This Weekend in Baseball History

October 29th, 2018: The Mets make an unconventional choice to replace Sandy Alderson as general manager, naming player agent Brodie Van Wagenen. Despite a big trade for ex-Yankee star Robinson Cano, the team falls short of the playoffs in each of the next two seasons.

October 29th, 2014: The Giants win their third World Series in five years, taking game seven over the Royals 3-2. Madison Bumgarner pitches the last five innings without giving up a run to earn the save, completing a stellar performance that also included wins in games 1 and 5, to earn the Series MVP Award.


October 29th, 2008: The Phillies and Rays play three innings to complete a game suspended by rain two days earlier. The Phils' 4-3 victory in game five completes the second championship in franchise history. Cole Hamels is named World Series MVP.


October 29th, 1991: Buck Showalter replaces Stump Merrill as the manager of the New York Yankees. Four years later, he'll lead them back to the post-season for the first time in 14 years, when they take the first American League wild card.


October 29th, 1981: An investment group, led by Phillies vice president Bill Giles, purchases the club from the Carpenter family for a then-record $30 million.  


October 29th, 1956: Al Lopez replaces Marty Marion as White Sox manager. Three years later, he'll lead the club to its last pennant of the 20th century.

October 30th, 2019: Anthony Rendon and Howie Kendrick belt 7th inning home runs as the Nationals rally past the Astros 6-2 at Minute Maid Park to bring Washington its first World Series championship since 1924. It's the first seven game Series where every game is won by the visiting team.


October 30th, 2015:  The Mets ride strong pitching from Noah Syndergaard and two-run homers by David Wright and Curtis Granderson to a 9-3 win over the Royals in game three of the World Series.

October 30th, 2013: Shane Victorino's three-run double off Michael Wacha is the key hit as the Red Sox beat the Cardinals 6-1 to win the World Series in six games. David Ortiz walks four times, three of them intentionally, and is named Series MVP.


October 30th, 2001: George W. Bush, wearing a New York Fire Department jacket, becomes the first president since Dwight Eisenhower to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a World Series game. The Yankees go on to edge the Diamondbacks 2-1 in game three, thanks to strong pitching by Roger Clemens and Mariano Rivera.

October 31st, 2001: Tino Martinez's two-run, two-out homer in the bottom of the 9th ties game four of the World Series and forces extra innings. In the 10th, Derek Jeter's solo shot -- a few minutes past midnight, making it the first home run ever hit in November -- gives the Yankees a dramatic 4-3 victory and earns the Hall of Fame shortstop the nickname Mister November. It was the first walk-off homerun of Jeter's career.


October 31st, 1960: The Braves trade shortstop Alvin Dark to the Giants, who then signs a contract to become San Francisco's new manager. He'll lead the team to the 1962 National League pennant.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rare Remnant of a Lost Ballpark

Image
When the subject of baseball in Brooklyn comes up, the discussion centers around Ebbets Field, the Flatbush venue most famously home to The Boys of Summer.  Those legendary 1940s and '50s teams that featured such historic and beloved players as Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges. Ebbets Field hosted its last major league game in 1957 and was torn down during the winter of 1960. But decades earlier, just before World War One, the Dodgers were based in the Park Slope area and played at Washington Park.  Once they moved out, the land was occupied by another stadium, which housed a different franchise.  The upstart Federal League, which played in the 1914 and '15 seasons, had a Brooklyn team called the TipTops.  Owned by a local baking magnate Robert Ward, whose company produced TipTop bread, the club took over the abandoned lot along 3rd Street and built a new brick and steel venue. The only no-hitter in the Federal League's two-year r
Read more

Another Yankee Trade

Image
Yankee fans: here's a last look at shortstop Trey Sweeney .  The 2021 first round draft choice was part of the three player trade with the Dodgers that brings reliever Victor Gonzalez and infield prospect Jorbit Vivas to New York. Now seeking to rebuild their pitching depth after dealing for Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo, the Yanks deemed Sweeney expendable.  While the Louisville native showed promising power in his three seasons with the organization -- he batted only .248 to go with his 36 career homers -- Brian Cashman has committed to Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza as his young middle infielders.  So Sweeney became a trade chip. ( My images of Trey Sweeney are from the Somerset/Binghamton AA games on July 15th and September 19th, 2023. )
Read more

Will He Wear Zero in the Bronx?

Image
The Yankees bolstered their starting rotation with Thursday's signing of Marcus Stroman .  The Long Island native, who spent 2019 and '21 with the Mets before moving onto the Cubs, brings a 77-76 career record to the Bronx, along with a recent loyalty to uniform number (?) zero.  If he requests that, he'd become the third Yank to wear it, following the path of Adam Ottavino and Domingo German.  Of course, neither of their Yankee tenures ended all that well -- Ottavino struggled badly in 2020, before reviving his career with the Red Sox and Mets; German's alcohol and domestic violence issues sabotaged such Yankee highlights as last year's perfect game. Can a number truly be lucky? You can understand kids in little league or high school ball wanting to wear 2 in honor of Derek Jeter or 7 for Mickey Mantle.  But is there an heroic ballplayer associated with 0?  The closest I recall comes from pro football, where the Oakland Raiders Hall of Fame center Jim Otto wore 00
Read more