1995 World Series: Atlanta & Cleveland Meet At Their Peak
The 1995 World Series was one baseball needed. After the strike canceled the postseason in 1994, it was the first Fall Classic in two years. Better still, it featured the two best teams in baseball during the regular season, the Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Indians.
Both were pursuing historic championships–the Braves hadn’t won it all since they were a Milwaukee franchise in 1957 and had endured several near-misses in the first half of the 1990s. The Indians had been waiting since 1948—a year they ironically beat the Boston-based Braves.
In 1995, Atlanta and Cleveland played tense, nerve-wracking games. But while the individual games were exceptional, it was the Braves who set the early tone, delivered the biggest hits, maintained control of the Series, and ultimately closed it out in six games.
You can read more about the regular season journeys of each team, their key players, and game-by-game narratives of their victories in the Division Series and League Championship Series at the links below. This article will focus squarely on the games of the 1995 World Series.
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1995 ATLANTA BRAVES
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1995 CLEVELAND INDIANS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1995 NLCS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1995 ALCS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1995 NLDS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1995 ALDS
Homefield advantage for the World Series was done on a rotation basis in 1995. It was the National League’s turn to host. Thus, even though Cleveland had MLB’s best record by ten games, the ’95 Fall Classic would open in Atlanta.
Saturday, October 21
The Braves gave the ball to Cy Young Award winner and future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux to open the Series. The Indians answered with Orel Hershiser, a postseason legend from his days with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
On the first at-bat of the Series, Atlanta shortstop committed an error that put speedy Kenny Lofton on base. Lofton promptly stole second. With one out he swiped third. Carlos Baerga’s productive groundball out gave the Tribe a run without getting a hit.
The Braves made their response in the bottom of the second when Fred McGriff homered to tie it 1-1. Then Maddux and Hershiser took over. From the third inning through the bottom of the seventh, each team mustered just one hit apiece. And the tense 1-1 tie persisted as Atlanta came to the plate.
Hershiser lost his control and walked McGriff and David Justice to open the inning. Paul Assenmacher came in from the bullpen and walked Mike Devereaux to load up the bases. Julian Tavarez was the next Cleveland reliever. He got Luis Polonia to ground out, but it scored the go-ahead run and the runners moved to second and third. Belliard dropped down a sacrifice squeeze bunt that made it 3-1. Atlanta had scored twice without getting a hit.
In the top of the ninth, Lofton singled. On a groundball out, he moved up to second and then looked to aggressively take third. It forced a McGriff throwing error that brought Lofton around to score. But it ended there.
Maddux finished off a complete-game two-hitter and didn’t walk a man. Cleveland pitching was almost as good, allowing five hits, but Atlanta had gotten the home run and the walks to key their scoring rallies. The Braves had a 3-2 win.
Sunday, October 22
Atlanta trotted out another Hall of Fame-bound starter for Game 2, with lefty Tom Glavine. Cleveland answered with Dennis Martinez. The Braves mounted an early rally, putting runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the first. But Martinez got McGriff to tap back to the mound and hold the runners in place. Martinez escaped with no damage. And in the top of the second, after a leadoff single from Albert Belle, Eddie Murray homered. Cleveland was up 2-0.
A hit batsman followed by a Mark Lemke single to open the bottom of the third put Atlanta in business. An errant pickoff throw put runners on the corners and allowed Chipper Jones’ sac fly to cut the lead in half. McGriff’s groundout moved Lemke to second base with two outs. That set up Justice’s single that tied the game 2-2.
Both pitchers remained in control until the bottom of the sixth. Justice got something going with a leadoff single. And with one out, Javy Lopez homered. Atlanta had a 4-2 lead.
The Braves were into their bullpen for the first time in the top of the seventh, as Greg McMichael worked. With two outs, Lofton again gave the Indians a spark. He singled and stole second. A line drive to left field looked ready to end the inning. But Devereaux, just inserted for his defense, made an error and Cleveland cut the lead to 4-3.
Alejandro Pena came on in relief and got Belle to end the inning and keep the lead. Pena, along with closer Mark Wohlers cleaned up the final two frames without incident and that’s where Game 2 ended. The opening weekend had seen tense, well-played games that each ended with the same outcome. Atlanta was heading north in early control of this World Series.
Tuesday, October 24
Charles Nagy got the call for Cleveland in what was virtually a must-win Game 3. Atlanta ran another future Hall of Fame arm off their assembly line of pitchers, going with John Smoltz.
The Braves applied early pressure. After Nagy got the first two batters of the game out, Chipper Jones doubled, McGriff singled and it was quickly 1-zip. But the Indian offense responded immediately against Smoltz. Lofton singled to lead off the bottom of the first and scored on a triple by Omar Vizquel. Baerga’s RBI groundout put the Tribe ahead 2-1.
Lofton continued to be a spark for the Cleveland offense in the third, leading off with a double. Vizquel put down a bunt and beat it out. Consecutive singles from Baerga and Belle scored two more runs. After issuing a one-out walk to Jim Thome, Smoltz got an early shower. Brad Clontz came on in relief and got a big double-play ball off the bat of Manny Ramirez. Atlanta trailed 4-1, but it was early and it could have been far worse.
After a couple of quiet innings, the Braves used power to get back into it. McGriff hit a solo blast in the top of the sixth. Ryan Klesko did the same in the seventh. It was 4-3, and the pressure was creeping back up on Cleveland.
Kent Mercker was on in relief for Atlanta by the bottom of the seventh. Lofton worked a one-out walk, and then took second on a groundball out. A steal of third with two outs was a daring—one might even say reckless—move. But It paid off. Lofton made it, and was in position to score when Baerga beat out an infield hit. The Tribe led 5-3.
But the Braves kept coming. Marquis Grissom doubled to open the top of the eighth and promptly scored on a base hit by Polonia. Assenmacher came on for Nagy. Polonia stole second. Chipper worked a walk. A deep fly ball from McGriff allowed both runners to tag. The tying run was on third, the go-ahead run was on second and there was still just one out.
A Baerga error tied the game 5-5 and left Chipper on third. Tavarez came on, but he allowed a base hit to Devereaux. Atlanta led 6-5. Tavarez included Lopez to ground into a double play, but Cleveland was now facing a desperate situation.
McMichael was on for the bottom of the eighth. After a one-out walk, Paul Sorrento singled. The Indians were in business and Atlanta manager Bobby Cox summoned closer Wohlers. Sandy Alomar greeted Wohlers with a double. It was 6-6, the Tribe had new life and they still had runners on second and third with one out.
Lofton was intentionally walked to load the bases. Wohlers buckled down and got a big strikeout of Vizquel. The game stayed tied 6-6. Wohlers and Indians closer Jose Mesa traded putting up zeroes through ten innings. Mesa pitched his third successful inning of relief in the 11th. Cox called on Pena.
It didn’t take long in the bottom of the 11th. Baerga led off with a double. Murray knocked him in with a single. The Indians had gotten a thrilling 7-6 win and we had a Series again.
Wednesday, October 25
The fourth starters, Steve Avery for Atlanta and Cleveland’s Ken Hill were on the mound for Game 4. And they both pitched like aces. For five innings, there was only modest traffic on the bases both ways and no one could score. In the sixth inning, Klesko hit a solo shot to give the Braves the lead. Belle answered right back with one of his own for the Indians. It was 1-1 going into the seventh.
A one-out walk to Grissom opened the door. Polonia, continuing his quietly clutch performance, ripped a double to put Atlanta up 2-1. Assenmacher came to relieve Hill. Another walk to Chipper, followed by a passed ball, put runners on second and third. A strikeout of McGriff had Assenmacher poised to escape. But Justice continued to put his own mark on this series, with a huge two-out single that scored both runs and gave Atlanta a 4-1 lead.
The Braves took out some insurance against Cleveland’s Alan Embree in the top of the ninth, when McGriff led off with a double and Lopez picked him up with a two-out two-bagger of his own. It was 5-1.
Avery had worked six innings, McMichael cruised through the seventh and eighth, and Wohlers was on to close it out. Manny homered and Sorrento doubled. It was 5-2, there were none out and a potent Tribe lineup had the tying run in the on-deck circle. Cox removed his closer and called on Pedro Borbon.
Borbon, the son of a reliever of the same name who had pitched for the Big Red Machine in the 1970s, finished the job. The game ended 5-2 and Atlanta was on the brink of a championship.
Thursday, October 26
Maddux and Hershiser were back at it for Game 5. Their back to the wall, Cleveland gave themselves some room to breathe in the first inning when Vizquel worked a one-out a walk and Belle hit a two-out homer for a quick 2-0 lead.
Hershiser cruised through three. Polonia’s solo shot in the top of the fourth cut the lead to 2-1. In the top of the fifth, Klesko’s single was followed by Hershiser hurting his own cause with an error that put runners on first and second with no outs. Charlie O’Brien dropped a sac bunt that moved both runners up.
After an intentional walk, Grissom legged out an infield hit and the game was tied 2-2. The bases were still loaded with only one out and this game—and the Series—was on the verge of getting away from the Indians as Polonia came to the plate. Hershiser got the ground ball he needed, a 6-4-3 double play that kept the game tied.
We had yet another evening of gradually building tension as the Indians came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth. Baerga doubled with one out. With two outs, Atlanta intentionally walked the fearsome Belle. In short order, the Tribe got clutch singles from Thome and Manny that scored two runs and gave them a 4-2 edge.
Thome did more damage in the eighth, homering off Clontz to extend the lead to 5-2. Hershiser handed it off to Mesa in the ninth. It got a little interesting, as McGriff doubled and Klesko homered with two outs to make it 5-4. But Mesa got the final out. The Indians were still breathing and the Series was heading back to Atlanta.
Saturday, October 28
Atlanta had the burden of history weighing on them. The Braves had been a dominant team in the 1990s. But they came up short in the World Series in 1991 and 1992. They lost in the playoffs in 1993 and the strike ended their hopes in 1994. The “can’t win the big one” tag was comfortably settling on them. With these final two games at home, they couldn’t let another one slip away.
Glavine faced off with Dennis Martinez in a rematch of Game 2. Martinez was pitching around trouble early on. He walked two batters to lead off the bottom of the second. He loaded up the bases in the bottom of the fourth with two down. But both times, the Indian starter got the outs he needed and kept putting zeroes on the board.
Atlanta rallied again in the fifth, getting two runners on with two outs. Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove went to the bullpen for Jim Poole, to get a lefty-lefty matchup with McGriff. Poole got a strikeout. The Braves kept coming up empty.
But in the meantime, Glavine was dominant. He had a no-hitter through five, allowing just two walks. Indian catcher Tony Pena finally got his team’s first hit, a leadoff single in the top of the sixth. But he went nowhere and Glavine kept rolling.
Justice led off the bottom of the sixth against Poole. This time the lefty-lefty thing didn’t work for Cleveland. Justice homered. Atlanta was up 1-0.
The Braves kept mounting rallies, loading the bases with two outs in the seventh against Embree. They kept getting turned back. With the Indians having the game’s most feared offense, surely all these missed opportunities were going to come back and haunt Atlanta, right?
On a normal night, maybe. But this was no ordinary night. Glavine was putting on one of the great pitching performances in World Series history. He worked through eight innings allowing only the single to Pena. The 1-0 score stood up to the ninth.
Wohlers was on for the Braves to try and seal the deal. And the inning went without incident. When Baerga flied out to Grissom, the party could finally start in Atlanta.
AFTERMATH
Glavine’s vintage performance in Game 6 and his two wins overall, made him a deserved winner of the 1995 World Series MVP. Other notable performances came from Grissom who quietly collected nine hits. McGriff homered twice and Klesko hit three blasts. Polonia and Justice didn’t have dynamic numbers for the Series overall, but both seemed to be consistently present at big moments.
The same could be said for Lofton on the Cleveland side. He only batted .200 for the Series, going 5-for-25. But he certainly maxed out his impact, adding three walks and stealing six bases. Belle, off a dominant regular season, was pitched around all Series long, getting seven walks. But he still hit two home runs. The real problem for the Indians was that three key bats in the middle of the order—Manny, Thome and Murray—combined to go 10-for-56.
Atlanta and Cleveland both continued to be excellent teams for the balance of the 1990s, firmly among baseball’s elite. The Braves won two more National League pennants, while the Indians returned to the World Series in 1997. The only problem was that 1995 was the last year before Joe Torre’s New York Yankee dynasty changed the October landscape.
In ’95, Atlanta and Cleveland got to have the biggest stage to themselves. They gave the country a battle worth watching and one that lifted history’s burden from the Braves—just in time.