39 Years Ago
The Blue Jays defeated the Orioles 18-3, powered by an incredible ten home runs. Ernie Whitt accounted for three of those blasts. I was always a fan of Whitt—his left-handed, all-out pull swing was a thing of beauty. He often finished with his left knee on the ground, a move I tried to imitate without success. I still wonder how he managed to track the ball with his head dropping like that, but somehow, Ernie made it work.
The Jays scored:
Five runs in the second inning: Whitt led off with
a home run. Jesse Barfield doubled, and Rance Mulliniks followed with another homer. After Fred McGriff struck out and Willie Upshaw grounded out, Nelson Liriano walked, and Lloyd Moseby capped the inning with a two-run homer.
Two more came in the third when George Bell and Rance Mulliniks each hit solo home runs.
In the fourth, Liriano walked, advanced to second on a Moseby groundout, and scored on a Tony Fernandez single.
In the fifth, Whitt led off with another home run.
In the sixth, Bell hit his 45th home run of the season—he would finish the year with 47 homers, 134 RBI, and the AL MVP award.
The Jays exploded for seven runs in the seventh: Barfield singled but was erased on a Kelly Gruber double play. McGriff walked, Upshaw singled, and Liriano drove in a run with an RBI single. Rob Ducey followed with a three-run homer—one of just 31 in his career. Manuel Lee and Lou Thornton each singled, with Thornton collecting one of his 22 career hits. Whitt then capped the inning with his third home run of the game, another three-run blast (his 17th of the season).
In the eighth, McGriff led off with a solo home run.
That team featured plenty of great players, including a future Hall of Famer.
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | WPA | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nelson Liriano 2B | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | .288 | .373 | .411 | .784 | 0.066 | 2B |
| Lloyd Moseby CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .273 | .350 | .460 | .810 | 0.059 | HR |
| Rob Ducey CF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .158 | .298 | .237 | .535 | 0.001 | HR |
| Tony Fernández SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .325 | .384 | .435 | .819 | -0.019 | |
| Manuel Lee SS | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .288 | .318 | .325 | .643 | 0.000 | |
| George Bell LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .313 | .354 | .634 | .988 | 0.006 | 2·HR |
| Lou Thornton LF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .500 | .667 | .500 | 1.167 | 0.000 | |
| Ernie Whitt C | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .272 | .335 | .455 | .790 | 0.099 | 3·HR |
| Greg Myers C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Jesse Barfield RF | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .260 | .328 | .466 | .793 | 0.049 | 2B |
| Rance Mulliniks 3B | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .313 | .363 | .500 | .863 | 0.137 | 2·HR |
| Kelly Gruber PH-3B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .242 | .286 | .412 | .698 | -0.001 | GDP |
| Fred McGriff DH | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | .256 | .387 | .520 | .907 | -0.016 | HR |
| Willie Upshaw 1B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | .248 | .322 | .395 | .718 | -0.012 | |
| Team Totals | 44 | 18 | 21 | 18 | 4 | 4 | 48 | .477 | .521 | 1.205 | 1.725 | 0.369 |
Generated 9/14/2026.
On the pitching side, Jim Clancy got the start. He finished the season 15-11 with a 3.54 ERA across 37 starts, throwing 241.1 innings and recording five complete games (74 in his career). This was his last standout year as a starter at age 31—those innings eventually took their toll. Clancy later signed with the Astros as a free agent before the 1989 season and transitioned to the bullpen.
Interestingly, Mark Eichhorn and Tom Henke pitched the eighth and ninth innings. Henke hadn’t pitched in five days, while Eichhorn had worked the previous day.
The win brought the Jays to 86-57, tying them with the Tigers for first place in the AL East. As for how the season ended—let’s just leave that unsaid.
Four Years Ago
Vladimir Guerrero hit his 100th home run. The Jays won the game, 5-1 over the Mariners. The win put the Jays a half game up on Mariners and a game and a half up on the Rays. All three would end up in a Wild Card spot.
