The top two batters in 1984 were a superstar and a ridiculed player. Well, opposite ends of the spectrum.
Al Trammell, the shortstop on Detroit, was the big gun for the Tigers. San Diego countered with Kurt Bevacqua. The Padres were a bit of an underdog, but if you think about it, they had the edge. The 1984 World Series would (as it is now) use a designated hitter all Fall Classic, even in San Diego. So, a team that normally just had the pitcher in the ninth slow could add a hitter.
Kurt played two positions in the infield (3B and 1B) plus two outfield (LF and RF) positions. His stats suggest he was a below-average fielder. In the National League Championship Series, Kurt played in two games, coming to bat twice. 0-2, and hit into a double play. Trammell was great in the American League Championship Series, hitting .364 against Kansas City. He'd win his fourth Gold Glove in 1984. So Alan could field. Could he hit? .314, 14 home runs, 69 runs driven in.
See, Bevacqua got into only 59 regular seasons game in 1984, hitting just .200 with one home runs and nine runs driven in. So he couldn't hit or field in '84. What was his manager thinking? Putting him in the designated hitter role for game one. Detroit wasn't fooling anyone in that they wanted this thing. They started out 35-5 that year, ending up with 104 wins. San Diego had to be content with just 92 wins themselves.
So game one was close. Trammell, who graduated from Kearny High School, right there in San Diego, put the Bengals on top with an RBI in the top of the first via a single. The shortstop then caught trying to go to second with Kirk Gibson up. Was this crucial? Well, The Tigers got two more hits in that inning, both of them singles, but no runs.
Surprisingly, the Padres came back with two of their own to answer that, right in their first at-bats. But Bevacqua was behind Trammell in hits and RBIs. In fact, Alan added a single next time up, in the top of the third, and this time stole second! However, no runs were scored, period, by Detroit that inning.
Trammell was retired in the fifth inning, but so was Bevacqua. And, more importantly, Detroit reclaimed the lead on a two-run home run by Larry Herndon. From there, the pitching of the Tigers' Jack Morris and the Padres' Andy Hawkins / Dave Dravecky did the job. San Diego starter Mark Thurmond hadn't pitched too bad, allowing three runs in five innings. So he took the loss, but the bullpen gave San Diego a chance to win. Perhaps some of the defeat could be placed on Kurt Bevacqua, as he out attempting to stretch a double into a triple in the seventh. Kurt was batting in the ninth slot, and there were no outs when got the hit. I guess both he and Allan needed to stop being so aggressive on the bases. Still, bottom line, Trammell was 2-5 and Bevacqua was 1-3. It's not like these two men took their time becoming heroes in the 1984 October Finale.
Speaking of heroes, it was pretty much Kurt that was in game two. Oh, it started out pretty bad for the home team. The Padres watched as Allan Trammell followed Lou Whitaker's leadoff single in the first with one of his own. Both ended up scoring. Whitaker on Kirk Gibson's single. There were still no outs, and the first three men had gotten hits. Lance Parrish cashed in Trammell with a sacrifice fly. Gibson, too, ended up scoring.
So down 3-0, San Diego came up in the bottom of the first, and got one run back. But when would Kurt Bevacqua do something? I told you he was the big gun in the second contest.
Okay, here's what he did. He singled in the fourth. Garry Templeton got a one-out single himself. Bevacqua motored to third. As he got up, Kurt talked to third base coach, Ozzie Virgil (Sr.)
"I pulled a muscle," he told Virgil. "You did?" Where, in the leg?" the coach asked of his player. "It's alright," Bevacqua assured him. Ozzie was firm in his reaction that his player was truly okay. "You make sure now [That you can still play]." Bobby Brown hit into a force, and the man from third scored. Trammell fanned his next two times up, but Kurt Bevacqua wasn't retired after grounding out in the bottom of the second. In the fifth, he came up with two on and one out. His team trailed by a run. "Get it done, Kurt. Right man in the right spot!" That was his manager Dick Williams with some great encouragement. But even Williams could not have expected what happened on an 0-1 pitch.
Bevacqua sent Detroit starter Dan Petry to the showers with a huge three-run home run. That turned his teams' fortunes around. Down 3-2, now up, 5-3. Talk about charging up your team! Kurt was so charged up, he did a jump and spin around as he neared first. Let him explain.
“It certainly gets your adrenaline going," Kurt would say in a Zoom session years later, "especially the first one [The home run] in game two that I hit, because you know, I wasn't, known to be a home run hitter. I don't recall, at least at the professional, level ever going the plate trying to hit a home run and getting it done.”
Well, some good and some bad from the San Diego designated hitter. But, the important thing was, Kurt had redeemed himself. A 5-3 win by the Padres sent this extravaganza to Detroit, tied 1-1. We can say that So blunders on the base paths were still a bit of a problem for both players. More Bevacqua at this point. However, the win in game two was huge. It's quite likely that the Padres would have been swept had they lost it.
It seemed like the Tigers were ready, willing and able to settle this nonsense. Their big guns chased starter Tim Lollar in the second. Well, there was Marty Castillo, the number nine hitter, swatting a big, two-run dinger. Lou Whitaker kept the rally going with a walk, and then Alan Trammell continued his hot-hitting. His doubled plated his pal Whitaker. Detroit loaded the bases, with Trammell scoring on a bases on balls to Larry Herndon.
Well, 4-0. San Diego got one back in the top third, but that only temporarily made it closer. Trammell had a walk and a hit to his name. He was one of three Tigers' who walked in the bottom of the third. Darrell Evans crossed the plate when Kirk Gibson was hit by a pitch. So, twice the Tigers' had gotten men home as the Padres loaded the bases and forced in the man. Walks, hit by pitches, had to stop. Gotta make the opposition hit the ball!
Kurt Bevacqua tried to help. He started the top of the fourth with a single. With one away, Garry Templeton singled. But the next two batters hit into force plays, so San Diego got nothing. They finally pried a run loose in the seventh, but that was it. Trammell ended the game with two hits and two walks. Bevacqua was only 1-4 (Even though his team out-hit Detroit, 10-7).
Well, Kurt and the boys would have to be better in game four, which was a big one. But you know what, Alan Trammell had no intentions of letting San Diego get ahead. He belted a two-run home run in the bottom of the first.
Here, though, San Diego didn't waste much more time. Terry Kennedy hit a solo shot in the top of the second. Bevacqua was next, and he doubled. They were getting to Jack Morris early. Morris got out of the inning without further damaged, and that proved to be vital.
You know, though? Alan Trammell came back up in the third. As was the case in the first, his fellow double-play partner Lou Whitaker was on first. And, again Alan came up big. A two-run home run put Detroit up 4-1. Trammell added a single in the fifth, but did not score. Kurt Bevacqua had to settle for his double first time up. Still, he finished 1-3. He was now hitting .375 in the postseason despite that tough League Championship Series. Trammell, though, finished 3-4. There just had to be "MVP" whispers. Two hits in game one. Two more in the second contest. Still again, two, in the third. And now three here in the fourth. Alan was up to a .563 batting average in the 1984 World Series. His team, which won the pivotal fourth contest, 4-2, was but one triumph away from a season for the ages.
So it was do-or-die for Kurt and company in game five. Detroit didn't want to go back to San Diego.
Again, the Tigers were deadly early in the game. Trammell himself forced Whitaker at second in the first inning. But then Kirk Gibson hit a two-run home run. 2-0. It as 3-0 by the time the Padres got that third out.
Still, come the top of the fourth, San Diego battled. They'd gotten one run back in the third. Kurt Bevacqua walked. A good start. Garry Templeton hit a one-out double, on which left fielder Larry Herndon, slipped after cutting it off. Tying run at second. Bobby Wiggins hit a sacrifice fly to centre. It was fitting that Bevacqua scored here. All throughout the 1984 World Series, he'd helped his team stay right with the Tigers. Before Detroit could pick up lumber in their half of the inning, it was tied.
The home team regained the lead an inning later. Lance Parrish added a solo home run to make it 5-3, Detroit, in the seventh. Time was running out. San Diego had one last gasp. Guess who came up in the top of the eighth? Why Bevacqua. But he was up against Detroit's bullpen ace, Willie Hernández. Two down, no one on. The first pitch to Kurt was a fastball. But it caught too much of the plate, and was at the letters. Bevacqua smashed it deep to left. It landed in the second deck, high above Larry Herndon. The Padres were not going away quietly. "...we got a game again," observed Vince Scully. Two home runs in the 1984 October Finale for Kurt Bevacqua, who'd hit a grand total of one in the regular season.
Unfortunately for Kurt and company, the Tigers regrouped in their half of the eighth. Alan Trammell, who finished the game without a hit, came up with two on and nobody out. He bunted both men into scoring position, setting up Kirk Gibson's three-run home run. It was game over, and everybody knew it.
Neither Trammell nor Bevacqua would bat again in this Fall Classic. Each had gone yard twice in only five games. Trammell led all hitters with a .450 batting average. But right behind him was Kurt Bevacqua. Tommy Lasorda probably got around to thanking Trammell at some point, for outhitting him, .412.
References
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