1990 Toronto Blue Jays season

MLB yearly infobox
name = Toronto Blue Jays
season = 1990
misc =

current league = American League
y1 = 1977
division = Eastern Division
y2 = 1977
Uniform logo =
ballpark = SkyDome
y4 = 1989
city = Toronto, Ontario
y5 = 1977
owners = Labatt Breweries,
Imperial Trust,
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
genmanagers = Pat Gillick
managers = Cito Gaston
television = CFTO-TV
(Don Chevrier, Tommy Hutton, Fergie Olver)
The Sports Network
(Buck Martinez, Jim Hughson)
radio = CJCL (AM)
(Jerry Howarth, Tom Cheek)|The by|1990 Toronto Blue Jays season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Blue Jays finishing second in the American League East with a record of 86 wins and 76 losses. 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: Sil Campusano was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies from the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1989 rule 5 draft. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/campusi01.shtml Sil Campusano Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]
*December 5, 1989: Mike Maksudian was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Miami (Florida State) in the 1989 minor league draft. [http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/maksumi01.shtml]
* December 7, 1989: Paul Kilgus was traded by the Chicago Cubs to the Toronto Blue Jays for Jose Nunez. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kilgupa01.shtml Paul Kilgus Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]
* December 17, 1989 - The Atlanta Braves sent Ricky Trlicek to the Toronto Blue Jays for Ernie Whitt and Kevin Batiste.
*January 29, 1990: Jim Eppard was signed as a Free Agent with the Toronto Blue Jays. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/e/epparji01.shtml Jim Eppard Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]

Regular season

The 1990 season belonged to third baseman Kelly Gruber. He started by becoming the first Blue Jay to hit for the cycle, accomplishing the feat on April 16 vs. the Kansas City Royals. 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 Award winner at third base.

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

eason standings

No-Hitters

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.

Notable transactions

*May 8, 1990: Mike Flanagan was released by the Toronto Blue Jays. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/f/flanami01.shtml Mike Flanagan Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]
*June 4, 1990: Steve Karsay was drafted by the Jays in the 1st round of the 1990 amateur draft. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?year_ID=1990&round=1&draft_type=junreg Baseball Draft: 1st Round of the 1990 June Draft - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]
* June 4, 1990: Felipe Crespo was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 3rd round of the 1990 amateur draft. Player signed September 22, 1990. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/crespfe01.shtml Felipe Crespo Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]
*June 4, 1990: Howard Battle was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 4th round of the 1990 amateur draft. Player signed June 6, 1990. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/battlho01.shtml Howard Battle Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]
*June 18, 1990: Kenny Williams was selected off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Detroit Tigers. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/w/willike02.shtml Kenny Williams Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]
*July 27, 1990: John Candelaria was traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Toronto Blue Jays for Nelson Liriano and Pedro Munoz. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/candejo01.shtml John Candelaria Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]
*August 21, 1990: The Toronto Blue Jays signed future Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke to a contract. [ [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/chris_weinke/index.html?query=TORONTO%20BLUE%20JAYS&field=org&match=exact Chris Weinke News - The New York Times - Narrowed by 'TORONTO BLUE JAYS' ] ]
*September 16, 1990: Bud Black was traded by the Cleveland Indians to the Toronto Blue Jays for players to be named later and Mauro Gozzo. The Toronto Blue Jays sent Steve Cummings (September 21, 1990) and Alex Sanchez (September 24, 1990) to the Cleveland Indians to complete the trade. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/blackbu02.shtml Bud Black Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]
* September 24, 1990: Rich Butler was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays as an amateur free agent. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/butleri01.shtml Rich Butler Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]
* September 24, 1990: Rob Butler was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays as an amateur free agent. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/butlero01.shtml Rob Butler Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]

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. [ [http://www.baseballcardproject.com/showcard.asp?Card=Score~Rookies-Traded~1990~100] , The Baseball Card Project, accessed August 31 2006]

Roster

Other batters

Relief pitchers

Award Winners

* Kelly Gruber, Player of the Month Award, September
* Kelly Gruber, Silver Slugger Award

All-Star Game
* George Bell, OF
* Kelly Gruber, 3B
* Dave Stieb, P [ [http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/tor/history/all_stars.jsp Blue Jays All-Stars | bluejays.com: History ] ]

References

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TOR/1990.shtml 1990 Toronto Blue Jays team page at Baseball Reference]
* [http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1990&t=TOR 1990 Toronto Blue Jays team page at www.baseball-almanac.com]