october memories

Kirk Gibson’s dramatic home run in the 1988 World Series has been garnering much attention of late. The 25th anniversary of that moment, and of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ last world championship, fall in this month. Gibson’s homer came in Game 1 of the Series, which underdog LA won in a rather anticlimactic five games against Oakland. Much more compelling that October was the ’88 National League Championship Series, which fans of the New York Mets — and the Jackson Mets — remember but not fondly. The Mets, two years removed from their last world title, won 100 games in 1988 and were arguably the best team in the NL. There were 12 former Jackson Mets on the NLCS roster, and former JaxMets skipper Davey Johnson was the manager. Darryl Strawberry hit .300 in that series with a homer and six RBIs. Lenny Dykstra batted .400 (with six runs), Gregg Jefferies .333 and Wally Backman .273. Randy Myers picked up two wins working out of the bullpen, and Rick Aguilera posted a 1.29 ERA. But the Mets lost the series, which may have turned at Shea Stadium in Game 4, in which they blew a 4-2 lead in the ninth inning and lost in 12 (on a Gibson homer off Roger McDowell). That squared the series. New York won Game 6 to stay alive. But in Game 7, the Mets committed two costly errors, watched Ron Darling get KO’d in the second inning and managed just five hits off Orel Hershisher in a 6-0 defeat. That was really the last hurrah for that core group of Mets, so many of whom had passed through Smith-Wills Stadium. The team fell to 87 wins and missed the postseason in 1989, and Johnson was fired early on in 1990. Coincidentally, that was the last year of the Jackson Mets. The honeymoon that began in 1975 was over. The Smith-Wills to Shea pipeline closed. P.S. Willis Steenhuis, a fixture in Jackson-area baseball for many years, will be formally inducted into the Hinds Community College Hall of Fame today. Steenhuis was a standout pitcher for the Eagles in the late 1950s and went on to play at Mississippi College and in pro ball in the Baltimore Orioles system. He became a very successful high school coach, winning a state title at Wingfield, and remains involved in the state semi-pro organization.