BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

1950 After five seasons at the helm, Eddie Dyer, who Marty Marion will eventually replace, resigns as the Cardinals manager. The former St. Louis skipper won a World Championship as a rookie pilot with the Redbirds in 1946, compiling an outstanding 446-325 (.578) record during his post-war tenure with the club that never included a losing season.

1957 With a year left on his contract, the Indians dismiss Hank Greenberg as general manager, citing the lack of fan support for the team's former slugger. The disgruntled Hall of Famer, who remains on the Board of Directors, urges the team to move to Minneapolis before being bought out in 1958.

1957 The Giants extend Bill Rigney's contract for two more seasons, making him the team's first skipper in San Francisco. The former franchise infielder, an Alameda native, replaced Leo Durocher in 1956 while the team still played in New York.

1961 After he compiled a 234-199 record during his 14 seasons in Philadelphia, the Yankees purchase Robin Roberts from the Phillies for slightly more than the $20,000 league waiver price. The right-hander, who will not appear in a regular-season game for the Bronx Bombers, will be released in May, but on the same day, will sign as a free agent with the Orioles, staying with Baltimore until July 31, 1965.

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1962 With the tying and winning runs in scoring position at Candlestick Park, second baseman Bobby Richardson snags Willie McCovey's hard line drive for the final out of the World Series. The Yankees win Game 7, beating the Giants, 1-0, capturing the franchise's 20th World Championship.

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1964 After deliberating for four hours, the Indians' Board of Directors decide to keep the team in the Forest City after exploring options to shift the franchise to Seattle, Oakland, or Dallas. The Tribe signs a ten-year lease to use Cleveland Stadium at a reduced rent, including an escape clause for the city and the club after any season.

 

1969 The Mets, thanks to Ron Swoboda's double and two Oriole errors in the eighth inning, win their fourth straight World Series game to become World Champions. Jerry Koosman tosses a five-hitter, beating Baltimore 5-3 in Game 5, in a contest best remembered for manager Gil Hodges winning the 'shoe polish' argument.

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1976 In Game 1 of the World Series against the Yankees, Dan Driessen, batting fifth in the Reds lineup, becomes the first National League player to be used as a designated hitter. The DH was not employed before this year's Fall Classic, although the concept had been adopted and used in the American League since 1973.

1983 The Orioles win their fourth straight contest against the Phillies and take the World Series in five games. Scott McGregor pitches a five-hit complete game in the 5-0 victory at Veterans Stadium, and Eddie Murray hits two home runs.

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1985 In Game 6 of the NLCS, Cardinal first baseman Jack Clark's dramatic come-from-behind two-out, three-run home run in the ninth inning stuns a sold-out Dodger Stadium. St. Louis wins the game, 7-5, and captures the National League flag.

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1985 The Royals, coming back from a 3 to 1 game deficit, capture their first American League pennant, beating the Blue Jays in Game 7 of the ALCS, 6-2. Dick Howser's squad will beat the Cardinals to win the franchise's first World Series championship.

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1988 At Dodger Stadium, Don Baylor becomes the first player to participate in three consecutive World Series for three different teams when he pinch-hits in the eighth inning of the A's 6-0 loss to L.A. in the second game of the Fall Classic. The 39-year-old veteran played with the pennant-winning Red Sox in 1986 and the World Champion Twins in 1987.

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1990 The A's ten-game postseason winning streak ends when the Reds take Game 1 of the World Series at Riverfront Stadium, 7-0. Reds' outfielder Eric Davis becomes the 22nd player to hit a homer in his first Fall Classic at-bat.

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1999 In a game slated to be a battle between the respective aces of each team, the Red Sox crush the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS, 13-1. The dream pitching duel between Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens at Fenway Park doesn't materialize when the 'Rocket' fails to get out of the third inning, giving up five earned runs on six hits.

2000 In Game 5 of the NLCS, the Mets capture their fourth National League pennant when Mike Hampton throws a complete-game three-hit shutout, blanking the Cardinals at Shea Stadium, 7-0. Bobby Valentine's team joins the 1997 Marlins as the only other wild-card team to advance to the World Series.

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2001 Diamondback southpaw Randy Johnson strikes out 11 batters en route to throwing a three-hitter, beating Greg Maddux and the Braves 2-0 in Game 1 of the NLCS. The matchup at Bank One Ballpark features starters who have collectively combined for 457 career victories and have won seven Cy Young Awards.

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2003 In Game 7 of the ALCS, the Yankees capture their 39th American League pennant, beating the Red Sox, 6-5, thanks to Aaron Boone's 11th inning home run at the Bronx ballpark. The defensive replacement becomes the fifth player to end a postseason series with a homer, joining Bill Mazeroski ('60 Pirates, WS Game 7 vs. Yankees), Chris Chambliss ('76 Yankees, ALCS Game 5 vs. Royals), Joe Carter ('93 Blue Jays, WS Game 6 vs. Phillies), and Todd Pratt ('99 Mets, NLDS Game 4 vs. Diamondbacks).

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2005 The White Sox, after a 46-year absence from the Fall Classic, will represent the American League in the World Series. The Pale Hose's starting rotation threw four consecutive complete-game victories against the Angels to capture the ALCS in five games to earn an opportunity to play for the World Championship for the first time since 1959.

2006 Former Manager of the Year (1995 and 2001 Mariners) Lou Piniella inks a three-year contract worth approximately $10 million, including an option for a fourth year to manage the Cubs. The 64-year-old fiery skipper replacing Dusty Baker (66-96) has a 1,519-1,420 record during his 18-year managerial tenure with the Yankees, Reds, Mariners, and Devil Rays.

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2006 After winning the AL West and sweeping the Twins in the ALDS, the A's fire Ken Macha when the Tigers eliminate the team from the postseason. Oakland GM Billy Beane cites a lack of communication between the players and the manager, who compiled a 368-280 record and brought the team to the playoffs twice in his four-year tenure in the dugout.

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2007 Bill Stoneman, citing he wants to spend more time with his wife, retires as the general manager of the Angels, a post he has held since the end of 1999. The 63-year-old executive, who was at the helm for the team's only World Championship (2002), will remain with the club as a senior advisor.

 

2008 The first pitch of a potential Game 6 of the World Series will begin eight minutes later to accommodate Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama's desire to purchase the 8-8:30 pm slot on the Fox network, the same airtime the campaign as CBS and NBC. The Tropicana Field game now has a scheduled start time of 8:35 pm.

2008 The Red Sox, behind 7-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning, score eight runs in the three last frames to beat the Rays in Game 5 of the ALCS at Fenway Park, 8-7. Boston's comeback victory is the biggest postseason rally since the 1929 A's tallied ten times in the seventh inning to wipe out an eight-run deficit against the Cubs in their 10-8 victory in Game 4 of the World Series.

2010 The Rangers record their first playoff win at home in the franchise's 50-year history when they take Game 2 of the ALDS, defeating the Yankees, 7-2. The victory in Arlington ends a ten-game postseason losing streak against New York, including yesterday's heartbreaking loss in which Texas had an early 5-0 lead over the Bronx Bombers.

2011 The Cardinals capture their 18th pennant with a 12-6 victory over the Brewers at Miller Park in Game 6 of the NLCS. The Redbird relievers toss 28.2 innings, accounting for three wins while compiling a 1.88 ERA.

2014 Giants’ journeyman Travis Ishikawa’s walk-off three-run homer ends the NLCS, giving the team a 6-3 pennant-clinching victory over Cardinals in Game 5. San Francisco will face the Royals in an all wild-card World Series, their third all Fall Classic appearance in the past six seasons.

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2020 The Astros, staving off elimination, beat the Rays in Game 6 of the ALCS at Petco Park, 7-4, marking only the second time a team climbs back from a 3-0 playoff deficit to force a Game 7. In the 2004 ALCS, the Red Sox, down three games to none, came back against the Yankees, advancing to win the World Series over the Cardinals in four games.

2020 The sixth inning of Game 5 of the NLCS was the best of times and the worst of times for Will Smith, the Dodgers catcher, who smacks a three-run homer off Will Smith, the Braves reliever. The Globe Life Field matchup marks the first time in postseason history that features a hitter facing a pitcher with the same first and last name

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Thurman Munson and Johnny Bench.
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Ryan and Seaver
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Willie McCovey signing an autograph for Kurt Russell
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October 17 Baseball Birthdays​

1848 William "Candy" Cummings Hall of Fame pitcher (credited with creating the curveball), born in Ware, Massachusetts (d. 1924)


1859 William "Buck" Ewing HOF catcher (NL home run leader 1883 NY Giants; Cincinnati Reds) and manager (NY Giants, Cincinnati Reds), born in Hoagland, Ohio (d. 1906)


1906 Paul Derringerr (d. 1987)


1908 Red Rolfe (d. 1969)


1928 Jim Gilliam player and coach (Dodgers, NL rookie of year 1953), born in Nashville, Tennessee (d. 1978)


1967 Mark Johnson, infielder (Pittsburgh Pirates), born in Worcester, Massachusetts


1970 John Mabry, outfielder (St Louis Cardinals), born in Wilmington, Delaware


1972 Joe McEwing

1974 John Rocker

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This Day in Baseball History October 17th​

1960 At the Sheraton Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, the National League owners vote to admit Houston and New York, making it the first structural change in the Senior Circuit since the turn of the century. The New York franchise, thanks to the efforts of prominent attorney William A Shea, is awarded to a group headed by Joan Payson, and Judge Roy Hofheintz is one of five owners of the new club in Texas.

1964 The Yankees, who finished with a 99-63 record, fire Yogi Berra after dropping the World Series to the Cardinals in seven games. The 39-year-old dismissed skipper will join the crosstown Mets as a coach, becoming the team's manager in 1972 following Gil Hodges' unexpected death in spring training.

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1964 Johnny Keane, rumored to be replaced as the Cardinals' manager by Leo Durocher before the Redbirds surged to win the World Series, surprises team owner Gussie Busch with a letter of resignation that he had written at the end of September during the height of the pennant race. The former St. Louis skipper will take the Yankee job, which opens due to the firing of Yogi Berra, which also occurs today.

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1966 The Tigers lose the second of the two skippers who managed the team this season when 51-year-old Bob Swift succumbs to lung cancer. The former major league catcher had taken over as the team's interim manager in mid-May for Charlie Dressen, who was stricken with a heart attack and died before the end of the summer.

1967 In an Associated Press poll, 324 of 397 baseball writers and broadcasters select Dick Williams as the American League's Manager of the Year, easily outdistancing runner-ups Eddie Stanky of the White Sox and the Angels' Bill Rigney. The 38-year-old rookie skipper led the 92-70 Red Sox through a tight four-team pennant race to their first pennant since 1946.

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1971 Roberto Clemente hits a fourth-inning homer off Baltimore's Mike Cuellar to put the Pirates ahead, 1-0, in Game 7 of the World Series. The right-fielder has hit safely in all seven games of the series, a feat he also accomplished in 1960 against the Yankees, to extend his consecutive Fall Classic hitting streak to 14

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1971 At Memorial Stadium, behind Steve Blass's complete-game four-hitter, the Pirates beat Mike Cuellar and the heavily favored Orioles to capture their fourth world championship in franchise history. Immediately after the Game 7 victory, 21-year-old rookie Bruce Kison and his champagne-soaked best man Bob Moose are whisked away by helicopter to a waiting Lear Jet to attend his wedding in Pittsburgh, in which he arrives 33 minutes late.

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1978 The Yankees capture their twenty-second and second consecutive World Championship, beating Los Angeles with a 7-2 victory at Dodger Stadium. Playoff hero Bucky Dent, who collects ten hits in the six-game series, is named the Fall Classic's Most Valuable Player.

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1979 In Game 7, Willie Stargell goes 3-for 4, including his third home run in the Series, propelling the Pirates to a 4-1 victory over the Orioles. The Bucs overcame a three-games-to-one deficit to win their fifth .
World Championship in franchise history

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1979 "Next time, get your ass here before the seventh game,"- RICK DEMPSEY, Orioles' catcher chiding the president for skipping Opening Day ceremonies during his term in office. At Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, Jimmy Carter throws the ceremonial first pitch before the Pirates' 4-1 defeat of the Orioles in Game 7 of the Fall Classic. The toss marks the only time the Commander-in-Chief will perform the pregame ritual during his presidency.

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1982 In Game 5, a 6-4 Milwaukee victory at County Stadium, Robin Yount becomes the first player in World Series history to have two four-hit games. In addition to today's 4-for-4 performance, the Brewers' third baseman collected four hits in 6 at-bats in the Fall Classic opening contest, helping the team beat the Cardinals, 10-0.

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1985 Billy Martin, who had become the team's skipper for the fourth time after the Yankees fired Yogi Berra in April, is replaced by Lou Piniella. "Billy, the Kid', piloted the 97-64 Bronx Bombers to a second-place finish, ending the season two games behind Toronto.

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1987 In the first World Series game played indoors, the Twins club the Cardinals, winning Game 1 of the Fall Classic at the Metrodome, 10-1. The noise made by the boisterous hanky-waving sold-out Minnesota crowd at times exceeds 110 decibels, an audio level equivalent to a jet plane taking off at an airport.

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1989 "Well, I don't know if we're on the air or not and I'm not sure I care at this particular moment but we are. Well folks, that's the greatest open in the history of television, bar none. We're still here. We are still as we can well on the air, and I guess you are hearing us, even though we have no picture and no return audio. And we will be back, we hope, from San Francisco in just a moment." - AL MICHAELS, the ABC-TV play-by-play announcer, reacting to the Bay Area earthquake. As the Giants and A's get ready to play Game 3 of the World Series, a massive 6.9-magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake hits the Bay Area, which will be responsible for 63 deaths. Commissioner Fay Vincent quickly postponed the Candlestick Park contest, wisely ordering the ballpark's evacuation.

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1999 With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 15th frame, Robin Ventura hits a home run, which becomes known as "The Grand Slam Single," driving the Mets fans into a frenzied state as the team, who lost the first three games of the playoff series, extends the NLCS to a Game 6. Failing to touch all four bases when mobbed by his teammates on the base paths, the Shea Stadium hero only gets credit for a single with the umpires awarding New York a 4-3 victory, ruling Roger Cedeño crossed home plate before the on-field celebration began.

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2000 David Justice's three-run homer propels the Yankees to their 37th American League pennant in a come-from-behind victory over the Mariners, 9-7. The Bronx Bombers will face the Mets in the Fall Classic, setting up the first Subway Series in New York in 44 years when they faced the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956.

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2000 With an opposite-field single, Mariners catcher Dan Wilson snaps his 0-for-42 skid, the longest hitless streak in postseason history. Marv Owen had gone 0-for-31 in the 1934 and 1935 World Series playing for the Tigers.

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2002 The legal suit against the fan who caught Barry Bonds' record-breaking 73rd home run, brought by three friends claiming a promise they made to split the ball's value in exchange for a game ticket, becomes settled when Jay Arsenault agrees to sell the ball and divide the money. Arsenault's lawyer said his client initially eluded the friends because of being overwhelmed by the situation.

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2003 Early editions of the New York Post include an editorial claiming the Yankees couldn't get the job done against the Red Sox in Game 7 of the ALCS. However, the Bronx Bombers rally to beat their arch-rival in 11 innings, 6-5.

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2004 Carlos Beltran, in Game 4 of the NLCS at Minute Maid Park, goes deep in the seventh inning, giving the Astros an eventual 6-5 victory over the Cardinals. With the round-trippers, the Houston center fielder sets a new postseason record, hitting a homer in five consecutive playoff games, and ties Barry Bonds' 2002 mark with a total of eight postseason round-trippers.

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2005 The juiced Minute Maid Park crowd, anticipating the Astros' first National League crown, after the first two batters are quickly retired, is 'pulverized' when Albert Pujols hits a two-out, three-run ninth-inning homer. A two-strike single stroked by David Eckstein and a walk worked out by Jim Edmonds set the stage for the Cardinals' dramatic 5-4 comeback.

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2018 In Game 4 of the ALCS, crew chief Joe West rules fan interference, turning Jose Altuve's potential two-run homer into the second out of the inning. Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts appeared ready to make a catch over the top of the wall before a fan inadvertently bumped into his open glove, closing it the instant before he could make the play.

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Nick Castellanos is the second player ever to have 5 or more home runs in a three game span in the postseason. The first was Reggie Jackson in 1977.
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Nice capture of Roy Campanella
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Vida Blue at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
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