| << Yesterday | This Day in Baseball History |
Tomorrow>> |
29 Fact(s) Found
| 1949 | As part of the Browns' five-year plan, team president William O. DeWitt announces he plans to place 14 players on the trading block who are 28 years old or older. The youth movement results from St. Louis finishing in seventh place with 53 wins and 101 losses. |
| 1954 | Former Yankees superstar Joe DiMaggio and actress Marilyn Monroe's well-publicized stormy marriage ends in divorce after the famous movie star files on the grounds of mental cruelty, just 274 days after the wedding. After her death in 1962, Joltin' Joe sends roses to his ex-wife's grave three times per week for the next 20 years. |
| 1962 | The Tigers begin an eighteen-game tour of Japan, compiling a 12-4-2 record against their opponents from the 'Land of the Rising Sun.' During the trip, the two countries work out terms of player exchanges between the two nations, giving the respective league's commissioner final approval of any transaction. |
| 1972 | The Braves trade outfielder Rico Carty, the 1970 National League batting champ (.366), to the Rangers for hurler Jim Panther. The 28-year-old right-hander posts a 2-3 record with an ERA of 7.14 in his final major league season, and the traded flycatcher retires in 1979 after finishing a 15-year career with a .299 batting average. |
| 1977 | Calvin Griffin confirms he has rejected skipper Gene Mauch's request to leave the team to manage the Angels. Two days ago, the Twins owner informed Gene Autry, the Halos owner, of his decision, citing the three-year contract was Mauch's idea, and he didn't want to lose a competent manager, liked by the players and the Minnesota fans. |
| 1985 | The Royals become the sixth team to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win the Fall Classic when series MVP Bret Saberhagen, who became a new dad yesterday, blanks the Cardinals on five hits, 11-0. Kansas City is the first home team in World Series history to lose the series' first two games and win the World Championship. |
| 1986 |
With another dramatic comeback, the Mets defeat the Red Sox, 8-5, winning Game 7 of the Fall Classic to become World Champions for the second time in the franchise's 25-year history. Third baseman Ray Knight, the Fall Classic's MVP, makes amends for an earlier error by hitting a home run, which puts the Mets ahead in the seventh inning.
|
| 1989 | After a ten-day delay due to the Loma Prieta earthquake, the World Series resumes with the A's beating the Giants in Game 3, 13-7. Oakland joins the 1928 Yankees as the second team in major league history to hit five home runs in a Fall Classic contest. |
| 1991 |
In Game 7 of the 'Worst to First' World Series, the Twins beat the Braves, 1-0, when Dan Gladden scores the winning run in the bottom of the tenth on Gene Larkin's single, clinching its second world championship since relocating from Washington D.C. in 1961. Atlanta and Minnesota finished last in their respective divisions the previous season.
|
| 1991 | At the Metrodome, Jack Morris goes the distance in Game 7 of the World Series, blanking the Braves, 1-0, in the Twins' ten-inning, dramatic walk-off win. The 36-year-old right-hander, who posts a 2-0 record along with a 1.17 ERA during his three starts, is named the Most Valuable Player of the Fall Classic. |
| 1998 |
"It is especially fitting that this legislation honors a courageous baseball player and individual, the late Curt Flood, whose enormous talents on the baseball diamond were matched by his courage off the field. It was 29 years ago this month that Curt Flood refused a trade from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies. His bold stand set in motion the events that culminate in the bill I have signed into law." - BILL CLINTON, U.S. president, commenting on the Curt Flood Act. President Clinton signs the Curt Flood Act of 1998, revoking baseball's antitrust exemption for labor matters, but not for issues involving relocation, expansion, or the minor leagues. The passage of the legislation by the 105th Congress comes over seventy-five years after the Supreme Court ruled that the sport was not involved in interstate commerce or trade as customarily defined within the context of the Sherman Antitrust Act. |
| 1999 | The Yankees, behind the solid pitching of Roger Clemens, sweep their second straight Fall Classic, beating the Braves, 4-1. Atlanta joins the New York Giants (1910-19) as the only team to lose four World Series in a decade. |
| 2000 | New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani thinks it is okay for children to take a day off from school to watch the Yankees' ticker-tape parade. His Honor, believing baseball can be an educational experience, has allowed his kids, Andrew and Caroline, to miss classes in the past to watch the Bronx Bombers' postseason celebrations. |
| 2000 | The Mets, who lost the Fall Classic in five games to their crosstown rivals, turn down New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's invitation to be part of the ticker-tape parade for the World Champion Yankees in the famed Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan. |
| 2002 | In the team's 42nd season, the Angels finally win a World Series title by beating the Giants, 4-1, in Game 7 at Edison Field. Garret Anderson's three-run double provides enough offense for John Lackey to become the first rookie to win the seventh game since 1909 when Babe Adams accomplished the feat for the Pirates. |
| 2003 | The Red Sox will not renew manager Grady Little's contract. The manager, who won 188 games during his two seasons with Boston, was severely criticized for not removing a tiring Pedro Martinez in the seventh inning of Game 7 of the ALCS, allowing the Yankees to tie the score in their eventual extra-inning pennant-winning victory. |
| 2004 | Under the moon's reddish tint caused by a lunar eclipse, the Red Sox exorcised 86 years of agonizing losses by winning their first World Series since 1918. In one of the most dominating Fall Classic performances, Boston, who never trailed during the four games, blanks the Cardinals, 3-0, to complete the sweep. |
| 2004 | After a 10-day Overstock.com online auction and 240 bids, Barry Bonds' 700th home run ball goes for $804,129. Steve Williams, who came up with the milestone ball in SBC's left-field bleachers on September 17, announced he was quitting his day job as a broker's assistant but hadn't decided what to do with the windfall. |
| 2006 |
 At the new Busch Stadium, the Cardinals beat the heavily favored Tigers, 4-2, in Game 5 of the Fall Classic to win their first world championship since 1982. With an 83-78 record, St. Louis, who lost 10 of their last 14 regular-season games, won fewer games than any World Series champion in baseball history.
|
| 2006 | After leading the Padres to two consecutive NL West titles, Bruce Bochy, with a year left on his contract, leaves San Diego to become the manager of the division rival, San Francisco Giants. The 51-year-old skipper, who compiled a 951-975 (.494) record during his 12 seasons in the Friars dugout, signs a three-year deal worth approximately $6 million. |
| 2007 | 🇯🇵 In the first Fall Classic game played in Colorado, Red Sox right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka, allowing two runs on three hits in 5.1 innings to beat the Rockies in Game 3, 10-5, becomes the first Japanese starting pitcher in World Series history. After paying $51.1 million to negotiate with the right-hander, Boston obtained 'Dice-K' from the Seibu Lions, signing the World Baseball Classic MVP to a six-year deal worth $52 million. |
| 2008 | In a 5-4 Game 3 loss to the Phillies, B.J. Upton becomes the fourth player and first American Leaguer to steal three bases in a World Series game. The Rays' center fielder joins Honus Wagner (Pirates, 1909), Willie Davis (Dodgers, 1965), and Lou Brock (Cardinals, 1967) to accomplish the trio of thefts in a Fall Classic contest. |
| 2008 | After playing in drenching rain until the middle of the sixth inning at Citizens Bank Park, officials suspend Game 5 of the World Series, making it the first Fall Classic contest to start and not played to completion. The 2-2 tied game between the Rays and hometown Phillies, who are one victory away from a world championship, will resume tomorrow at the point the rain delay stopped play. |
| 2009 | General manager Ed Wade announces Brad Mills has agreed to a two-year contract, with a team option for the third, to become the Astros' manager, replacing Dave Clark, the interim manager named in September to take the reins for the fired Cecil Cooper. The 52-year-old, who has been Terry Francona's bench coach for the past six seasons with the Red Sox, has never managed in the majors but spent 11 seasons as a minor league skipper with the Cubs, Rockies, and Dodgers. |
| 2013 |
The Red Sox win the first World Series game to ever end on a pickoff, beating the Cardinals, 4-2, in Game 4 of the Fall Classic. Kolten Wong, a 23-year-old rookie pinch-running for Allen Craig, is caught off first base by Boston closer Koji Uehara, ending the Busch Stadium contest with the dangerous Carlos Beltran at the plate.
|
| 2013 | The San Diego State University baseball team continues their tradition where every player dons a costume during a late-October intra-squad scrimmage. The Aztecs' third annual Halloween Game at Tony Gwynn Stadium, open to the public, features team members dressed as the Jamaican Bobsled Team, social media apps, a Leprechaun, and Captain America and Captain Underwear. |
| 2015 | Michael Conforto becomes the third player to accomplish the World Series Triple Crown, playing in the Little League World Series (2004 Redmond LL, WA), the College World Series (2013 Oregon State), and the MLB World Series (2015 Mets). The two other major leaguers who have participated in the rare event are Jason Varitek (1984 Altamonte Springs LL, FL, 1994 Georgia Tech, and the 2004 Red Sox) and Ed Vosberg (1973 Tucson LL, AZ, the 1980 University of Arizona, and the 1997 Marlins). |
| 2019 | Arriving just before the first pitch of Game 5 of the World Series, President Donald Trump stays for seven innings in the Astros’ eventual 7-1 victory over Washington at Nationals Park. Amidst the boos, chants of “Lock him up!” a reference to a refrain often used during the 2016 campaign toward his opponent Hillary Clinton, are heard when he and his entourage are announced and appear on the ballpark’s video screens at the end of the third frame. |
| 2020 | The Dodgers, the National League representative three out of the last four World Series, end their 32-year drought without a world championship, beating the Rays, 3-1, in Game 6 at Globe Life Field. After winning seven straight divisional titles, the team wins its first Fall Classic since 1988, a year best remembered for the heroics of Kirk Gibson. |
29 Fact(s) Found