September 12, 1985: "Baseball Thursday" In New York

Keith Hernandez

September 12, 1985, 40 years ago: New York Times sports columnist George Vescey called it "Baseball Thursday In New York." It remains the only day in the joint 1962-present history of the Yankees and the Mets when both teams were at home on the same September day, and were both playing the team they were fighting for a Division Title.

After making the Playoffs 5 times in 6 years from 1976 to 1981, including 2 World Series wins, the Yankees fell apart in 1982. They were quickly rebuilt, and put up good teams in 1983 and '84, although the Baltimore Orioles ran away with the American League Eastern Division in the former, and the Detroit Tigers did so in the latter.

But in 1985, the Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays battled it out for the Division lead all season long. On September 11 -- the day Pete Rose (officially) became Major League Baseball's all-time hits leader -- the Jays led the Yanks by 2 1/2 games, with the Yankees having 24 games left to play, the Jays 23, and the next 4 against each other at Yankee Stadium in the South Bronx.

The Mets won the World Series in 1969 and the National League Pennant in 1973, and were still a respectable 3rd place in the NL Eastern Division in 1976. Then they fell apart. A change of ownership in 1980 led to a rebuilding, and in 1984, they finished 2nd behind the Chicago Cubs.

In 1985, with the Cubs bitten by the injury bug, it would be the St. Louis Cardinals that fought the Mets for the Division title. When those 2 teams took the field at Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadow, Queens on September 10, they were dead-even, tied for 1st. On the 10th, the Mets won, 5-4. On the 11th, the Cards won, 1-0 in 10 innings.

That led into "Baseball Thursday," September 12. A 1:35 PM start at Shea saw Ed Lynch start for the Mets, and Joaquín Andújar for the Cardinals. The Mets tagged Andújar for 3 straight doubles in the bottom of the 1st, and knocked him out of the box in the 2nd. The Mets led, 6-0, pleasing most of the crowd of 46,295. (Big game, but 9,000 empty seats.)

But Lynch didn't have good stuff, either, and the Cardinals chipped away, closing to within 6-5 in the top of the 4th. In the top of the 9th, Willie McGee, a great runner and fielder but mainly a contact hitter rather than a power hitter, hit a home run to tie the game.

But Mookie Wilson singled to lead off the bottom of the 9th, got bunted over to 2nd by Wally Backman, and came home on a single by Keith Hernandez. Mets 7, Cardinals 6. Jesse Orosco was the winning pitcher; Ken Dayley, the losing pitcher. The Mets had taken 2 out of 3 from the Cards, and were now 1 game up on the Cards, with 24 games to play.

*

An even bigger crowd, 52,141 (about 5,000 short of a sellout), plowed into Yankee Stadium for the 7:05 start against the Blue Jays, the 1st game of a series of 4. Public-address announcer Bob Sheppard introduced Robert Merrill, the Brooklynese baritone who long graced the stage at the Metropolitan Opera. Merrill, as he had done so many times and would do so many more, would sing the National Anthems. As the Blue Jays were based in Canada, he began with "O Canada."

And boos rang down from the stands at Yankee Stadium. Seriously. The same building that had hosted Joe Louis' knockout of Max Schmeling in 1938 was now hosting the booing of the National Anthem of America's closest ally.

I was 15 years old, watching this game on WPIX-Channel 11, and I was sickened. There was no excuse for booing the song, just because the opposition was based outside the United States of America. I wonder what President Ronald Reagan thought of it. I wonder if the hyper-patriotism he inspired in many was a partial cause.

Each team started its ace: The Yankees, Ron Guidry; the Jays, Dave Stieb. Ernie Whitt hit a home run to give the Jays a 2-0 lead in the 3rd. They made it 3-0 in the 4th. The Yankees got on the board in the 5th, but the Jays took that run right back in the 6th. It was 4-1 Toronto at the 7th inning stretch.

With 1 out in the bottom of the 7th, Willie Randolph drew a walk. Bobby Meacham reached on an error by Jays shortstop Tony Fernández. Rickey Henderson walked, to load the bases. Bobby Cox, then managing the Jays in between his 2 tenures managing the Atlanta Braves, took Stieb out, and brought in Gary Lavelle.

Ken Griffey Sr. grounded to 3rd, and the Jays got a forceout at 2nd, but a run came home. Don Mattingly singled home a run. Cox took Lavelle out, and brought in Dennis Lamp. Dave Winfield grounded to Fernández, who made his 2nd error of the inning, allowing the tying run to score. And Ron Hassey, the Yankee catcher, hit a home run. Stan Clarke became the 4th Toronto pitcher of the inning, and he got Don Baylor to pop up, but it was 7-4 Yankees.

The Jays picked up a run in the 8th, but Brian Fisher closed it out in the 9th, and the Yankees had won, 7-5. Guidry had won his 19th game. The Yankees closed to within a game and a half of the Jays. Talk of a "Subway Series" between the Yankees and the Mets could be taken seriously for the first time.

Guidry finished the season with 22 wins; the Mets' Dwight Gooden, 24. Since 1985, the highest win total by a New York-based pitcher has been 21, which Andy Pettitte achieved in 1996 and 2003. The only other New York pitchers to win 20 in a season have been Roger Clemens with the Yankees, Frank Viola and R.A. Dickey with the Mets, and David Cone with both teams.

Ron Guidry

So both New York teams had beaten their main opponent for the Division title, at home, on the same day, in September.

*

The next night, before the 2nd game of the series, Sheppard prepared to introduce Merrill again, and this time, the St. John's University speech professor took no chances. Whether he wrote the message himself, or team owner George Steinbrenner did and Sheppard proudly went along with it, we may never know.

He reminded the fans that Canada was America's ally in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. (Canada did not get involved in Vietnam, and America's 2 wars in Iraq hadn't happened yet.) If that was too far back for them to remember, he reminded the fans that Canadian diplomats had helped get the American hostages out of Iran just a few years before. And as such, their Anthem should be respected.

Merrill: "O, Canada... "

50,000 or so Yankee Fans: "Boooooooo!"

There have been times when players, managers, executives and owners of the Yankees have disgraced themselves. This is one of the few times, and by far the biggest time, that Yankee Fans have disgraced themselves. Indeed, they disgraced the entire country they thought they were supporting.

Buck Martinez, a Blue Jays catcher (and later manager and broadcaster for the team), looked at the Jays' roster, noting its September expansion, and told the press, "Some patriots. They're booing 25 Americans and 3 Dominicans." Perhaps it was poetic justice that the Jays took the last 3 games of the series, leaving the Yankees 4 1/2 games back with 20 games to play.

As October dawned, the Mets went to St. Louis, needing a 3-game sweep to stay in the race. They won the 1st 2, but the Cardinals won the 3rd, and that pretty much knocked the Mets out. The Yankees went to Toronto for the last 3 games of the regular season, needing a sweep to force a Playoff for the Division title. They won on Friday night, on a dramatic 9th-inning homer by their other main catcher at the time, Butch Wynegar, but lost on Saturday, and that clinched for the Jays. On Sunday, Phil Niekro won his 300th game, and the Yankees won a game that was, standings-wise, meaningless.

The Yankees ended 97-64, 2 games behind the Jays. The Mets ended 98-64, 3 games behind the Cards. The Kansas City Royals won the AL West, by 1 game over the California Angels. The Los Angeles Dodgers won the NL West, by 5 1/2 games over the Cincinnati Reds. The Royals beat the Jays in the AL Championship Series. The Cards beat the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series. The Royals beat the Cardinals to win the World Series.

The next year, the Yankees finished 2nd, to their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox. The Mets won the World Series. They have never won another. The Yankees have won 5 over that stretch. The Jays won back-to-back World Series in 1992 and '93, the only titles they have ever won. The Cardinals won the Pennant again in 1987, but lost the World Series, and wouldn't win another World Series until 2006, wining it again in 2011, losing one in 2013.

Not until 1999, after the institution of the Wild Card, would both the Yankees and the Mets make the Playoffs in the same season. Not until 2000 would they play each other in the World Series, the Yankees having won the AL East, and the Mets, despite having a better record, only making the Playoffs as the Wild Card. And, of course, the Yankees won it.

Not until 2006 would both teams win their Divisions in the same season. Both teams made the Playoffs again in 2015, 2022 and 2024, and both have a chance to do so again in 2025. But there has never been another day in New York like Baseball Thursday in 1985.