1990 Toronto Blue Jays season

1990 Toronto Blue Jays
Division	Eastern Division
Ballpark	SkyDome
City	Toronto
Record	86–76 (.531)
Owners	Labatt Breweries, Imperial Trust, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
Managers	Cito Gaston
Television	CFTO-TV (Don Chevrier, Tommy Hutton, Fergie Olver) The Sports Network (Jim Hughson, Buck Martinez)
Radio	CJCL (AM) (Jerry Howarth, Tom Cheek)
Seasons

The 1990 Toronto Blue Jays season was the franchise's 14th season of Major League Baseball. It resulted in the Blue Jays finishing second in the American League East with a record of 86 wins and 76 losses. It was their first full season in the SkyDome, where an MLB attendance record of 3,885,284 was set that year. The Blue Jays led the division by 1½ games over the Boston Red Sox with one week left in the season. However, they then proceeded to drop six of their last eight games, giving the division title to the Red Sox by a two-game margin.

Offseason

• December 4, 1989: 1989 rule 5 draft
  • Sil Campusano was drafted from the Blue Jays by the Philadelphia Phillies.
  • Steve Wapnick was drafted from the Blue Jays by the Detroit Tigers.
• December 5, 1989: Mike Maksudian was drafted by the Blue Jays from the Miami Miracle in the 1989 minor league draft.
• December 7, 1989: José Núñez was traded by the Blue Jays to the Chicago Cubs for Paul Kilgus.
• December 17, 1989: Ernie Whitt and Kevin Batiste were traded by the Blue Jays to the Atlanta Braves for Ricky Trlicek.
• January 10, 1990: Tilson Brito was signed as an amateur free agent by the Blue Jays.
• January 29, 1990: Jim Eppard was signed as a free agent by the Blue Jays.

Regular season

The 1990 season belonged to third baseman Kelly Gruber. He had career highs in home runs and RBIs, with 31 and 118, respectively. Along with outfielder George Bell and pitcher Dave Stieb, Gruber was named an American League All-Star, stealing two bases in the All-Star Game on July 10 at Chicago's Wrigley Field. A finalist for the American League MVP Award, at season's end he was named the AL's Silver Slugger and Gold Glove Award winner at third base.

The Blue Jays were involved in two no-hitters during the 1990 season. On June 29, Dave Stewart of the Oakland Athletics no-hit them by a score of 5–0. On September 2, Jays ace Dave Stieb finally got the no-hitter that had eluded him, blanking the Cleveland Indians 3–0.

Opening Day starters

• George Bell, OF
• Junior Felix, OF
• Tony Fernández, SS
• Kelly Gruber, 3B
• Nelson Liriano, 2B
• Fred McGriff, 1B
• Greg Myers, C
• John Olerud, DH
• Dave Stieb, P
• Mookie Wilson, OF

Season standings

AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Boston Red Sox	88	74	0.543	—	51–30	37–44
Toronto Blue Jays	86	76	0.531	2	44–37	42–39
Detroit Tigers	79	83	0.488	9	39–42	40–41
Cleveland Indians	77	85	0.475	11	41–40	36–45
Baltimore Orioles	76	85	0.472	11½	40–40	36–45
Milwaukee Brewers	74	88	0.457	14	39–42	35–46
New York Yankees	67	95	0.414	21	37–44	30–51

Record vs. opponents

1990 American League record Sources: [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	4–9	7–5	6–6	6–7	6–7	8–3	7–6	6–6	6–7	4–8	3–9	8–4	5–8
Boston	9–4	—	7–5	6–6	9–4	8–5	4–8	5–8	4–8	9–4	4–8	8–4	5–7	10–3
California	5–7	5–7	—	5–8	7–5	5–7	7–6	7–5	9–4	6–6	4–9	5–8	8–5	7–5
Chicago	6–6	6–6	8–5	—	5–7	5–7	9–4	10–2	7–6	10–2	8–5	8–5	7–6	5–7
Cleveland	7–6	4–9	5–7	7–5	—	5–8	6–6	9–4	7–5	5–8	4–8	7–5	7–5	4–9
Detroit	7–6	5–8	7–5	7–5	8–5	—	5–7	3–10	6–6	7–6	6–6	7–5	6–6	5–8
Kansas City	3–8	8–4	6–7	4–9	6–6	7–5	—	4–8	8–5	8–4	4–9	7–6	5–8	5–7
Milwaukee	6–7	8–5	5–7	2–10	4–9	10–3	8–4	—	4–8	6–7	5–7	4–8	5–7	7–6
Minnesota	6–6	8–4	4–9	6–7	5–7	6–6	5–8	8–4	—	6–6	6–7	6–7	5–8	3–9
New York	7–6	4–9	6–6	2–10	8–5	6–7	4–8	7–6	6–6	—	0–12	9–3	3–9	5–8
Oakland	8–4	8–4	9–4	5–8	8–4	6–6	9–4	7–5	7–6	12–0	—	9–4	8–5	7–5
Seattle	9–3	4–8	8–5	5–8	5–7	5–7	6–7	8–4	7–6	3–9	4–9	—	7–6	6–6
Texas	4–8	7–5	5–8	6–7	5–7	6–6	8–5	7–5	8–5	9–3	5–8	6–7	—	7–5
Toronto	8–5	3–10	5–7	7–5	9–4	8–5	7–5	6–7	9–3	8–5	5–7	6–6	5–7	—

Notable transactions

• May 1, 1990: Steve Wapnick was returned to the Blue Jays by the Detroit Tigers.
• May 8, 1990: Mike Flanagan was released by the Blue Jays.
• June 4, 1990: 1990 Major League Baseball draft
  • Steve Karsay was drafted by the Jays in the 1st round (22nd pick).
  • Future Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke was drafted by the Blue Jays. Player signed August 20, 1990.
  • Felipe Crespo was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 3rd round. Player signed September 22, 1990.
  • Howard Battle was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 4th round. Player signed June 6, 1990.
  • Ricardo Jordan was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 37th round.
• June 18, 1990: Kenny Williams was selected off waivers by the Blue Jays from the Detroit Tigers.
• July 27, 1990: Nelson Liriano and Pedro Muñoz were traded by the Blue Jays to the Minnesota Twins for John Candelaria.
• September 16, 1990: Mauro Gozzo and players to be named later were traded by the Blue Jays to the Cleveland Indians for Bud Black. The Blue Jays completed the trade by sending Steve Cummings to the Indians on September 21 and Alex Sanchez to the Indians on September 24.
• September 24, 1990: Rich Butler was signed as an amateur free agent by the Blue Jays.
• September 24, 1990: Rob Butler was signed as an amateur free agent by the Blue Jays.

Eric Lindros

The hype around Eric Lindros during his early career led to an exclusive deal with sports card manufacturer SCORE. Attempting to leverage this arrangement as much as possible, he was even featured on a baseball card showing him as a third baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays, although he never actually played baseball. He was only there taking batting practice one day.

Roster

1990 Toronto Blue Jays
Roster
Pitchers 34 Jim Acker 35 Bud Black 27 Willie Blair 48 John Candelaria 55 John Cerutti 32 Steve Cummings 46 Mike Flanagan 46 Tom Gilles 50 Tom Henke 22 Jimmy Key 39 Paul Kilgus 28 Al Leiter 38 Rick Luecken 45 Bob MacDonald 37 Dave Stieb 30 Todd Stottlemyre 31 Duane Ward 36 David Wells 44 Frank Wills		Catchers 10 Pat Borders 59 Carlos Diaz 21 Greg Myers 26 Ozzie Virgil Infielders  1 Tony Fernández 17 Kelly Gruber 18 Tom Lawless  4 Manuel Lee  2 Nelson Liriano 19 Fred McGriff  5 Rance Mulliniks  9 John Olerud 16 Tom Quinlan  6 Luis Sojo		Outfielders 11 George Bell 20 Rob Ducey 47 Junior Félix 24 Glenallen Hill 40 Mark Whiten 12 Kenny Williams  3 Mookie Wilson Other batters 26 Jim Eppard		Manager 43 Cito Gaston Coaches 42 Galen Cisco (pitching)  7 John McLaren (third base) 25 Mike Squires (first base)  8 John Sullivan (bullpen) 15 Gene Tenace (hitting)

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

= Indicates team leader

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Pat Borders	125	346	99	.286	15	49
1B	Fred McGriff	153	557	167	.300	35	88
2B	Manuel Lee	117	391	95	.243	6	41
3B	Kelly Gruber	150	592	162	.274	31	118
SS	Tony Fernández	161	635	175	.276	4	66
LF	George Bell	142	562	149	.265	21	86
CF	Mookie Wilson	147	588	156	.265	3	51
RF	Junior Félix	127	463	122	.263	15	65
DH	John Olerud	111	358	95	.265	14	48

Other batters

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Glenallen Hill	84	260	60	.231	12	32
Greg Myers	87	250	59	.236	5	22
Nelson Liriano	50	170	36	.212	1	15
Rance Mulliniks	57	97	28	.289	2	16
Mark Whiten	33	88	12	.273	2	7
Luis Sojo	33	80	18	.225	1	9
Kenny Williams	49	72	14	.194	0	8
Rob Ducey	19	53	16	.302	0	7
Tom Lawless	15	12	1	.083	0	1
Jim Eppard	6	5	1	.200	0	0
Ozzie Virgil	3	5	0	.000	0	0
Carlos Diaz	9	3	1	.333	0	0
Tom Quinlan	1	2	1	.500	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Dave Stieb	33	208⅔	18	6	2.93	125
Jimmy Key	27	154⅔	13	7	4.25	88
Todd Stottlemyre	33	203	13	17	4.34	115
John Cerutti	30	140	9	9	4.76	49
Mike Flanagan	5	20⅓	2	2	5.31	5

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
David Wells	43	189	11	6	3.14	115
Willie Blair	27	68.2	3	5	4.06	43
John Candelaria	13	21.1	0	3	5.48	19
Bud Black	3	15.2	2	1	4.02	3
Steve Cummings	6	12.1	0	0	5.11	4

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Tom Henke	61	2	4	32	2.17	75
Duane Ward	73	2	8	11	3.45	112
Jim Acker	59	4	4	1	3.83	54
Frank Wills	44	6	4	0	4.73	72
Paul Kilgus	11	0	0	0	6.06	7
Al Leiter	4	0	0	0	0.00	5
Bob MacDonald	4	0	0	0	0.00	0
Tom Gilles	2	1	0	0	6.75	0
Rick Luecken	1	0	0	0	9.00	0

Award winners

• Kelly Gruber, Player of the Month Award, September
• Kelly Gruber, Silver Slugger Award
• Kelly Gruber, Gold Glove Award

All-Star Game

• George Bell, OF
• Kelly Gruber, 3B
• Dave Stieb, P

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Syracuse Chiefs	International League	Bob Bailor
AA	Knoxville Blue Jays	Southern League	John Stearns
A	Dunedin Blue Jays	Florida State League	Dennis Holmberg
A	Myrtle Beach Blue Jays	South Atlantic League	Mike Fischlin
A-Short Season	St. Catharines Blue Jays	New York–Penn League	Doug Ault
Rookie	Medicine Hat Blue Jays	Pioneer League	Garth Iorg

External links

• 1990 Toronto Blue Jays at Baseball Reference
• 1990 Toronto Blue Jays at Baseball Almanac