Commissioner Dies

Seattle Mariners v Boston Red Sox, September 1, 1989

Fenway Park, Sec 5 Row 5

This was the day baseball commissoner Bart Giamatti died. Prior to the game a moment of silence was observed.

An early two run homer by Seattle's first baseman Alvin Davis got the visitors ahead quickly in the first. An Ellis Burks single to left scoring Jody Reed cut the early deficit in half for the Sox. Dewey Evans drove in Mike Greenwell in the 4th for the Sox to tie the ball game up at 2.

Philadelphia native Jeffrey Leonard hit a home run in the 6th to put the Mariners ahead again 3-2. That was followed by another 1 run homer in the 7th by Seattle's Dave Valle. The Mariners kept adding on in the 8th once they got to Boston's bullpen.

Mike Smithson suffered the Sox loss by a score of 7-2. There was a very decent crowd of 31,581 on this early fall Friday evening.

A young Ken Griffey, Jr went 0-4 in the contest.

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." Bart Giamatti.

Giamatti served as Major League Baseball Commissioner for only 154 days before succumbing to a heart attack on this date. 8 days prior Giamatti banned Pete Rose from baseball for life for gambling on baseball.