie Leibrandt Charles Louis Leibrandt, Jr. (; born October 4, 1956) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1979 to 1993 for the Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, Atlanta Braves, and Texas Rangers. Leibrandt was a productive pitcher throu ...

. Leibrandt pitched a complete game, allowing only one run and three hits, while Wilcox gave up two hits and struck out eight Royals with Willie Hernández pitching the ninth inning for the save.

's 2nd inning groundout to drove in Chet Lemon for game's lone run as the Tigers completed the three-game sweep and advanced to the World Series. This was their first pennant in 16 years and the ninth in the team's history. Had the ALCS gone the full five games, Game 5 on Sunday October 7, would have been a 1 p.m. ET time start instead of being in

prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

. This would have happened because one of the presidential debates between

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

and

Walter Mondale Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota ...

was scheduled for that night. Accordingly, ABC planned to broadcast the debates instead of Game 5 in prime time.

Composite box

1984 ALCS (3–0):

over

References

External links

1984 ALCS at Baseball-reference
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