1984 American League Championship Series
| 1984 American League Championship Series | ||||||||||
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| Dates | October 2–5 | |||||||||
| MVP | Kirk Gibson (Detroit) | |||||||||
| Umpires | Bill Deegan Jon Bible (1B, 3 games) Randy Cristal (2B, 3 games) Larry Zirdel (3B, Game 1) Harold Jordan (OF, Game 1) Mike O'Dell (OF, Game 1) Bob Jones (3B, Game 2) Rick Denny (OF, Game 2) Carl Nothnagel (OF, Game 2) Doug Cossey (3B, Game 3) Dick Runchey (OF, Game 3) Dick Zivic (OF, Game 3) | |||||||||
| Broadcast | ||||||||||
| Television | ABC | |||||||||
| TV announcers | Al Michaels, Howard Cosell and Jim Palmer | |||||||||
| Radio | CBS WJR (DET) WIBW (KC) | |||||||||
| Radio announcers | CBS: Bill White and Curt Gowdy WJR: Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey WIBW: Denny Matthews and Fred White | |||||||||
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The 1984 American League Championship Series was a semifinal matchup in Major League Baseball's 1984 postseason which matched the East Division champion Detroit Tigers against the West Division champion Kansas City Royals. The Tigers took the series in a three-game sweep to advance to the 1984 World Series against the San Diego Padres; the Royals never held a lead in any inning of the series. The sixteenth edition of the ALCS, it was the last to be played as a best-of-five, as both the American League and National League would change their League Championship Series to a best-of-seven format.
Due to a strike by major league umpires, the series was played using local and collegiate umpires, with former AL umpire and league supervisor Bill Deegan working home plate for all three games, using the balloon-style outside chest protector which had been mandatory for all AL umpires prior to 1975 but was banned for new hires in 1977 (umpires on staff before 1977 were covered by a grandfather clause if they wished to continue using the outside protector).