Oakland native Dave Stewart‚ who won Games 1 and 3‚ is named MVP. However, with the Loma Prieta Earthquake only 11 days prior, it may be the most subdued World Series celebration ever.
This was the 9th World Series win for the A's franchise. How many times had they won, Ed Rooney? "Nine times!" They had won it in Philadelphia in 1910, 1911, 1913, 1929 and 1930. They had won 3 straight in Oakland, 1972, 1973 and 1974. This 9th win tied them with the St. Louis Cardinals for 2nd all-time, behind the Yankees, who then had 22.
The Yankees now have 27. The Cardinals, 11. The Boston Red Sox, also 9. The A's? Although they have since between to the Playoffs 13 times, they have never won another. Indeed, since 1990, they have never won another Pennant.
It's been 30 years since they won the whole thing. How long has that been?
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Manager Tony La Russa, outfielder Rickey Henderson, and relief ace Dennis Eckersley are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Outfielders Jose Canseco and Dave Parker, the latter one of the heroes of the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates' World Championship, are close to Hall-worthiness. So is 1st baseman Mark McGwire. So are pitchers Dave Stewart and Bob Welch. Parker and 3rd baseman Carney Lansford were former batting champions. Outfielder Billy Beane became the general manager that built the A's Playoff teams of the 2000s and 2010s.
What no one knew at the time was that Canseco, and (possibly then, certainly later on) McGwire, were steroid cheats, and this casts a pall over this Series win every bit as much as the earthquake did.
There were 26 teams in Major League Baseball. There were very few Asian players in the major leagues. There was no Interleague Play. The SkyDome, now the Rogers Centre, the 1st retractable-roof stadium, had just opened.
This made the Toronto Blue Jays 1 of 7 teams that will still be using their 1989 stadiums in the 2020 season. The others are the A's (who are working on getting a new ballpark built), the Kansas City Royals (who replaced the A's in Kansas City in 1969), the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs, and the 2 Los Angeles-area teams, then known as the Los Angeles Dodgers and the California Angels.
The Colorado Rockies, Miami Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays did not yet exist. The Washington Nationals were still the Montreal Expos.
The Jays had not yet won the World Series. The Giants had not done so since 1954, before moving to San Francisco. The Red Sox had not done so since 1918; the Chicago White Sox, since 1917; the Cubs, since 1908. The Jays, the Expos/Nationals franchise, the Houston Astros had not yet won a Pennant. The Cleveland Indians had not done so since 1954. The Braves had not done so since 1958, before moving to Atlanta. The Cubs, since 1945. The Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers had not yet made the Playoffs. All of these facts have since changed.
Joe Sewell, Leo Durocher, and Mark Koenig of the 1927 Yankees were still alive. Most of the defining players of my childhood were retired, with a few exceptions, like George Brett, Nolan Ryan and Carlton Fisk. But Mike Schmidt had just retired, Carl Yastrzemski and Johnny Bench had just been elected to the Hall of Fame, and Reggie Jackson and Tom Seaver were awaiting their turn. Pete Rose had just found out that his term would not come.
Derek Jeter was in high school. Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz were in junior high school. Jimmy Rollins was about to turn 11. Albert Pujols and CC Sabathia, himself a native of the A's East Bay region, were 9. David Wright, Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and Zack Greinke were 6. Max Scherzer was 5. Yoenis Cespedes was 4. Felix Hernande was 3. Buster Posey was 2. Dallas Keuchel and Clayton Kershaw were 1 and a half. Stephen Strasburg was 1. Madison Bumgarner was almost 3 months old. Jose Altuve, Mike Trout, Christian Yelich, Kris Bryant, Aaron Judge, Mookie Betts and Bryce Harper had not yet been born.
Pat Shurmur of the Giants was an assistant coach at Michigan State University. Barry Trotz of the Islanders was a scout for the Washington Capitals. Domenec Torrent of New York City FC was playing at Guixols in Spain. David Quinn of the Rangers was out of hockey due to a long-term illness. Kenny Atkinson of the Nets was at the University of Richmond. Aaron Boone of the Yankees, David Fizdale of the Knicks, Katie Smith of the Liberty and Chris Armas of the Red Bulls were in high school. Recently fired Mets manager Mickey Callaway and John Hynes of the Devils were in junior high. Adam Gase of the Jets was 11 years old.
The A's had lost the previous year's World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The NFL's defending Champions were also in the San Francisco Bay Area, the San Francisco 49ers. The NBA titleholders were the Detroit Pistons; those of the NHL, the Calgary Flames. Mike Tyson was the undefeated, the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World.
The Olympic Games have since been held in America twice, Canada, France, Norway, Japan, Greece, Italy, China, Britain, Russia, Brazil and Korea. The World Cup has since been held in America, Italy, France, Japan, Korea, Germany, South Africa, Brazil and Russia.
The idea that the Iron Curtain would fall was no longer a ridiculous one. Ideas still considered ridiculous included the idea that a President of the United States would collaborate with the Russians, a black man could be President, that people of the same gender could marry each other, and that corporations were "people" and entitled to the rights thereof. No one then on the Supreme Court of the United States is still on it now.
The President of the United States was George H.W. Bush. Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter. Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, their wives, and the widows of Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy were still alive.
Bill Clinton was the Governor of Arkansas. George W. Bush had just bought baseball's Texas Rangers. Barack Obama was working at a law firm in Chicago, and was about to meet Michelle Robinson, who would become his wife. Donald Trump was a racist slumlord, cheating on his 1st wife with his 2nd. Outside New York City, he was mainly known as the guy who killed the United States Football League.
The Governor of the State of New York was Mario Cuomo, whose son, Andrew, the current Governor, was running a foundation designed to help poor people obtain low-cost housing. The Mayor of the City of New York was Ed Koch. Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins was running to defeat him, and the current Mayor, Bill de Blasio, was one of his aides. (Dinkins won.) The Governor of the State of New Jersey was Tom Kean. The current Governor, Phil Murphy, was working at Goldman Sachs.
The Prime Minister of Canada was Brian Mulroney, and of Britain Margaret Thatcher. The head of state of both nations was Queen Elizabeth II -- that hasn't changed. The United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces had just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Pope was John Paul II. The current Pope, Francis, was in graduate school at Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt, Germany. There have since been 5 Presidents of the United States, 7 Prime Ministers of Britain, and 3 Popes.
There were still living veterans of the Spanish-American, Boer and Russo-Japanese Wars. There were still living survivors of the Johnstown Flood, the Galveston Hurricane, the Iroquois Theatre Fire, the General Slocum fire, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire, and the sinking of the Titanic.
Major novels of 1989 included Total Recall by Piers Anthony, Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy, Billy Bathgate by E.L. Doctorow, Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, A Time to Kill by John Grisham, The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean, While My Pretty One Sleeps by Mary Higgins Clark and Daddy by Danielle Steel.
All were made into major motion pictures, except the last two: Clark's and Steele's novels tend to get adapted for television instead, and these were, as well. Daddy starred Patrick Duffy and Lynda Carter. The sight of Bobby Ewing and Wonder Woman making out was shocking, even when I remembered that, when Lynda was playing Wonder Woman, Patrick was playing another superhuman, starring in the Aquaman ripoff The Man From Atlantis.
Also published that year was Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. As yet, it has not been filmed. Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth became a TV miniseries. John Irving's 1989 novel A Prayer for Owen Meany, itself an American rewrite of Gunter Grass' The Tin Drum, was seriously reworked for the film Simon Birch.
Stephen King published The Dark Half. George R.R. Martin published The Skin Trade. J.K. Rowling was working as a researcher for Amnesty International.
Gene Roddenberry was putting Star Trek V: The Final Frontier together. George Lucas and Steve Spielberg had released Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade -- which, of course, turned out not to be Indy's last "crusade." Christopher Reeve was the most recent live-action Superman. Michael Keaton had just begun playing Batman.
The original run Doctor Who was canceled, with Sylvester McCoy as The Doctor. Timothy Dalton was playing James Bond for the 2nd and last time, in Licence to Kill. Major films released in the Autumn of 1989 included Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Look Who's Talking, Drugstore Cowboy, the cartoon All Dogs Go to Heaven, and new live-action versions of The Phantom of the Opera and William Shakespeare's Henry V. Earlier in the year, the baseball-themed Major League and Field of Dreams had been released.
The 1st episode of Seinfeld had recently aired, but the show was being retooled. Recent premieres included Saved by the Bell, American Gladiators, Life Goes On, Major Dad, Doogie Howser, M.D., The Young Riders, Baywatch, Family Matters, and the pseudo-news show Hard Copy. The Simpsons' debut was 2 months away. Family Ties, Moonlighting, Small Wonder, Miami Vice, Kate & Allie, Hollywood Squares, Highway to Heaven, The Dating Game, ThunderCats, and American Bandstand were canceled.
No one had yet heard of Deadpool, the Seinfeld Four, Buffy Summers, Alex Cross, Fox Mulder & Dana Scully, Andy Sipowicz, Jay & Silent Bob, Ross Geller & Rachel Greene, Doug Ross, Alan Partridge, Bridget Jones, Xena, Ash Ketchum, Austin Powers, Carrie Bradshaw, Tony Soprano, Jed Bartlet, Robert Langdon, Master Chief, Jack Bauer, Omar Little, Rick Grimes, Wynonna Earp, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Michael Bluth, Lisbeth Salander, Bella Swan, Michael Scott, Don Draper, Katniss Everdeen, Walter White, Jax Teller, Richard Castle, Leslie Knope, Sarah Manning, Jane "Eleven" Hopper or Maggie Bell.
Kris Jenner was still married to Robert Kardashian Sr. I don't know if she had yet met the person then known as Bruce Jenner, who turned 40 that day, and had pretty much been forgotten over the course of 3 more Olympiads.
The Number 1 song in America was "Miss You Much" by Janet Jackson. Paul McCartney released his album Flowers in the Dirt, Bob Dylan Oh Mercy, Tom Petty Full Moon Fever, Stevie Ray Vaughan In Step, Richard Marx Repeat Offender, Clint Black Killin' Time, Soul II Soul Club Classics Vol. One, 10,000 Maniacs Blind Man's Zoo, Queen their last album The Miracle, Nirvana their debut album Bleach, and both Garth Brooks and the Stone Roses released self-titled debut albums.
Inflation has been such that what $1.00 would buy then, $2.04 would buy now. A postage stamp cost 25 cents. A single ride on the New York Subway cost $1.00, and on the London Underground £1.30. The average price of a gallon of gas was $1.06, a cup of coffee $1.41, a McDonald's meal (Big Mac, fries, shake) $5.28, a movie ticket $3.96, a new car $14,372, and a new house $151,200. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed that day at 2,596.72.
The tallest building in the world was the Sears Tower in Chicago. The Atari 5200 SuperSystem was the leading home video game system. Mobile telephones were still big and bulky, too much so to fit in your pocket. Personal computers were now in a majority of homes, but the Internet as we know it had not yet been developed. There was no World Wide Web, no Netscape, no Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram, no Pinterest, no Skype. There were birth control pills, but no Viagra.
In the Autumn of 1989, the Berlin Wall was rendered obsolete by the East German government, and the people of the city began tearing it down. Multi-party democracy was restored in Hungary, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. Brazil held its 1st free election in 29 years. A cease-fire ended civil wars in Lebanon and Nicaragua. Denmark became the 1st country to legalize civil unions between same-sex partners. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was founded. A series of explosions at Phillips Petroleum's plant outside Houston killed 23 people. And the Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Irving Berlin, Bette Davis, and Gussie Busch died. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Brie Larson, and Giancarlo Stanton were born.
October 28, 1989. The Oakland Athletics won the World Series. It looked like they were primed for a dynasty.
But they have never won another. They've been very good a few times since then, but not World Champions. They made the Playoffs this season. Will they win another World Series soon? Stay tuned.
In the Autumn of 1989, the Berlin Wall was rendered obsolete by the East German government, and the people of the city began tearing it down. Multi-party democracy was restored in Hungary, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. Brazil held its 1st free election in 29 years. A cease-fire ended civil wars in Lebanon and Nicaragua. Denmark became the 1st country to legalize civil unions between same-sex partners. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was founded. A series of explosions at Phillips Petroleum's plant outside Houston killed 23 people. And the Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Irving Berlin, Bette Davis, and Gussie Busch died. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Brie Larson, and Giancarlo Stanton were born.
October 28, 1989. The Oakland Athletics won the World Series. It looked like they were primed for a dynasty.
But they have never won another. They've been very good a few times since then, but not World Champions. They made the Playoffs this season. Will they win another World Series soon? Stay tuned.