BB On this Date ~ Events & Birthdays #2

1985 The Royals become the sixth team to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win the Fall Classic when series MVP Bret Saberhagen, who became a new dad yesterday, blanks the Cardinals on five hits, 11-0. Kansas City is the first home team in World Series history to lose the series' first two games and win the World Championship.

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1986 With another dramatic comeback, the Mets defeat the Red Sox, 8-5, winning Game 7 of the Fall Classic to become World Champions for the second time in the franchise's 25-year history. Third baseman Ray Knight, the Fall Classic's MVP, makes amends for an earlier error by hitting a home run, which puts the Mets ahead in the seventh inning.

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1989 After a ten-day delay due to the Loma Prieta earthquake, the World Series resumes with the A's beating the Giants in Game 3, 13-7. Oakland joins the 1928 Yankees as the second team in major league history to hit five home runs in a Fall Classic contest.

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1991 In Game 7 of the 'Worst to First' World Series, the Twins beat the Braves, 1-0, when Dan Gladden scores the winning run in the bottom of the tenth on Gene Larkin's single, clinching its second world championship since relocating from Washington D.C. in 1961. Atlanta and Minnesota finished last in their respective divisions the previous season.


1991 At the Metrodome, Jack Morris goes the distance in Game 7 of the World Series, blanking the Braves, 1-0, in the Twins' ten-inning, dramatic walk-off win. The 36-year-old right-hander, who posts a 2-0 record along with a 1.17 ERA during his three starts, is named the Most Valuable Player of the Fall Classic.

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1998 "It is especially fitting that this legislation honors a courageous baseball player and individual, the late Curt Flood, whose enormous talents on the baseball diamond were matched by his courage off the field. It was 29 years ago this month that Curt Flood refused a trade from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies. His bold stand set in motion the events that culminate in the bill I have signed into law." - BILL CLINTON, U.S. president, commenting on the Curt Flood Act.

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President Clinton signs the Curt Flood Act of 1998, revoking baseball's antitrust exemption for labor matters, but not for issues involving relocation, expansion, or the minor leagues. The passage of the legislation by the 105th Congress comes over seventy-five years after the Supreme Court ruled that the sport was not involved in interstate commerce or trade as customarily defined within the context of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

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On October 8, 1969, the St. Louis Cardinals traded center fielder Curt Flood to the Philadelphia Phillies. At the time of the trade, Flood was thirty-one years old, at the top of his game and in the prime of his life. In professional baseball, trades are not uncommon. What was different about this trade was that Curtis Charles Flood refused to recognize the "right" of the Cardinals to trade him to another team without his consent. In doing so, Flood challenged a practice that was designed and enforced by professional baseball owners for over eighty years - a practice commonly referred to as the "reserve system". It was the late 1960s - a decade of great racial tension and unrest; the Vietnam War was dividing the country; and now Curt Flood, a black man was challenging the lily-white major league baseball establishment. On January 16, 1970, Curt Flood filed suit in the Federal District Court in New York against major league baseball alleging that baseball's reserve system violated the Sherman Antitrust Act and Flood's rights under federal law. Flood argued that once he signed a contract (in his case, when he was eighteen years old), he was owned by "his team" for life and that the reserve system was tantamount to slavery. Flood's decision to challenge major league baseball cost him his baseball career and much more. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court's denial of Flood's claims and ruling (in 1972) that professional baseball was exempt from federal antitrust regulation, professional baseball players had "free agency" by 1975. ​

 

1999 The Yankees, behind the solid pitching of Roger Clemens, sweep their second straight Fall Classic, beating the Braves, 4-1. Atlanta joins the New York Giants (1910-19) as the only team to lose four World Series in a decade.

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2000 New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani thinks it is okay for children to take a day off from school to watch the Yankees' ticker-tape parade. His Honor, believing baseball can be an educational experience, has allowed his kids, Andrew and Caroline, to miss classes in the past to watch the Bronx Bombers' postseason celebrations.

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2000 The Mets, who lost the Fall Classic in five games to their crosstown rivals, turn down New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's invitation to be part of the ticker-tape parade for the World Champion Yankees in the famed Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan.

 

2002 In the team's 42nd season, the Angels finally win a World Series title by beating the Giants, 4-1, in Game 7 at Edison Field. Garret Anderson's three-run double provides enough offense for John Lackey to become the first rookie to win the seventh game since 1909 when Babe Adams accomplished the feat for the Pirates.

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2003 The Red Sox will not renew manager Grady Little's contract. The manager, who won 188 games during his two seasons with Boston, was severely criticized for not removing a tiring Pedro Martinez in the seventh inning of Game 7 of the ALCS, allowing the Yankees to tie the score in their eventual extra-inning pennant-winning victory.

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2004 Under the moon's reddish tint caused by a lunar eclipse, the Red Sox exorcised 86 years of agonizing losses by winning their first World Series since 1918. In one of the most dominating Fall Classic performances, Boston, who never trailed during the four games, blanks the Cardinals, 3-0, to complete the sweep.

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2004 After a 10-day Overstock.com online auction and 240 bids, Barry Bonds' 700th home run ball goes for $804,129. Steve Williams, who came up with the milestone ball in SBC's left-field bleachers on September 17, announced he was quitting his day job as a broker's assistant but hadn't decided what to do with the windfall.

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2006 At the new Busch Stadium, the Cardinals beat the heavily favored Tigers, 4-2, in Game 5 of the Fall Classic to win their first world championship since 1982. With an 83-78 record, St. Louis, who lost 10 of their last 14 regular-season games, won fewer games than any World Series champion in baseball history.

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2006 After leading the Padres to two consecutive NL West titles, Bruce Bochy, with a year left on his contract, leaves San Diego to become the manager of the division rival, San Francisco Giants. The 51-year-old skipper, who compiled a 951-975 (.494) record during his 12 seasons in the Friars dugout, signs a three-year deal worth approximately $6 million.


2007 In the first Fall Classic game played in Colorado, Red Sox right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka, allowing two runs on three hits in 5.1 innings to beat the Rockies in Game 3, 10-5, becomes the first Japanese starting pitcher in World Series history. After paying $51.1 million to negotiate with the right-hander, Boston obtained 'Dice-K' from the Seibu Lions, signing the World Baseball Classic MVP to a six-year deal worth $52 million.

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2008 In a 5-4 Game 3 loss to the Phillies, B.J. Upton becomes the fourth player and first American Leaguer to steal three bases in a World Series game. The Rays' center fielder joins Honus Wagner (Pirates, 1909), Willie Davis (Dodgers, 1965), and Lou Brock (Cardinals, 1967) to accomplish the trio of thefts in a Fall Classic contest.


2008 After playing in drenching rain until the middle of the sixth inning at Citizens Bank Park, officials suspend Game 5 of the World Series, making it the first Fall Classic contest to start and not played to completion. The 2-2 tied game between the Rays and hometown Phillies, who are one victory away from a world championship, will resume tomorrow at the point the rain delay stopped play.

2009 General manager Ed Wade announces Brad Mills has agreed to a two-year contract, with a team option for the third, to become the Astros' manager, replacing Dave Clark, the interim manager named in September to take the reins for the fired Cecil Cooper. The 52-year-old, who has been Terry Francona's bench coach for the past six seasons with the Red Sox, has never managed in the majors but spent 11 seasons as a minor league skipper with the Cubs, Rockies, and Dodgers.

 

2013 The Red Sox win the first World Series game to ever end on a pickoff, beating the Cardinals, 4-2, in Game 4 of the Fall Classic. Kolten Wong, a 23-year-old rookie pinch-running for Allen Craig, is caught off first base by Boston closer Koji Uehara, ending the Busch Stadium contest with the dangerous Carlos Beltran at the plate.


2013 The San Diego State University baseball team continues their tradition where every player dons a costume during a late-October intra-squad scrimmage. The Aztecs' third annual Halloween Game at Tony Gwynn Stadium, open to the public, features team members dressed as the Jamaican Bobsled Team, social media apps, a Leprechaun, and Captain America and Captain Underwear.


2015 Michael Conforto becomes the third player to accomplish the World Series Triple Crown, playing in the Little League World Series (2004 Redmond LL, WA), the College World Series (2013 Oregon State), and the MLB World Series (2015 Mets). The two other major leaguers who have participated in the rare event are Jason Varitek (1984 Altamonte Springs LL, FL, 1994 Georgia Tech, and the 2004 Red Sox) and Ed Vosberg (1973 Tucson LL, AZ, the 1980 University of Arizona, and the 1997 Marlins).
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2019 Arriving just before the first pitch of Game 5 of he World Series, President Donald Trump stays for seven innings in the Astros’ eventual 7-1 victory over Washington at Nationals Park. Amidst the boos, chants of “Lock him up!” a reference to a refrain often used during the 2016 campaign toward his opponent Hillary Clinton, are heard when he and his entourage are announced and appear on the ballpark’s video screens at the end of the third frame.

2020 The Dodgers, the National League representative three out of the last four World Series, end their 32-year drought without a world championship, beating the Rays, 3-1, in Game 6 at Globe Life Field. After winning seven straight divisional titles, the team wins its first Fall Classic since 1988, a year best remembered for the heroics of Kirk Gibson.

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BASEBALL 10/28 BIRTHDAYS
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1877 Joe Adams, known as "Old Wagon Tongue" (St. Louis Cardinals - 1 game in 1904, 4 innings, 9.0 ERA), minor league manager

1926 Bowie Kuhn HOF executive (MLB Commissioner 1969-1984)

1954 Sammy Stewart pitcher (World Series 1983; AL ERA leader 1981; Cleveland Indians)


1966 Juan Guzman, pitcher (Toronto Blue Jays)


1966 Tim Bogar, infielder (NY Mets)


1974 Braden Looper pitcher (Olympic bronze 1996)

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Today in Baseball History
October 28th​

1948 On Lou Boudreau Day, held in his honor by the citizens of his hometown, Harvey (IL), the Indians' skipper tells an audience his Indians were lucky to win the recent World Series. The Cleveland player-manager cites his infielders driving in more than 400 runs and the lack of injuries to key players as reasons why his "third-place" club excelled this season.


1951 The Red Sox trade catcher Les Moss and flychaser Tom Wright to the Browns for backstop Gus Niarhos and outfielder Ken Wood. The deal will have little impact in Boston (6th place) and St. Louis (7th place) when both teams finish in the second division.

1953 Red Barber resigns as a Brooklyn Dodger broadcaster and will take the 'catbird' seat with the rival New York Yankees. The 'Old Redhead' reportedly left the team because he was upset with Brooklyn owner Walter O'Malley's refusal to support him when he failed to get a higher fee from Gillette, the sponsor of the 1953 World Series on television.

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1954 Major league owners vote down the sale of the Philadelphia A's to a hometown syndicate. A week later, the Mack family sells controlling interest to Arnold Johnson, who will move the team to Kansas City.

1958 On Candlestick Point, an area where the rocks resembled candlesticks, construction begins on the Giants' new ballpark in San Francisco. The transplanted team will play games at Seals Stadium until a new ballpark on the eastern shore of the San Francisco Bay is ready


1961 Three thousand spectators witnessed the ground-breaking ceremony for the $18,000,000 Municipal Stadium in the Queen's Flushing Meadow Park. The future home of the Mets and the NFL's Titans, expected to be ready for Opening Day in 1963, will be known as Shea Stadium in honor of Bill Shea, the lawyer who helped bring back the National League to the Big Apple.

 

1980 The one-time Florida State baseball head coach Dick Howser replaces Billy Martin as the Yankee manager. After spending ten years as the team's third-base coach, the new skipper compiles a 103-59 record, leading the team to an AL East championship, but hands-on owner George Steinbrenner fires the independent-minded skipper after being swept by Kansas City in the playoffs.

1981 After dropping the first two games of the Fall Classic, the Dodgers defeat the Yankees, 9-2, capturing the World Championship in six games. The victory at the Bronx ballpark marks the third time this postseason that Los Angeles will come from behind to win a series, having been down 0-2 against the Astros in the five-game strike-necessitated NLDS and 1-2 behind the Expos in the NLCS five-game series.

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1981 Entering Game 6 of the World Series in the fifth inning, Yankee right-hander George Frazier, relieving starter Tommy John, gives up three go-ahead runs in the team's 9-2 elimination loss to the Dodgers at Yankee Stadium. The 27-year-old reliever becomes the first pitcher to lose three games in a best-of-seven World Series and the second to drop that many decisions in any Fall Classic, joining White Sox Lefty Williams, the loser of a trio of games in the best-of-nine series played in 1919.


1988 The Padres deal Keith Moreland and Chris Brown to the Tigers for pitcher Walt Terrell, who will be traded, with a player named later [Freddie Toliver] to the Yankees in July. The midseason swap will bring Don Schulze and Mike Pagliarulo to San Diego.

1989 The A's sweep the Giants in the earthquake-delayed Fall Classic with a 9-6 victory at Candlestick Park. Right-hander Dave Stewart, named the World Series MVP, becomes the first hurler to win two games in the LCS and the World Series.

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1992 The first-ever Branch Rickey Award recipient is Blue Jay outfielder/DH Dave Winfield, selected from 28 nominees, one player from each major league club. The honor, bestowed by media and Rotary Club representatives, will be given annually to the major leaguer who makes significant contributions to the community, exemplifying the service club's motto, "Service Above Self."

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1995 In Game 6, Tom Glavine and Mark Wohlers combine on a one-hitter to defeat the Indians, 1-0, giving the Braves their third World Championship, the first since moving to Atlanta. David Justice's leadoff homer in the sixth inning off Jim Poole proves to be the difference.

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2001 With his seventh-inning three-run shot off New York's Andy Pettitte, Matt Williams becomes the first player in World Series history to hit home runs with three different teams. The Diamondback third baseman homered in the Fall Classic for the Indians in 1997 and with the Giants in 1989.

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2002 After being unable to get permission to talk to Lou Piniella from Seattle and deciding not to wait ten days after the World Series for the availability of Giant skipper Dusty Baker, the Mets give Art Howe a four-year, $9.4 million deal to manage the team. New York's new skipper led the A's to a pair of AL West championships (2000, 2002), with his teams winning 383 games during the last four seasons, matching Joe Torre's Yankee total.

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2002 The Marlins do not renew the contract of John Routh, the 43-year-old man who has been Billy the Marlin since Florida's first game in 1993. Although 'Billy' will return next season, the Fish hires a new person to wear the 35-pound costume as the team seeks to increase the mascot's visibility by changing the character's overall role.


2002 Signing the veteran manager to a four-year contract, the Devil Rays name Lou Piniella as their team's new skipper. As compensation to sign 'Sweet Lou' away from Seattle, Tampa Bay sends their All-Star outfielder Randy Winn (.298, 14, 75) to Seattle for minor leaguer Antonio Perez.

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2007 With a 4-3 win over the Rockies at Coors Field, The Red Sox, for the second time in four years, complete a four-game sweep to win the World Series. Terry Francona becomes the first manager to win his first eight games in the Fall Classic.

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2007 During the middle of Game 4 of the World Series between the Red Sox and the Rockies, si.com reports Alex Rodriguez has decided to opt out of his Yankee contract. The timing of the announcement and being a no-show at the game to receive the Hank Aaron Award, which honors the most outstanding offensive performer in each league, are severely criticized by fans and the media.

2009 In Game 1, Chase Utley, en route to a record-tying five World Series homers, becomes the first left-handed batter in 81 years to hit two round-trippers off a southpaw in a Fall Classic game. After setting a record by reaching base in 26 straight postseason games with his first-inning walk, he goes deep twice off southpaw CC Sabathia in the Phillies' 6-1 victory at Yankee Stadium, matching Babe Ruth's performance in the fourth and final game of the 1928 series.

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Yankee slugger Reggie Jackson established the mark when he hit five home runs against the Dodgers in the 1977 Fall Classic, including going deep three times in Game 6.

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2010 Before Game 2 of the World Series at AT&T Park, Tim Wakefield receives the Roberto Clemente Award for his excellence as a ballplayer and commitment to the community. The 44-year-old Red Sox starter is actively involved with "Pitching in for Kids," a nonprofit that provides grants to improve the lives of children across New England.

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2011 After being down by 10½ games on August 25 for the NL Central Division lead, the Cardinals beat the Rangers at Busch Stadium, 6-2, in Game 7 of the Fall Classic to win their eleventh world championship in franchise history. In Game 6, the Redbirds had been down to their last strike in the ninth and the tenth innings but rallied to tie the score and eventually win the game on David Freese's leadoff, walk-off home run in the 11th.

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2012 At a press conference held before Game 4 at Detroit's Comerica Park, Clayton Kershaw is named the 2012 Roberto Clemente Award recipient, an honor given to a major leaguer who demonstrates the value of helping others by his action off the field. The Dodger southpaw and his wife, Ellen, founded the Kershaw Challenge, which includes its cornerstone charity, "Arise Africa," that helps the couple to build and sustain an orphanage known as "Hope's Home" in Lusaka, Zambia.

2013 In the fifth game of the World Series, Red Sox's first baseman David Ortiz ties Billy Hatcher's 1990 World Series record, reaching base in his ninth consecutive plate appearance. 'Big Papi,' the Fall Classic MVP, extends the streak that began in Game 3 with a fourth-inning single in the team's 3-1 victory over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.


2021 In a tweet, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals suggests that baseball replace bullpen with arm barn, arguing that the term refers to where bulls go before slaughter. PETA believes the change would be "a home run for
baseball fans, players, and animals."
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