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This Day in Baseball History
October 1st

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67 Fact(s) Found
1903 In the first World Series game ever played, Pirates' hurler Deacon Phillippe beats Cy Young and the Pilgrims, 7-3, at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston. Pittsburgh right fielder Jimmy Sebring hits the first Fall Classic home run.
1924 Jimmy O'Connell, who will be out of baseball at the age of 23, is banned from the World Series by Kenesaw Mountain Landis after admitting to the commissioner his attempt to bribe Philadelphia shortstop Heinie Sand to "go easy" during their season-ending series against the Giants. The New York outfielder implicates future Hall of Famers Frank Frisch, George Kelly, and Ross Youngs, but his teammates deny throwing the game, avoiding punishment.
1932 In Game 3 of the World Series, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig become the first teammates to hit multiple homers in the same postseason game when their four round-trippers account for six runs in the Yankees' 7-5 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. On the same date, 78 years later, the feat is accomplished again when a pair of Padres, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Will Myers, go deep twice in the second game of the 2020 NL Wild-Card series.
1932 Eighteen-year-old Joe DiMaggio makes his professional debut at the end of the San Francisco Seals campaign, playing shortstop for the Pacific Coast League team. Next year, the future Yankee superstar will hit .340 with 169 RBIs and 28 home runs in his first full season in the PCL.
1932 In the fifth inning of Game 3 of the World Series, baseball lore has Babe Ruth pointing to the outfield, predicting that he will hit a home run on the next pitch before he takes Cubs pitcher Charlie Root deep for the second of his two home runs in New York's 7-5 victory at Wrigley Field. Although no definitive proof exists, the 'Bambino' continued to embellish the account of his 'Called Shot' throughout his lifetime, with the Chicago right-hander who threw the pitch denying the Yankee slugger had ever made the gesture to his dying day.

1933 Babe Ruth gives up 12 hits and five earned runs, going the distance to beat the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, 6-5. The 38-year-old Sultan of Swat's performance on the mound, a ploy to attract fans to a meaningless game, will be his last appearance as a pitcher, a position in which the future Hall of Fame slugger will post a 94-46 career record.
1944 Dixie Walker, an outfielder on the seventh-place Dodgers, wins the National League batting crown with a .357 batting average, finishing ten points higher than runner-up Stan Musial. In 1947, the 'People's Cherce's younger brother, Harry' the Hat,' will also lead the Senior Circuit, hitting .363 playing with the Phillies and the first ten games with the Cardinals before being traded to Philadelphia.
1944 The Browns, for the first and only time in their history, clinch the American League pennant when they beat the defending world champion Yankees at Sportsman's Park, 5-2. A pair of two-run homers hit by Chet Laabs, an All-Star outfielder in 1943 who has seen limited duty this season due to his job at a wartime defense plant, provides most of the team's offensive output.
1946 The Dodgers and Cardinals, who finished the season with a 96-58 record, play the first game of a best-of-three series to determine the National League's championship, marking the first time in major league history a playoff is needed to send a team to the World Series. St. Louis wins today's Sportsman's Park contest, 4-2, and will clinch the pennant in Game 2, beating Brooklyn at Ebbets Field, 8-4.
1949 Alex Kellner becomes the first 20-game winner for the A's since Lefty Grove accomplished the feat in 1933 when he goes the distance in Philadelphia's 7-4 victory over Washington at Griffith Stadium. The 24-year-old southpaw's success will be short-lived when he leads the American League with 20 losses next season.
1949

"I like to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee." - JOE DiMAGGIO, on the day he is honored at Yankee Stadium

The Bronx Bombers stage a Joe DiMaggio Day at the Bronx ballpark, showering the future Hall of Fame outfielder with an unprecedented haul that includes two cars, a boat, three hundred quarts of ice cream, and a cocker spaniel. The superstar tells the capacity crowd, including his mother and brother Dom, a member of the visiting Red Sox, "I like to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee."

1950 In the season's finale, Pee Wee Reese, ignoring the second base ump's directive to slow down when his outfield fly becomes stuck between the screen and the right-field wall, continues sprinting around the bases, crossing home plate with the tying run. Due to an odd ground rule, the Dodgers shortstop's unusual inside-the-park homer will be the only run Robin Roberts gives in the Phillies' pennant-clinching 4-1 victory at Ebbets Field.
1950 After they retire today, Burt Shotton of the Dodgers and the A's Connie Mack will become the last managers to wear street clothes. Although no edict explicitly mandates a skipper to wear a uniform, there is now a rule that states that a person not wearing a uniform, except medical personnel, isn't allowed on the field of play during a game.
1950 In the season finale, in the first of his six consecutive 20-win seasons, Robin Roberts becomes the first Phillies right-hander to win twenty games since Grover Cleveland Alexander accomplished the feat with 30 victories in 1917. The complete-game, ten-inning 4-1 Ebbets Field victory over the Dodgers hurled by the Whiz Kid from Springfield (IL) clinches Philadelphia's first National League pennant since 1915. 
1951 The Giants' 3-1 victory over the Dodgers in the first game of the National League playoffs is the first major league contest to be televised coast-to-coast. CBS, who obtained rights to the game, transmits the picture from Ebbets Field but has to get the signal from ABC, who had made arrangements with WOR-TV, the New York station carrying Brooklyn's regular-season games.
1955 The Sporting News select Cardinal outfielder Bill Virdon and Indian fireballer Herb Score as the Rookie of the Year of their respective leagues. The Redbird flychaser, easily identified by his eyeglasses, receives 57 of the 92 writers' votes to get the NL nod, while the Tribe's 22-year-old right-hander, who compiled a 16-10 record while establishing a freshman record for strikeouts with 245, garners 71 of 103 ballots cast for the Junior Circuit honors.
1955 After losing the first two contests in the Bronx, the Dodgers even the World Series at a pair of games apiece when they defeat the Yankees at Ebbets Field, 8-5. Brooklyn will make it three victories in a row tomorrow with a 5-3 win over the Bronx Bombers, but it will take a dramatic Game 7 for the 'Bums' to capture their first World Championship.
1961 Willie Mays hits his 40th home run when he goes deep off Lew Burdette in the Giants' 8-2 victory over Milwaukee in the opener of a twin bill at County Stadium. The 'Say Hey Kid' is the eighth player to reach the mark this season, a major league first, joining Roger Maris (61), Mickey Mantle (54), Harmon Killebrew (46), Orlando Cepeda (46), Jim Gentile (46), Rocky Colavito (45), and Norm Cash (41) in accomplishing the feat.
1961 In front of 9,868 fans, Wrigley Field hosts its last professional baseball game when the Angels, moving to Dodger Stadium next year, drop an 8-5 decision to the Indians. In addition to being the home for the American League expansion team, the 36-year-old ballpark, which will be torn down in five years to make room for an eventual public playground and senior center, housed the PCL's Angels from 1925 through 1957 and served as the setting for the 1960 television series Home Run Derby.


1925 Wrigley Field Opening Day
Security Pacific National Bank Collection

1961 Roger Maris surpasses Babe Ruth's single-season home run mark, hitting his 61st homer off Tracy Stallard's 2-0 fastball for the game's only run in the Yankees' 1-0 victory at the Bronx ballpark. Sal Durante, a 19-year-old fan who caught the ball in his palm standing on his seat in Section 33, gives the historic horsehide to the outfielder a few weeks later after accepting $5,000 from Sam Gordon, a Sacramento (CA) restaurant owner.

1964 In the event of a tie at the end of the season, National League president Warren Giles flips a coin to determine the different possible playoff pairings, including six possibilities - two with two teams, three with three, and one with four. If Cincinnati prevails, the team will play the Cardinals at home thanks to the Reds' president and general manager, Bill DeWitt, winning the first toss.
1964 The smallest crowd ever to attend a game at Fenway Park watches the Red Sox, en route to their sixth consecutive losing season, beat the Indians, 4-2, to snap a six-game slide. The crowd of 306 paid patrons is less than half of the previous low at the Boston ballpark when only 674 fans showed up for a game against Kansas City last season.
1967 At Fenway Park, on the last day of the season, Carl Yastrzemski collects four hits to help the Red Sox beat the Twins, 5-3, and clinch the American League pennant by one game over Minnesota and the Tigers. Yaz's remarkable streak of getting ten hits in his final 13 at-bats enables the Long Island (NY) native to win the Triple Crown (.326, 44, 121).

1967 On the last play of the regular season, Dick McAuliffe, representing the tying run, grounds into a 4-6-3 double play, dashing the Tigers' hopes of clinching a tie for the pennant. The twin killing marks only the second time this season the Detroit shortstop has made two outs in one at-bat, and he will not hit into another DP all of next season.
1967 For the second consecutive season, an American Leaguer wins the triple crown when Red Sox outfielder Carl Yastrzemski (.326, 44, 121) follows Frank Robinson's performance last season, leading the loop in batting average, homers, and RBIs. The feat will not be repeated for 45 seasons until Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers leads Junior Circuit in the top offensive categories in 2013.
1969 Luis Tiant, a winner of 21 games last year, loses his twentieth this season when the Indians drop a 4-3 decision to the Yankees on the last day of the campaign. The right-hander's demise may have resulted from leading the league in walks (129) and home runs (37) allowed, contributing to his ERA rising from 1.60 to 3.71.
1970 Alex Johnson becomes the first Angel to win a batting title when he edges Red Sox outfielder Carl Yastrzemski in the season's finale. The California outfielder captures the crown by beating out a high chopper to raise his average to .3289 in the fifth inning, finishing a minuscule .003 higher than Yaz at .3286.
1970 The Phillies beat the Expos in the final game at Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium in ten innings, 2-1. A post-game ceremony, which includes removing home plate to be delivered to Veterans Stadium by helicopter, is canceled when souvenir-hunting fans swarm onto the field and destroy the ballpark.
1973 A day after the regular season ends, the Mets, in front of only 1,913 fans at a cold and damp Wrigley Field, beat the Cubs, 6-4, in the first game of a scheduled make-up doubleheader, with the nightcap, an unnecessary contest for the final standings, officially canceled due to wet grounds. The Amazins', who spent two months in the cellar before winning 23 of their remaining 32 games, clinch the NL East with their 82nd victory, the lowest number of wins ever recorded to capture a title.
1973 The day after the season finale at Yankee Stadium, Mayor John Lindsay, who had approved the Bronx ballpark's renovation, ceremonially begins the project by scooping a pile of dirt from right field with a bulldozer. The on-field ceremony at the empty stadium includes Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig widows, who receive home plate and first base, respectively, as a tribute to their husbands.
1974 Tom Seaver, whiffing 14 batters, becomes the first hurler in National League history to strike out 200 or more batters for seven consecutive seasons. Tom Terrific's complete-game effort in his last start of the year isn't good enough to win when the Mets bow to Jim Lonborg and the Phillies, 2-1.
1974 Mike Marshall establishes the major league mark for the most appearances by a pitcher when he throws two innings in the Dodgers' 8-5 victory over Houston at the Astrodome. With his 106 appearances, the right-handed reliever appears in 65% of his team's games this season.
1975 The Expos dismiss their first manager, Gene Mauch, replacing him with Karl Kuehl, the successful pilot of their top farm club, the Memphis Blues. During his seven-year tenure north of the border, Mauch, who will become the winningest big league manager to have never won a pennant, compiles a 499-627 (.443) record, never finishing higher than fourth place.
1978 On the last day of the season at Qualcomm Stadium, Ozzie Smith does his signature flip for the first time. The Padres shortstop, asked by the club to do it for Fans Appreciation Day, will continue his gymnastic prowess as a member of the Cardinals, with the somersault becoming an Opening Day tradition at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

1978 On the last day of the season, the Indians, behind the complete-game effort of Rick Waits, defeat the Yankees in the Bronx, 9-2. The Tribe's victory prevents the Bronx Bombers from clinching the AL East flag, forcing a one-game playoff with the Red Sox, who have won 11 of their last 12, win their eighth consecutive contest, blanking the Blue Jays, 5-0, a few minutes later at Fenway Park.
1978 On the last day of the campaign, Expos' starter Ross Grimsley goes the distance, beating the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, 5-2, for his 20th win of the season. The 28-year-old southpaw's accomplishment marks the first time in franchise history and the only time the team has a 20-game winner in Montreal.
1978 Eventual NL Cy Young Award winner Gaylord Perry becomes the third major league pitcher, joining Walter Johnson (1923) and Bob Gibson (1974) to record 3,000 career strikeouts. The 40-year-old future Hall of Fame right-hander fans future Braves' broadcaster Joe Simpson in the eighth inning to reach the milestone and strikes out the LA left fielder again in the tenth to finish the season with 3001.
1980 Amidst much media and fan pressure, the Red Sox fire their unpopular manager, Don Zimmer, who compiled a respectable 411-304 (.575) record during his five years in the Boston dugout. The Fenway Faithful never forgive 'Popeye' for the team's collapse in 1978, when a 14-game lead slipped away, ending in a one-game playoff for the American League pennant, a 5-4 loss to the Yankees, thanks to a legendary home run over the Green Monster hit by Bucky Dent.
1982 In his last game, A's shortstop Fred Stanley goes 1-for-3 in a 12-7 loss to the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. With 'Chicken' retiring, no active players who once played with the Seattle Pilots remain in the majors.
1982 Terry Leach, who goes the distance for New York, and Phillies right-hander John Denny each hurl one-hit shutout ball for nine innings in a game where the Mets score the contest's only run, thanks to a walk, a single, and Hubie Brooks's sac fly in the top of the tenth frame. The Veterans Stadium 1-0 victory marks the 13th one-hitter in franchise history, the first of which goes overtime.
1983

"He is Sinatra singing in a small smoky room. He is Picasso with a bat. He is age and time blended into the mellow autumn of his athletic years to the point where his presence alone is an inspiration to a team. He is No. 8. The Captain." - MIKE BARNICLE, Boston Globe columnist, commenting on Carl Yastrzemski's tenure with the Red Sox.

A sellout crowd gathers on a rainy afternoon at Fenway Park in tribute to Carl Yastrzemski, who spent 23 years in a Red Sox uniform after having the unenviable task in 1961 of replacing Hall of Fame legend Ted Williams. The team and fans honor the Captain, with Yaz Day giving the 44-year-old, who will finish his career with over 3,000 hits and over 400 home runs, an opportunity to say farewell to his admirers.

1984 Peter Ueberroth takes over the reins of major league baseball as the sport's sixth commissioner. The former L.A. Olympic president will immediately face a crisis when he needs to arbitrate the labor disagreement with the umpires' union, who have threatened to strike before the start of the League Championship Series.
1987 With the bases loaded, Gerald Perry, the runner on third, scores on a delayed steal of home when Braves' backstop Ronn Reynolds, who suffers a bruised and lacerated right hand on the play, drops the return throw from right-hander Danny Darwin. The other Astro runners, Jeff Blauser on first and Ken Oberkfell on second, also advance a base, making it a rare triple steal that will not occur again for another 21 years.
1988 In a 6-3 win over the Astros, Tony Gwynn goes 2-for-3 to raise his league-leading batting average to .313. The Padres' outfielder becomes the first National League batting champion to win the title with a percentage below .320. (Giants second baseman Larry Doyle hit exactly .320 in 1915).
1991 After the season finale, Detroit broadcaster Ernie Harwell, not renewed by team management and WJR, waves goodbye to the fans with the crowd responding to the 'Voice of the Tigers' for the past 32 years to a loud and lengthy standing ovation. The veteran play-by-play announcer will return to the Motor City in 1993, thanks to the warm invitation from new team owner Mike Ilitch, and will continue to do play-by-play until the end of the 2002 season.
1993 Mike Piazza plates Jose Offerman with a first-inning single to set a new team mark for runs driven in by a rookie with 107. The 24-year-old Dodgers catcher breaks the franchise record for rookie RBIs established by Del Bissonette, a freshman first baseman who played with Brooklyn in 1928.
1995 The Yankees and Rockies become the first wild-card teams in the new major league baseball playoff system. Both sides will lose in the first round of the new format, with Colorado bowing to the NL East's Braves in four games and the Bronx Bombers eliminated in extra innings of Game 5 in a classic ALDS against the AL West's Mariners.
2000 Joining Bert Campaneris (1965 A’s), Cesar Tovar (1968 Twins), and Scott Sheldon (2000 Rangers), Shane Halter became the fourth major leaguer to play all nine positions in a game. The infielder-by-trade doubles in the ninth, scoring the winning run in the Tigers’ 12-11 walk-off victory over the Twins at Comerica Park.
2000 In the season finale, Kazuhiro Sasaki sets the rookie record for saves by notching his 37th when he tosses 1â…” innings of scoreless relief in the Mariners' 5-2 victory over Los Angeles at Edison Field. The 32-year-old Japanese closer surpasses Todd Worrell's mark established in 1986 when the right-handed reliever played for the Cardinals.
2004 With the second of his two singles, a ground ball through the box, Ichiro Suzuki breaks the major league record for hits in a single season. The third-inning historic safety by the Mariner outfielder from Japan surpasses George Sisler's 84-year-old mark of 257 hits established in 1920 with the St. Louis Browns.

2005 After a 10-1 loss to the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, the Royals establish a team record with their 105th defeat this season. Kansas City, which owns the worst record in the majors this year after losing 104 games last season, has reached the dubious century mark in three of the previous four seasons.
2006 Joe Mauer becomes the first catcher in the American League to win a batting title and lead the majors in hitting. The Twins backstop's .347 batting average outpaces Freddie Sanchez (.344) of the Pirates.
2006 Carlos Guillen, in the Tigers' 10-4 win over the Devil Rays, becomes the tenth player in franchise history to hit for the cycle. The Detroit shortstop stretches a single into a double in his last at-bat in the eighth inning to complete the rare event.
2006 Red Sox manager Terry Francona, knowing that the contest might be his right fielder's final game with Boston, replaces Trot Nixon in right field with two outs in the fifth inning on the last day of the season. The Fenway Faithful respond with a thunderous ovation when their regular right fielder for the past decade leaves the field.
2006 In the season's final weekend, the lowly Royals sweep a three-game series from the Tigers, a team needing only one victory to clinch the AL Central flag. After building a 6-0 lead in the season finale at Comerica Park, Detroit drops a 10-8 decision in 12 innings, losing first place to the Twins to become the wild-card team, opening on the road in the ALDS against the heavily-favored Yankees.
2006 This season, except for the years marred by work stoppages, marks the first time in baseball history that no starting pitcher in either league wins 20 games. The most victories in the National League is sixteen, accomplished by six hurlers, with Johan Santana and Chien-Ming Wang winning 19 games in the Junior Circuit.
2007 The National League playoff game ends abruptly in the bottom of the 13th inning at Coors Field when Matt Holliday of the Rockies scores on a bang-bang play at home thanks to Jamey Carroll's shallow sac fly, the third and winning run given up in Trevor Hoffman's blown save. Colorado's 9-8 comeback victory, their 14th in their last 15 games, ends the Padres season, who were one strike away two games ago from clinching a postseason berth. 

2009 The Rockies' 9-2 win over Milwaukee assures the team of a wild-card berth in the postseason and puts the team in a position to win the N.L. West by sweeping the Dodgers this weekend in L.A. Although the club was a dozen games under .500 on June 3, today's victory, their 91st - a club record - puts Colorado 23 games over .500, another first in the franchise's 17-year history.
2009 Tony La Russa moves past John McGraw into second place for the most games managed in major league history. With his 4,770 contests as a manager, the Cardinal skipper trails only Connie Mack, who amassed a total of 7755 during his 53 years in the dugout.
2012 Joining Billy Martin, Davey Johnson becomes the second major league manager to bring four teams to the postseason when the second-place Braves lose in Pittsburgh, allowing the Nationals to clinch the National League East Division. The 69-year-old skipper also led the Mets (1986, 1988), Reds (1994-95), and the Orioles (1997) to the playoffs.
2014 Brandon Crawford becomes the first shortstop to hit a postseason grand slam when he clears the bases in the fourth inning of the winner-take-all National League Wild Card Game, an 8-0 Giants' victory over the Pirates. The former UCLA Bruins infielder's four-run home run off Edinson Volquez quiets the enthusiastic PNC Park crowd, who has been a valuable asset to the home team during the season.

2015 The Yankees clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2012 when the team beats the Red Sox in the Bronx, 4-1. Their 10,000th regular-season victory guarantees a wild-card berth, placing the Bombers in the playoffs for the 52nd time in franchise history.
2015 Jose Abreu joins Albert Pujols (2001-02) as the second player in baseball history to hit 30 homers and drive in 100 runs in his first two seasons. The Chicago White Sox's slugging first baseman singles with two outs in the seventh inning, picking up his 100th and 101st RBI of the season in the team's 6-4 loss to Kansas City at U.S. Cellular Field.
2017 The season ends with the largest amount of homers (6,105) and strikeouts (40,104) recorded in the game's history. Only 27 individual shutouts were recorded during the campaign, the fewest since 1878, along with 59 complete games, setting a record for the fewest for the third straight year.
2018 Two divisional tiebreakers are needed to determine the National League Central and West champs after Chicago, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, and Colorado won yesterday. The Brewers/Cubs and Rockies/Dodgers winners will advance to the NLDS, with the losers facing one another tomorrow in the wild-card game.
2020 Fernando Tatis Jr. and Will Myers become the second pair of teammates in history to hit multiple homers in the same postseason game, joining Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig's feat in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, exactly 78 years ago. Meyers' eighth-inning two-run blast proves to be the difference in the Padres' 11-9 comeback victory, forcing a deciding Game 3 in the NL wild-card series.
2023 Luis Arraez, an offseason acquisition from the Twins, captures the National League batting title, hitting .354 for the Wild-Card Marlins. The Miami leadoff hitter, who also won the AL crown in 2022 when he batted .316 for the Twins, joins DJ LeMahieu to become the second player since 1900 to win a batting title in both leagues.
67 Fact(s) Found