BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

This Day in Baseball History
October 6th​

1906 On a snowy day in Chicago's West Side Park, the visiting White Sox, known as the Hitless Wonders, edge the Cubs, 2-1, in Game 1 of the first cross-town World Series. Pale Hose starter Nick Altrock outduels future Hall of Fame right-hander Mordecai' Three Finger Brown,' going the distance en route to tossing a four-hitter over the heavily favored Northsiders.

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1908 In front of nearly 30,000 enthusiastic fans at South Side Park in the season finale, the White Sox start Doc White, coming off a complete game, on only two days rest to thwart the Tigers from clinching the pennant. Chicago's efforts will fail with a 7-0 defeat to Detroit, who captures the AL flag by half a game ahead of the Cleveland Naps thanks to a rule that doesn't require a team to make up a rainout game from earlier in the season.

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1923 At Braves Field, Ernie Padgett completes the first unassisted triple play in National League history. The 24-year-old Boston rookie shortstop catches Walter Holke's line drive, doubles up James Tierney at second, then tags Cliff Lee as he retreats to first base for the third out in the fourth inning of the team's 4-1 victory over the Phillies in the shortened five-inning season finale.

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1923 For only the second time in major league history, two 100-loss teams face one another when the 52-100 Braves beat the 50-102 Phillies in the first game of a season-ending doubleheader, 5-4. Boston, then known as the Beaneaters, was also part of the first occurrence of this rare type of matchup when the 50-100 club played the 45-103 team from Brooklyn in 1905.

1926 In a 10-5 Game 4 victory over the Cardinals at Sportsman's Park, Yankee outfielder Babe Ruth becomes the first player to hit three home runs in a World Series game. History repeats itself when the 'Sultan of Swat' again goes deep three times against the Redbirds in St. Louis in the fourth game of the 1928 Fall Classic.


1933 Umpire Charlie Moran ejects Heinie Manush from Game 4 of the Fall Classic after calling out the Senator outfielder at first base in Washington's 2-1 extra-inning loss to the Giants at Griffith Stadium. The arbitrator takes exception when the future Hall of Famer pulls on his bow tie, letting it snap back.

 

1941 In Game 5 of the Fall Classic, Tiny Bonham goes the distance, limiting the Dodgers to four hits to give the Yankees their 12th World Championship in franchise history. In one inning during the Bronx Bombers' 3-1 victory at Ebbets Field, the New York fireballing right-hander will need just three pitches to retire the side.

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1943 Cardinal batterymates and brothers Mort and Walker Cooper decide to play Game 2 of the World Series on the day their dad, Robert, dies at his home in Independence. After limiting the Yankees to six hits and winning the game, 4-3, Mort heads to Missouri while his younger brother, Walker, who has a 1-for-3 day behind the plate with an eighth-inning single, will stay with the club until the Fall Classic is over.

1945 To promote his nearby Billy Goat Tavern, William Sianis buys a ticket to Game 4 of the Fall Classic ticket for his pet goat, Murphy. The bar owner, a Greek immigrant, becomes so upset when the Wrigley Field ushers ask his four-legged guest to leave he places a curse on the team, preventing the Cubs from winning a World Series again.​

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1946 During Game 1 of the World Series, Whitey Kurowski is awarded home plate on a controversial obstruction call after getting tangled up with Red Sox third baseman Pinky Higgins, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning. The Red Sox rally in the ninth to tie the score, and Rudy York's home run in the tenth gives Boston an eventual 3-2 victory over the Redbirds at Sportsman's Park.

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1949 In Game 2 of the World Series, only one run scores for the second consecutive contest time, but Preacher Roe and the Dodgers win this contest at Yankee Stadium, 1-0. Gil Hodges' second-inning single drives in Jackie Robinson to even up the Fall Classic at a game apiece.

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1952 At Ebbets Field, Billy Loes becomes the first pitcher in World Series history to commit a balk when the ball slips from his hand in the seventh inning of the Dodgers' 3-2 loss knots the Fall Classic at three games apiece with the Yankees. The advanced base leads to a run when Vic Raschi bounces a ground-ball single off the leg of the right-hander, who claims he lost the grounder in the sun.

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Although Loes’ oft-quoted explanation of losing the ground ball in the sun has become legendary, there is some truth to his account of the play. According to his Brooklyn teammate Carl Erskine, the sun slotting through a space in the grandstand behind home plate could be blinding later in the afternoon.

1957 In Game 4, Eddie Mathews' two-run shot off Bob Grim with one out in the bottom of the tenth inning at County Stadium gives the Braves a 7-5 victory and knots the Fall Classic at two games apiece. The Milwaukee third baseman becomes the third major leaguer, joining Tommy Henrich (1949) and Dusty Rhodes (1954), to end a World Series game with a walk-off home run.

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1959 The largest crowd to attend a major league game, 92,706 fans, watches a nail-biter as White Sox hurler Bob Shaw beats Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers, 1-0, in Game 5 of the Fall Classic.

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