The 1991 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1991 season. The 88th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Minnesota Twins and the National League (NL) champion Atlanta Braves. The Twins defeated the Braves four games to three to win the championship, their second in Minnesota and third overall. The series was unique because of the standings of the two participating teams in the previous season: both finished the 1990 season in last place; before 1991, no league champion had ever finished the previous season in last place.
A number of outlets regard the 1991 World Series as one of the greatest ever. In 2003, ESPN selected this championship as the "Greatest of All Time" in their "World Series 100th Anniversary" countdown, with five of its games decided by a single run, four decided in the final at-bat and three going into extra innings. In addition to the suspense of the outcome of many of its games, the Series had other highlights. For example, the series-deciding seventh game was a scoreless tie (0–0) through the regular nine innings, and went into extra innings; Minnesota won 1–0 in the 10th inning, with their starting pitcher, Jack Morris, pitching a complete game. Morris was named the MVP for the series.
With 69 innings in total, the 1991 World Series formerly shared the record for longest seven-game World Series in terms of innings that had been set with the 1924 World Series which, coincidentally, featured the Twins' predecessor, the Senators (the 1912 World Series, which saw one game tied due to darkness, logged the most innings ever, at 75). This record was broken by the 2025 World Series, which lasted 74 innings.
As of , this is Minnesota’s last World Series victory and appearance, their third-most recent victory in a postseason series, as well as the most recent men's professional sports championship won by a Minneapolis-St.Paul-based team.
Background
Minnesota Twins Three years after their 1987 World Series championship, the Minnesota Twins went 74–88 in 1990 to finish last in the American League West (29 games behind the Oakland Athletics, the eventual World Series runner-up) for the first time since 1982. However, in 1991, thanks to breakout seasons from pitchers such as Scott Erickson and Kevin Tapani and a Rookie of the Year-winning performance from second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, along with a strong season by newly acquired free agent and future Hall of Famer Jack Morris, the Twins won their division by eight games over the Chicago White Sox. They defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in five games in the American League Championship Series to advance to the Fall Classic. Kirby Puckett batted .429 with two home runs and five RBI to win the ALCS MVP award.
Atlanta Braves Following a late-season collapse in 1983, the Atlanta Braves had a string of seven consecutive losing seasons and finished last in the National League West three times in a row from 1988 to 1990. Bobby Cox returned to the Atlanta Braves' dugout as manager in the middle of the 1990 season, replacing Russ Nixon. The Braves would finish the year with the worst record in baseball, at 65–97, and traded Dale Murphy to the Philadelphia Phillies after it was clear he was becoming a less dominant player. Pitching coach Leo Mazzone began developing young pitchers Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, and John Smoltz into future stars.
In 1991, after having a 39–40 record at the All-Star break, the Braves surged in the second half to win the division title on the penultimate day of the season. The Braves won 55 of their final 83 games over the last three months of the season and edging the Los Angeles Dodgers by a single game. Aided by position players David Justice, Ron Gant, unexpected MVP third baseman Terry Pendleton and Cy Young Award winner Tom Glavine, 1991 was the franchise's best season since 1957. They defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games in the National League Championship Series to win their first National League pennant since 1958. Avery was named the NLCS MVP after pitching two scoreless starts with 17 strikeouts in innings.
Summary The 1991 World Series was notable for several grueling contests, with five of its games decided by one run (three of which in extra innings; including the third game, a 12-inning marathon that saw Twins manager Tom Kelly run out of pitchers).
Matchups
Game 1
The ceremonial first pitch of the series was thrown by retired AL umpire Steve Palermo, who had been forced into early retirement when he was seriously injured by gunshot while coming to the aid of a robbery victim in Dallas on July 7, 1991. After the pitch, the Twins' Al Newman returned the ball to Palermo and the series umpires jogged to the mound to exchange well wishes.
The Twins started their ace, Minnesota native Jack Morris. In his first season with his hometown team, the future Hall of Famer won 18 games, recorded a 3.43 ERA (16th best in the American League), and pitched ten complete games. He was also one of the few starting pitchers in the series on either side with prior experience; seven years earlier, as the ace of the Detroit Tigers, Morris won two games in the 1984 World Series and helped lead Detroit to its most recent world championship. He also had recorded two victories in the ALCS over the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Braves countered with Charlie Leibrandt, the only Brave pitcher with Series exposure. Before joining the Braves in 1990, Leibrandt was a member of the Kansas City Royals for six seasons and had won 17 games for their 1985 World Series champion squad. Thus he was also the only Braves starter who had previously faced several members of the Twins lineup, including Dan Gladden, Kirby Puckett, and Kent Hrbek. In 1991, Leibrandt was 15–13 with a 3.49 ERA. His win total was third on the team behind Tom Glavine and Steve Avery. In the NLCS against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Leibrandt pitched in Game 5 and recorded a no-decision.
Minnesota scored first in the bottom of the third. With two out, leadoff hitter Dan Gladden walked and then stole second. Rookie second baseman Chuck Knoblauch then singled to drive him in, but was caught in a rundown in between first and second and tagged out to end the inning. Manager Tom Kelly later said that he wanted Knoblauch to take the turn around first to draw the throw away from the plate and allow the run to score. The Twins added three more runs in the fifth, as Kent Hrbek led off with a double, Scott Leius singled and shortstop Greg Gagne hit a three-run shot. Leibrandt was pulled from the game after the home run, and reliever Jim Clancy promptly allowed Gladden and Knoblauch to reach base on an error and a walk. Gladden reached third on a fly ball by Kirby Puckett for the first out, and after Knoblauch stole second Chili Davis was put on intentionally. Twins catcher Brian Harper then lifted a fly ball to left field that was caught for the second out. Gladden tagged again and tried to score, running over Atlanta catcher Greg Olson in the process, but Olson held onto the ball for the third out even though Gladden flipped him so hard that he momentarily stood on his head.
The Braves broke through against Morris in the top of the sixth, as Jeff Treadway and David Justice reached base with two out. Ron Gant then followed with a single that Gladden misplayed, which scored Treadway and left runners at second and third. Morris got out of the jam by striking out Sid Bream to end the inning, and the Twins added an insurance run in the bottom of the inning as Hrbek homered off Clancy.
After walking the first two batters to lead off the eighth, Morris was pulled from the game in favor of Mark Guthrie, who induced a double play off the bat of Terry Pendleton. After Guthrie walked Justice, Twins closer Rick Aguilera came into the game and gave up a hit to Gant. The hit drove in Lonnie Smith from third base, and the run was charged to Morris. It was the last run scored, as the Twins won 5–2 with Aguilera picking up the four-out save.
Morris's win was his third World Series win in as many starts, as he won Games 1 and 4 of the 1984 Series. Leibrandt's poor performance resulted in his being removed from the rotation, although he did pitch in Game 6, facing just one batter and giving up the game-winning home run to Puckett.
During the game, a Hrbek pop foul hit Commissioner Fay Vincent's daughter Anne in the head.
Game 2
The pitching matchup featured 1991 National League Cy Young Award winner Tom Glavine against the Twins' 16-game winner and number two starter, Kevin Tapani. Tapani had the lowest ERA of the Twins' rotation, 2.99, while Glavine led the Braves in wins with 20. In their respective League Championship Series, Tapani had not pitched particularly well having lost Game 2 and giving up five early runs in Game 5. Glavine lost his NLCS starts in Games 1 and 5, giving up a total of six runs.
Leading off the bottom of the first, Gladden lifted a seemingly routine pop-up toward second base. Atlanta fielders Justice and Mark Lemke miscommunicated and collided, and the ball fell from Lemke's glove. Gladden reached second on a two-base error. After walking Knoblauch, Glavine induced Puckett to ground to third, where Pendleton stepped on the bag to retire Gladden and threw across to Sid Bream to retire Puckett for the double play. But the next batter, Davis, homered off Glavine and gave the Twins an early 2–0 lead.
The Braves got a run back in the top of the second when Justice singled, was doubled to third by Bream, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Brian Hunter. Controversy occurred the next inning when Lonnie Smith reached first on an error by Scott Leius. With two outs, Gant ripped a single to left. Smith, playing for a record fourth team in World Series play, tried to beat the throw to third from Gladden, which was wild and missed third baseman Leius.
The play was not over, however, as Gant was hung up between first and second as he tried to advance on the errant throw. Tapani, backing up the play, fielded the ball and threw back toward first. Gant tried to get back standing up, but Hrbek fielded the ball just before he got to the base and moved to tag Gant out. Somehow, Hrbek's arm and Gant's leg got tangled and the two players stumbled backward. First base umpire Drew Coble called Gant out on the play, a furious Gant and first base coach Pat Corrales argued, and CBS analyst Tim McCarver agreed, that Hrbek had pulled Gant off of the base. Hrbek claimed after the game that Gant had pushed him, and Gant later said that Hrbek had grabbed his leg and fell backward, taking him with him. Coble would later explain his reasoning behind the call for MLB's official video recap of the series. He said that when Gant had come back toward first, he had come in off-balance and was falling over as Hrbek applied the tag; Coble said that based on that, he determined that Gant's own momentum had caused him to leave the base and called him out after Hrbek kept the tag on him. Tom Kelly said that Gant would not have had a problem if he had slid into the bag. This call was ranked as one of the top ten worst baseball calls by both ESPN and Sports Illustrated. Hrbek became a hated figure in Atlanta, was lustily booed, and even received a death threat. In 2011, the Twins celebrated the 20th anniversary of the controversial play by commissioning a bobblehead doll of Hrbek and Gant entangled, a promotion that proved popular with Twins fans.