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March 24, 1984, may just be one of the most important dates in all Detroit Tigers history. It is definitely the most important date for Tigers fans of my generation as it was the day the Tigers front office made the trade that most directly led to their 1984 World Series title.
On this day, the Tigers traded John Wockenfuss and Glenn Wilson to the Philadelphia Phillies for RP Willie Hernandez and Dave Bergman. Willie would go one to win the 1984 American League CY Young Award, and MVP honors in route to a World title.
This trade may feel like a steal for the Tigers. They got Hernandez who was neither the closer nor the set up guy for the Phillies. He was just a relief pitcher and he had not been there all that long. The Phillies had traded for him before the 1983 season.
It seems the thinking on the Phillies part was they needed some power. In 1983 they were the lowest hitting team (.195 team batting average) to make the World Series. They were beaten in the 1983 Series in five games, and Willie only pitched four innings in three separate games. He did however walk the go ahead run in, in the top of the sixth in game four. Given all that we can understand why the Phillies were willing to give up on Hernandez.
While there is no argument that Hernandez has the best season of his career in 1984, the trade is not as one-sided as it seems. The Phillies Got Wilson who played parts of the next four seasons with the club. In 1984 he hit just .240, with six home runs and 31 RBI. However his overall numbers with the Phillies were far better. In his Phillies career he hit .265, with 49 home runs, and 271 RBI.
While Hernandez ended up being the Tigers closer for the rest of the 1980’s. Many Phillies fans do not fault the organization for making this deal. While Dave Bergman was involved in this trade, he never played a game for the Phillies. He had been accrued earlier that same day in a trade with the San Francisco Giants.
Wockenfuss was a non factor in the deal. He played two seasons with the Phillies, and was a utility guy, and put up the kind of numbers that we would expect for a utility guy.
For the Tigers Bergman was an essential piece. Given his ability to play first and DH, the Tigers were able to platoon Darrell Evans and Tom Brookens at Third and following the 1984 season trade 3B Howard Johnson for Starting Pitcher Walt Terrell.
While much of the 1984 Tigers team were home grown, coming from several strong drafts in the late 1970’s, the Willie Hernandez trade was the final piece this team needed for the miracle 1984 run.
Given the fact hat 1983 Tigers closer Aurelio Lopez converted just 18 saves and had a 9-8 record in 1983, we can understand the Tigers motivation to bring in a guy capable of dominating games like Hernandez was. Lopez was far better suited to the set up guy role and in 1984 went 10-1, converted 14 saves, and had a 2.94 ERA.
I don’t want to say the Phillies lost in the deal, because Willie wasn’t exactly one of their star players, and he was essentially an extra bullpen arm. However given the fact they went 81-81 in 1984 and closer Al Holland converted 29 saves compared to Hernandez’s 3 saves and 9-3 record seems to suggest that they were the losers of this deal.
When we also consider that the Tigers got long term production out of Bergman and, neither player acquired by the Phillies was with the team long term, we have to call this one a steal for the Tigers.
Related Links:
• Pride of the Tigers
• Detroit Sports Complete.com
• Detroit Tigers news and notes
• The Business of Major League Baseball
• MTR Baseball.com
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