Tag Archives: 1984 World Series

09 Oct

have a blast

In his first at-bat in the talent-laden Arizona Fall League, in the second inning of Tuesday’s game, former Ole Miss star Kemp Alderman belted a two-run homer for visiting Peoria. Not to be outdone, Tim Elko, another ex-Rebels slugger, mashed a two-run shot of his own a couple innings later for Glendale, which won the slugfest 15-13. All told, six balls left the yard at Camelback Ranch. Anyone knowing anything about Alderman and Elko isn’t really surprised they got theirs. Elko hit 46 homers over five seasons at UM, Alderman 31 in essentially two seasons. They were a powerful pair in the lineup for the 2022 Rebels team that won the College World Series. Elko was drafted in the 10th round that summer by the Chicago White Sox and has continued to rake in pro ball: 51 bombs in three years. He hit .289 with 18 homers between Double-A and Triple-A in 2024. Alderman won the Ferriss Trophy in 2023 after a huge season for the Rebels and was drafted in the second round that year by Miami. The Decatur native hit .242 with eight homers this summer, spending most of the season in A-ball but finishing it off in Double-A. A righty-hitting outfielder, Alderman is ranked as Miami’s No. 12 prospect by MLB Pipeline. Elko, a right-handed hitting first baseman/DH, isn’t on the ChiSox’s Top 30 chart but surely is on their radar. P.S. On this date in 1934, Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean, an adopted Mississippian, threw a six-hit shutout as St. Louis beat Detroit 11-0 in Game 7 of the World Series at Navin Field. Dean, who also had two hits and an RBI in the game, struck out five and walked none in his second victory of the Series. Also on this date, in 1984, Sunflower native Larry Herndon hit a game-deciding homer for Detroit in the World Series opener against San Diego, a 3-2 victory at Jack Murphy Stadium. The Tigers would go on to win the Series in five games.

23 Jun

tiger tales

Any conversation about the greatest major league teams of all-time has to include the 1984 Detroit Tigers, who started 35-5 en route to 104 wins and went 7-1 in the postseason to claim the World Series title. The “Bless You Boys” team, celebrating its 40th anniversary this season, was managed by Sparky Anderson and led by an array of stars, including a pair of Mississippi natives who were key cogs in the stacked lineup. Jackson native Chet Lemon played center field, led the American League in fielding percentage (.995) and hit .287 with 20 homers, 76 RBIs, 34 doubles, six triples and 77 runs. Sunflower native Larry Herndon, also a good defender, played left field and batted .280 with seven homers, 43 RBIs and 52 runs. Jack Morris was the ace of the staff, but closer Willie Hernandez, acquired from Philadelphia late in spring training, won both the AL Cy Young and MVP awards. The regular lineup featured — in addition to Lemon and Herndon — Kirk Gibson, Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Lance Parrish and Darrell Evans. Signed as a free agent in the off-season, the 37-year-old Evans said, “I picked Detroit because it’s a hungry city and I’m hungry, too. I want that ring on my finger.” Street & Smith’s preseason magazine picked the Tigers to run second to Baltimore in the AL East. They never spent a day out of first place. The Tigers won their opener 8-1 against Minnesota with Lemon getting a triple and scoring a run and Herndon picking up a hit and an RBI. They started 9-0 and 16-1 and fairly coasted to the division title. They blew through Kansas City 3-0 in the ALCS and beat San Diego 4-1 in the Series. Lemon went 5-for-17 with an RBI and two steals against the Padres. Herndon went 5-for-15, including a go-ahead homer in Game 1, and caught the final out of Game 5 in left field. It was the only ring either of them won in lengthy careers, and Detroit hasn’t won a World Series since then either. P.S. The current Tigers team, picked by some to win the AL Central, got off to a hot start but has faded of late. And there is a Mississippian on the team: Second baseman Colt Keith, the former Biloxi High standout — and the state’s Gatorade player of the year in 2019 — who got the big contract this year before ever playing an MLB game.

03 Nov

touching the bases

The jaw-dropping no-hitter by Houston in Game 4 on Wednesday night — following Philadelphia’s jaw-dropping five-homer game on Tuesday night — ensures that there will be a Game 6 in Houston on Saturday night. Brookhaven native Lance Barksdale is scheduled to be the home plate umpire for that game. Barksdale, who worked first base in Game 4, has been umpiring in MLB since 2000 (full-time since 2006) and is highly rated by those who rate such things. He was 18th in overall accuracy out of 96 umps who worked behind the plate in 2022, per umpscorecards.com. He has received a number of major assignments: the World Baseball Classic, the All-Star Game and multiple postseason series, including two World Series. He was behind the plate for Game 5 of the 2019 Series between the Astros and Washington (and made a couple of memorable ball-strike calls). … The Astros have thrown 15 no-hitters in their 61-year history. Among them are a combo effort in 2003 that was started by Weir’s Roy Oswalt and finished by former Jackson Generals star Billy Wagner and a true no-no in 1986 by ex-Jackson Mets ace Mike Scott. … Oswalt, incidentally, pitched for both the Astros (10 seasons) and Phillies (two) and aided in postseason runs by both clubs. A Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer, he won 163 games, second only to Guy Bush among state natives, in a stellar big league career. … Today is the 69th birthday of Sunflower native Larry Herndon, who played 14 years in the majors and won a World Series ring with Detroit in 1984. Herndon, who went to high school in Memphis and attended Tennessee State, batted .274 with 107 homers and 92 steals as an outfielder with St. Louis, San Francisco and the Tigers. In Game 1 of the ’84 Series against San Diego, Herndon hit a go-ahead two-run homer that propelled the Tigers to victory. He went 5-for-15 in the five-game series. He coached in the Detroit system in 2022. … Props to former Mississippi Braves Dansby Swanson and Max Fried and Biloxi Shuckers alum Trent Grisham for winning National League Gold Gloves. … Chris Ellis, the ex-Ole Miss and M-Braves standout, has elected free agency after being dropped from Baltimore’s 40-man roster. Ellis, 30, missed virtually the entire ’22 season with a shoulder injury.