1988 Major League Baseball Season - Events

Events

• January 12 – Former Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Willie Stargell is the only player elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Stargell becomes the 17th player to be elected in his first year of eligibility. Pitcher Jim Bunning garners 317 votes (74.2%), and falls four votes shy of the 321 needed for election in his 13th year on the ballot.

• March 1 – For the first time since 1956, the Special Veterans Committee does not elect anyone to the Hall of Fame. Phil Rizzuto, Leo Durocher, Joe Gordon and Gil Hodges are among the candidates passed over.

• April – The Baltimore Orioles begin the season with a Major League-record 21 consecutive losses. Manager Cal Ripken, Sr., was a casualty of the streak, losing his job after the sixth consecutive loss.

• April 4 - George Bell (outfielder) becomes the first player to hit three home runs on Opening Day, as the Toronto Blue Jays defeat the Kansas City Royals 5-3.

• July 12 – After being maligned by the press as an unworthy All-Star starter, catcher Terry Steinbach hits a solo home run and a sacrifice fly to lead the American League to a 2–1 victory over the National League at Riverfront Stadium. Steinbach is named the MVP.

• September 17 – Jeff Reardon becomes the first pitcher to save 40 games in both leagues as the Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 3–1. Reardon, who saved 42 games for the Montréal Expos in 1985, pitches the ninth inning for his 40th save in 47 opportunities.

• September 19 – The Oakland Athletics clinch their first American League West title since 1981 with a 5–3 victory over the Minnesota Twins. The A's would finish the season with 104 wins, a franchise record.

• September 22 – The New York Mets lock up the National League East with a 3–1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

• September 26 – The Los Angeles Dodgers pull out a 3–2 victory in San Diego to secure their fourth National League West championship of the decade.

• September 30 – Despite a 4–2 loss in Cleveland, the Boston Red Sox triumph in a close five-team race for the American League East by virtue of Milwaukee's 7–1 loss to Oakland.

• October 9 – The Oakland Athletics complete a four-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS with a 4–1 victory at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. A's closer Dennis Eckersley, who saved all four Oakland wins, is named Series MVP.

• October 12 – A gruelling seven-game NLCS is decided as the Los Angeles Dodgers blank the New York Mets 6–0. Orel Hershiser, who saved Game 4 and threw a complete game shutout in Game 7, garners the Series MVP Award.

• October 15 – In Game One of the 1988 World Series at Dodger Stadium, the Los Angeles Dodgers trail the Oakland Athletics 4–3 in the bottom of the ninth inning when the Dodgers' Kirk Gibson, badly injured in the NLCS against the New York Mets, hobbles to the plate to pinch-hit against Oakland's lethal closer, Dennis Eckersley. With two outs, a 3–2 count against him, and Mike Davis on second base, Gibson uses his upper body and wrists to launch a backdoor slider from Eckersley into the right-field stands for a 5–4 Los Angeles victory. Gibson's home run re-energized the underdog Dodgers and shattered the confidence of the A's, who lost the series in five games. It inspired the coining of the phrase "walk-off home run," and is widely regarded as one of the greatest moments in baseball history.

• October 20 – Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser ends his dream season with a 5–2 four-hitter over the Oakland Athletics in Game Five of the World Series. The win gives the Dodgers their first World Championship since 1981, and makes them the only team to win more than one World Series in the 1980s. Hershiser is selected the Series MVP.