He threw the only immaculate inning in postseason history ... and didn't know until 30 years later

When Boston’s Payton Tolle pitched an immaculate inning on Sept. 13, everyone knew right away what was going on. Red Sox broadcasters counted off the pitches, and as Tolle was about to throw his ninth straight strike, a wry smile crept across his face, and the crowd roared.

So would it surprise you to know that there has been only one immaculate inning in postseason history, and the man who threw it didn’t know he had done it until three decades later?

Danny Jackson struck out the side on nine pitches in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the 1985 World Series. Al Michaels made no mention of it on the TV broadcast because the term “immaculate inning” had not yet entered the baseball lexicon.

Fast forward to 2015 when the Royals won their second World Series title. Jackson, who makes his home in Kansas City, where he spent five of his 15 Major League seasons, was sitting in the stands with his family when a trivia question on the scoreboard revealed his one-of-a-kind feat.

And that’s the moment Jackson himself found out he made history.

“It took me 30 years to know that I even did it,” Jackson, the two-time All-Star and 1988 NL Cy Young runner-up, told MLB.com in a phone interview this week. “I had no idea. My whole family was there with me -- my kids, grandkids, all that -- and they saw my name and they looked at me and said, ‘Dad, did you have that?’ And I said, ‘I have no idea if I did or not.’”

Jackson and his Royals had more important things going on, like erasing the 3-1 hole they found themselves in heading into that Game 5. The then-23-year-old left-hander had already helped Kansas City turn that trick in the ALCS with a shutout in Game 5 vs. Toronto. The Royals won that series in seven games, but now their season hung in the balance once again with Jackson on the mound.

“Danny was a bulldog,” Royals catcher Jim Sundberg said. “He just stepped up big time.”

The Royals led 4-1 when Jackson struck out Terry Pendleton, Tom Nieto and Brian Harper on nine pitches en route to a 6-1 victory that ignited Kansas City’s comeback.

George Brett nearly ruined Jackson’s immaculate bid on the very first pitch to Pendleton, who hit a foul popup near the third-base dugout. In one of the more memorable highlights of Brett’s Hall of Fame career, he went after the ball sliding feet first at full speed into the dugout. He emerged a little banged up, but just missed making the catch.

“Truthfully, thanks to George for not catching that foul ball in the dugout,” Jackson laughed. “I guess that was fortunate.”

After Brett dusted himself off, Jackson finished off Pendleton by dotting a slider on the outside corner, then getting him to whiff on a slider down and in.

Jackson wasn’t known as a high strikeout pitcher -- he had only one punchout in the first six innings -- but he had a fastball in the low 90s that moved somewhat unexpectedly to either side of the plate, and he paired it with a nasty slider.

“Of all the pitchers I caught, outside of the knuckleball, he was the hardest guy for me to catch because of the movement on his pitches,” said Sundberg, a six-time Gold Glove winner. “And I caught nine Hall of Famers.”

Nieto, the Cardinals' catcher, was up next and tried to bunt his way on but it went foul. He then hit a foul pop out of play before looking at a called strike three on the outside corner. Nieto briefly argued the call with home-plate umpire John Shulock, and perhaps it was another bit of good fortune for Jackson that there was no ABS Challenge System in 1985.

Then came Harper, who was pinch-hitting for the pitcher.

“I was taught early on by Willie Stargell when I was with the Pirates that when you pinch-hit, you come off the bench swinging,” Harper said. “I remember that night [Jackson] was throwing inside a lot. When a left-hander is throwing hard and can command that side of the plate as he did, it’s tough to hit.”

Harper chopped two pitches foul before swinging over a slider for strike three.

Nine pitches, nine strikes and not a single person noticed the historic nature of it until decades later.

“I didn't know anything about the immaculate inning either,” said Harper, who only found out this week when reached by phone.

Jackson has come to appreciate his piece of immaculate history, but he is much prouder of the role he played for the Royals in winning that seven-game World Series, as well as being part of the 1990 World Series-champion Reds and the 1993 National League-champion Phillies.

“I really never even thought about the immaculate inning, but I’m also kind of surprised that it took this long for anyone to even ask about it,” he said.

Harper, having just learned his part in it, was asked if he had any reaction to being part of the only immaculate inning in postseason history.

“Yeah,” Harper said, laughing. “I should have taken the 0-2 pitch.”