A Renewed National Pastime: An Alternative MLB
I am a huge baseball fan. One of the most impressive books I have read is Buster Olney’s account of the Yankee Dynasty from 1996-2001. He views the key to the dynasty was the changes that Buck Showalter made in the early 90’s that allowed the Yankees to start acquiring bigger players in free agency to complement homegrown talent such as Jeter, Rivera, and Bernie Williams. The first big name free agent the Yankees got was Jimmy Key, a very good veteran lefty who recognized that New York could be a great place to play. The question this timeline looks at is what happened if he moved elsewhere, and the impact it would have on baseball.
Chapter I: 1992 Free Agency
From Canadian Dynasty: How Two Canadian Teams Succeeded at America’s Game by George Stroumboulopoulos
It has been said that 1992 World Series was a watershed moment in North American sports. The Blue Jays had been able to be the first team from outside the United States to play in and win a World Series. Baseball was popular and booming in Canada like never before. The SkyDome was viewed as a stadium of the future and was showing that baseball could attract people to a ballpark. The Blue Jays had one issue that needed to be dealt with as the glow from the championship subsided, which was how to keep free agent Jimmy Key.
“I had finished out my contract at the end of the 1992 season. I had been pitching well in the playoffs and was a key cog in the clinching Game 6 of the Series. I was comfortable in Toronto and I wanted a secure 4 year deal that would allow me to test the waters. The other big free agent on the market was Greg Maddux, who was being looked at by the Yankees. Maddux eventually chose to stick with Atlanta. I looked at New York and was interested, but I felt that it would be wrong to leave a team that was loyal to me, and there was the small matter of the suspension of George Steinbrenner. I accepted a 4 year deal worth 20 million to stay in Toronto.”
-Jimmy Key
From the documentary “Back to Back: 1992-1993 World Champion Blue Jays”