By Bill Dow

At 7:41 p.m. on October 14, 1984, San Diego’s Tony Gwynn hit a shallow fly ball down the left field line at Tiger Stadium. Detroit left fielder Larry Herndon raced in, his wide eyes focused on the prize.

Beloved Tigers announcer Ernie Harwell barked into his WJR microphone: “Here comes Herndon. He’s got it! And the Tigers are the champions of 1984!”

As a light rain started to fall, delirious fans stormed the field to celebrate the Tigers 8-4 victory, thanks to hometown hero Kirk Gibson’s aggressive base running and his two home runs—including Gibby’s dramatic eighth inning three run bomb off Goose Gossage.

While capturing the franchise’s fourth world championship, the Tigers joined the famous 1927 Yankees to become only the second team to go wire-to-wire in the regular season and win the World Series. In addition, manager George “Sparky” Anderson became the first skipper to win world championships in both leagues.

Yet when the game ended, Anderson did not run onto the field to celebrate, just as he did not do when Cincinnati’s “Big Red Machine” won world titles in 1975 and 1976 following World Series defeats in 1970 and 1972.

“It’s because I know how the other man feels, and I don’t think you should show him up because he’s hurting so much,” says Anderson now from his home in Thousands Oaks, California.

When he was hired by the Tigers in June 1979, Anderson told the media that the team would win a championship within five years. Thanks largely to Detroit GM Bill Lajoie’s drafts, farm system, and savvy acquisitions, the brash prediction became a reality.

With the signing of free-agent slugger Darrell Evans after the ’83 campaign and the spring training acquisition of first baseman Dave Bergman and reliever Willie Hernandez–who would win both the 1984 AL Cy Young and MVP Awards—the Tigers fortified an already contending squad whose biggest strength was up-the-middle with catcher Lance Parrish, the best keystone combination in baseball in shortstop Alan Trammell and second baseman Lou Whitaker, and one of the game’s premier centerfielders, Chet Lemon. A strong pitching staff, anchored by ace right-hander Jack Morris, made the Tigers a formidable foe after their second-place finish in 1983.

Yet no once could have envisioned a 1984 season that would begin with an astonishing 35-5 start—the best in major league history—highlighted by a Jack Morris no-hitter on Opening Day at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

High expectations were created in April that year, along with “The Wave” at a rocking Tiger Stadium and a “Bless You Boys” slogan popularized by WDIV television sports anchor Al Ackerman.

“Because of that incredible start, the team was always in the limelight wherever they went across the country. And it was tough on them, so it was a question of keeping it all together,” says Detroit Free Press writer Bill McGraw, who in 1984 was the Freep’s Tigers’ beat writer. “I have to give Sparky and pitching coach Roger Craig a lot of credit for helping the players deal with those issues.”

Kirk Gibson remembers the anxiety of being the frontrunner throughout the 1984 campaign. “We got off to such a great start that, to an extent, you kind of lived in fear the rest of the year because there is a lot on the line, and the idea of not becoming world champions was a scary thought,” says Gibson, now a coach with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Ernie Harwell recalls that in his daily walks with Sparky Anderson that season, the manager also expressed concern. “Sparky did not relax very much that season, even though you would have thought otherwise,” says Harwell. “He said it was one of his toughest years because he had a fear that the Tigers might blow it in the playoffs and World Series.”

The Tigers finished the regular season 15 games ahead of Toronto with a 104-58 record and the most wins in Tiger history. Then, like a prairie tornado, Detroit swept Kansas City in three games in the ACLS to capture the American League pennant. The outclassed Royals scored only four runs in the sweep.

In recognition of his .417 batting average and his defensive play, Kirk Gibson was named the ALCS MVP. He also could have been named the most pleasant surprise of 1984. In what became his breakout year, Gibson batted .282 with 91 RBIs, 27 home runs, and 29 stolen bases.

A Detroit-area native and former Michigan State All American receiver who bypassed an NFL career for baseball, Gibson had graced the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1980 as a promising rookie. But Gibson had largely been a disappointment defensively and at the plate, except for occasionally coming through with clutch hits. In 1983 he batted a mere .227 and ended up in Sparky’s doghouse at the lowest point of his young career.

In the offseason, Gibson pulled himself up and attended Seattle’s Pacific Institute where, over a four-day period, he learned the technique of “affirmation and visualization”, a skill that he would later utilize in hitting two of the most famous home runs in the long history of the World Series.

Hall of Famer and legendary defensive outfielder Al Kaline spent countless hours with Gibson working on outfield mechanics at Anderson’s request. As a result, Detroit’s No. 23 developed into a solid right fielder, as witnessed by his outstanding defensive play in the ’84 postseason.

Despite Gibson’s early career struggles, Sparky had always seen Gibson’s potential. And he also appreciated Gibson’s intense competitive spirit and desire to win at all costs.

“If we won a game and Gibby went 0-for-4, he’d be so happy,” says Anderson. “But if we lost and he went 3-for-4, that’s one ornery man. I knew then that I had a guy who came to this ballpark to play.”

With Kansas City brushed aside, the Tigers faced NL champion San Diego, led by manager Dick Williams—who was also trying to become the first manager to win world championships in both leagues. As Oakland’s manager, Williams won world championships with the A’s over Anderson’s Reds in 1972 and the Mets in 1973.

Although the teams split the first two games in San Diego, it appeared that the Padres were overmatched when the Series arrived in Detroit Games 3, 4, and 5 over the weekend—that despite San Diego having stalwarts Steve Garvey, Greg Nettles, Tony Gwynn, and closer Goose Gossage on its team.

On Friday night the Tigers won, 5-2, highlighted by Marty Castillo’s two-run homer and Chet Lemon’s pirouetting, game-saving catch in center field in the seventh inning. The following afternoon, Detroit took a commanding three-games-to-one lead as World Series MVP Alan Trammell (.450 average) smacked a pair of two-run homers and Jack Morris pitched a brilliant five-hitter, going the distance in a 4-2 victory.

“I had no doubt going into Game 5 on Sunday that the Tigers were not going back to San Diego,” says Bill McGraw, who still vividly recalls the atmosphere around Tiger Stadium before the unusual 4:45 p.m. start.

“I remember it was a weird day, weather-wise, because it was very foggy and that gave an otherworldly feel to it,” he says. “All around there was this positive energy that we were going to witness a championship that night.”

Only once in the previous 83 seasons had the Tigers won a world championship at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. That had occurred 49 years earlier when, in the bottom of the ninth inning, Tigers manager and catcher Mickey Cochrane had raced across home plate on Goose Goslin’s single to give the Tigers their first world championship ever.

With 51,901 lucky fans on hand, and with millions of viewers watching the NBC telecast with Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola, former third baseman and Tigers television announcer George Kell threw out the ceremonial first pitch from his box seat, located next to Vice-President George Bush and Commissioner Peter Ueberroth. The capacity crowd buzzed with anticipation.

When Padres leadoff hitter Alan Wiggins opened the game with a single to right off Dan Petry, stole second, and then moved to third after the throw bounced into center field, San Diego threatened to score first for the first time in the Series. The San Diego speedster tried to score on a groundout but was called out after sliding past home plate, further energizing the already excited Tiger Stadium crowd as the fans erupted into “The Wave.”

In the bottom of the inning, Gibson commenced his night of heroics. With one on and one out, on the first pitch from lefty Mark Thurmond, the left-handed slugger launched a rocket into the right field upper deck. Vin Scully told the viewers, “And there it goes, for Michigan State and all of Tigerdom.”

“I just remember that, when Kirk hit that home run, the cheering just rocked Tiger Stadium in a way I had never heard before. And the energy was higher then I had ever seen at a sporting event,” says McGraw.

Gibson offered his insight on the blast 25 years later. “At Tiger Stadium as a left-handed hitter, you’re trying to pull the ball early in the count and find something in your happy zone on the inner part of the plate. It was a breaking ball and I just got on it,” he says.

The Tigers scored another run in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead but, by the fourth, San Diego had tied the score. In the fifth, however, Gibson utilized his speed and characteristic aggressive baserunning to give the Tigers the lead again.

After slapping a single to left, Gibson tagged and slid safely into second on a dangerous, bang-bang play on Lance Parrish’s deep fly out to left field. After consecutive walks to Herndon and Lemon loaded the bases with one out, Gibson was perched on third base when pinch-hitter Rusty Kuntz stepped to the plate.

What followed changed the momentum of the game. Kuntz lofted a lazy fly ball to shallow right that Tony Gwynn had trouble tracking. With his momentum carrying him away from the plate, second baseman Alan Wiggins snared the ball.

To the surprise of everyone—especially the Padres—Gibson took off for the plate. He slid into home so fiercely that he ripped the knee out of his uniform pants. The throw never even made it home as the Tigers took a 4-3 lead and the crowd went wild.

“Gibson’s game was so unbelievable. He was so big and fast and unusual in that he was a baseball player with a football player’s body. To watch him go from third to home was amazing,” says McGraw.

The hometown hero now fondly recalls that mad dash home. “I knew I probably shouldn’t have gone, but I was very aggressive and had good speed and size, and surprise was part of the element,” says Gibson. “Even if Wiggins had turned around and made a great throw, the catcher still had to hold onto the ball. I was prepared to definitely press the issue. If he had the ball, I was going to drill him. It was just an exciting play.”

During a pitching change in the bottom of the seventh, Tigers fans came up with a novel way to heckle the visitors by substituting the word “Goosebusters” for “Ghostbusters” while the Ghostbusters movie theme song was played over the loudspeakers as Padres reliever Goose Gossage was warming up. On the second serving from the future Hall of Famer, Lance Parrish hit a line-drive homer over the left field fence to give Detroit a 5-3 lead. The happy crowd erupted into another wave.

In the top of the eighth, the Padres battled back when Kurt Bevaqua hit a solo homer off of Detroit closer Willie Hernandez to narrow the Detroit lead to one run. Diehard Tigers fans, though, remembered Yogi Berra’s immortal words, “It Ain’t Over Until It’s Over.”

Kirk Gibson was determined to make sure it was over. In the bottom of the eighth, Gossage walked Castillo, who advanced to second on Lou Whitaker’s sacrifice bunt (scored a single when Gary Templeton failed to cover second base). Trammell’s sacrifice bunt then sent the runners to second and third with one out, with Gibson stepping to the plate.

What followed was the signature moment of the ’84 World Series and one of the biggest blunders in the careers of Hall of Famers Gossage and Dick Williams.

With the score 5-4 in the eighth inning, with one out, runners on second and third, with first base open and a dangerous slugger at the plate, conventional baseball wisdom calls for an intentional walk to set up a double play or a force out at the plate—especially when the hitter at-bat has the platoon advantage over the pitcher and the following hitter hits from the same side as the pitcher.

Sparky Anderson vividly recalls what happened next. “I always watched the other manager because I wanted to see what he was going to do. I saw Dick (Williams) say ‘four’—meaning walk him. But Gossage was such a competitor and had struck out Gibson so many times, Goose thought he could just get him again.”

When Gossage shook off his manager’s sign, Williams walked to the mound to confer with his pitcher. Television viewers could read the pitcher’s lips saying, “Let’s go after him.”

“When Dick walked back to the dugout, I screamed to Gibby, ‘He don’t want to walk you,’” says Anderson. “Let me tell you, Gibby will not allow you to embarrass him, that ain’t going to happen. You’re going to have problems on your hands.”

For Kirk Gibson, standing on baseball’s biggest stage in front of a hometown crowd and media from around the world was the only place he wanted to be on that foggy, cool night. “Gossage had owned me, and he struck me out in my first major league at-bat. He threw hard, I swung hard, and he was just one of those guys who gave me trouble. I knew he thought he could strike me out again. I flashed 10 fingers and yelled back to Sparky, ‘Ten bucks they pitch to me and I crank it.’

“I couldn’t stand there in the box when they were talking and think he’s going to strike me out. I had to reverse that thought, so I visualized upper deck. It was right there, come on. I was thinking, You’ve had your success against me and you’ve had your last laugh. The fact that he wouldn’t walk me was even more challenging. I’m thinking I’m going to get you when it counts and it counts right now—that was my thought process.”

As Gossage stared in at Gibson, catcher Terry Kennedy failed to step out of the catcher’s box for an intentional ball before the first pitch. It was clear the battle of two titans was on.

One of the greatest relievers in baseball history reared back and threw an outside fastball for ball one as the electrified crowd buzzed. On his second delivery, Gibson’s eyes lit up as he saw another fastball coming his way—one that the Tigers’ hero sent deep into the night and far back into the right field upper deck, just as he had pictured it.

The three-run blast generated a roar out of Tiger Stadium crowd that could be heard for blocks. “I knew then it was all over and, to be honest I realized I would be the first manager to win a World Series in both leagues,” remembers Anderson.

In the ninth, Hernandez shut down the Padres, allowing one harmless single. The Detroit closer secured the 8-4 victory, the Tigers’ fourth—and to-date—last world championship, and the end of a truly magical season.

A quarter of a century later, Bill McGraw still remembers the champagne stinging in his eyes during the clubhouse celebration while he attempted to get quotes from the new world champions. And looking back on the fifth game of the 1984 World Series, he easily puts Kirk Gibson’s heroics into perspective.

“Although Alan Trammell deserved to win the World Series MVP award, Kirk Gibson stole the show in the last game,” says McGraw. “He can always look back on what he did in the final game to win the World Series for his hometown team. He fulfilled the fantasy of every baseball-playing 12-year-old kid in the world.”

Bless you Kirk, and bless you boys.