Jack Morris led (or tied for the lead) in K's in 1984, 1991, and 1992. He was Jack-of-All-Trades for Detroit in '84 and Minnesota in '91, but couldn't quite help Toronto in '92, alas.
But, as a member of that great Detroit Tigers team in 1984, Morris had some strikeout experience. He'd topped the American League in K's the year before with 232. The Detroit Tigers were invincible in '84, but Jack finished with just 148 strikeouts. What could possibly be different in the playoffs?
Well, Jack Morris was 19-11 that season, but his earned run average was high, 3.60. That didn't stop him from winning his only start in the American League Championship Series vs. Kansas. 7 IP, 5 H and 4 K. The key stat is that Jack allowed just one run. So much for the ERA.
The same in the Fall Classic vs. San Diego. Morris won a close first game, 3-2. It was far from easy. And it seemed like Jack was about to get lit up and not make it out of the first inning.
The Tigers, playing on the road in a World Series that featured the last use of the designated hitter in National League ballparks until this year (2020), gave Jack a run to work with. That was in the top of the first. Morris started out on the right foot with a strikeout of Alan Wiggins. The dangerous Tony Gwynn flied out. Two away. What could possibly go wrong?
Steve Garvey singled. So did ex-New York Yankee Greg Nettles. Terry Kennedy cashed 'em both in with a two-bagger. 2-1, San Diego.
Jack, to his credit settled down. No one else reached base that inning. The second was 1-2-3 and another K. The Padres would threaten. Morris had the answers. No inning better illustrated it than the bottom of the sixth: First two batters reach, Jack fans the next three!
The eighth inning was his best. Morris got 'em 1-2-3 again, but with two strikeouts. Bobby Brown was the last strikeout by Morris as he led off the ninth. Morris then retired the next two batters for a second-straight three up, three down frame. Jack had gotten stronger, it seemed, as the contest moved on.
And Detroit rallied for the win, Morris had nine K's, and the Tigers were off on the right foot.
Jack also won game four, but only 4-2. He went nine innings, allowed five hits, two runs, walked none. Now for the bad part: Just four strikeouts.
The Tigers clinched it by doubling up on the Padres 8-4 at home in the fifth contest. Morris had thirteen strikeouts in two games. The second-most was by Craig Lefferts of San Diego. But Craig had only seven.
In 1991, Jack Morris was on the Minnesota Twins, and they were in the Fall Classic. They beat Toronto in just five games in the ALCS, with Jack picking up two more wins. And again, in the World Series, Jack showed 'em how.
Having gone 18-12, but with a 3.43 earned run average in the regular season, you'd think Jack, who'd beaten the Blue Jays 5-4 and 9-3 (For an ERA of 4.05) in the American League Championship Series, might need a lot of run support. It was not the case in the first game of October's Showdown vs. Atlanta. Jack beat the Braves 5-2 in the first contest. The home side, Minny, was up 4-0 by the time Atlanta finally nicked Morris for a run in the top of the sixth. Jack went seven strong, allowing just five hits and two runs. His strikeout totals for this contest were a tad disappointing: Just three!
And Atlanta got another crack at him. Having lost the first two games in Minnesota, Atlanta returned home and won all three games at Fulton County Stadium. Game five was a 14-5 rout by the Braves.
And they had won the fourth contest even though our boy had started for the visitors. It was a close game, but Jack couldn't quite help.
Morris lasted six innings and allowed only one run. The bad news is, another low K total, four. In the last of the third, he looked like he had a nice 1-2-3 frame as Jack fanned John Smoltz, the pitcher, and Lonnie Smith. But Terry Pendleton hit a game-tying solo home run.
The series went to the limit. Jack pitched game seven and won it. But just barely. It took the home team ten innings to walk it off, 1-0. But what you want to know is how many strikeouts did Jack Morris get, right?
He fanned Ron Gant to end a 1-2-3 top of the first. He left the only runner to get on in the second, fanning Brian Hunter along the way. But Atlanta's starting pitcher, John Smoltz, was staying right with him in this deciding contest. Smoltz fanned the very first batter he faced in this big one, Dan Gladden, in a 1-2-3 first of his own. When he departed after 7 1/3 innings, John had allowed the Minnesota Twins no runs, just six hits and fanned four. This task of winning the game (And getting strikeouts) seemed steep for Morris!
In the seventh, he fanned two in a three-up, three-down frame. Morris got the side 1-2-3 again in the ninth and ten innings, picking up a strikeout in each frame. When the smoke cleared, Morris had gone ten innings, allowed seven hits and fanned eight!
Oh, the Twins won the game in dramatic fashion! Morris' last K was that of Lonnie Smith in the top of the tenth, but what about the bottom of the frame? The game was still scoreless, you see.
Dan Gladden didn't fan to start it, like he had in the first. This time, Dan doubled off reliever Alejandro Pena. Winning run in scoring position. Chuck Knoblauch bunted him to third. Kirby Puckett and Ken Hrbek were put on to set up a force at home.
Gene Larkin was sent up to the dish to bat for Jarvis Brown. First pitching swining, Gene singled to drive in Danny with the World Series-winning tally! Well, Jack Morris had a shutout, the win, another World Series ring...And something else, too!
The 8 whiffs gave Jack Morris 15 K's. John Smoltz ended up in second with 11 (But in one less start and only 14 1/3 innings). Morris walked off the field with the Most Valuable Player of the 1991 World Series. Why not? His ERA, so high in the regular season, was a miniscule 1.17 in the Fall Classic!
Jack had one last time in the October Classic the next year. Morris was up north pitching for the Blue Jays. He'd become the first Toronto Blue Jay pitcher to win 20 games (Morris actually won 21) that year, but his earned run average was over four (4.04). And Jack Morris was not Jack Morris in the postseason.Oakland handed him a 4-3 loss in the first game of the ALCS that year. In game four, Jack got hammered. Morris lasted just 3 1/3 innings, allowing five earned runs. Toronto won the game 7-6 in extras, but was something wrong with the great righty?
Didn't seem to be in the World Series. Toronto finished off Oakland in six games to advance, and they turned the ball to him to get it done in the opener. It was Atlanta again. Jack, pitching on the road, stopped the Braves through five innings. Joe Carter had hit a home run off Tom Glavine earlier to make it 1-0 for the visitors.
Morris had picked up a strikeout to end the first, stranding Otis Nixon at second. The next inning was even better: 1-2-3 went the home team and Morris fanned Ron Gant and Damon Berryhill back-to-back!
Two more K's in the fourth. Another in the fifth. But Berryhill hit a two-out three-run home run off Morris to make it 3-1 for Atlanta in the sixth. It certainly hadn't been a bad outing for Jack. In six frames, he'd allowed just four hits, three runs and fanned seven. However, the five walks were a problem. Jack was removed for Todd Stottlemyre, who would fan two batters himself in the bottom of the seventh. The Braves won, 3-1. A rare postseason loss for Morris!
But when game five at SkyDome rolled around, Toronto was at home, up 3-1 and looking to finish it off. Who'd they turn the ball to?
You see, in the ALCS vs. Oakland, the Blue Jays had gone with a three-man rotation: Morris, David Cone, and Juan Guzman. Morris was 0-1, Cone 1-1, Guzman 2-0. In the World Series, it was a four-man rotation. Cone had been pulled in game two, but Toronto won 5-4. Guzman went eight strong in game three, got a no-decision like Cone, but the Blue Jays won 3-2 via a walk-off single. Jimmy Key, who hadn't started in the American League Championship Series, and only 13-13 in the regular season, beat Tom Glavine 2-1 in the fourth contest.
But here, Toronto was looking to clinch at home. And they had the right guy to do it. Morris had brought it home to Minnesota against this very same Atlanta team the year before. Why not in 1992? The Blue Jays were also looking for their very first championship.
Morris didn't quite look like himself. He wasn't walking anyone, but Atlanta was swinging. Otis Nixon led off with a double. Morris fanned Deion Sanders. But Terry Pendleton drove Nixon home with a two-bagger of his own.
Jack Morris was still picking up the K's as the game progressed. The second frame was much better. Atlanta was retired in order and Jack fanned Jeff Blauser. The home team tied the game against Morris' old pal John Smoltz. The third inning saw neither team score, and Morris fan Pendleton.
But the Braves were not to be denied. The fourth inning stared with Dave Justice rocketing a home run to right for a 2-1 Braves lead. The Blue Jays did tie it in their half, but Jack was soon out of gas.
He fanned Damon Berryhill to start the top of the fifth. That gave Jack five strikeouts in just 4 1/3 innings. Mark Lemke grounded out. It was the fourteenth batter retired by Morris. But it was also the last batter Jack Morris got out.
Nixon singled, stole second and Sanders singled. It was 3-2, Atlanta. Pendleton hit a double, touched by a fan, to get Sanders to third. Toronto had Justice put on intentionally, given how dangerous his bat was. The bases were loaded.
Morris looked poised to get out of it, however. Jack quickly got two strikes on Lonnie Smith. But Lonnie stayed alive by fouling off two pitches with the count 1-2. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, he hit it into the Braves' bullpen. 7-2 for the visitors. Morris was done, and so were the Blue Jays. Atlanta was heading back home for a sixth game.
Morris had allowed the seven earned runs on nine hits in this important fifth contest. He'd lasted just 4 2/3 innings. John Smoltz got some sweet revenge for last year's seventh contest. He'd gone just six innings himself. But he'd fanned 4, allowing 5 hits and 4 walks. The four strikeouts (None in the fifth and six innings, though) would be crucial, as you will see later.
But Toronto won, 4-3 in eleven innings, with Jimmy Key picking up his second World Series game won. Duane Ward, the reliever, won the other two games for the Blue Jays. So Jack Morris was left was the worse Toronto pitcher in the 1992 Fall Classic: 8.44 earned run average!
Now compare that ERA to the other starting pitchers on the Jays' staff. You had Key at 1.00. Juan Guzman at 1.13. David Cone 3.48. Over on Atlanta, it was Tom Glavine with an earned run of just 1.59. He'd beaten Morris in that first contest, remember? Then Tom had narrowly lost to Jimmy Key 2-1 in game four. Steve Avery had narrowly lost the previous game 3-2, walk-off style. While Steve was knocked out early in the sixth contest, he finished the 1992 World Series with an earned run average of 3.75. How about John Smoltz?
Well, he'd gone more innings than Jack Morris, 13 1/3. Toronto had scored three times off him in 7 1/3 innings in the second contest, then twice more time in just six innings in game five. However, Smoltz had fanned five of the first six batters to face him in game two, finishing with eight strikeouts. Add to that the four K's in the fifth tilt, John tied Jack Morris for the lead with twelve in this Fall Classic. Morris only pitched 10 2/3 innings, though.
References
Enders, Eric. 100 Years of the World Series: 1903-2004. New York, Sterling, 2005. Print.
George, Gamester, and Gerald Hall. On Top of the World: The Toronto Star’s Tribute to the ’92 Blue Jays. Canada, Doubleday Canada, 1992. Print.
Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 01 Oct. 2020.
Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/. 01 Oct. 2020. Web.
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