1989 – Kirby Puckett of the Minnesota Twins and Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres each win batting titles on the final day of the regular season. Puckett goes 2-for-5 to edge Carney Lansford, .339 to .336, while Gwynn goes 3-for-4 to beat Will Clark, .336 to .333.
Ending a 43-year relationship with Major League Baseball, NBC airs its final regular season Game of the Week. The contest, which features the Blue Jays clinching the AL East title with a 4-3 victory over the Orioles at the SkyDome, is the 981st broadcast of a weekly tradition which began in 1947.
Baltimore, after spending nearly three months in first place, is eliminated from the pennant race on the next-to-last day of the season when they suffer their second consecutive one-run loss to Toronto, allowing the Blue Jays to clinch first place in the AL East. The young group of players known as the “Why Not?” Orioles, led by Frank Robinson, improved in the standings by 32.5 games from their last-place finish last season.
The Blue Jays earn the final spot in the playoffs by scoring three runs in the bottom of the 8th to beat Baltimore 4 – 3 and clinch the American League East title. The surprising Orioles led the division most of the season and will finish 2nd just one season after losing 107 games.
In the ninth inning of a 2-0 three-hit loss to Nolan Ryan and the Rangers, Angels shortstop Dick Schofield strikes out looking, becoming the right-hander’s 300th victim of the season. It is the sixth time the ‘Ryan Express’ has reached the plateau, but the first since striking out 341 batters in 1977.
After he grounds out to second base to end the Mets’ disappointing season, Gregg Jeffries charges the mound and wrestles Phillies’ reliever Roger McDowell to the ground. The fight, which sparks a season-ending bench-clearing brawl, is apparently ignited by the Phillies’ reliever when he says something to his former New York teammate, who is running to first, but the rookie infielder will claim his anger was caused by a brushback pitch thrown a few days earlier by the Philadelphia pitcher.
It is a good day for fans in the Bay area as both the Giants and A’s clinch their divisions. Oakland wins the American League West with a 5-0 victory over the Rangers, with San Francisco backing into the National League West title when the second-place Padres lose in extra innings to the Reds, 2-1.
1989 – The Cubs become the first team to clinch a division title this season, wrapping up the National League East with a 3 – 2 win over the Expos. Mitch Williams strikes out Mike Fitzgerald to win the game.
The Red Sox announce the team will not exercise its option on 39 year-old Jim Rice, who will retire at the end of the season. Also, Bob Stanley, the club’s all-time save leader with 173, reports he will also call it quits when this year’s campaign is over.
At Montreal, the Cubs blow a chance to clinch a tie in the National League East, losing, 4 – 3, in 10 innings, but back into the tie anyway when St. Louis loses later on. Andre Dawson homers twice off Bryn Smith, his second a bizarre inside-the-park blow that gives the Cubs a 3 – 2 lead. Dawson flies deep to CF Dave Martinez, who catches the ball but suffers a painful muscle pull doing so and drops to the ground. Dawson keeps running as Martinez’s teammates surround him. The ball is finally thrown in after Dawson touches home plate. Although at no time did the ball touch the ground or the fence, the umpires award Dawson a homer over howls of protest. Martinez misses the remainder of the series.
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