Aug. 11, 1984: Tigers 9 – Royals 5

W: Jack Morris (15-8) – L: Charlie Leibrandt (6-5) – S: Aurelio López (12) | Boxscore

Record: 76-41 — 8 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • The Cat was this close to a complete game win, but he allowed three ninth-inning runs and Sparky pulled him with two outs. Lopez came in and struck out Willie Wilson to end the game.
  • Former Tiger Lynn Jones had three hits off Morris.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Royals Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Ken Kaiser, 1B – Dale Ford, 2B – Larry Barnett, 3B – Rocky Roe
  • Time of Game: 2:42
  • Attendance: 40,501

Birthdays

Al Pedrique, and the late Bill Monbouquette and Bobo Newsom

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 497 8/9 — Rarity: 184

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 10, 1984: Tigers 5 – Royals 4

W: Aurelio López (10-0) – L: Joe Beckwith (5-3) – S: Willie Hernández (25) | Boxscore

Record: 75-41 — 8 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • The Royals had a 4-3 lead before solo home runs in the sixth, by Kirk Gibson, and the eighth, Ruppert Jones, put the Tigers up for good.
  • Dan Petry started and last until two out in the seventh, striking out five. López and Hernández combined for 21/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Royals Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Rocky Roe, 1B – Ken Kaiser, 2B – Dale Ford, 3B – Larry Barnett
  • Time of Game: 2:54
  • Attendance: 32,181

Birthdays

Matt den Dekker, Anthony Gose, Josh Anderson, Jeff Frazier, Brandon Lyon, Tom Brookens and Rocky Colavito

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 496 9/9 — Rarity: 12

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 9, 1984: Travel Day to K. C.

The Tigers likely savored the off day after all the doubleheaders. Let’s look ahead 10 years to a markedly different brand of Tigers baseball played in 1994. 😬


Aug. 9, 1994: Tigers 10 – Brewers 4

W: Sean Bergman (2-1) – L: Cal Eldred (11-11) | Boxscore

Record: 52-61 — Fifth place; 19 games behind the Yankees

Highlights

  • As seems appropriate for this team, Cecil Fielder provided 60% of the Tigers’ runs despite one for three night: a grand slam and two sac-fly RBI.
  • After this game, the last-place Tigers had two more before the player’s strike.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Tiger Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – John Hirschbeck, 1B – Ted Barrett, 2B – Rich Garcia, 3B – Larry Young
  • Time of Game: 3:05
  • Attendance: 15,874
  • Field Condition: Dry
  • Start Time Weather: 61° F, Wind 5 mph from Left to Right, Night, No Precipitation.

Birthdays

Steven Moya, Dusty Allen, Troy Percival, Bob Scanlan, John Moses, Kevin Saucier, and the late Bill Campbell, Jerry Moses, Milt Bolling, Ralph Houk and Sam Vico.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 495 9/9 — Rarity: 32

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 5, 1984: Swept by the Royals

Game 1: Royals 5 – Tigers 4

W: Bret Saberhagen (6-8) – LP: Willie Hernández (6-1) – S: Dan Quisenberry (29) | Boxscore

Record: 72-37 — 8 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • The Royals hand Willie his first loss of the year and Saberhagen gets his second win of the series.
  • Birthday boy Dave Rozema started and gave up three runs on 10 hits in six innings. Hernández pitched three innings and allowed six hits and two runs.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Tiger Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Derryl Cousins, 1B – Richard Shulock, 2B – Bill Kunkel, 3B – Terry Cooney
  • Time of Game: 2:57

Game 2: Royals 4 – Tigers 0

W: Charlie Leibrandt (6-4) – L: Juan Berenguer (5-8) | Boxscore

Record: 72-38 — 8 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • K.C. scored four in the first off Berenguer and made it hold up thanks to a dazzling start by Liebrandt.
  • Berenguer settled down to pitch a complete game, giving up eight hits, a pair of walks and striking out eight.
  • Alan Trammell had two hits and that was about it for the offense.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Tiger Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Richard Shulock, 1B – Bill Kunkel, 2B – Terry Cooney, 3B – Derryl Cousins
  • Time of Game: 2:37
  • Attendance: 42,761

Birthdays

Dave Rozema and the late Vic Frazier and Sam Gibson

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 491: 9/9 — Rarity 23

See you tomorrow.

Aug. 3, 1984: Royals 9 – Tigers 6

W: Bret Saberhagen (5-8) – L: Milt Wilcox (11-7) – S: Dan Quisenberry (28) | Boxscore

Record: 72-35 — 10.5 games up on Toronto

Highlights

  • Milt gave up six runs on six hits, one of them a Frank White grand slam, in three innings of work — though he pitched to five hitters in the fourth inning. At that point, the Royals handed their starter Bud Black an 8-2 lead.
  • Saberhagen relieved Black and pitched an inning and two-thirds to earn the win. Quisenberry allowed only two hits in his 22/3 innings.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Tiger Stadium
  • Umpires: HP – Bill Kunkel, 1B – Terry Cooney, 2B – Derryl Cousins, 3B – Richard Shulock
  • Time of Game: 2:37
  • Attendance: 39,480

Birthdays

Pat McCoy, Matt Joyce, Wendell Magee, Dan Meyer and the late Jim Hegan and Harry Heilmann, who hit .342 in 15 years with the Tigers. He hit over .390 four times, including .403 in 1923. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1952.

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 489 9/9 — Rarity: 32

See you tomorrow.

The Tuesday Fungo: July 9

July 9, 1984: The All-Star Break

The Tigers had six players on the 1984 American League All-Star team, three in the starting lineup …

… and three reserves:

Tram was on the disabled list, as I recall, with an elbow issue and wouldn’t play in the game, played at Candlestick Park.

I had held out hope that Morris would start the game. Alas, that assignment went to the Blue Jays’ Dave Stieb.

The Standings

A seven-game lead at the All-Star Break, even knowing how it all ends, is still remarkable. What I did not realize, until I started writing this post, was the Padres entered the break with the best record in the National League.

Birthdays

Orville Inman “Coot” Veal and the late Bud Black, Jimmy Shevlin, Glenn Myatt and Carl Holling

Today’s Grid

⚾️ Immaculate Grid 464 8/9 —Rarity: 159

See you tomorrow.

The Tuesday Fungo: July 2

July 2, 1984: White Sox 7 – Tigers 1

W: Floyd Bannister (5-6) – L: Dave Rozema (4-1) | Boxscore

Record: 55-23 — 9 games ahead of Toronto

Highlights

  • This was an ugly one all around: Rozema allowed four runs on five hits and two homers in four innings; Aurelio López coughed up three runs in two.
  • Bannister pitched a complete game, striking out six.

Miscellany

  • Venue: Comiskey Park
  • Umpires: HP – Ted Hendry, 1B – Drew Coble, 2B – Jim Evans, 3B – Greg Kosc
  • Time of Game: 2:29
  • Attendance: 32,768

Birthdays

Sean Casey, Steve Sparks, Pete Burnside and Gil English

See you tomorrow.