Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - How 'bout those Back-to-Back Titles?

You know, those 1992-93 Blue Jays were pretty good -- and rarer than I first thought or expected.

Not sure what made me think to do this, but if I've counted right, there have only been 13 occasions when a franchise won (at least) two consecutive World Series championships and only seven franchises overall have accomplished the feat. The Yankees have done it four times to lead the way (of course) while the A's (in two different cities) have pulled off the feat three times.

Ten of the 13 times it's happened, it's been done by an American League team. Shout-out to the Tinker-Evers-Chance Cubs, the Frankie Frisch Giants and the Bench-Morgan-Rose* Big Red Machine.

Eight of the 13 times it's happened occurred before the advent of divisional play, which makes sense -- more rounds and more teams in the playoffs, it's harder to repeat. To further that point, it's only happeend once since the addition of the divisional series in 1995.

Of the teams to win MORE than two in a row, it's been the Yankees (1936-39), the Yankees (1949-53), the Yankees (1998-2000) and, hey how about that?, the A's (1972-74).

Only three teams on this list did NOTplay on a coast -- and two of them, the Giants and A's, played on both coasts! The landlubbers are the Cubs, Reds and your own Blue Jays.

So, is there anything else worth noting about this list of ....

MLB Franchises to win (at least)
Two consecutive World Series Championships

Cubs 1907-08
A's 1910-11
Red Sox 1915-16
Giants 1921-22
A's 1929-30
Yankees 1936-39
Yankees 1949-53
Yankees 1961-62
A's 1972-74
Reds 1975-76
Yankees 1977-78
Jays 1992-93
Yankees 1998-2000

Posted by Mick Doherty on Tuesday, February 28 2012 @ 02:54 PM EST.

How 'bout those Back-to-Back Titles? | 16 comments | Create New Account

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Mick Doherty - Tuesday, February 28 2012 @ 03:03 PM EST (#252338) #

Before anyone can beat me to it, I know, I know ...

You know, those 1992-93 Blue Jays were pretty good

Duuuuuhhhh!!!!!!

Matthew E - Tuesday, February 28 2012 @ 03:10 PM EST (#252340) #

Here's something I was wondering about.

Which was a better decade for the Jays, the '80s or the '90s?

In the '80s, you had a bad couple of years to start with, but then you had seven contending seasons in a row, with two playoff appearances, even if they couldn't make it happen in the LCS.

In the '90s, you had a strong '90 that ended badly, another LCS loss in '91, and two World Series championships... followed by four sub-.500 seasons (one of which may have been the worst year in franchise history, all things considered) and two noncontending seasons with winning records.

So which would you rather?

Mick Doherty - Tuesday, February 28 2012 @ 03:34 PM EST (#252341) #

Ladeez and gennemen, today only, sitting in for Graham Norton, it's Natthew Elmslie!

Mick Doherty - Tuesday, February 28 2012 @ 03:35 PM EST (#252342) #

P.S. Matthew, I think the easy and obvious answer is the 1990s. I see whre you're coming from, but as they say, flags fly forever.

John Northey - Tuesday, February 28 2012 @ 04:13 PM EST (#252343) #

1985 was, to me at least, a lot more fun than 92 and 93. Why? Because it was so amazing. The Jays not only made the playoffs for the first time but they did it by beating the Yankees. And these were darn good Yankees with Billy Martin managing, Rickey Henderson in LF, Dave Winfield in RF, Don Mattingly at 1B and many others who were HOVG type players (Willie Randolph for example). Mix in Ron Guidry and Phil Niekro winning #300 on the final day and you have a scary staff led by one of the best closers of the day in Dave Righetti. Mix in doing it with a cast off from those Yankees in Doyle Alexander, a few rule 5 picks (Upshaw, Bell) and a closer who was taken as a 'free agent compensation pick' (the last guy taken that way) and it was just too fun for words. Of course, that summer I was 16 with tons of time on my hands so I watched or listened to every last inning that year I think.

Follow that up with the pain of '87 and the fun of '89 and you have a decade of growth where all things felt possible all years once we past the horrid 80/81 seasons.

ColiverPhD - Wednesday, February 29 2012 @ 08:23 AM EST (#252362) #

Comparing the 1980s and the 1990s...

I would say that the 1980s was a better decade (at least aesthetically) for a couple reasons:

1. The early 1980s, despite the poor records from 1980-1982, were growth years. 1980 was Bobby Mattick's first season as manager and it was the first year that future fixtures such as Damaso Garcia and Lloyd Moseby were Blue Jays. It is also Dave Stieb's first full season. All of this resulted in a 14-win improvment over their poor 1979 performance.

2. 1981 was a "tale of two seasons". The first half was, simply, terrible, but in the second half, life began to show. Jesse Barfield was called up in September and the George Bell/Moseby/Barfield outfield emerged for the first time during a September series in Chicago. Also the Peter Bavasi reign was over in November.

3. 1982 was Bobby Cox...1983 began the good years...1985 was the "first"...1987 was power, pitching, and heartache (I still think this was the best Blue Jays team)...and we ended in 1989 with a division title and SkyDome.

Even though we did not win a World Championship in the 1980s, we had an entertaining and a high quality brand of baseball (for most of it anyway...1986 was an ugly mess...Always remember Damo and Heathcliff).

bpoz - Wednesday, February 29 2012 @ 11:29 AM EST (#252370) #

Great thread Mick D. In time the details of the 10 year run will be forgotten. ColiverPhd, happy memories.

ColiverPhD - Wednesday, February 29 2012 @ 12:42 PM EST (#252372) #

bpoz...It is so strange...I can remember specific incidents during the Exhibition Stadium days much more vividly than the SkyDome ones. Most good, except for 1986, when it was just a sad, sad year:

1978: A doubleheader sweep against Baltimore the day after their 24-10 romp (Victor Cruz emerages as the bullpen ace).

1981: Walking on the field on Banner Day (after the strike...a DH loss this time...the original Boomer Wells hitting a double off the wall).

1985: Something like 99 people getting ejected during the first Tiger game at the Ex in June...some guy two rows down from me getting hit in the face with a piece of pizza. Manny Lee pinch-running that night...I wanted to see him get into the game...Martinez hitting his extra inning game-winning HR.

1986: Stieb getting knocked out of the box on Victoria Day against Cleveland, Stan Clarke getting racked in his season debut on Old Timers Day, Stieb pitching well in August against Baltimore until a rain delay...see this was a sad year.

1987: Whitt's big game against NY in Sept, Berroa taking flyballs before the game (for some fool reason I remember that).

1988: Bell's Civic Day HR against Minnesota.

1989: The last game at the Ex...still miss it

Dewey - Wednesday, February 29 2012 @ 04:31 PM EST (#252377) #

Just after the end of the 1985 playoffs--blasted George Brett--I had to go down to the Ex to turn in World Series tickets that had been issued to subscribers. That was bad enough. The day was cold and gloomy, overcast; the stadium area, utterly deserted. Then, driving home, I heard on the radio that Bobby Cox had announced he was leaving for Atlanta! I don�t think I ever felt worse in a Jays-related way than the next few hours.

But the '80's were great at the Ex. And we had out first championship there. People loved it.

Richard S.S. - Wednesday, February 29 2012 @ 09:15 PM EST (#252388) #

I was crushed by Cox's decision to return to the Braves. I checked his Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_cox and remember how I felt then, once again. As to which decade is better, Flags Fly Forever!

bpoz - Thursday, March 01 2012 @ 10:07 AM EST (#252396) #

I went to double headers at the Ex. The best game I ever saw was Steib's 3-0 shutout against the Mariners. I had seats behind Home Plate, the loser was F Bannister. So nothing to see hitting wise.

Richard SS you seem keen for another FLAG. Sam Pollock worked for Labatts and advised Gillick just before the 2 championships that if he believed he had a very good team then to win the championship he should stack the team ie Over Kill if you will.
So Morris, Cone, Winfield/Molitor, replacing Manny Lee with T Fernandez. Seems he took Sam's advice.

IMO AA will get us another flag.

mathesond - Thursday, March 01 2012 @ 11:14 AM EST (#252401) #

The best time I ever had at the Ex was as a 13 year old on August 2, 1983 (thanks bbref for the date). A double header vs. the Yankees attracted 45,102 fans, a non-Opening Day record for the team. Two friends and I decided to go down and see if we could get scalpers tix - $2 bleacher seats were going for $5 each, we got 3 for $14. We wound up sitting in section 50 (out of 51), remember, the bleachers didn't curve around the outfield fence, but followed the left field fence and continued straight out.

The boxscore for the first game is here - http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR198308021.shtml - it was the most electric atmosphere I have experienced at a ball game (a close second was Kerry Wood's first home start after his 20K game, back in '98). Yankees took an early lead, Jays clawed back and won in 10. I still remember Garth Iorg running through Jimy Williams' stop sign and scoring the winning run. The 13-6 win in the nightcap was a laugher, I think most everyone was exhausted after the first game.

Mike Green - Thursday, March 01 2012 @ 11:20 AM EST (#252402) #

I was there too. Probably in the same section. How far was it from the bleachers to fence, just a touch left of centre, in Exhibition Stadium? My memory is foggy, as I usually sat in the bench seats down the right-field line, but I know that it felt like it was 40 metres or more.

mathesond - Thursday, March 01 2012 @ 12:26 PM EST (#252403) #

I dunno, but it felt like 500 feet to home plate. The guys next to had binoculars, and let me use them a couple of times - once I was convinced the 1B ump missed a pickoff, but that may have been the homer in me.

That 83 season was a lot of fun (Tippy Martinez game notwithstanding) , I went to quite a few games that summer. I remember the scoreboard being blocked in early September by David Bowie's stage.

ColiverPhD - Thursday, March 01 2012 @ 01:21 PM EST (#252405) #

This is my last Exhibition stadium post...OK at least for today...that place was my favorite childhood destination.

A few more memories...anyone remember?

1. Alexander's Restaurant (open before and during the CNE), the Nobet Tavern, and Escars.

2. 1977 before the Video Board. The board above the pressbox was in RF.

3. "Hollywood Squares": The pressbox that was built for the 1985 playoffs.

4. Your first look of the light standards as you were driving eastward on the Gardiner before getting off at Jameson.

6. Gate 6...waiting for two hours so we could sit in Section 35...and never minding!

Guess I will stop here...maybe I will move my Exhibition Stadium seat out of my home office and into the living room to watch Opening Day...my wife will love that!

MatO - Thursday, March 01 2012 @ 01:26 PM EST (#252406) #

I was there too but more to straight-away left. A bunch of us would go regularly and whoever got there first would "reserve" a number of seats. Awesome atmosphere. In Section 50 you might as well have been on the moon but I'm sure nobody cared.

A buddy of ours worked at Dominion so those $2 seats were had for $1. For a doubleheader. Best. Bargain. Ever.

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