1987 World Series

The 1987 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1987 season. The 84th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Minnesota Twins and the National League (NL) champion St. Louis Cardinals. The Twins defeated the Cardinals in seven games to win their first championship since , when the team was still known as the Washington Senators. Twins pitcher Frank Viola was named as the 1987 World Series MVP.

It was the first World Series to feature games played indoors, and the first in which the home team won every game; this would happen again in (also a Twins championship, over the Atlanta Braves) and in with the Arizona Diamondbacks defeating the New York Yankees.

This was the third of six World Series played entirely on artificial turf, with the others in , , , , and .

This is the first World Series in which the series logo appeared on the jerseys; only the Cardinals wore it. Both contestants in the following year's World Series wore a patch. It was also the last World Series in which any games were played during the day as opposed to in the evening.

This was the third consecutive World Series to go the full seven games, a feat that has not occurred since.

This was the only World Series in history in which the bottom of the ninth inning was never played.

With the Twins' win, Major League Baseball extended its record to ten straight unique World Series champions, the longest such streak in all of American major sports history. The next longest streak, nine, was also by MLB, happening between 1982 and 1990.

Summary

The 1987 World Series was the first World Series games played in an indoor stadium (the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome) and, to date, the last World Series game to start earlier than prime time in the eastern United States (Game 6 started at 4:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. CT), and it was the first World Series in which all games were won by the home team (four previous series had the home team winning the first six games, including the 1965 World Series, when the Twins dropped Game 7 to the Dodgers); as part of the format of the time, the American League hosted the Series due to it being an odd-numbered year. The bottom half of the ninth inning was never played in any game of this Series, the first and only time this has happened. In 1987, the Twins set the record for the worst (full 162 game) regular season win–loss record of any World Series championship team (85–77, .525). This record stood until it was broken when the Cardinals won the 2006 Series after going 83–78 (.516).

Besides setting a record for the worst regular season winning percentage for a World Series winner and hosting the first World Series game indoors, the Twins were the first team to enter the World Series having been outscored in the regular season. The Twins, as a team, were outnumbered in virtually every major statistical category in 1987. As ABC play-by-play commentator Al Michaels put it in the pre-game show for Game 1, "They were out everything!"

The Cardinals posted a 95–67 record during the regular season, but were hindered by injuries in the postseason, most notably with the loss of their lone home-run threat, first baseman Jack Clark, who sprained his right ankle in a game in Montreal on September 9. During the regular season, Clark led the National League in on-base percentage and slugging percentage despite playing in Busch Memorial Stadium, which was reputed to be the league's most extreme "pitcher's park." He hit 35 home runs in 131 games, and was the only person on the team to hit more than 12. The player on the team who hit 12, starting third baseman Terry Pendleton (though named to the World Series roster) was hampered with a ribcage injury. Normally a switch-hitter, Pendleton was only able to swing lefthanded during the World Series and was also unable to play the field and thus was relegated to pinch-hitting duties or being the designated hitter in the games in Minnesota started by right-handed starters.

Game 7 was won by Minnesota on the 35th birthday of the Twins' Roy Smalley – and was also the last game of his career. Smalley appeared in four games as a pinch-hitter and reached base all four times on a double, an error, and two walks.

Matchups

Game 1

A raucous, sold-out Metrodome met the Cardinals on October 17, stunning the visitors with crowd noise that reached 125 decibels SPL, making it the loudest game in World Series history. The Cardinals struggled defensively, with outfielder Willie McGee losing sight of pop flies against the Metrodome's white roof in the fourth and eighth innings, and infielder Tom Lawless committing an infield error in the sixth inning. None of those miscues, however, contributed to Twins runs. The Twins' aggressive play further compounded the problems of the Cards, and the game ended as a 10–1 blowout. Starting pitcher Frankie "Sweet Music" Viola had little trouble with the Cardinals' potent lineup. For the Twins, Dan Gladden hit a grand slam (the first since 1970) and totaled five RBIs, capping off a seven-run fourth inning, with Steve Lombardozzi adding a two-run homer, while Kent Hrbek had two RBIs.

Frank Viola was scheduled to be best man at his brother's wedding, but had to cancel when the Twins reached the World Series as it fell on the same night as Game 1, in which he was scheduled as starter. ABC showed clips of the wedding throughout the game's broadcast.

Coincidentally, the song "U Got The Look" peaked in popularity (#2 on the Billboard singles chart) on this date. The song was written and performed by Prince (a Minneapolis native) and contains the line "boy versus girl in the World Series of love".

Game 2

While improving on their Game One performance, the Cards were again unable to hold the Twins offense and fell behind 7–0 before beginning to rally. The Cards' total of nine hits was just one short of the Twins but they managed only one double, against three doubles and two home runs hit by Minnesota. Gary Gaetti hit a homer in the second inning. The Twins broke the game open in the fourth, scoring six runs resulting in starter Danny Cox being pulled from the game. The final score was 8–4. Randy Bush and Tim Laudner each came through with a pair of two-run-scoring hits in the fourth, with Laudner's being a home run and Bush's being a double. Bert Blyleven pitched seven innings of two-run baseball for the win.

Game 3

Traveling down the Mississippi, to the open air of Busch Stadium, Game 3 saw a tense pitching duel between Twins starter Les Straker and John Tudor of the Cardinals. This match-up was also notable for Straker being the first Venezuelan to pitch in a World Series game.

After five scoreless innings by both teams, the Twins broke through in the top of the sixth inning. Greg Gagne walked to lead off the inning, and Kirby Puckett walked to move Gagne into scoring position. Tom Brunansky's RBI single looked like all the offense the game would see. But, in the bottom of the seventh, Juan Berenguer, in relief of Straker, surrendered leadoff back-to-back singles to Jose Oquendo and Tony Peña. Terry Pendleton sacrificed the runners to second and third, and Vince Coleman slammed a two-run double to give the Cards a 2–1 lead. Ozzie Smith followed by singling in Coleman for the final run, and Todd Worrell closed out saving the win for Tudor.

Game 4

In Game 4, the Twins scored first on Greg Gagne’s home run, but the Cardinals tied it on a Jim Lindeman RBI single. Tom Lawless hit a three-run homer in the fourth off Viola (only his second Major League homer after going 2 for 25 during the regular season), one of Viola's five earned runs in the game and six runs in the fourth. The Cards weren't done scoring; Dan Schatzeder allowed another RBI single to Lindeman and a two-run double to Willie McGee. Joe Niekro and George Frazier shut the Redbirds out the rest of the game. Bob Forsch got the win with innings of one run relief. Starter Greg Mathews aggravated a quadriceps injury in the fourth inning (the injury went back to Game 5 of the NLCS), had to be removed from the game and was unable to play for the rest of the series. Ken Dayley got the save.

Just prior to Game 4, Reggie Jackson, who was working as a field reporter for ABC's coverage of the 1987 World Series, admitted that he didn't know who Tom Lawless was.

Game 5

Game 5 was a much closer contest, with the Cardinals coming out victorious by a score of 4–2. Curt Ford hit a two-run single in the sixth, breaking a scoreless pitcher's duel between Danny Cox and Bert Blyleven. By the end of the seventh, the Cards were up 4–0. The Twins scored two in the eighth on a triple by Gary Gaetti off reliever Todd Worrell to make a game of it, but eventually relinquished the save to him as Gaetti failed to score. The Cardinals stole five bases in Game 5, the most for any team since the 1907 Chicago Cubs.

Game 6

The Series returned to the Metrodome with the Twins facing elimination (a position they would find themselves in four years later against the Atlanta Braves). ABC allowed the game to be played at 3 p.m. CT (4 p.m. ET) on Saturday afternoon – the only day game of the series, and the last World Series game to date to be played in the daytime (although as the game was played in the Metrodome, the game took place under artificial lighting).

The Cardinals drew first blood off Les Straker on a Tommy Herr home run in the first, and the Twins countered with two in their half of the first on RBI singles by Kirby Puckett and Don Baylor. The Cardinals soon tied it in the second on a Jose Oquendo RBI single.

In the fourth, the Cards chased Straker when Dan Driessen led off with a double to right and went to third on a Willie McGee single. McGee took second on the attempted throw home by center fielder Kirby Puckett. Terry Pendleton followed by singling home Driessen and Oquendo hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4–2. Another run scored for the Cards in the fifth when lefty Dan Schatzeder walked Ozzie Smith. Smith went to second on a groundout, to third on a flyout, and scored on another McGee single.

In the bottom of the fifth, however, the Twins began to claw their way back against John Tudor. It happened immediately as Minnesota was able to tie the game in only five pitches. Puckett led off with a single and was doubled in by Gary Gaetti. Benefitting from use of the designated hitter in their home ballpark, the Twins then tied it on a mammoth home run by their DH, Don Baylor. After Tom Brunansky followed with a single off the first pitch and chased Tudor, the Twins took the lead for good when Steve Lombardozzi singled him in with two out on a close play at the plate.

The Twins then blew the game open in the sixth. Greg Gagne led off with an infield single and Puckett walked. A passed ball by Tony Peña advanced the runners. With first base open and one out, Cards veteran Bob Forsch intentionally walked Baylor to load the bases. Baylor had played only 20 regular season games with the Twins after being traded from Boston and Tim McCarver in the ABC broadcast booth argued that he should be pitched to rather than walked, despite the home run in the previous inning. Both Jim Palmer and Al Michaels agreed, as Palmer didn't like the idea of loading the bases with the risk of giving up multiple runs, and Michaels pointed out that left-hander Ken Dayley might have to be brought in earlier than normal. After Brunansky popped out, Dayley was indeed brought in to face the lefty-hitting Kent Hrbek. Hrbek finally broke out of his slump and hit a grand slam to the deepest part of center field.

Brunansky drove in the final run in the eighth and the Twins had staved off defeat. This was the last day game in World Series history to date.

Game 7