October 20

From BR Bullpen

Events, births and deaths that occurred on October 20.

[edit] Events

• 1900 - The St. Louis Cardinals withhold the final month's pay of all but five players, including John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson, citing late hours, dissipation, and gambling as reasons for the poor showing of the team, which finished tied for fifth place in the National League.
• 1901 - Seven St. Louis Cardinals, including half the pitching staff and the three top hitters - Jesse Burkett, Emmet Heidrick and Bobby Wallace - jump to the new St. Louis Browns American League team.
• 1910:
  • On one day of rest, Jack Coombs of the Philadelphia Athletics pitches a complete game to beat the Chicago Cubs, 12 - 5, and give the Athletics a 3-0 lead in the World Series. Coombs also collects three hits and three RBI in the game.
  • The New York Giants win the City Series against the Highlanders in the sixth game, as Christy Mathewson is victorious over Jack Warhop, 6 - 3. Larry Doyle's 3rd-inning three-run home run is the big blow.
• 1924 - Kansas City Monarchs manager Jose Mendez takes the mound to spin a three-hit, 5 - 0 shutout over the Hilldale Daisies to win the final game of the first Negro League World Series. Loser Nip Winters had pitched the first three Hilldale wins.
• 1926 - Stuffy McInnis is named manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, succeeding Art Fletcher. Fletcher will sign on with the Yankees as coach.
• 1931 - Frankie Frisch, the St. Louis Cardinals' fiery field leader, is named National League MVP. He led the league in stolen bases with 28, hit .313, and was chosen for his all-around excellence.
• 1935 - Hank Greenberg is named American League MVP. Wes Ferrell finishes second in the ballot.
• 1936 - In a pitchers' duel, Carl Hubbell (26-6) edges out Dizzy Dean (24-13) for MVP honors in the National League.
• 1947 - Radio rights for the World Series sell for $475,000 for three years. Every franchise but Pittsburgh has sold 1948 TV rights. The New York Giants get $400,000 for radio-TV rights from Chesterfield.
• 1951 - Joe DiMaggio accompanies Lefty O'Doul's All-Stars on a tour of Japan. They will win 13 of the 15 games played.
• 1955 - Masaichi Kaneda of the Kokutetsu Swallows strikes out his 350th batter, surpassing the MLB season record of 348, set by Bob Feller in 1948. Kaneda already holds the single-game strikeout record in Japan with 15 in 1952 and 1954 and will go on to hold almost every Japanese pitching record before retiring in 1969.
• 1959 - Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith says he will not move the franchise to another city.
• 1960 - Coach Ralph Houk is named to succeed Casey Stengel as manager of the New York Yankees. He briefly led the team during the season when Stengel was hospitalized.
• 1964 - Johnny Keane, three days after resigning as manager of the World Champions St. Louis Cardinals, replaces Yogi Berra as the Yankees' field boss.
• 1967 - Bob Kennedy is named by Oakland Athletics owner Charles Finley the first manager in team history.
• 1972 - In Game Five of the World Series, Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds hits a home run on the first pitch of the game off Catfish Hunter as Cincinnati beats the Oakland Athletics, 5 - 4.
• 1973 - Reggie Jackson of the Oakland Athletics has RBI doubles in the 1st and 3rd innings to lead Oakland to a 3 - 1 victory over the New York Mets in Game Six of the World Series.
• 1981 - In a World Series rematch of the 1978 teams, the Yankees take Game One over the Dodgers, 5 - 3. Bob Watson hits a three-run home run in the 1st inning as pitcher Ron Guidry goes seven innings for the win. Goose Gossage closes down a Dodgers rally in the 8th.
• 1982 - The Milwaukee Brewers, playing in their first World Series, are unable to hold on to a 3 - 1 lead in Game Seven, as the St. Louis Cardinals, thanks to Keith Hernandez's two-run 6th-inning single, rally to a 6 - 3 victory and the World Championship.
• 1985 - After giving up just two hits in eight innings, Kansas City Royals pitcher Charlie Leibrandt is raked with three two-out hits and loses, 4 - 2. The St. Louis Cardinals have a 2-0 lead in the World Series.
• 1987 - The Cardinals get all their runs against Minnesota in the 7th inning to win 3 - 1 in Game Three of the World Series.
• 1988 - Orel Hershiser pitches a four-hitter and Mickey Hatcher and Mike Davis hit two-run home runs to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5 - 2 victory over the Oakland Athletics and the World Series title in five games. Hershiser becomes only the third player to win the MVP honors in both the League Championship Series and the World Series. The win gives the Dodgers their first World Championship since 1981, becoming the only team to win more than one World Series in the 1980s.
• 1990 - The Cincinnati Reds complete one of the biggest upsets in major league history, beating the heavily-favored Oakland Athletics, 2 - 1, to win the World Series in four games. Pitcher Jose Rijo, with 9th-inning help from Randy Myers, wins his second game of the series.
• 1991 - The Minnesota Twins take a 2-0 lead in the World Series with a 3 - 2 victory over the Atlanta Braves. The deciding blow is a leadoff home run in the 8th inning by rookie Scott Leius. Chili Davis also homers for Minnesota.
• 1992 - The Toronto Blue Jays take the World Series lead with a 3 - 2 win over the Atlanta Braves on Candy Maldonado's bases-loaded single in the 9th inning. Duane Ward gets credit for the victory in relief of Juan Guzman as Joe Carter and Kelly Gruber hit home runs. In the 4th inning, Blue Jays outfielder Devon White's sensational catch nearly results in a triple play. Atlanta OF Deion Sanders is ruled safe on the play, but replays show he should have been the third out. Braves manager Bobby Cox is ejected from the game in the 9th, becoming the first manager to be thrown out of a Series game since 1985. By starting in right field, Toronto's Carter becomes the first player to start the first three games of a WS at three different positions. He started Game One at first base and Game Two in left field.
• 1993 - Devon White's two-run triple caps a six-run 8th inning as Toronto rallies for a 15 - 14 victory over the Phillies and a 3-1 World Series lead. The 29 runs shatter the Series record of 22 set in Game Two of the 1936 Series, when the Yankees beat the 1936 Giants, 18 - 4. It is also the longest nine-inning game in series history at 4 hours, 14 minutes.
• 1996 - The Atlanta Braves continue to pound the ball, as they defeat the Yankees, 12 - 1, in the World Series opener. At age nineteen, Andruw Jones puts himself in the record books as the youngest player to hit a home run in the Series. He hits one homer in the 2nd inning off Andy Pettitte and another in the 3rd. Pitcher John Smoltz gains the win.
• 1999:
  • The Colorado Rockies hire Buddy Bell as their new manager.
  • Boston eye doctor Carmen Puliafito offers free surgery for Major League umpires during the postseason after umpires blow three calls against the Red Sox during the ALCS. Puliafito, who chairs the ophthalmology department at the Tufts University School of Medicine, suspects some umpires are secretly nearsighted. "That's the only explanation I have for these three horrible calls."
• 2000 - Major league play-by-play broadcasters and black commentators select Carlos Delgado and Todd Helton as the Hank Aaron Award recipients. The new award, established last year, recognizes the Toronto Blue Jays and Colorado Rockies first basemen as the best overall hitters in each league. The same day, Toronto signs Delgado to a record four-year $68 million contract. Delgado's average salary of $17 million is the most in major league history.
• 2001 - The Arizona Diamondbacks take a 3-1 lead in their National League Championship Series with an 11 - 4 victory over Greg Maddux and the Atlanta Braves. Six of Arizona's runs are unearned as a result of three Atlanta errors. Luis Gonzalez hits a three-run home run for Arizona while Andruw Jones connects for the Braves. Brian Anderson gets the win in relief of starter Albie Lopez.
• 2002 - Twenty-year-old Venezuelan righthander Francisco Rodriguez becomes the youngest pitcher ever to win a World Series game. With just 15 days of major league experience, "K-Rod" throws 37 pitches retiring nine consecutive batters in three innings to pick up the victory as the Anaheim Angels outslug the Giants in Game Two, 11 - 10. Tim Salmon goes 4 for 4 with two home runs and four RBI, while Reggie Sanders, David Bell, Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds homer for San Francisco.
• 2004 - The Boston Red Sox become the first team in major league history to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games, by beating New York at Yankee Stadium, 10 - 3, in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. Johnny Damon hits two home runs, including a grand slam in the 4th inning, backing up the solid pitching of Derek Lowe. Boston joins the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders, both of the National Hockey League, as the only teams in the history of North American professional sports to overcome a 3-0 series deficit to win a seven-game series.
• 2009:
  • In game three of the 2009 Taiwan Series, the Brother Elephants beat the Uni-President Lions, 5 - 4, in 10 innings. The winning hit comes on a Kirk Gibson moment; with two outs in the 10th and Cheng-Min Peng on third, Elephants manager Shin Nakagomi turned to pinch-hitter Chih-Yuan Chen, unable to play the field due to a foot injury. Chen proceeded to single in Peng with the winner.
  • The Yankees take a 3-1 lead in the ALCS by crushing the Angels, 10 - 1 in Anaheim. Alex Rodriguez continues his red hot hitting with a two-run homer off Jason Bulger in the 5th inning, giving him an RBI in 8 consecutive postseason contests.
• 2011:
  • The Rangers tie the World Series at one-game apiece with a 9th-inning comeback over the Cardinals, giving them a 2 - 1 win. It's a scoreless game for 6 1/2 innings, as Colby Lewis and Jaime Garcia duel, until pinch-hitter Allen Craig drives in a run for the second straight game in the 7th. It stays that way until the 9th, when the Rangers use a pair of singles, a stolen base and a pair of sacrifice flies to stage a two-run rally against closer Jason Motte.
  • The Uni-President Lions beat the Lamigo Monkeys, 10-6, in game 5 of the 2011 Taiwan Series. They win their record eighth Taiwan Series and manager Wen-Sheng Liu is the winning manager for a record fourth time (all in the past five years). Tai-Shan Chang hits a grand slam off Ken Ray today and the Lions never look back. Ching-Ming Wang gets the win, his third of the Series, a record for a reliever. For his efforts, he wins the Taiwan Series MVP, the fifth time in a row it went to a pitcher but the first Taiwanese native to win it since Chin-Feng Chen back in 2006.
  • At the 2011 Pan American Games, Team USA sets several US records for a Pan American Games event with 9 walks, 20 RBI and 20 runs in a crushing 20-2 romp over a Dominican national team featuring several major league and AAA pitchers. Tommy Mendonca ties Tino Martinez's 24-year-old US record for RBI in a Pan Am Games contest (6) while Brett Carroll finishes a double shy of the cycle. Matt Clark draws four walks, a US record for a Pan American Games contest.

[edit] Births

• 1862 - Marty Sullivan, outfielder (d. 1894)
• 1863 - Pat Hartnett, infielder (d. 1935)
• 1864 - Jocko Fields, outfielder (d. 1950)
• 1871 - Skel Roach, pitcher (d. 1958)
• 1883 - Cuke Barrows, outfielder (d. 1955)
• 1894 - Toots Coyne, infielder (d. 1939)
• 1894 - John Russell, pitcher (d. 1930)
• 1896 - Wid Matthews, outfielder (d. 1965)
• 1897 - Tom Connelly, outfielder (d. 1941)
• 1897 - Jigger Statz, outfielder (d. 1988)
• 1900 - Judy Johnson Hall of Famer (d. 1989)
• 1900 - Jimmy Uchrinscko, pitcher (d. 1995)
• 1903 - Takeo Akuta, NPB manager; Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame (d. 1987)
• 1903 - Archie Campbell, pitcher (d. 1989)
• 1909 - Bruce Campbell, outfielder (d. 1995)
• 1910 - Bob Sheppard, announcer (d. 2010)
• 1917 - Mickey Weintraub, minor league player and manager (d. 2009)
• 1919 - Jack Franklin, pitcher (d. 1991)
• 1920 - Pat McGlothin, pitcher
• 1920 - Bill Ramsey, outfielder (d. 2008)
• 1921 - Jim Matthews, minor league outfielder and manager
• 1926 - Leon Brinkopf, infielder (d. 1998)
• 1928 - Mickey Micelotta, infielder
• 1930 - Bill Froats, pitcher (d. 1998)
• 1931 - Mickey Mantle, outfielder; All-Star, Hall of Famer (d. 1995)
• 1937 - Juan Marichal, pitcher; All-Star, Hall of Famer
• 1939 - Jerry Eaves, minor league pitcher
• 1943 - Bobby Floyd, infielder
• 1947 - Rafael Robles, infielder (d. 1998)
• 1952 - Dave Collins, outfielder
• 1953 - Keith Hernandez, infielder; All-Star
• 1957 - Jim McDonald, minor league infielder
• 1957 - Rick Ownbey, pitcher
• 1959 - Don Heinkel, pitcher
• 1961 - Jerry Meals, umpire
• 1961 - Keith Smith, infielder
• 1962 - Randy Asadoor, infielder
• 1963 - Luis Encarnacion, pitcher
• 1966 - Jonathan Hurst, pitcher
• 1967 - Harvey Pulliam, outfielder
• 1968 - Rudy Seanez, pitcher
• 1969 - Juan Gonzalez, outfielder; All-Star
• 1970 - Hensley Josephina, Netherlands Antilles national team coach
• 1972 - Abel Madera, Cuban league pitcher
• 1979 - Choo Freeman, outfielder
• 1979 - Carlos Valencia, minor league infielder
• 1980 - Jose Veras, pitcher
• 1982 - Andrew Baldwin, minor league pitcher
• 1982 - Gustavo Rehwoldt, Guatemalan national team pitcher
• 1986 - Reese Havens, minor league player
• 1989 - Zubair Nawaz, Pakistani national team infielder
• 1989 - Sung-ho No, South Korean national team pitcher
• 1992 - Tyler Goeddel, drafted infielder
• 1992 - Kam-Tao Ip, Hong Kong national team outfielder

[edit] Deaths

• 1898 - Curry Foley, outfielder (b. 1856)
• 1906 - Buck Ewing, catcher, manager; Hall of Famer (b. 1859)
• 1910 - George Ewell, outfielder (b. 1851)
• 1912 - John Skopec, pitcher (b. 1880)
• 1918 - Norman Triplett, Negro League outfielder (b. ????)
• 1921 - Jack Hardy, catcher (b. 1877)
• 1922 - Vincent Maney, infielder
• 1932 - Frank Eustace, infielder (b. 1873)
• 1933 - Lou Gertenrich, outfielder (b. 1875)
• 1934 - Paddy Greene, infielder (b. 1875)
• 1936 - George Kelb, pitcher (b. 1870)
• 1948 - Ed Kusel, pitcher (b. 1886)
• 1949 - Dick Rudolph, pitcher (b. 1887)
• 1958 - Rex Dawson, pitcher (b. 1889)
• 1960 - Lew Groh, infielder (b. 1883)
• 1962 - Tim Murchison, pitcher (b. 1896)
• 1964 - John Whitehead, pitcher (b. 1909)
• 1968 - Turner Barber, outfielder (b. 1893)
• 1972 - Allan Russell, pitcher (b. 1893)
• 1973 - Red Miller, pitcher (b. 1897)
• 1976 - Freddie Muller, infielder (b. 1907)
• 1979 - Cy Slapnicka, pitcher (b. 1886)
• 1985 - Hal Goldsmith, pitcher (b. 1898)
• 1992 - Spider Wilhelm, infielder (b. 1929)
• 1999 - Ray Katt, catcher (b. 1927)
• 1999 - Earl Turner, catcher (b. 1923)
• 2002 - Mel Harder, pitcher, manager; All-Star (b. 1909)
• 2004 - Chuck Hiller, infielder (b. 1934)
• 2010 - Otey Clark, pitcher (b. 1915)
• 2010 - Bill Jennings, infielder (b. 1925)
• 2010 - Tony Roig, infielder (b. 1927)