Yahoo Sports David Cone recalls his 1988 ghost-written NLCS column that changed history
This is the place where he stood on the mound, so nervous that he could actually feel his legs shaking, wanting to dig a hole, jump inside, and never come out.
This is where Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda was screaming at him and fans were yelling at him.
This is where David Cone’s journalism career was born, and instantly died, wanting to write his own obituary after the fallout.
It’s Dodger Stadium, site of Sunday Night’s ESPN baseball game between the Dodgers and New York Yankees, where Cone will be the color analyst.
"There’s a lot of memories for me at Dodger Stadium," Cone, the former Cy Young winner and five-time World Series champion, tells USA TODAY Sports, "but that series, that game, it’s something I’ll never forget."
The year was 1988.
The powerful Mets, who were more talented than the ’86 edition that won the World Series, steamrolled everyone in their wake. It was a team filled with stars with everyone from Hall of Famer Gary Carter to Keith Hernandez to Darryl Strawberry to Lenny Dykstra. The rotation was filthy with Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, and Cone, a 25-year-old phenom who went 20-3 with a 2.22 ERA, and finished third in the Cy Young balloting. And they had All-Stars Randy Myers and Rick Aguilera in the bullpen.
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They spent 158 days in first place, went 100-60, including winning 10 of 11 games against the Dodgers in the regular season, and looked unstoppable.
They won the NL East and went out to play the Dodgers, winners of the NL West, in Game 1 of the NLCS. They were facing unanimous Cy Young winner Orel Hershiser, who was riding a major league record 59-inning scoreless streak.
And they miraculously beat him with a dramatic ninth-inning comeback, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 victory.
A World Series berth seemed inevitable.
It was pandemonium during the Mets’ raucous postgame celebration. Cone, who would start Game 2, sat down with the New York Daily News for a ghost-written column he was writing for the tabloid. It was going to pay him $500.
Cone, who grew up in Kansas City actually wanting to be a sportswriter, created national headlines with his column debut. He ridiculed the Dodgers, calling Hershiser "lucky" that they couldn’t score on him for eight innings, and then compared Dodgers closer Jay Howell to a "high school pitcher."
There was no internet back then. No Facebook. No social media. No matter. A copy of the story made its way quickly to Los Angeles.
The column made its way into Lasorda’s hands, who made sure it was posted throughout the clubhouse and even dugout for every Dodger to see, and by the time the game started, every Dodgers fan had heard about it, too.
"That raised the temperature in the room quite a bit," Hershiser told USA TODAY Sports. "Tommy always found stimulus. Tommy always looked for the button. Cone’s article was definitely a stimulus that he grabbed."
Cone, notified before the game that the column enraged the Dodgers, was horrified. He couldn’t believe what he had done. He walked out to the mound that night, and could barely breathe, listening to the sellout crowd screaming at him, and Lasorda cursing at him.
"I was physically impacted from the nerves off that column," Cone says. "My legs felt like cement blocks. When I walked out to warm up, everybody was on the top step screaming at me, bench-jockeying. I could hear Tommy Lasorda from the dugout.
"I gave him fuel for the fire."
Cone, pitching in the first of his 21 career postseason appearances, was shelled. He lasted just two innings giving up five hits and five runs in the Mets’ 6-3 loss. He closed out Game 3 by pitching the ninth inning, and pitched a 5-hit complete game in their Game 6 victory, but the Mets lost the NLCS in Game 7 when Hershiser pitched a 5-hit shutout, 6-0.
The Mets’ glorious season was over, and the Dodgers would go onto to shock the Oakland A’s to win in the World Series.
Would it have been a different fate without that guest column 35 years ago?
"All I know," Cone says, "is that it certainly led to my bad performance."
Hershiser says it’s unfair to Lasorda’s motivational skills to believe Cone’s column was a difference-maker.
"Tommy didn’t need David Cone’s article," Hershiser says, "he always looked for something. So if you pin it on the article, you’re not giving Tommy the credit he deserves."
Besides, the Dodgers had Hershiser, the Bulldog. who was 23-8 with a 2.26 ERA, completing 15 games with eight shutouts.
"People don’t talk enough about what Orel did that year, or that streak," Cone says. "It’s incredible how good he was that year. I don’t think he ever got enough credit for the season he had. Five straight shutouts to close the season. A couple of more in the postseason. Statistically, just remarkable."
While the Dodgers’ victory over the A’s in the World Series was considered one of the greatest upsets in World Series history, Hershiser insists their triumph over the Mets was even bigger.
The Mets were home watching, believing it should have been them winning the World Series, and Cone never writing again until his best-selling book three years ago.
"I can laugh about it now," Cone says, "but it still burns a little bit. I still remember my father flying in for that game I pitched, and the Dodgers gave him a favor by sitting right by the Dodger dugout. We laughed about that for a long, long time.
"I’ve got great memories of this place, and, yeah, some not so-great memories, but it feels good going back where so much history was made."
The legendary Reggie Jackson-Bob Welch matchup in the 1978 World Series. Sandy Koufax’s perfect game. Fernandomania. Kirk Gibson’s homer. Vin Scully’s brilliance. Clayton Kershaw’s dominance.
And, yes, that ghost-written column that turned a series upside down.
Around the basepaths
≻ The Milwaukee Brewers, believing they will stay in the NL Central race, privately say they have no intention of trading ace Corbin Burnes at the deadline, and plan to hold onto him until the winter.
Burnes, the 2021 Cy Young winner, is a free agent after the 2024 season and likely will be traded sometime this winter.
≻ The Cleveland Guardians, who badly need offensive help, are letting teams know that former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber could be available, needing immediate firepower in return.
≻ The MLB Commissioner’s office, which can unilaterally appoint players to the All-Star Game in recognition of their careers, is expected to invite St. Louis Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright, who’s retiring this season, while giving consideration to closers Kenley Jansen of the Boston Red Sox and Craig Kimbrel of the Philadelphia Phillies, who each saved their 400th career game this season. A year ago, future Hall of Famers Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera were the legend picks.
≻ The juicy intrigue concerning the Cincinnati Reds with their talented surplus of middle infielders is that agent Scott Boras represents all of them: Second baseman Jonathan India, shortstop Matt McLain, and baseball’s No. 1 prospect Elly De La Cruz, another shortstop.
The easiest and clearest way to clear the logjam is not to trade India, a clubhouse leader, but simply move De La Cruz to the outfield, which has been extensively discussed internally.
≻ The San Francisco Giants privately are planning on life without shortstop Brandon Crawford in 2024. Crawford, 36, is undecided whether he wants to continue playing after this season, but if the Giants don’t bring him back, he may not want to play for another team.
≻ The Los Angeles Angels and Colorado Rockies spent $427 million on marquee free agents Anthony Rendon and Kris Bryant.
What have they received in return? A grand total of 16 home runs and 75 RBI.
Both players are on the injured list again, leaving the Angels and Rockies completely exasperated, wondering if they’ll even get one good season out of them before their seven-year contracts expire.
≻ MLB has promised the San Diego Padres they will pay them up to 80% of the money that Bally Sports was obligated to pay them this year, and the 13 other teams that could be affected by Bally Sports’ bankruptcy. The Padres have a 20-year, $1.2 billion contract through 2032 with Bally’s that was backloaded.
≻ The Dodgers say that with Mookie Betts’ ability to play shortstop they may not pursue infield help at the trade deadline, even if Chicago White Sox All-Star shortstop Tim Anderson becomes available.
Yet, the shortstop position has been a nightmare, ranking 29th in the major leagues in batting average, last in on-base percentage and 29th in OPS.
≻ One of the secret reasons that offense is slightly up this year is that official scorers have been informed to rule any close play a hit rather than an error. The defensive miscues that are now ruled a hit has become comical.
"If Ozzie Smith played in today’s game," one NL manager said, "he would have gone his entire career without making an error. It’s ridiculous."
≻ Congratulations to Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Jon Singleton for his perseverance, returning to the big leagues for the first time since 2015 after being out of baseball for three years because of marijuana use, which was illegal at the time.
"My career would have been completely different," Singleton told USA TODAY Sports this spring, "it would be a complete 180 to be honest. But times were different then. People thought a different way back then. It’s strange because everyone was so open about alcohol, but had complete different feelings about weed."
≻ The Detroit Tigers watched the trade value of left-handed ace Eduardo Rodriguez absolutely plummet when he sustained a pulley rupture in his left index finger that could sideline him eight to 12 weeks. The Tigers would prefer not to trade him at all, but he’s expected to opt out of his contract after the season.
≻ The Dodgers plan to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of longest-running infield in baseball history on June 23 with first baseman Steve Garvey, second baseman Davey Lopes, shortstop Bill Russell and third baseman Ron Cey at Dodger Stadium. They were in the lineup for the first time in the second game of a June 23, 1973 doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds, and stayed together for nine years, winning four pennants and a World Series title.
≻ Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but perhaps not: The Diamondbacks are 22-11 since the day Madison Bumgarner was officially released.
≻ Heartbreaking to see the tragedy unfold in the life of George Scott III, the son of Red Sox slugger George Scott, who allegedly killed his 8-year-old son before killing himself. Scott had been involved in NFT collections with former MLB players.
≻ You wonder what winning can do for attendance? The Pittsburgh Pirates’ attendance has soared by 39.2% this year with the Baltimore Orioles’ attendance increasing by 24%.
Attendance is up 6% throughout MLB.
≻ That was rather painful for the Boston Red Sox to see Nathan Eovaldi of the Rangers and Michael Wacha of the Padres win the AL and NL Pitchers of the Month in May. The Red Sox, of course, could have kept both players, who signed for a total of $60 million.
≻ Bartolo Colon, 50, has finally called it a career. He will be honored in a Mets’ retirement ceremony Aug. 26 at Citi Field against the Angels, as Hector Gomez reported.
Follow Bob Nightengale on Twitter @Bnightengale.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: David Cone recalls short-lived writing career with 1988 NLCS column
