1984 World Series in Baseball Cards … One Per Game!

When they busted out of the winter with a 9-0 start to the new season, the Detroit Tigers got people thinking about the 1984 World Series early in the spring.

And, by the time they streaked all the way to 35-5, we all pretty much assumed the Tigers would end the year as champions.

It would have been a disappointment if they didn’t, really.

But before the Tigers could ascend to the throne, we had an exciting summer ahead of us, one that included breakout seasons by the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs, not to mention another AL West title for the Kansas Royals.

In the end, the Pads beat out the sweetheart Cubs and MVP Ryne Sandberg for National League supremacy.

And Detroit rolled over K.C. in the ALCS.

Would the Tigers hold true to their season-long dominance and prevail over San Diego in the Fall Classic?

You probably know the answer to that by now, but it’s never too late to drink in the 1984 World Series again … so let’s imbibe game by game, with a nod to one baseball card which best exemplifies how each contest played out.

1984 World Series Game 1 – Tigers 3, Padres 2

1984 Topps Larry Herndon (#333)

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This game started exactly the way the Tigers wanted it to … a Lou Whitaker double followed by an Alan Trammell single had Detroit up 1-0 after two batters.

Trammell got caught stealing, and Kirk Gibson flied out, but the next two Tigers — Lance Parrish and Larry Herndon — singled.

Barbaro Garbey grounded out to end the inning, but the Tigers had shown they could rough up starter Mark Thurmond, and, with ace Jack Morris on the mound, they probably only needed a single run, anyway.

Those assumptions fell apart quickly, though, as Morris surrendered two-out singles to Steve Garvey and Graig Nettles, and then a double to catcher Terry Kennedy that drove both home.

Bobby Brown ended the inning with a groundout, but the Friars were up at home in Game 1.

For the next three innings, the two starters settled into bend-but-don’t-break mode, allowing some baserunners but no runs.

It looked like more of the same in the top of the fifth when leftfielder Larry Herndon stepped to the plate against Thurmond with two outs and Parrish on second after he had doubled.

This time, though, Herndon drove Thurmond’s three-one pitch the other way and deposited it behind the rightfield wall.

As it turns out, that was the end of the scoring.

San Diego manager Dick Williams lifted Thurmond for Andy Hawkins in the sixth, and he and Morris quieted the lumber the rest of the game.

Herndon juiced just enough thunder from his bat to get the job done, though, and his 1984 Topps card appropriately shows him and his weapon about to step in to the batter’s box to get down to business.

1984 World Series Game 2 – Padres 5, Tigers 3

1984 Topps Kurt Bevacqua (#346)

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Game 2 started out eerily similar to Game 1, with slugger Darrell Evans joining Trammell, Gibson, and Parrish in a first-inning Tigers attack on Padres starter Ed Whitson before Hawkins came in for the last out.

After a string of hits and steals and sacrifices, Detroit emerged with a 3-0 lead.

San Diego scratched out a run in the bottom of the frame, courtesy of an Alan Wiggins single, a Tony Gwynn walk, a Garvey sac bunt, and a Nettles sac fly.

That was all anyone could muster until the Pads gritted out another run against Dan Petry in the fourth inning, as Hawkins turned in a string of one-two-three innings.

After the Tigers went down in order in the fifth, Garvey flied out to center, Nettles walked, and Kennedy singled to bring up Kurt Bevacqua.

The former bubble gum bubble-blowing champ wouldn’t have been in the lineup at all had the designated hitter rule not been in effect, but he used that quirk to good advantage and rocked the 0-1 pitch from Petry for a three-run blast.

(Note: From 1976 through 1984, the DH was used in the Fall Classic in even-numbered years.)

In came Aurelio Lopez to retire the Padres, but the damage was done … that was the last bit of scoring for the night, and San Diego had its first win in a World Series game. (And their only one to date).

Bevacqua’s 1984 Topps card ironically shows him in the field, a position he never assumed on his big night.