By Hogan Chen
"[Gibson] was huge. He made hustle cool; he made going hard into second
base cool; he made coming to the park early cool. Instead of laid-back L.A.,
he was working-class Detroit."
-- Orel Hershiser
When Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda sat in the Dodger Stadium dugout for the
first game of the 1988 World Series against the
Oakland Athletics, he was filled with uncertainty.
Even though the Dodgers had clawed their way to
a thrilling seven-game victory against the New
York Mets in the NLCS, they were decided World
Series underdogs against a dominating Oakland
club that had won 104 games in the regular
season.
Even worse, it looked the Dodgers would have to
face the intimidating A's without their best hitter,
outfielder Kirk Gibson. Gibson had been
instrumental in propelling the Dodgers to the World Series. In Game 4 of the
NLCS, Gibson homered off Mets closer Randy Myers in the top of the 12th to
even the series up at two games apiece. But the star slugger couldn't hide the
pain in his hamstrings (a chronic wound that had been aggravated while trying
to steal second base) and even though he had told Lasorda that he could hit if
Lasorda needed him to, few expected the hobbling Gibson to make good on
his promise.
They were wrong. When Game 1 started, Gibson was in uniform -- but on the
bench, where he helplessly watched Oakland's Dave Stewart turn in eight
gritty innings. Dodger ace Orel Hershiser was also unavailable (he had shut
out the Mets in Game 7 of the LCS) and his replacement, Tim Belcher, lasted
just two innings. By the time Dennis Eckersley appeared in the bottom of the
ninth the score was 4-3 in favor of the A's.
"The Eck" was the premier closer in baseball, having racked up 45 saves that
year. True to form, he easily induced a pop-out from catcher Mike Scioscia
and struck out third baseman Jeff Hamilton. But when pinch-hitter Mike Davis
came to the plate, "The Eck" uncharacteristically surrendered a walk.
One swing away from a win, Lasorda looked for lightning in a bottle. He called
back Dave Anderson from the on-deck circle and sent out a visibly ailing Kirk
Gibson out to bat against Eckersley as the Dodger Stadium fans erupted with
applause. Gibson knew he was only asked to swing the bat. "We weren't
worried about him having to run," recalled Dodger outfielder Mickey Hatcher.
"Hopefully he can wheelchair it to first and we can do something from there."
Eckersley challenged Gibson with two fastballs, both of which a laboring
Gibson managed to foul off. The veteran hitter managed to work his way back
into a full count and remembered the words of advance scout Mel Didier, who
had told Gibson earlier that with three balls and two strikes, Eckersley tended
to throw back-door sliders.
Sure enough, Eckersley served up a hanging slider. Gibson launched it into
the right-field seats to propel the Dodgers to victory, and Chavez Ravine shook
as Gibson limped around the bases, his fist held high. The whole team
stormed Gibson at home plate after his first and final at-bat of the series.
The next day, bullpen coach Mark Gresse put up a sign on Gibson's locker
which said simply, "Roy Hobbs" -- a reference to the hero of Bernard
Malamud's "The Natural." Gresse summed up the feeling of Dodger fans
around the country thus: "When Kirk hit the ball, my heart kind of stopped."
Indeed, Gibson's heroic home run an Oscar-worthy performance -- pure
Hollywood magic that inspired his teammates to beat the heavily-favored A's
in five games.
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