1984 BOSTON RED SOX ...
THE ARRIVAL OF ROGER CLEMENS ...

The 1984 Red Sox were in the midst of retooling its roster for what ultimately be a five-year run from 1986-90 where they won three AL East titles, a pennant and came within one pitch of winning the 1986 World Series. In February, Judge John Greaney ruled in the legal battle for control of the team between Buddy LeRoux, Haywood Sullivan and Jean Yawkey, telling the sides that he would not decide the issue and to work it out themselves. Sullivan would eventually buy out LeRoux and stepped aside as General Manager.  He hired Lou Gorman, who took over and inherited a gifted young pitching staff that was starting to blossom.

Under Gorman, changes in personnel began to take shape. The team had already integrated Wade Boggs into the everyday lineup at third base, also had 24-year-old Rich Gedman at catcher, and now they moved young Marty Barrett into the second base spot, phasing out veteran Jerry Remy.  Gorman also gave a shot at shortstop to 24-year-old Jackie Gutierrez to replace Glenn Hoffman.

Gedman hit 24 home runs and slugged .506 in 1984. Barrett hit .303 and had an on-base percentage of .358. Boggs churned out a .407 OBP. The only one of the young players who didn’t make it was Gutierrez. The other three were added to a lineup that included four veteran hitters that all had big years in 1984.

Jim Rice was in left field and hit 28 home runs and had 122 RBIs. On the other side of the outfield, Dwight Evans posted numbers of 32 home runs and 104 RBIs, and continued to showcase his rifle arm in the field.

Mike Easler was the designated hitter, acquired by Gorman in a deal for starting pitcher John Tudor, and he ended up with 27 HRs and 91 RBIs, and had a .376 on-base percentage. And no one produced more than centerfielder Tony Armas, with his 43 home runs and 123 RBIs.

It added up to an offense that ranked second in the American League, excelling at both getting runners on base and then cleaning them up, and balanced with both youth and veterans. The lineup would be further strengthened in May when Gorman dealt Dennis Eckersley to the Cubs for first baseman Bill Buckner.

Pitching was the problem. Eckersley was struggling badly as a starter, on the path that would jeopardize his career until a shift to the bullpen in Oakland made him the game’s top closer.

John Tudor was a year away from having a dominating year with the St. Louis Cardinals and helping lead them to a pennant. But he had never shown such stuff in Boston, nor did he in Pittsburgh, the place the Red Sox dealt him in the deal for Easler.

There’s no reason to think Tudor or Eckersley in the rotation at Fenway Park in 1984 would have made the Red Sox substantially better. There was promise in the pitching rotation for the future. Bob Stanley was sent back to the bullpen and by midseason the starting pitchers did not include anyone older than 26. In an era of expanding salaries, the young Sox starters earned a combined salary of only $500K.

Bruce Hurst (12-12) continued his improvement and had a 3.92 ERA. Bob Ojeda (12-12) and Al Nipper (11-6) each had ERAs under 4.00. But the biggest splash came in mid-May when the Red Sox called Roger Clemens. In 1983, he had raced thru the minors leagues going 7-2, with and ERA under 1.50 in Single A and Double A.

In contrast to Clemens was Oil Can Boyd. He was not a power pitcher like Clemens and pitched with attitude.  He would record 12 wins in 1984.

After losing the opening game to the Angels, and with a second-straight one-run defeat staring them in the face, the Sox staged a come-from-behind 2-1 victory before a stunned crowd of 24,300 at Anaheim Stadium on April 5th. Mike Easler belted a two-run homer in the ninth inning, to enable the Red Sox to gain some revenge.

In Oakland on April 7th, Bruce Hurst shut out the A's 3-0. In the Red Sox scheme of things, that was very important, because in his two outings, Hurst had shown consistency. He therefore was seen in manager, Ralph Houk's eyes, as the stopper that every good staff must have. But the Red Sox wound up there opening season road trip to the west coast with only 3 wins in their first eight games, and already were 4 1/2 games out of first place, when they opened at Fenway Park on April 13th.

Opening Day at Fenway Park was a disaster. As the afternoon grew longer and colder , the Red Sox kept coming back. Mike Easler had four hits, two of which introduced him to The Wall, Jerry (.417) Remy had three hits, Rich Gedman and Dwight Evans hit homers with a five-run bottom of the first. But, thanks to a record six double plays and a blood-spattered four-run eighth inning against Bob Stanley, the Tigers used 4 1/3 strong innings from reliever Doug Bair and held on for a 13-9 victory that was an inauspicious opening for the 50th anniversary of the opening of the "new" Fenway Park.

After losing 8 of their last 10, the Red Sox finally got superb power and tight starting pitching to set down the Oakland A's, 12-8, on April 22nd. They collected a season-high 15 hits, including three home runs, by Jackie Guttierez, Rich Gedman and Mike Easler, while Dennis Eckersley picked up his first victory of the year, despite seeing an 8-0 lead nearly vanish before Bob Stanley came on to save the day.

The next night, Marty Barrett showed he could help the Red Sox as he collected three hits and figured in both runs in a 2-0, rain-shortened victory over California Angels. The Bruce Hurst showed his complete command in a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on April 25th. Hurst lost a bid for his first shutout ever at Fenway. But in scattering five hits, he showed why the Red Sox believe he should be one of the keys if they are to be successful in the American League East.

The Sox (7-12) completed their first home stand, still struggling to find a groove, in 5th place, 9 games out of first, winning only 4 of their 11 games at home.

On April 28th, the Sox won a dramatic battle in Chicago. Bobby Ojeda was down, 6-0, in a swarm of walks, a fly ball over Dwight Evans' head and the first grand slam of Julio Cruz. Then, after Tony Armas hit a home run and Jim Rice tied it in the eighth with his first homer of the season, the White Sox went back in front, 7-6, on a walk, a stolen base and a passed ball, only to lose it, 8-7, in the ninth on a two-out infield squibbler, a dramatic RBI triple by Ed Jurak and an error.

On May 11th, Oil Can Boyd was sent back to Pawtucket and Clemens was called up. He made his first start on May 15th in Cleveland. In his first big-league inning, he had two easy outs and got Pat Tabler to hit a ball off the end of his bat to right field for what appeared to be the end of the inning. But Dwight Evans let it drop for a single. Tabler then pulled off a delayed steal that fooled Marty Barrett, Jackie Gutierrez and Gary Allenson. Andre Thornton bounced a single up the middle to make it 1-0. By the time Clemens finished three innings, the Indians had four stolen bases and Thornton was on the way to the first multiple-stolen-base game of his 12-year career.

In Clemens' fourth big-league inning, the sky began to fall. Julio Franco looped a soft line drive into center, which Ron Hassey followed with a single to left. After Clemens made a quick play fielding a popup bunt, he got George Vukovich to hit a bouncer to Mike Easler. Clemens covered the bag, took the throw and first- base umpire Rich Garcia said he missed the bag. Clemens ended with a no-decision as the Sox (14-21) lost another game.

At best, it had been a tarnished season thus far for Dennis Eckersley (3-4, 5.34 ERA). But on May 16th, it was like the good old days for the Eck, who came within two outs of his second complete game since 1982 in shutting down his old team, the Cleveland Indians, 5-2.

The Sox had scored just 13 runs in their last six games. They had great production from the bottom half of the order, and Wade Boggs wasn't too bad at the top end, either, collecting four hits for the first time this season. He drove in three of the five runs, coming up with two clutch singles.

The next night, the Red Sox, unable to get their offense and defense working together, blew a 10-3 lead  as the Indians took them into the 10th inning tied, 10-10. But the Indians were one turn of the screw worse, losing 11-10 on a wild pitch that scored Rich Gedman with the winning run.  And so, the last place Sox took 3 of 4 from the Indians.

Roger Clemens picked up his first career win in Minnesota five days later, on May 20th, working seven innings and giving up four runs in a 5-4 victory. He overcame an early struggle to find his rhythm and get his breaking ball down, a struggle that had him down, 3-2, in the third inning. From then until he left after the seventh, he allowed only a home run and two two-out singles; Bob Stanley finished with two perfect innings for his eighth save.

On the Day Dennis Eckersley was traded for Bill Buckner, the Fenway crowd got their first look at Clemens.  On May 26^th, the Red Sox had the game seemingly wrapped up for Clemens, who left with a two-run lead in the seventh inning. But the Royals scored nine times in the seventh and eighth innings to put the Sox away, 11-7.

Bruce Hurst (6-4, 1.97 ERA) followed the next night with a 6-0 gem. In scattering nine base hits for his fourth career shutout, Hurst went the distance and recorded his first Fenway shutout. It was only the eighth nine-inning shutout by a Sox pitcher at home since 1973.

On May 29th, the club retired Ted Williams' #9 and Joe Cronin's #4. The numbers of the two legends were the first to be retired by the Red Sox and were placed on façade of the right-field roof. Cronin was fighting for his health and, no matter how many people and no matter what the weather, the people who bought seats to see Cronin and Williams. So the ceremony went on despite the size of the crowd. Ted called his former manager "the biggest part of the night," and as the former superstar shortstop, manager, general manager and American League president beamed down from a box above the third base stands, Williams remembered him. "One of the great breaks I had in this game was that I got to play for a manager like Joe," Ted told the audience.

With a showpiece 2-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins, on May 30th, Bobby Ojeda (5-4) deftly crafted a seven-hitter for his American League-leading third shutout of the season. But the Red Sox were 16 1/2 games out on Memorial Day. They lost many many games, as their young pitchers adjusted to like in the major leagues. If they had played in the AL West, there would have been time to recover. But the AL East of the early 1980s was usually the toughest division in any event, and it was even worse in 1984, with the Detroit Tigers coming out blazing to a 35-5 start.

On June 3rd, the Red Sox, who after two months of stumbling through the American League, completed their first sweep on the road since September 1982 with a 6-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. The three-game sweep was the first ever by the Sox in County Stadium.

In Yankee Stadium on June 6th, Bruce Hurst and the poise he showed in beating the Yankees, was the reason the Sox walked away with a 5-3 victory. He threw 154 pitches and was still able to hang in and improve his record to 8-4. It gave the Red Sox five victories in six games against Milwaukee and New York.

On June 11th, the Sox rallied in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Yankees, 9-6.  The next night, on June 12th,  it was de ja vu all over again, as the Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the 8th for a 9-8 win over New York, behind Dwight Evans' homer. The Sox had recorded their fifth straight victory, all come-from-behind jobs.

The winning streak was short lived as the Sox dropped eight straight games. It was June 22nd in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays, that Roger Clemens won his first game at Fenway. He delivered a complete-game six-hitter and a legend was on its way to being born. He improved with each outing, becoming very aware what his 95 mph fastball could do to the hitters.  He finished strong with a 9-4 record over twenty starts.

On June 24th, the Red Sox nailed a 5-3 victory in 10 innings over the Toronto Blue Jays. Tony Armas' two-run homer off Dennis Lamp in the 10th inning was the game-winner. It was a dramatic battle at the plate against Lamp, whom he fouled off several tough pitches, before connecting.

Dwight Evans had a career highlight game on June 28th, when his 11th inning walk-off home run won a see-saw game with the Mariners.  Twice Seattle seemed to have the game wrapped up at 4-2 and 6-4, only to see the Sox come back twice to tie it. The dramatic homer also completed the cycle for Evans, as he became only the 15th Red Sox player to accomplish the feat.

Then Gary Allenson scrapped a ball off the wall to give the Sox another 9th inning walk-off win on July 3rd. Then to top that, Jim Rice strolled home with his fifth base hit of the day, a grand slam home run in the 10th inning, as the Red Sox pulled off a 13-9 victory over the Oakland A's on July 4th.

But the team started playing well. They went 7-3 on the west coast after the All Star break in July.  On returning home, Mike Easler slammed a 12th inning walk-off homer on July 25th and Roger Clemens pitched a four hit shutout the next day, as the Sox swept Chicago. The Sox finished July by winning 13 of the 19 games they played after the break.

They took three of five in a home series with the Tigers, with the last game an 8-0 shutout by Oil Can Boyd. For the final four months of the 1984 season, the Red Sox played steady winning baseball.

Their final 86-76 record was good for fourth in the AL East, but it would have won them AL West, where the Kansas City Royals snuck out a title with an 84-78 mark. For a rebuilding team in strong division with a historic powerhouse, that’s not a bad legacy for the 1984 Boston Red Sox.