October 19, 2004 --The Yankees hold a 3-2 lead over the Red Sox in the ALCS with Game 6 to be played at Yankee Stadium. The starting pitchers were Curt Schilling of the Red Sox and Jon Lieber of the Yankees. Schilling pitched with a torn tendon sheath in his right ankle, which was sutured in place in an unprecedented procedure by Red Sox team doctors. The game was scoreless till the fourth inning when Sox second baseman Mark Bellhorn hit a shot into the leftfield stands. The ball struck a fan in...
Oct 19, 2024•4 min•Season 10Ep. 19
October 18, 1977 With the Yankees up three games to two against the Dodgers, Reggie Jackson seizes control of the game, the series, and is crowned "Mr. October" when he hits three consecutive home runs in Game Six of the World Series. Jackson hit a two-run homer in the fourth on the first pitch he saw from starter Burt Hooton to give the Yankees the lead. Lou Piniella made it 5–3 by adding a sacrifice fly. Once again, in the fifth with a man on Jackson connected on the first pitch off Elias Sosa...
Oct 18, 2024•4 min•Season 10Ep. 18
October 16th 2004 The Yankees lead the ALCS two games to none over the Red Sox with Game 3 in Fenway Park. As in the first two games, the Yankees began by scoring in the first and quickly building a 3-0 lead. The Red Sox answered in the second inning with a leadoff walk by Jason Varitek and a Trot Nixon home run to right field. A double by Bill Mueller, an infield hit by Johnny Damon (his first hit of the series), and a Derek Jeter error led to two more runs. The Red Sox led for the first time i...
Oct 16, 2024•5 min•Season 10Ep. 16
October 15, 1988 - With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Kirk Gibson hits a pinch-hit home run off Dennis Eckersley to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5 - 4 victory over the Oakland Athletics in Game One of the World Series. Gibson, who injured himself making a game saving catch in the National League Championship Series, never came out for game one introductions and never took batting practice spending the entire game on the trainer’s table receiving treatment with Dodgers Manager Tom...
Oct 15, 2024•5 min•Season 10Ep. 15
October 14, 2003 - Holding a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning over the Florida Marlins with only 5 outs standing between them and their first World Series appearance since 1945, the Cubs fall apart after a fan, sitting along the left-field foul line at Wrigley Field, tries to catch a foul ball that is about to be caught by Cubs' outfielder Moises Alou for the second out of the inning. The Cubs argued for interference, but umpire Mike Everitt ruled there was no fan interference because the ball had ...
Oct 14, 2024•5 min•Season 10Ep. 14
October 13, 1960 – With the World Series between the Yankees and Pirates knotted at 3 games apiece, Game 7 at Pittsburgh’s cavernous Forbes Field would provide one of the most dramatic home runs in World Series history. In the top of the 9th, with a 9-7 lead the Pirates sent eighteen game winner Bob Friend to the mound but the Yankees would manage to tie things up. The Yankees would send Ralph Terry to the mound in the bottom of the 9th to face Pirate 2nd baseman Bill Mazeroski and with a 1-0 co...
Oct 13, 2024•5 min•Season 10Ep. 13
Oct. 12, 1972 -- In game 5 of the American League Championship Series the A’s, win 2-1 over the Detroit Tigers. The deciding run comes in the second inning with Mickey Lolich on the mound, Mike Epstein on first, and Reggie Jackson on third when A’s Manager Dick Williams flashes the sign for a double steal. Reggie bounded down the third base line on the delayed steal as Tiger’s shortstop Dick McAuliffe cut off the throw to second and fired it back to A’s Catcher Bill Freehan . Reggie and Freehan ...
Oct 12, 2024•5 min•Season 12Ep. 10
October 11, 1999 -- With the American League divisional Series between Boston and Cleveland tied at two games apiece, the Red Sox send Bret Saberhagen out to face Charles Nagy. In an eruption of runs, both starters find themselves out of the game by the third inning and the game tied at 8. With the season on the line, Sox manager Jimy Williams summons his ace, Pedro Martinez from the bullpen. The electrifying move sent shockwaves through Jacob’s field since Martinez was removed from Game 1 after...
Oct 11, 2024•5 min•Season 11Ep. 10
October 10, 2004 The Boston Globe reports growing concern for Curt Shillings ailing right ankle. With two days to go before game one of the American league Championship series against the Yankees in the Bronx, Schilling was downplaying the injury and all but guaranteed he would make every scheduled start the rest of the way. Concerns would grow more serious with each passing game leading up to the famous “Bloody Sock” of Game 6. October 10, 1956 - Pitcher Johnny Kucks sets down the Brooklyn Dodg...
Oct 10, 2024•5 min•Season 10Ep. 10
October 9, 1996 - Bernie Williams hit a home run in the 11th inning to give the New York Yankees a 5 - 4 victory over Baltimore in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. The Yankees were also aided by an assist from a young fan, which proved to be a game changer. The O’s held a 4-3 lead when Derek Jeter hit a ball to deep right field. Right fielder Tony Tarasco positioned himself to make the play when 12 year old Jeffrey Maier reached out and deflected the ball into the stands and Um...
Oct 09, 2024•5 min•Season 9Ep. 10
October 8, 1956 - Don Larsen of the New York Yankees pitched the only perfect game in World Series history for a 2 - 0 triumph over the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sal Maglie , the opposing pitcher, gave up five hits. This would be the only post season no hitter until Roy Halladay’s gem for the Phillies against Cincinnati on October 6th 2010. October 8, 1973 - Rusty Staub 's two home runs powered the New York Mets to a 9 - 2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds and a 2-1 lead in the NLCS. Pete Rose of the Red...
Oct 08, 2024•5 min•Season 8Ep. 10
October 7, 2001 San Francisco Giants Barry Bonds extends his major league record for home runs in season to 73 as he drives a 3-2 first inning knuckleball off Dodgers pitcher Dennis Springer over the right field fence. The blast also secures two more major league records for Bonds; as he surpassed Babe Ruth ’s .847 slugging percentage in 1920 with a .863 season slugging percentage and crushed Mark McGwire’s 1998 mark of one HR every 7.27 at bats by homering in every 6.52 at-bats. October 7, 1936...
Oct 07, 2024•5 min•Season 7Ep. 10
October 6, 1926 - Babe Ruth hits three home runs to lead the Yankees to a 10 - 5 victory over St. Louis in Game Four of the World Series. Ruth's final bomb of the day carried deep into the never-before reached centerfield bleachers, far beyond the 430-foot mark. Estimated at 530 feet, it is the longest home run in World Series history. If all this weren't enough, this also is the game during which the Babe makes good on his alleged pre-game promise to hit a home run for the bedridden young Johnn...
Oct 06, 2024•5 min•Season 6Ep. 10
October 5, 2007 The Cleveland Indians can thank a bug infestation at Jacobs Field for helping them defeat the New York Yankees, 2 - 1 in 11 innings, and take a 2-0 lead in the ALDS. The bugs are at their worst in the eighth inning, when a flustered Joba Chamberlain gives up the tying run on a wild pitch. The bugs descended upon Jacobs Field in the eighth inning of Game Two like a Biblical plague come to destroy the New York postseason. Indian Pitcher Fausto Carmona pitched through the swarm unaf...
Oct 05, 2024•5 min•Season 5Ep. 10
October 4, 1955 - The Brooklyn Dodgers win the World Series with MVP Johnny Podres beating the New York Yankees, 2 - 0 in Game Seven. This would be the fifth time the two teams met in the series over a nine year period and the first World Series televised in color. In 1957, the Dodgers would relocate to Los Angeles making this the Brooklyn team’s only World Series victory. October 4, 1922 - For the first time, the entire World Series will be broadcast over the radio. Writer Grantland Rice does t...
Oct 04, 2024•5 min•Season 4Ep. 10
October 3, 1951 - Bobby Thomson hits a three-run home run off Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the New York Giants a dramatic 5 -- 4 playoff victory and the National League pennant. Seeing the ball disappear over the fence, Thomson hopped crazily around the bases, then disappeared into the mob of teammates who had gathered at home plate. The stunned Dodger players trudged off the field - all except Jackie Robinson . No doubt knowing of "...
Oct 03, 2024•5 min•Season 3Ep. 10
October 2, 1978 - Bucky “Bleeping” Dent's unlikely home run helps the New York Yankees defeat the Boston Red Sox in a dramatic one-game playoff at Fenway Park. Trailing by two runs in the seventh inning, Dent smacks a three-run shot against pitcher Mike Torrez into the screen above the Green Monster. The Yankees hold on for a 5 - 4 victory en route to face the Royals in the ALCS and the Dodgers in the World Series. Dent would go on to hit .417 with 7 RBI in a six-game Yankee triumph over LA. Oct...
Oct 02, 2024•5 min•Season 2Ep. 10
October 1, 1967 – The brilliant and brief Major League managerial career of Roberto Clemente began and ended on this day. Filling in for interim manager Danny Murtaugh, Clemente puts up stratospheric – if statistically insignificant – numbers as Pittsburgh's player-manager. The Pittsburgh Press reports: "Baseball’s only undefeated ‘manager’, Roberto Clemente, climaxed his greatest season ever by smashing his 23rd homer, a triple and driving in three runs while managing the Bucs before 28,244 fan...
Oct 01, 2024•5 min•Season 10Ep. 10
September 30, 1972 Roberto Clemente doubles off the Mets' Jon Matlack to become the eleventh major leaguer to collect 3000 hits. On hand for the event was Clemente's hero, Willie Mays, now a New York Met, who called Clemente "The Greatest". Sealing the mutual admiration Clemente was quoted saying ""Willie Mays is the greatest player I've ever seen. I never saw Joe DiMaggio play, but if Joe DiMaggio was better than Willie Mays, he belongs in heaven." Sadly, the Pirate right fielder's 3000th hit w...
Sep 30, 2024•3 min•Season 12Ep. 13
September 29, 1954 - Willie Mays makes his famous running catch off the bat of Vic Wertz in game one of the World Series. In the eighth inning with a 2-2 tie and men on 1st and 2nd, Wertz slammed a 420 foot shot to the cavernous center field of the Polo Grounds. Mays was playing shallow, since Giants pitcher Don Liddle was a groundball pitcher, and had to turn his back to the infield sprinting for the outfield wall. Mays made an over the shoulder catch and a quick turn firing the ball to the inf...
Sep 29, 2024•3 min•Season 9Ep. 29
September 28, 1920 - A grand jury indicts eight members of the Chicago White Sox on charges of fixing the1919 World Series in the "Black Sox Scandal." It is the black eye on the sport that would lead to the banning of eight players. Eddie Cicotte and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson both confessed to accepting money from gamblers. Cicotte's second pitch of Game 1 of the 1919 World Series hit the Reds leadoff batter, which was the pre-arranged signal to the gamblers that the players had accepted the fix. J...
Sep 28, 2024•3 min•Season 9Ep. 28
September 26, 1961 In New York's 159th game, Roger Maris rips a Jack Fisher fastball into the RF seats at Yankee Stadium for his 60th home run. New York beats Baltimore 3 - 2. There are fewer than 8,000 fans on hand to view this historic event. The legitimacy of the record would be a hot topic of debate since the American League had been expanded from 8 to10 teams and the number of games played was increased by 8. September 26, 1998 Mark McGwire sends two balls the distance, collecting homers nu...
Sep 26, 2024•3 min•Season 9Ep. 26
September 25, 1954 -- A crowd of 14,175 faithful Fenway fans pay tribute to retiring Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams who is playing his last game at home. The Splendid Splinter's retirement will only last until May when his divorce is finalized with his contract being excluded from the settlement. His true retirement from playing would come in 1960, which inspired an article by John Updike titled "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu". Updike accurately described the fans relationship with Williams when he sa...
Sep 25, 2024•3 min•Season 9Ep. 25
September 24, 1998 Red Sox reliever Tom Gordon records his 42nd consecutive save establishing a major league record. Boston clinches the AL wild card spot behind a pair of homers and four runs scored by Nomar Garciaparra. Author Stephen King would later write a novel titled The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon , referring to his outstanding 1998 season with Boston and solidifying Gordon’s place as a New England folk hero. September 24, 1931 Lefty Grove wins his 31st, beating the Red Sox 9 - 4, his 11th...
Sep 24, 2024•3 min•Season 9Ep. 24
September 23, 1908 Giants Pitcher Christy Mathewson and Cubs P Three Finger Brown battle in one of the most controversial game ever played. The score is 1-1 with two outs in the last of the 9th, when Fred Merkle's failure to touch second after an apparent game - winning hit by Al Bridwell costs the Giants a 2 - 1 win. The ump calls Merkle out and rules the game a tie.The base running gaffe, referred to as “Merkle's Boner”'is often blamed for the Giants loosing the pennant. September 23, 1905 Eig...
Sep 23, 2024•3 min•Season 9Ep. 23
September 22, 1968 - Cesar Tovar plays one inning at each position for the Minnesota Twins, becoming only the second major leaguer in history to do it; Bert Campaneris of the Oakland Athletics was the first. He started the game on the mound, ironically facing Campaneris as the leadoff hitter. Scott Sheldon and Shane Halter later became the only other two men to accomplish this feat. September22, 1911 - Cy Young, at age 44, beats the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1 - 0, for his 511th and final major league...
Sep 22, 2024•5 min•Season 9Ep. 22
September 21, 1958 At Fenway Park , the Red Sox complete a three-game sweep of the Senators, all by 2 - 0 shutouts.. Today's win, however, is marred when Ted Williams , after striking out looking with two aboard to end the third inning, flings his bat aside in a fit of anger. Unfortunately,the intended flip along the ground sails into the stands and striking, of all people, Boston GM Joe Cronin 's 69-year-old housekeeper, Gladys Heffernan, in the head. "I didn't mean to throw the bat that way," ...
Sep 21, 2024•5 min•Season 9Ep. 21
September 20, 1919 - On Babe Ruth day at Fenway Par k, the Bambino ties Ned Williamson's major league mark of 27 home runs in a season with a game-winner off Lefty Williams of the Chicago White Sox. Ruth also scores the winning run in both ends of the doubleheader. Ironically, it will be the last game he plays for the Boston Red Sox in Fenway as the sale of the century would have the Bambino in pinstripes for the remainder of his career. On the same date eight years later, Ruth would again raise...
Sep 20, 2024•5 min•Season 9Ep. 20
September 19, 1968 – Detroit Tigers Pitcher Denny McLain 's 31st win is overshadowed by Mickey Mantle 's 535th homer which was good enough for 3rd on the all time list. McLain called Catcher Jim Price to the mound to have him inform Mantle he’d be seeing nothing but fastballs and Mantle delivered. Mantle tipped his cap to Denny as he rounded third base. Joe Pepitone , the next batter, signaled where he would like the ball, and McLain dusted him. The Tigers won the game, 6 - 2, the 12th straight ...
Sep 19, 2024•5 min•Season 9Ep. 19
September 18, 1975 - The New York Mets defeat the Chicago Cubs, 7 - 5 at Shea Stadium. Rusty Staub becomes the first Mets' player to reach 100 RBIs in a season with a 2-run homer in the fifth. Dave Kingman sets a team record with his 35th home run of the season to win it in the ninth inning. Kingman would also hit his 35th homer of the year on this date in 1976 when he was named to the National League All Star Team for the first time. September 18, 1962 At LA, the Aaron brothers lead the Braves ...
Sep 18, 2024•5 min•Season 9Ep. 18
