This Weekend in Baseball History


October 16th, 2014: Travis Ishikawa does his version of Aaron Boone with a walk-off three-run homer that ends the NLCS, giving his Giants a 6-3 pennant-clinching victory over Cardinals in Game 5. San Francisco will face the Royals as they head to their third World Series in five seasons.


October 16th, 2005: The White Sox beat the Angels 6-3 to win the ALCS, ending a 46-year drought from the World Series. Joe Crede singles in Aaron Rowand in the top of the 8th for the go-ahead run. 


October 16th, 2003: Aaron Boone writes his name into Yankees lore. His 11th inning walk-off homer facing Tim Wakefield captures the seventh and deciding game of the ALCS and writes the Bronx Bombers' ticket to their 39th World Series with a 6-5 victory.


October 16th, 2000: Mike Hampton pitches a three-hit shutout, as the Mets close out the Cardinals 7-0 at Shea Stadium and take the NLCS four games to one. Hampton who held St. Louis scoreless for 16 innings over his two starts in the series, is named MVP as the Mets win their fourth pennant in franchise history.  

October 16th, 1988: Don Baylor becomes the first player to see action in three consecutive World Series for three different teams, when he pinch-hits in the 8th inning of the A's game-two 6-0 loss to the Dodgers. Baylor had appeared with the AL pennant-winning Red Sox in 1986 and the World Champion Twins in '87.


October 16th, 1983: Eddie Murray belts two home runs and Scott McGregor fires a complete game shutout as Orioles blabk the "Wheeze Kids" Phillies 5-0 to win the World Series in five games.


October 16th, 1969: The New York Mets stun the baseball universe, with Ron Swoboda (an 8th inning RBI double) and Jerry Koosman (a complete-game five hitter) the heroes of a 5-3 victory over the Orioles, to capture the World Series in five games.


October 16th, 1962: Bobby Richardson snares Willie McCovey's low line drive, with runners on 2nd and 3rd and two men out in the bottom of the 9th -- as the Yankees hang on for a 1-0 game seven victory over the Giants and their 20th World Series title.


October 16th, 1949: The Dodgers let Branch Rickey's contract expire as president of the club. He leaves for Pittsburgh, where he takes over the Pirates, while club legal counsel Walter O'Malley begins taking a more active role running the team.


October 16th, 1909: The Pirates, behind a complete-game shutout by Babe Adams, beat the Tigers, 8-0, in the seventh and deciding game of the World Series. 



October 17th, 1999: Announcer Bob Costas summed it up as a "five-hour 47-minute trip to Bedlam." In the longest game (timewise) in post-season history, the Mets stay come from behind in the bottom of the 15th inning for a 4-3 win over the Braves in game 5 of the NLCS. Leadoff batter Shawon Duston fouls off six pitches on a 3-2 count before singling. Todd Pratt walks with the bases loaded to tie the game. He's followed by Robin Ventura who electrifies the Shea Stadium crowd with what appears to be a grand-slam home run. While the Mets do win 4-3 -- Ventura is mobbed by teammates and never completes his run around the bases and his homer is ruled a single (the technically correct call) by the official scorer. Still the Mets victory keeps them alive and sends both teams back to Atlanta for game six.


October 17th, 1987: In the first World Series game ever played indoors, the Twins rout the Cardinals 10-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Minnesota would go on to take the series in seven.


October 17th, 1964: Yogi Berra is fired as Yankee manager, days after the team lost a dramatic seven-game World Series to the Cardinals. Johnny Keane, the manager who led St. Louis to its first title since the 1940s -- but who'd been on thin ice earlier in the year with upper management, resigns and soon is named as Berra's replacement.

Berra soon joins the Mets as one of Casey Stengel's coaches, while the Yankees never taste the post-season until Berra returns to the team in 1976.


October 17th, 1960: After losing the World Series to the Pirates, the Yankees fire manager Casey Stengel -- who'd won 10 pennants in 12 years and seven championships -- and replace him with longtime coach Ralph Houk. The witty Stengel tells reporters he'll never make the mistake of being age 70 again.


October 17th, 1960: National League club owners vote to add expansion teams in Houston and New York for the 1962 season.


October 18th, 1977: Reggie Jackson is the story, belting three home runs as the Yankees beat the Dodgers 8-4 for their first World Series title in 15 years. Jackson joins Babe Ruth (who did it twice, in 1926 and '28) as the only players ever to hit three home runs in a World Series game.

October 18th, 1967: American League club owners approve the Athletics request to move to Oakland while granting 1969 expansion franchises to Seattle and Kansas City -- where the Royals would replace the A's.

October 18th, 1950:  Connie Mack steps down after managing the Philadelphia A's for 50 seasons. Jimmy Dykes will take over as manager, while Mr. Mack, nearing his 88th birthday, will stay on as team president.


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