He underwent surgery on October 7, 1988, removing half of the deltoid muscle in his pitching arm and freezing the humerus bone in an effort to eliminate all of the cancerous cells.
To see a pitcher break his arm with a loud cracking sound while doing something as ordinary as throwing a pitch, then fall to the ground rolling in agonizing pain, was shocking, unusual, and upsetting, especially for those who had followed his touching story.
The Giants won the National League pennant in 1989, and in the post-game celebration, Dravecky's arm was broken a second time.
Eighteen days later, Dravecky retired from baseball, aged 33, leaving a 64–57 record with 558 strikeouts and a 3.13 ERA in 1,062.2 innings.
= Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts [9] Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts October 4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago October 5 at Wrigley Field in Chicago October 7 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California October 8 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California October 9 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California The Giants made it to their first World Series since 1962 with a 3–2 win over the Cubs to win the 1989 National League pennant, four games to one.
Don Zimmer sent for Mitch Williams to end the jam, but Clark drove a single to center that gave the Giants a 3–1 lead.
It was the first World Series in which the losing team never had the lead and never had the tying run at the plate in its final turn at-bat.