50 Moments: Gut-Wrenching Loss To Open ‘98 World Series

Gwynn’s historic homer for naught when disputed call leads to grand slam

By Bill Center

Tony Gwynn

Along with the 163rd game of the 2007 season, the opening game of the 1998 World Series has to rank as one of the two biggest heart-breaking losses in Padres history.

The game on Oct. 17, 1998—against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium—actually started out well for the underdog Padres, who earned the right to face perhaps the greatest team in Major League history by defeating 100-game winners Houston and Atlanta in the National League playoffs.

But the Yankees had gone 108–54 during the regular season and lost only two games while eliminating Cleveland and Texas in the American League playoffs.

The Yankees had four .300 hitters in their lineup. They had four hitters with 24 or more homers, two with 116 or more RBIs and three with more than 100 runs scored. All five starters in the rotation finished with double-digit win totals and San Diego native David Wells was 18–4. And for ninth-inning jams, Mariano Rivera was available.

Still, the Padres built a 5–2 lead behind two-run homers by Greg Vaughn and Tony Gwynn, who called his blast off the second-deck façade at Yankee Stadium “the most exciting at-bat of my career.”

But the Yankees tied the game on Chuck Knoblach’s three-run homer in the seventh.

The Yankees then re-loaded the bases with two out, setting up a match between Padres reliever Mark Langston and Yankees’ designated hitter Tino Martinez. With the count at 2-and-2, Langston seemed to throw a pitch past Martinez for the inning-ending third strike. But plate umpire Rich Garcia called the pitch a ball.

“It was right down the middle,” Langston said later. And replays confirmed the pitch Martinez took to be a strike. But Garcia called it a ball, setting up a full-count showdown.

This time Martinez swung and hit a grand slam homer — leading the Yankees to a 9–6 win. The Yankees would also win the next three games to sweep the Padres.

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Top 50 moments (in chronological order):

1. National League votes to expand into Montreal and San Diego (May 27, 1968)
2. Padres stocked with players in National League expansion draft (Oct. 14, 1968)
3. Padres win their Major League debut (April 8, 1969)
4. Clay Kirby removed from a no-hitter (July 21, 1970)
5. Nate Colbert’s five-homer, 13-RBI doubleheader in Atlanta (Aug. 1, 1972)
6. 1973, the year San Diego nearly lost the Padres
7. Ray Kroc buys the Padres (Jan. 25, 1974)
8. Ray Kroc grabs the microphone during his first home game as the Padres owner (April 9, 1974)
9. Randy Jones National League Cy Young Award (1976)
10. Shortstop Ozzie Smith’s greatest defensive play in Padres’ history (April 20, 1978)
11. Padres host the 1978 All-Star Game (July 11, 1978)
12. Gaylord Perry wins 1978 National League Cy Young Award
13. The “re-hatching” of the San Diego Chicken (June 29, 1979)
14. 1984 Padres-Braves brawl in Atlanta (Aug. 12, 1984)
15. More than 12,000 fans greet Padres as they return home from two losses in Chicago in 1984 National League Championship Series (Oct. 3, 1984)
16. Steve Garvey’s series-tying, walk-off homer in Game 4 of the 1984 National League Championship Series
17. Padres win their first National League title (Oct. 7, 1984)
18. Benito Santiago’s 34-game hitting streak to finish a strong finish to N.L. Rookie of the Year season (1987)
19. LHP Mark Davis wins the 1989 National League Cy Young Award
20. Roseanne Barr butchers The National Anthem (July 25, 1990)
21. Padres host the 1992 All-Star Game (July 14, 1992)
22. The fire sale (1992–1993)
23. Tony Gwynn’s .394 during the strike-shortened 1994 season
24. John Moores buys the Padres (Dec. 21, 1994)
25. Ken Caminiti’s “Snickers Game” caps historic Padres-Mets series in Mexico (Aug. 16–18, 1996)
26. Padres win 1996 National League West title on Chris Gwynn’s two-run, 11th-inning, pinch-hit double in season finale at Dodger Stadium (Sept. 29, 1996)
27. Third baseman Ken Caminiti is the unanimous pick for the National League Most Valuable Player (Nov. 13, 1996)
28. “Hells Bells” accompanies Trevor Hoffman from the bullpen for the first time (July 25, 1998)
29. Greg Vaughn hits his club-record 50th homer and Trevor Hoffman records his club-record 53rd save (Sept. 27, 1998)
30. Kevin Brown out-pitches Randy Johnson and win the opener of the 1998 National League playoffs (Sept. 29, 1998)
31. Sterling Hitchcock named the MVP of the 1998 National League Championship Series (Oct. 14, 1998)
32. Heartbreaking loss to Yankees in 1998 World Series opener (Oct. 17, 1998)