The Roberto Alomar I remember
It’s 1992 on my TV right now and it’s showing me a wide-angle shot of Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. It’s Game 4 of the ALCS, with the Toronto Blue Jays facing the Oakland Athletics. The Jays are up two games to one.
I’ve had this game on DVD for a little while now – got it in a trade a few months ago – and today felt like an appropriate day to watch it in it’s entirety. Why? It’s not just because Roberto Alomar was elected to the Hall of Fame – although that played a part – lately I’ve been thinking about these Jays quite a bit.
The other day I was in Toronto with a friend, at Sears in the Eaton Centre on Yonge. The Jays outlet was playing a highlight tape from the 1992 World Series and we watched it for a little while. Calling those days in Toronto foreign doesn’t seem adequate enough: SkyDome was sold out all the time and hadn’t been renamed after a cable company yet. The Jays were on top of the AL East.
The highlight tape showed some shots of then-downtown Toronto, with people wearing all kinds of Jays gear, with signs and sheets brought into the games at the Dome. I can’t say I’ve seen every Toronto home game since 1993, but I can’t remember ever seeing anything like these crowds, even at Roy Halladay’s or Roger Clemens’ peak.
Speaking of pitchers, Jack Morris is on the mound for the Jays. He’s rocking one of the more impressive mustaches in Jays history, but as a pitcher he’s surprisingly underwhelming. Granted, by the time he came to Toronto, he was winding down as a pitcher, but still, he tied a career high and won 21 games in 1992.
He doesn’t have it on this day, Sunday, Oct. 11. By the end of the third inning, he’s let in five runs, including one he walked in, faced 10 batters and given up a series of base hits. At the end of the third, the Jays are down 5-1.
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I can’t really speak too well about baseball statistics and where Alomar places all time. But at his peak, Alomar got his. He was an All-Star in each of his seasons in Toronto. Won three straight Gold Gloves and, in 1992, a Silver Slugger. For the 1992 ALCS, CBS enlisted Roger Clemens to do a small batting report on each player. As Alomar gets up in the third, he’s the one Clemens opens up with.
“He’s one of the smartest players in the game,” says Clemens. He explains that although Alomar’s a spray hitter, he’s got more power from his left side and adeptly adjusts to pitches over the course of a game. “If you get him out with fastball the first time up, don’t try it the second time.”
Alomar is walked, the first walk given up by A’s starter Bob Welch. He’ll finish the ALCS with a batting average of .423, an OPS of 1.157, two homers and five stolen bases. He’ll also be named series MVP. Alomar always came up big in the postseason: in the 1991 ALCS, against Minnesota, he hit nearly .500 and had a .997 OPS. In the 1993 World Series, he hit .489, posted an OPS of 1.159 and six RBI.
About halfway through the game, CBS’s Lesley Visser will tell a national TV audience Alomar is considered the next Roberto Clemente in Puerto Rico. Be that as it may – she also says Alomar is too modest to assume the title – I remember Alomar being something more than that, especially as a kid who didn’t exactly know who Clemente was.
What I remember is a poster of Alomar and Joe Carter standing by the CN Tower with a thunderstorm in the background. Carter is the slugger who hit one of the biggest home runs in World Series history and Alomar is the all-around star that hit the most important home run in Jays history.
But that’s coming up soon. Right now, it’s the top of the eighth and Alomar leads off with a double to right off an inside fastball, a hit which ends Welch’s day. The Jays are down 6-1. Alomar steals third. Carter knocks him in and it’s 6-2. Dave Winfeld lines one at Ricky Henderson, who wings one at third, just as a barreling Carter comes at third and slides in, probably a half-beat too slow, but is in just the same.
Dennis Eckersley comes out of the bullpen and faces John Olerud, who scores Carter on a single. Candy Maldonado scores Dave Winfield. Suddenly it’s 6-4 and Kelly Gruber is changing bats. Gruber has been with the Jays since 1984 and been there for all the Jays postseason collapses; blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Royals in 1985, having Ricky Henderson break their backs in 1989 as the A’s won in five, the Twins blowing them away in 1988.
During the delay, CBS’ Dick Stockton explains how Dennis Eckersley has a sense of intimidation around him – but adds, “I don’t think the Blue Jays feel that way about him.” Eckersley strikes out Ed Sprague to end the eighth and stares him down as both teams clear the field.
My dad is not an especially big baseball fan, but he remembers that stare. We got to talking about Alomar after he was elected and I mentioned Alomar’s home run. He said he remembers watching that game, remembers the home run and especially remembers the stare: “Eckersley was so arrogant.”
The A’s threaten in the bottom of the eighth. They put two on with one out, but the Jays catch Lance Blankenship in a rundown at home, with Gruber running to tag him down and Mike Timlin strikes out Ruben Sierra. It’s still 6-4 heading into the ninth.
I remember the bad as well as the good. I remember Alomar leaving as the Jays fell towards mediocrity in the mid 1990s. I remember the stories linking him to HIV. I remember him getting into an argument and spitting on John Hirschbeck – an image that may come to be his legacy. Alomar was so much more than just that, though.
Through his career he was named to 12 consecutive All-Star Games, 10 Gold Gloves and four Silver Sluggers. According to Baseball-Reference’s Hall of Fame Monitor and HOF Standards, he’s well above a likely or average HOF player. He was a good hitter and probably the best infielder the Jays have ever had – and I don’t think it’s a stretch to call him the most important Jay ever.
It’s the ninth inning now. Devon White just led off with a stand-up triple. Alomar is up. Eck stares at him and takes a breath before each pitch. Alomar holds off one, fouls a second along the third-base line. Another pitch is inside. Eck’s trying to keep him off the plate. Alomar fouls another inside pitch up first. Eck throws another, leaves it hanging and right after Alomar connects, he throws his hands up. He knows.
Pause the DVD player as they show the replay. Let that be the lasting image of his career. Alomar, whaling on a pitch and completing a five-run, late-inning comeback (one he started!). Hands extended as he hops towards first, exorcizing playoff demons from the Jays recent past. That’s the Alomar I remember.
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