TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

I had something else in mind today, but we have to acknowledge the 'Brewers' sweep of the Dodgers in the NLCS. We also have to think about how historic this World Series will be: either the longest drought in MLB ends, or a team that has never won the World Series- the Milwaukee Brewers or Tampa Bay Rays- will win their first.

Personally, I still can’t believe the Indians of the 1990’s didn’t win a title, and the 2016 World Series was epic; they were SO close.  

The Brewers, as many know, were the Seattle Pilots. As a kid, one of my best friends loved the Pilots; I had never collected any memorabilia, and I was amazed he had seats from Sicks Stadium, Pilots game tickets, uniforms, game balls, and autographs. He had an entire room in his house in Cambridge dedicated to the Pilots. It was also when he introduced me to Ball Four and the SI Baseball game, but that book certainly changed the way I would forever see life in MLB. I got to visit the site where Sicks Stadium once stood; it is now a Lowe's, but home plate is still there, inside the store. The Pilots, of course, were forced to start a year early because of Kansas City, and the Stadium itself was still being worked on during Opening Day. It is a hell of a story. Seattle collapsed, and a Milwaukee car dealer bought the team out of bankruptcy;nd in a midnight move, they were off to Milwaukee. I have been to Milwaukee; in August 2009 it was the first time I witnessed a tailgate for a baseball game, and the folks were sweethearts. They let my son and me join them and,, ironically, sat next to us at the game. If anyone wants to see the video, let me know, and I'll dig it out. Despite growing up in Boston, I always loved that Brewers group- Molitor, Yount, Cooper, Thomas; they were a fun team to watch in the 80s.    

As a tribute to Milwaukee, here is a recap of Game 4 of the 1982 World Series, featuring a dramatic comeback and a video of the ALCS clinching game in 1982. As for all the highlights below it is impossible to choose what the best was as a game of the day so I am choosing the Brewers because its their day. BUT - Classic Baseball Broadcasts has every World Series Game from 47 into the 1990s, including closeout games from today in 62, 69, and 83. We also have every Championship Series game from 69 into the late 1990s, including classic games from today in 85, 99, and 03.  

Stormin’ Gorman’s Big Hit (Game 4, 1982 World Series)

Gorman Thomas carried the Brewers in 1982. He hit 39 homers and drove in 112 runs, and he led the team in both. Then October came and Stormin’ Gorman went quiet. He was 1-for-15 in the ALCS and 2-for-11 through the first three games of the World Series. It actually started earlier than that. From September 21 on he was 7-for-67 with seven RBIs over 20 games, and the Milwaukee fans were letting him hear about it.

Game 4 was October 16, 1982. The Brewers were down two games to one to the Cardinals. St. Louis scored in the first. In the second, with one out, McGee on third and Ozzie on second, Tom Herr hit one deep to center. Thomas ran it down at the track, planted to throw, and his bad right knee gave out. He went down. McGee scored easily. Ozzie never stopped. He picked up Chuck Hiller waving him around and slid in ahead of Yount’s relay. That made it 3-0 Cards on a two-run sac fly.

In the fourth, Thomas came up with two on and one out and popped up foul to Darrell Porter. He led off the seventh with Milwaukee down 5-1 and popped up foul to Porter again. The boos got louder.

That seventh inning wasn’t finished with him, though. Oglivie hit a high chopper. Keith Hernandez went up for it and flipped to Dave LaPoint covering, and LaPoint dropped it. Don Money singled and Charlie Moore popped out. Jim Gantner doubled in Oglivie, and that was it for LaPoint. The crowd started chanting “We want Sutter!” to needle Whitey Herzog. Sutter had been hit the night before, and Whitey wanted to hold him until the eighth.

Doug Bair walked Molitor to load the bases. Yount tried to check his swing on a high pitch, couldn’t, and blooped it into right for two runs. Jim Kaat came in, and Cecil Cooper ripped one off Oberkfell’s glove to tie it. A wild pitch moved the runners up. Herzog then brought in Jeff Lahti just to finish an intentional walk to Simmons.

The Brewers had batted around, and up came Gorman Thomas again.

He lined a single to left-center that scored two. That put the Brewers ahead 7-5 on six runs in the inning, and every one of them was unearned.

Bob McClure got McGee to ground into a double play with two on in the eighth and set them down in order in the ninth. The Series was tied at two games apiece.

Parts of this article are from “From the Braves to the Brewers: Great Games and Exciting History at Milwaukee’s County Stadium” (SABR, 2016). To read more stories from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

Todays Podcast

Brought to you by: This Day In Baseball

This day in baseball has a deeper dive into every event from October 16.

October 16, 1912 –At Fenway Park, game 8 was played as a make up for a game 2 tie. Christy Mathewson faces off vs Hugh Bedient. Bedient pitched 7 solid innings of 1 run ball. Mathewson was his equal through 7.

Bedient was replaced by Smokey Joe Wood, who got pounded for 7 runs in the first inning the day before. They traded goose eggs for 2 innings and Fred Merkle who made a famous blunder singled in Red Murray to give the Giants the lead 2-1. (Check out the Merkle Boner)

With Christy Mathewson pitching trying to give the Giants the Series, Fred Snodgrass committed a two-base error of pinch-hitter Clyde Engle’s routine pop fly to lead off the inning in center field, the play, which becomes infamously known as “Snodgrass’ Muff.”

After a Harry Hooper fly out which Snodgrass made a great play, Steve Yerkes walks and the AL MVP Tris Speaker give second life after a pop up falls between Merkle and Mathewson, Speaker then shouted, “Well, you just called for the wrong man and it’s gonna cost you the ball game!”, Speaker promptly singled to right field scoring Engle and both moved up on an error. After an intentional walk to Duffy Lewis, Larry Gardner will win the game on a sacrifice fly. The Red Sox win the game and the World Series with the final score of 3-2.

The Muff historically becomes known as the goat of the World Series. In the aftermath of this event, the Giants manager John McGraw felt so sorry for Snodgrass that he raised his salary $1000. Much like Fred Merkle in 1908 this error of his stayed with Snodgrass until his death in 1974. So much so that when he died his obituary in the New York Times was headlined “Fred Snodgrass, 86, Dead; Ball Player Muffed 1912 Fly.”

October 16, 1921 — In defiance of a Kenesaw Mountain Landis ban on World Series participants playing post-season exhibitions, Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel and Bill Piercy launch a barnstorming tour in Buffalo. Five days later, they cut it short in Scranton. In the meantime, Ruth openly challenges Judge Landis to act. The judge does, fining the players their World Series shares ($3,362.26), and suspending them until May 20th of the following season. Judge Landis also outlaws gentleman’s agreements and cover-ups of players optioned to the minors without proper paperwork. He declares six players free agents, including Heinie Manush, who will ride a 17-year career .330 batting average into the Hall of Fame in 1964.

October 16, 1949 — Brooklyn does not renew Branch Rickey’s contract as president of the Dodgers. The ‘Mahatma’ will join the Pirates as the team’s executive vice president and general manager, with his son, Branch Jr., assuming the post of Pittsburgh’s vice president and farm system director.

October 16, 1962, At Candlestick Park. second baseman Bobby Richardson of the New York Yankees catches a searing line drive off the bat of San Francisco’s Willie McCovey with 2 men on to dramatically end Game 7 of the World Series. Richardson’s grab finishes off a 1-0 win for the Yankees, who take the Series in seven games.

October 16, 1969 – At Shea Stadium The New York Mets win their fourth straight game from the Baltimore Orioles with a 5 – 3 triumph behind pitcher Jerry Koosman, who throws a five-hitter, to take the World Series in five games. In the 3rd inning, Baltimore takes a 3 – 0 advantage after home runs by pitcher Dave McNally and outfielder Frank Robinson. After a strong argument by Mets manager Gil Hodges in the bottom of the 6th inning, Cleon Jones is awarded first base when shoe polish on the ball proves he was hit by a pitch, and Jones scores on a home run by Donn Clendenon. An inning later, Al Weis ties the game, 3 – 3, with a solo home run, and in the 8th, Ron Swoboda’s double and two Baltimore errors give New York two more runs and the World Championship. Clendenon is named Series MVP.

October 16, 1983 — At Veterans Stadium Eddie Murray hits two home runs and Scott McGregor pitches a five-hitter to give the Baltimore Orioles a 5 – 0 victory, its fourth straight over the Philadelphia Phillies, to give the Orioles the World Series championship in five games. Baltimore catcher Rick Dempsey, who hit .385 with four doubles and a home run, is named the Series MVP.

October 16, 1985, Jack Clark hits a three-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning, giving the St. Louis Cardinals a 7-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series stuns a sold-out Dodger Stadium. Clark’s blast comes against Dodgers closer Tom Niedenfuer.

October 16, 1990 — In Game 1 of the World Series, Eric Davis becomes the 22nd player in Series history to hit a home run in his first World Series at-bat. His 2 run blast comes off Dave Stewart, the Cincinnati Reds go on to rout the Oakland Athletics, 7 – 0, ending Oakland’s ten-game postseason winning streak.

October 16, 1999 — The Boston Red Sox roll over the Yankees, 13 – 1, In game slated to be a battle between the respective aces of each, 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. Pedro Martinez however is brilliant. Nomar Garciaparra gets four hits for Boston, while John Valentin get five RBI. Garciaparra, Valentin and Brian Daubach all hit home runs for the Sox. The Yankees now lead the ALCS, 2 games to 1.

October 16, 2003, At Yankee Stadium the New York Yankees defeat the Boston Red Sox in one of the greatest games in baseball history. With the two rivals meeting in Game Seven of the ALCS, the Red Sox hold a 5-2 lead entering the bottom of the eighth inning. Pedro Martinez is in control but in a controversial move Grady Little does not remove Martinez after 1oo pitches and tiring, wavers in the eighth as the Yankees score three to knot the game. The classic battle goes to the 11th inning, helped by great relief pitching from Mariano Rivera of the Bombers. In the Yankees half of the inning, Aaron Boone hits a Tim Wakefield pitch into the left field stands to give the Yankees a dramatic 6-5 win and a trip to the World Series.

New York Yankees capture their 39th American League pennant and meet the Florida Marlins in the World Series, Boone becomes the fifth player to end a postseason series with a homer joining Bill Mazeroski (1960 WS), Chris Chambliss (1976 ALCS, Joe Carter (1993 WS) and Todd Pratt (1999 NLDS2).

Little will be fired by the Red Sox for his “None move” and the Red Sox will find themselves in the same position 1 year later and end with a different result.

October 16, 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 Tampa Bay 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.

JD Drew homered and delivered the walk off single in the bottom of the 9th scoring Kevin Youkilis with the winning run.

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