Classic Baseball Daily Highlights

October 5, 2007 The Cleveland Indians can thank a bug infestation at Jacobs Field for helping them defeat the New York Yankees, 2 - 1 in 11 innings, and take a 2-0 lead in the ALDS. The bugs are at their worst in the eighth inning, when a flustered Joba Chamberlain gives up the tying run on a wild pitch. The bugs descended upon Jacobs Field in the eighth inning of Game Two like a Biblical plague come to destroy the New York postseason. Indian Pitcher Fausto Carmona pitched through the swarm unaffected for the win.

October 5, 1921 - New York is host...

October 4, 1955 - The Brooklyn Dodgers win the World Series with MVP Johnny Podres beating the New York Yankees, 2 - 0 in Game Seven. This would be the fifth time the two teams met in the series over a nine year period and the first World Series televised in color. In 1957, the Dodgers would relocate to Los Angeles making this the Brooklyn team’s only World Series victory.

October 4, 1922 - For the first time, the entire World Series will be broadcast over the radio. Writer Grantland Rice does the announcing of the New York Giants-New York Yankees Series for st...

October 3, 1951 - Bobby Thomson hits a three-run home run off Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the New York Giants a dramatic 5 -- 4 playoff victory and the National League pennant. Seeing the ball disappear over the fence, Thomson hopped crazily around the bases, then disappeared into the mob of teammates who had gathered at home plate. The stunned Dodger players trudged off the field - all except Jackie Robinson. No doubt knowing of "Merkle's Boner" 43 years earlier, he watched to be sure Thomson touched every base before...

October 2, 1978 - Bucky “Bleeping” Dent's unlikely home run helps the New York Yankees defeat the Boston Red Sox in a dramatic one-game playoff at Fenway Park. Trailing by two runs in the seventh inning, Dent smacks a three-run shot against pitcher Mike Torrez into the screen above the Green Monster. The Yankees hold on for a 5 - 4 victory en route to face the Royals in the ALCS and the Dodgers in the World Series. Dent would go on to hit .417 with 7 RBI in a six-game Yankee triumph over LA.

October 2, 1963 - Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodg...

October 1, 1967 – The brilliant and brief Major League managerial career of Roberto Clemente began and ended on this day. Filling in for interim manager Danny Murtaugh, Clemente puts up stratospheric – if statistically insignificant – numbers as Pittsburgh's player-manager. The Pittsburgh Press reports: "Baseball’s only undefeated ‘manager’, Roberto Clemente, climaxed his greatest season ever by smashing his 23rd homer, a triple and driving in three runs while managing the Bucs before 28,244 fans on Prize

Day."

October 1, 1932 - Babe Ruth, as legend has it, calls his home run against Chicago Cubs pitcher Charlie Root in the fifth inning of Game Thre...

September 30, 1972 Roberto Clemente doubles off the Mets' Jon Matlack to become the eleventh major leaguer to collect 3000 hits. On hand for the event was Clemente's hero, Willie Mays, now a New York Met, who called Clemente "The Greatest". Sealing the mutual admiration Clemente was quoted saying ""Willie Mays is the greatest player I've ever seen. I never saw Joe DiMaggio play, but if Joe DiMaggio was better than Willie Mays, he belongs in heaven." Sadly, the Pirate right fielder's 3000th hit would be his last, as he would die on New Year's Eve in a plane crash while attempting...

September 29, 1954 - Willie Mays makes his famous running catch off the bat of Vic Wertz in game one of the World Series. In the eighth inning with a 2-2 tie and men on 1st and 2nd, Wertz slammed a 420 foot shot to the cavernous center field of the Polo Grounds. Mays was playing shallow, since Giants pitcher Don Liddle was a groundball pitcher, and had to turn his back to the infield sprinting for the outfield wall. Mays made an over the shoulder catch and a quick turn firing the ball to the infield holding Larry Doby at 3rd...

September 28, 1920 - A grand jury indicts eight members of the Chicago White Sox on charges of fixing the1919 World Series in the "Black Sox Scandal." It is the black eye on the sport that would lead to the banning of eight players. Eddie Cicotte and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson both confessed to accepting money from gamblers. Cicotte's second pitch of Game 1 of the 1919 World Series hit the Reds leadoff batter, which was the pre-arranged signal to the gamblers that the players had accepted the fix. Jackson and Cicotte would both recant their confessions after key evidence went missing from the...

September 26, 1961 In New York's 159th game, Roger Maris rips a Jack Fisher fastball into the RF seats at Yankee Stadium for his 60th home run. New York beats Baltimore 3 - 2. There are fewer than 8,000 fans on hand to view this historic event. The legitimacy of the record would be a hot topic of debate since the American League had been expanded from 8 to10 teams and the number of games played was increased by 8.

September 26, 1998 Mark McGwire sends two balls the distance, collecting homers number 67 and 68 of the season. McGwire now stands alone as the single season home...

September 25, 1954 -- A crowd of 14,175 faithful Fenway fans pay tribute to retiring Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams who is playing his last game at home. The Splendid Splinter's retirement will only last until May when his divorce is finalized with his contract being excluded from the settlement. His true retirement from playing would come in 1960, which inspired an article by John Updike titled "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu". Updike accurately described the fans relationship with Williams when he said "The affair between Boston and Ted Williams has been no mere summer romance; it has been a marriage composed of...

September 24, 1998 Red Sox reliever Tom Gordon records his 42nd consecutive save establishing a major league record. Boston clinches the AL wild card spot behind a pair of homers and four runs scored by Nomar Garciaparra. Author Stephen King would later write a novel titled The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, referring to his outstanding 1998 season with Boston and solidifying Gordon’s place as a New England folk hero.

September 24, 1931 Lefty Grove wins his 31st, beating the Red Sox 9 - 4, his 11th straight win over the Red Sox stretching back to May 26, 1930. Since July 25, 1930, Grove's record is 46 - 4, th...

September 23, 1908 Giants Pitcher Christy Mathewson and Cubs P Three Finger Brown battle

in one of the most controversial game ever played. The score is 1-1 with two outs in the last of the 9th, when Fred Merkle's failure to touch second after an apparent game - winning hit by Al Bridwell costs the Giants a 2 - 1 win. The ump calls Merkle out and rules the game a tie.The base running gaffe, referred to as “Merkle's Boner”'is often blamed for the Giants loosing the pennant.

September 23, 1905 Eighteen year old Detroit rookie Ty Cobb, hits his...

September 22, 1968 - Cesar Tovar plays one inning at each position for the Minnesota Twins, becoming only the second major leaguer in history to do it; Bert Campaneris of the Oakland Athletics was the first. He started the game on the mound, ironically facing Campaneris as the leadoff hitter. Scott Sheldon and Shane Halter later became the only other two men to accomplish this feat.

September22, 1911 - Cy Young, at age 44, beats the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1 - 0, for his 511th and final major league victory.

September22, 1993:Pitcher Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers faces just...

September 21, 1958 At Fenway Park, the Red Sox complete a three-game sweep of the Senators, all by 2 - 0 shutouts.. Today's win, however, is marred when Ted Williams, after striking out looking with two aboard to end the third inning, flings his bat aside in a fit of anger. Unfortunately,the intended flip along the ground sails into the stands and striking, of all people, Boston GM Joe Cronin's 69-year-old housekeeper, Gladys Heffernan, in the head. "I didn't mean to throw the bat that way," explains the distraught Williams. "I started to flip it along the ground but the sticky stuff on...

September 20, 1919 - On Babe Ruth day at Fenway Park, the Bambino ties Ned Williamson's major league mark of 27 home runs in a season with a game-winner off Lefty Williams of the Chicago White Sox. Ruth also scores the winning run in both ends of the doubleheader. Ironically, it will be the last game he plays for the Boston Red Sox in Fenway as the sale of the century would have the Bambino in pinstripes for the remainder of his career. On the same date eight years later, Ruth would again raise the single season home run mark by hitting his 60...

September 19, 1968 – Detroit Tigers Pitcher Denny McLain's 31st win is overshadowed by Mickey Mantle's 535th homer which was good enough for 3rd on the all time list. McLain called Catcher Jim Price to the mound to have him inform Mantle he’d be seeing nothing but fastballs and Mantle delivered. Mantle tipped his cap to Denny as he rounded third base. Joe Pepitone, the next batter, signaled where he would like the ball, and McLain dusted him. The Tigers won the game, 6 - 2, the 12th straight complete game for the Tigers staff.September 19, 1970 Boston's Billy Conigliaro connects for a 4th inning home...

September 18, 1975 - The New York Mets defeat the Chicago Cubs, 7 - 5 at Shea Stadium. Rusty Staub becomes the first Mets' player to reach 100 RBIs in a season with a 2-run homer in the fifth. Dave Kingman sets a team record with his 35th home run of the season to win it in the ninth inning. Kingman would also hit his 35th homer of the year on this date in 1976 when he was named to the National League All Star Team for the first time.September 18, 1962 At LA, the Aaron brothers lead the Braves to a 10 - 5 pounding of the Dodgers...

September 17, 1968 Detroit clinches the American League pennant with a 2 - 1 win over the Yankees. Detroit is ahead 1 - 0 when Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey phones Tiger general manager Jim Campbell with the news that the Sox have beaten the Orioles, clinching the pennant for the Tigers. Campbell keeps the score off the radio and the scoreboard, fearing the news will send fans rampaging onto the field.

Don Wert singles home the winner in the 9th and the fans tear down the left field screen as Campbell suspected.

September 17, 1912 - Casey Stengel of the Dodgers makes...

September 16, 1968: One day after seeing their team mathematically eliminated, Candlestick Park's patrons show up in 'record' numbers, the smallest crowd to see a Giants game in San Francisco. The 2,361 fans witnessed the rare sight of Willie Mays being restrained from charging into the stands to confront two hecklers. 'Nice catch, Willie,' they jeered from the front row after Mays made a spectacular catch in the fourth.'For a $100,000 bum you're finally earning your money'." As Mays approached the dugout, he went after the two men but was intercepted by Bobby Bonds and manager Herman Franks. The two hecklers were...

September 15, 1990: Despite solo homers in the 5th by brothers Billy Ripken and Cal Ripken, both off David Wells, the Orioles lose 4 - 3 to Toronto. The brothers would homer together once more in 1996, again in the same inning. The Ripken Brothers joint stint in Baltimore, while managed by their father Cal Sr. from 1987 to 1988, marked the first time a father has managed two of his sons on the same team in the bigs.September 15, 2003: With his 2,063rd career base on balls, Barry Bonds passes Babe Ruth on the all-time walks list. The Giant left fielder now only trails Rickey Henderson, who...

September 14, 1994 - The remainder of the baseball season is canceled by acting commissioner Bud Selig after 34 days of the players' strike. The last 50 games of the season and post season were cancelled due to the strike called by the Players Association and their leader Don Fehr. The World Series would not be played for the first time in 90 years. The strike was finally ended by a ruling from future Chief Justice Sonia Sotomayor.September 14, 1923: Red Sox first baseman George Burns completes an unassisted triple play against the Indians as he gathers in a Frank Brower line drive, tags Rube Lutzke...

September 13, 2011 Due to terrorist attacks against targets in New York and Washington,

D.C. Major League Baseball postpones all games through September 17. The 91 missed games are re-scheduled for the week after the regular season was supposed to end, meaning the World Series would extend into November for the first time in history. This would be the most regular-season contests not played since World War I forced the cancellation of the final month of the 1918 season.

September 13, 1965 - At the Astrodome, Giant outfielder Willie Mays becomes the fifth player in major league history to hit 500 career...

September 12, 1911 - In a game billed as a pitchers' duel, Boston's Cy Young and the Giants' Christy Mathewson face each other for the first time before 10,000, Boston's largest crowd of the year. Young gives up three homers and nine runsin less than three innings. With a 9 - 0 Giants lead, John McGraw lifts Mathewson, who pitched just two innings, preferring to save his ace for the pennant race against Chicago and Philadelphia. This would end up being the only time the two pitchers ever face each other. The Giants coast to an 11–2 win.September 12, 1979 - Carl Yastrzemski, an eighteen time All-Star, an...

September 11, 1918 - The Red Sox win the World Series in game six, on Carl Mays's 2nd victory, a 2-1 three-hitter. Cubs pitchers compile a 1.04 ERA, while Boston's .186 batting average is the lowest ever for a World Series winner. They compensated for their poor showing at the plate by making just one error, a record not beaten this century in a 6-game World Series. The Cubs each earned $671, and the Red Sox $1,102 , the smallest winner's share ever earned. The inning by inning results of the game are relayed to Fort Devens, 58 miles away, via nine homing pigeons.September 11, 1956 Yogi Berra ties...

Stan Coveleski makes his Debut: September 10, 1912 at age 23, as the 3,800th in major league history vs. the Detroit Tigers he pitched 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 SO, 1 BB, 0 ER

Using a fluttering spitball that dove sharply and broke inside on lefties and righties, Stan Coveleski helped two unlikely teams to the World Series. He won three games in the 1920 Series — the first championship for Cleveland, and in 1925 he helped the Senators to the World Series in his first year with that club, winning 20 games. He consistently topped 275 innings pitched and was a valuable pitcher well into his mid-thirties. Coveleski learned th...

September 10, 1960 - Mickey Mantle unloads a cannon shot clearing the RF roof in Detroit and landing in Brooks Lumber Yard across Trumbull Avenue. In June, 1985, Mantle's blow was retroactively measured at 643 feet, and was listed in The Guinness Book of World Records as the longest Home Run in History. New research by National Baseball Hall of Fame, overturned that estimate and instead gives the mark to a 575 ft blast by Babe Ruth hit on July 18, 1921, also in Detroit.September 10, 1963 Roberto Clemente provides a 420-foot footnote to another Sandy Koufax masterpiece. Clemente’s fourth career home run off Sandy came off a...

September 9, 1953 - Mickey Mantle's 2-run home run off Chicago's Billy Pierce caps a 7-run 5th inning, as New York wins 9 - 3 at Yankee Stadium. Returning to Center Field after the 5th, Mantle is photographed blowing a huge bubble with a wad of gum. Manager Casey Stengel will publicly rebuke the Mick, who will apologize for the indiscretion. However, Mantle does get an endorsement fee from the Bowman Gum Company. Mantle was a Madison Avenue darling. He was so beloved that he was able to simultaneously endorse cigarettes and aids to quit smoking,September 9, 1931 – With the country in the grip of th...

September 8, 2007 - Alex Rodriguez continues to lead the Yankees in their playoff hopes with an 11-5 win over the Kansas City Royals. He homers twice off rookie pitcher Brian Bannister. The first of the homers is his 49th of the year and breaksthe record for homers by a third baseman. Previously, Mike Schmidt and Rodriguez (2005) had shared the record at 48 homers. Rodriguez already held the single-season record for shortstops, giving him the high watermark at two positions.September8, 2008 Gary Sheffield hits a grand slam for the official 250,000th homer in MLB history. The blow is Sheffield's 2nd homer of the...

On the seventh day of September 1978, the Boston Red Sox lead was just four games over a charging Yankee team who arrive in Boston for a crucial 4-game series, which would become known as the “Boston Massacre”. The Yanks dominate game one with a 15 - 3 rout as Willie Randolph accounts for five of the runs. On July 24, the Red Sox held a 14 game lead in the AL East but played only 25 - 24 ball leading up to this series. The Yankees, in that same time frame had won 35 of 49. When the bloodshed was over on September 9th, the Yankees pounded out 42 runs...

September 6, 1995 - Cal Ripken, Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles plays in his 2,131st consecutive Major League game to surpass Lou Gehrig's 56-year record. When the game becomes official in the middle of the fifth inning, Ripken takes a victory lap around Camden Yards during the 22-minute standing ovation from the sell-out crowd. Ripken went 2 for 4, including a home run, in Baltimore's 4 - 2 win over California.September 6, 2001 During the Diamondbacks – Giants game, Barry Bonds becomes the fifth player in major league history to hit 60 home runs in a season. He joins Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Bonds, th...

September 5th, 1954, Hank Aaron goes 4 for 4 in a 9 – 7 triumph over the Cubs, but breaks his ankle in the second game of a doubleheader and is lost for the remainder of the season.September 5th, 1995, Cal Ripken ties Lou Gehrig’s all-time mark by appearing in his 2,130th consecutive game. In the fifth inning, when the game became official the crowd erupted in applause. The 35 year old shortstop played every game of the Orioles schedule for 14 years and would continue to do so for another three seasons.September 5th, 1998: Giant’s 0utfielder Barry Bonds sets a new National League mark reaching base i...

September4, 2000, the Red Sox's defeat the Seattle Mariners, 5 – 1. Boston Outfielder, Carl Everett drives in his 100th ribbie of the year becoming only the sixth major-league switch-hitter to drive in 100 runs in both leagues. Pedro Martinez however, is the star of the day, striking out 11 in eight innings to go 7 - 0 over the M's.

Prior to the game, Boston retires Hall of Fame Catcher Carlton Fisk's uniform number 27. “Pudge”, as Fisk was known, was the author of perhaps the most famous homerun in Red Sox history, as he willed a towering shot to left to stay fair during game 6...

September 3, 2009 — Yankee Catcher, Jorge Posada hit his 20th homer of the season and drove in four runs to help New York beat Toronto 7-5. Posada's homer gave New York a major league-leading seven players with at least 20 dingers. The ’09 Yankees are the only team in franchise history to accomplish this feat. Only the ’96 Orioles, the 2000 Blue Jays and the ’05 Rangers have been able to collect 20 home runs from 7 players in a single season. No National league team has yet to reach that milestone.

September 3, 2008 — Baseball's first use of instant replay is used to support an on field call of a...

September 2, 2001 — A pitching duel between former Yankee teammates David Cone and Mike Mussina saw New York's Mike Mussina came within one strike of pitching the first perfect game in the 89-year history of Fenway Park. Over eight innings Mussina did not allow a single Red Sox baserunner. Red Sox pitcher David Cone kept pace keeping the Yankees scoreless till the top of the 9th when the Yanks would push one across the dish. Mussina's bid was broken up by a clean single from pinch hitter Carl Everett. Prior to this, Everett was 1 for 8 with seven strikeouts against Mussina. The Ya...

September 1, 2007 — Clay Buchholz throws a no-hitter in his second major league start just hours after being called up by the Boston Red Sox. Buchholz threw 115 pitches, striking out nine, walking three, with one hit batter to give the Red Sox a 10-0 victory over Baltimore. He became the 21st rookie to throw a no-hitter and the third MLB pitcher since 1900 to throw a no-hitter in his first or second major league start. He is the first Red Sox rookie and 17th Red Sox pitcher to pitch a no-hitter. In post game interviews,Manager Terry Francona and GM Theo Epstein in...

August 31, 1990, the Houston Astros make one of their best trades ever, acquiring minor league infielder Jeff Bagwell from the Boston Red Sox for pitcher Larry Andersen. Refusing to part with Triple-A third baseman Scott Cooper to get Larry Andersen from the Astros for the stretch run, Red Sox general manager Lou Gorman trades the Eastern League's MVP Jeff Bagwell for the right-handed relief pitcher.The University of Hartford standout will go on to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1991 and we will win the National League’s MVP Award in 1994 and become one of the gr...

On August 30, 2006, Boston right-hander Curt Schilling fans Oakland slugger Nick Swisher with his trademark splitter to record the 3,000th strikeout of his career. Schilling becomes the 14th pitcher to reach the milestone. Schilling ranks 2nd all time with 4.38 strikeouts for every walk allowed. Third on the all time list is 2004 team mate Pedro Martinez with a 4.15 ratio. After recording the strikeout Schilling said, "Earlier in my career, the two guys I wanted to emulate were Clemens and Maddux. I wanted Clemens' power with Maddux's control. I never quite got to either one of them, but I felt like I...

1977 - Cardinals outfielder Lou Brock steals second base in a 4-3 loss to the Padres. It is career steal 893 for Brock, breaking Ty Cobb's modern record. Brock wasted no time, leading the game off with a walk, he stole second base off the battery of Danny Freisleben and Dave Roberts, he advanced to third and scored on Jerry Mumphries single. Brock would steal another base in the seventh after a force out and was left stranded in the 7th at third in the Cardinal loss.

1972 - During a 3-0 win over St. Louis, San Francisco's Jim Barr...

August 28, 1990, Ryne Sandberg of the Chicago Cubs becomes the first second baseman in history to notch consecutive 30-home run seasons. Sandberg hits his milestone 30th home run against the Houston Astros, helping the Cubs to a 5-2 win. Sandberg went onto hit 40 homeruns, he is 1 of 9 men to hit 40 homeruns in a season and the cubs ar the only team to have 40+ homerun hitters at shortstop and secondbase.

August 28, 1967, the Boston Red Sox sign free agent first baseman/outfielder Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, who had been fired by the Kansas City A’s for making critical remarks about owner...

The king of thives:

August 27, 1982, Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A’s breaks Lou Brock’s single-season stolen base record. Henderson steals his 119th base, surpassing Brock’s total of 118 thefts. Henderson stole the base in the 3rd inning off the battery of Doc Medith and Ted Simmions. Henderson, would steal three more bases in a 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, he will finish the season with 130 stolen bases.

Inside the Park Homerun madness . . .

On August 27, 1977, Toby Harrah and Bump Wills of the Texas Rangers hit back-to-back inside-the-park home runs agains...