History, Minnesota Twins

1991 World Series — Game 7

15 Comments

Part One -- Game Details

                                 1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9   10     R  H  E
                                 -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -    -     -  -  -
    Atlanta Braves               0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0    0     0  7  0
    Minnesota Twins              0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0    1     1 10  0

    PITCHERS: ATL - Smoltz, Stanton (8), Pena (9)
              MIN - Morris

               WP - Jack Morris
	       LP - Alejandro Pena
             SAVE - none

   HOME RUNS: ATL - none
              MIN - none

Part Two -- Players of the Game, WPA Style

Jack Morris: 84.5% (!!!!)
John Smoltz: 31%
Dan Gladden: 23.4%
Terry Pendleton: 19.5%
Gene Larkin: 16.5%

Game Changing Moment--Sid Bream bounces into a 3-2-3 double play to end the top of the 8th inning. This improved the Twins' odds of winning by 29%.

Part Three -- Closing Observations and Thoughts

Listening to the games I felt there were an awful lot of triples. Thanks to br's play index, I confirmed those suspicions. 8 triples between the two teams was the most since the 1919 World Series. Also, the five triples (between two teams) in game five is third all-time, behind two different games played during the 1903 World Series. Mark Lemke is also tied for the record with two triples in one game and three in one series.

It took quite a while, at least one commercial break, after this game was over for any players to be interviewed. I kind of like that they waited a while and let the players have their moment first. Today, Morris probably would've had a microphone stuck in his face thirty seconds after Gladden crossed home.

That said, it was peculiar that they were able to interview most of the relevant players (Morris, Puckett, Gladden, etc.) but Larkin never got to say anything (at least in the immediate coverage).

Tom Kelly was awesome in his interview, as always. When asked about Morris going out for the 10th, he said (paraphrased) "He wanted to go out there and I figured, what the heck, it's just a game."

I've really enjoyed watching and discussing this series. Even though I knew virtually everything that was going to happen, I still felt tension and excitement. That's partly credit to the on-field dramatics (the 87 World Series is quite dull for the most part) and partly due to Jack Buck (Joe makes the '01 series very hard to re-watch). I hope you enjoyed this, too.

Part Four -- Twins Win!

Herb Carneal's call and a few minutes of talking with Gordo.

If you want to listen to more audio from the World Series, go here.

15 thoughts on “1991 World Series — Game 7”

  1. Thanks for this series, Beau. It has been a lot of fun to read, and I liked the observations you brought to it. Very enjoyable.

  2. Also, that TK quote is the reason I have always respected him more than any other manager I've ever seen in the sport.

  3. What I remember is that I didn't get to hear any of the post-game interviews because our local CBS affiliate dumped the coverage about five seconds after Gladden crossed home plate so they could put on the local news.

  5. Today, Morris probably would've had a microphone stuck in his face thirty seconds afterDuring the commercial break, and it would have been played in a quarter of the screen while Gladden crossed home on the opposite corner.
    FTFY.
    #WeDon'tAllHaveGiantHDTVs

    1. Then Morris could have told the reporter/audience that he was the best pitcher in the game/of his era! He blew his shot at the Hall of Fame right there!!!2!

      2. It would have been hilarious to see Puckett go "Richard Sherman" on Charlie Liebrandt the day before:

        "I'm the best hitter in the game. When you try me with a sorry pitcher like Liebrandt, that's the result you gonna get. Don't you ever talk about me."

        1. I just brought that up to my friend that worked for the Twins and this is his response:

          "..he basically said that, just not on camera. And he was right. He thought that Bobby Cox was an idiot to pitch a shitballing lefty against him because he KILLED guys like that."

  6. Puckett rightfully gets a ton of credit for the Twins getting to Game 7, but other than Kirby, the players with the best batting lines of the '91 Series weren't necessarily stars:

    Leius: .357/.400/.571 with 2 R, 1 HR, BB over 14 AB in 7 games
    Harper: .381/.435/.476 with 2 R, 2 2b, 2 BB over 21 AB in 7 games
    Pags: .273/.333/.545 with R, HR, BB over 11 AB in 6 games
    Chili: .222/.300/.556 with 4 R, 2 HR, 2BB over 18 AB in 6 games

    And who can forget Junior Ortiz's performance?: .200/.200/.200 with 0 R, 0 2b, 0 HR, 0 BB in 5 AB in 3 games. Just let Harper catch, TK!

    Also, was "We Are the Champions" passé for ballpark play by 1991? It seemed like they played the Star Wars stuff there a long time past its expiration date.

    1. Not to mention Ortiz was left in there in game 6 with the tying run on third with less than 2 outs. Guess how that turned out.

      They were still playing Star Wars in 1991 as well.

  8. Tom Kelly was awesome in his interview, as always. When asked about Morris going out for the 10th, he said (paraphrased) "He wanted to go out there and I figured, what the heck, it's just a game."

    I think it was in 2011 at the 20-year anniversary that TK was interviewed and to me it sounded more like TK was pissed off at Morris because he was basically refusing to be pulled out and it was like "Whatever, Jack, it's only the seventh game of the World series." I wonder how well Morris and TK got along that year and if Morris leaving after the season wasn't completely about money.

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