This Weekend in Baseball History
October 8th, 2011: Chris Carpenter fires a three-hit shutout over the Phillies in the fifth and deciding game of the National League Division Series. Skip Schumaker's 1st inning double scores Rafael Furcal with the deciding run of the series. The game ends as Ryan Howard of the Phils tears his achilles on the game's final play – symbolically ending the club's six-year mini-dynasty.
October 8th, 2007: Grady Sizemore leads off the game homering off Chien-Ming Wang; Cleveland never relinquishes the lead, beating the Yankees 6-4 in the Bronx to win the American League Division Series – the final game of Joe Torre's historic 12-season run as Yankee manager.
October 8th, 2000: Bobby Jones fires a one-hit shutout – allowing only a 5th inning single by Jeff Kent – as the Mets blank the Giants 4-0 to win the National League Division Series in four games.
October 8th, 1995: Edgar Martinez doubles in Joey Cora and Ken Griffey, Junior in the bottom of the 11th inning as the Mariners edge the Yankees 2-1 and take the American League Division Series in five games – with Seattle winning the last three games after the Yanks took the first two at home.
October 8th, 1962: Chuck Hiller is the first National League player ever to hit a grand slam home run in the World Series. With the score tied at 2-2 in the seventh inning of game four at Yankee Stadium, he finds the right field seats off Marshall Bridges, putting San Francisco ahead to stay in what becomes a 7-3 victory. In a strange twist, the winning pitcher was Giants reliever Don Larsen who -- six years earlier to the day -- pitched his historic perfect game
October 8th, 1957: Walter O'Malley makes it official – after being unable to reach a stadium deal with New York officials and being wooed by L.A., the Dodgers will move to Los Angeles for the 1958 season.
October 8th, 1956: Don Larsen throws the only perfect game in World Series history, retiring all 27 Brooklyn Dodger batters in order – the last: pinch hitter Dale Mitchell – in a 2-0 win. Just one indication of how dominant Larsen was that afternoon at Yankee Stadium, he went to a 3-ball count on just one batter, Pee Wee Reese, in the first inning. The Dodger shortstop then struck out on the next pitch.\
October 8th, 1915: Grover Cleveland Alexander throws a complete game, outpitching Ernie Shore in the opening game of baseball's Fall Classic. The Phillies 3-1 victory will be their last in a World Series game for 65 years.
I was there... and shot this from the 400 level seats. It probably remains the loudest and most excited moment at the Stadium since the 2009 championship.
October 9th, 1996: "The Jeffrey Maier" game... as the 12-year old fan leans over the right field fence to catch Derek Jeter's 8th inning fly ball that likely would have fallen to Orioles right fielder Tony Tarasco. Turning a likely out in a game-changing home run, the Yankees rally for a 4-3 victory over Baltimore in the opening game of the American League Championship Series.
October 9th, 1966: The Orioles complete a stunning four game sweep of the heavily favored Dodgers in the World Series. Frank Robinson homers off Don Drysdale in the fourth inning for the only run of the game, while Dave McNally authors the shutout for Baltimore.
October 9th, 1961: Johnny Blanchard and Hector Lopez smack home runs, and Bud Daley pitches 6-2/3 innings of clutch relief in a 13-5 Yankee victory to close out the Reds in game five of the World Series. Ralph Houk becomes the third rookie manager to win a championship -- after Bucky Harris (with the 1924 Senators) and Eddie Dyer (1946 Cardinals).
October 9th, 1938: The Yankees become the first team ever to win three straight World Series. Red Ruffing goes the distance, while Frank Crosetti's two RBI triple caps a three-run 2nd inning, in an 8-3 victory over the Cubs at Yankee Stadium.
October 9th, 1934: Dizzy Dean fires a six-hit shutout and contributes and RBI double as the Cardinals crush the Tigers in a seventh and deciding game of the World Series, 11-0. The future Hall of Famer makes good on his promise that he and brother Paul would win all four games St. Louis would need.
October 9th, 1969: The Reds name Sparky Anderson their new manager. He would lead Cincinnati to five division titles. four pennants and two World Series titles over the next 8 seasons.
October 9th, 1928: Babe Ruth belts three home runs and Waite Hoyt strikes out eight for his second win of the World Series, as the Yankees beat the Cardinals 7-3 and complete their second consecutive four-game sweep in the Fall Classic.
October 9th, 1919: In the World Series marred by the Black Sox scandal, where seven Chicago players allegedly conspire to lose, Cincinnati wins the championship, closing out the Sox 10-5.
October 10th, 1982: Willie McGee homers and triples as the Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves 6-2 to wrap up a three-game sweep in the National League Championship Series. After hitting .556, catcher Darrell Porter is named Championship Series MVP sending St. Louis to its first World Series since 1968.
October 10th, 1973: Tom Seaver pitches the Mets to a 7-2 win over the heavily favored Reds in fifth and deciding game of the National League Championship Series... sending Yogi Berra's crew, who won just 82 games during the regular season, on to the World Series against the Oakland A's.
October 10th, 1926: Jesse Haines and Grover Cleveland Alexander stop the big Yankee bats, as the Cardinals hold off New York 3-2 in the seventh and deciding game of the World Series.
October 10th, 1923: In the first World Series game ever played at Yankee Stadium, Giants outfielder Casey Stengel hits the ballpark's first post-season home run. His inside-the-park homer in the top of the 9th gives the Giants a 5-4 victory
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