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The prestrike hitting assault continued. Houston phenom Jeff Bagwell, who had broken a bone in his left hand two days before the strike, was undaunted by his injury. "If a one-handed guy like Jim Abbott can pitch," he told reporters, "then a one-handed guy like me can hit." He finished the season with 52 homers and 165 runs batted in -- the best RBI count since the '30s. Chicago muscleman Frank Thomas hit 53 home runs. One of these, on Aug. 30 against Baltimore, was a true oddity: an inside pitch hit Thomas' oaklike arm and caromed 400 ft. into the left-field bleachers. And San Francisco's Matt Williams kept swatting dingers like flies. On Saturday, Sept. 24, before a national TV audience, Mighty Matt clubbed his 62nd home run in his 154th game, erasing Roger Maris' and Babe Ruth's records. He then hit a home run in each succeeding at-bat, bringing his season total to an eerily apt 94.
The swaggering stats of the season's baby boomers had led some to infer that the ball was spiked with Kickapoo Joy Juice. But if so, what antidote was Maddux using on the balls he threw? By Aug. 12 he had surrendered only 1.56 earned runs per game, and he ended the pre-strike season with a three-hit shutout. Maddux was Cy Young redux. Alas, the other Braves were awestruck into entropy. Atlanta finished second in the National League East, looking up at the miracle Montreal Expos.
The first round of the N.L. play-offs saw the Expos defeat the Cincinnati Reds, while the Astros dispatched the all-hit, no-pitch Giants. In the final game of the league championship series (of course it went seven) between the 'Spos and the 'Stros, Bagwell hit a game-winning home run. As his teammates piled on him in the ritual celebration, something snapped -- both of Bagwell's legs. Triumph and tragedy were mixed in that poetic baseball kind of way.
The incompetent American League West finally produced a team that had won more games than it had lost: the A's. Finishing two games over .500, Oakland tiptoed into the A.L. play-offs only to be swept by the Yankees. In contrast, the other play-off matched two good teams: Thomas' White Sox and Belle's Indians, smelling their first World Series in 40 years. The fans went dizzy, and the Cuyahoga River spontaneously burst into flames, as Cleveland took 3 out of 5 to face the Yankees for the pennant.
The Indians' tattered veterans Dennis Martinez and a re-signed Jack Morris won three games between them, and Terry Mulholland emerged from the Yanks' doghouse to pitch a perfect Game Six to even the series. Now it's Game Seven, Yanks 1, Indians 0, bottom of the ninth, two outs, Belle at bat, fleet Kenny Lofton on second. Albert zaps a line drive that drops into right field, Paul O'Neill grabs it and rifles a throw as Lofton races around third and heads for the plate. Just before he reaches home, he trips on Belle's bat, it spins in the air and lands on his head. Momentarily knocked unconscious, he is tagged out by catcher Mike Stanley. Game over, Yanks win pennant, Cleveland fans sink back into terminal depression. Belle's bat is later found to contain plutonium.