On this Day . . . Ten-Ten

1945: The last time the Cubs played in the World Series, they ran into a Tiger. 'Prince Hal' Newhouser shut down the Cubs in the series, winning twice including 10 strikeouts in a Game 7 gem on this date in 1945. The Cubs are still working on returning to the top of the mountain.

1957: Another great pitching performance came in 1957, and it culminated in the Milwaukee Braves bringing a title to the Midwest. Burdette did one better than Newhouser, winning 3 games in the Fall Classic. The Braves shut out the Yankees 5-0 in the decisive final game.

1968: Mickey Lolich outduels Bob Gibson in game 7 of the 1968 World Series, for his 3rd win of the Series, clinching the title for the Tigers.

1978: Davey Lopes crushed a pair of dingers and the Dodgers cruise to an 11-5 victory in Game One of the 1978 World Series. Reggie Jackson homered for the Yankees, and would ultimately be the thorn in side of the Dodgers' sides in the series, which the Yankees won in 6 games.

1980: George Brett gets a little revenge on behalf of all those Yankee haters out there, demolishing a pitch from Goose Gossage into the upper deck to put the finishing touches on a Royals' three game sweep in the ALCS. The Phillies would eventually take care of the Royals in the World Series, but for the moment it was exaltation in the Paris of the Plains

1990: Dave Stewart continues his dominance when matching up against Roger Clemens, taking the Red Sox to task in the finale of the 1990 ALCS. It would be the 8th straight victory of Stewart over Clemens. The Rocket failed to launch, arguing with plate umpire Terry Cooney and getting tossed from the game after facing just 8 batters. 3 runs would be charged to his ledger. Stewart gave up just a single run in eight innings, and garnered MVP honors for the 4 game ALCS.
 

BIRTHDAYS!!!

Tenace the Menace, a pair of Phils; Tulo, Cutch, and Cespedes; young fireballer Jeurys Familia, old submariner Ziegler, and Kolten Wong, who is now neither young nor old, which may be confusing or comforting to him, depends on how he feels about that ....

On This Day (Heard Round the World)

1951: 

So there's the iconic event from October 3rd, here are some more....

1974: Cleveland announces that Ken Aspromonte has been relieved of his duties as manager, and replace him with Frank Robinson, the first African-American to ever hold the position. He would start his managerial career the following spring, calling his own number from time to time as DH.

1982: Robin Yount slams a pair of homers against Baltimore in the final game of the season, propelling Harvey's Wallbangers past the Orioles and into the playoffs. The 10-2 victory gave the Brew Crew first place in the AL East, and they carried that momentum all the way into late fall, winning the ALCS and pushing the Cardinals to the limit, dropping game 7 of the World Series to the Redbirds. (corrected)

1987: Rookie Catcher Benito "Benny" Santiago goes hitless for the Padres, snapping his 34 game hitting streak. This streak is still the longest by a Rookie in Major League History. Despite the O-fer, Santiago can't be too bummed, as the Padres snapped a different streak, a 9 game losing streak. Santiago caught the 1-0 shutout on the final day of the 1987 season.

2012: Another hitless game makes the list. Miguel Cabrera's final game of the year came and went without Miggy reaching base, but his season totals were enough to garner him the first Triple Crown in the American League since Yaz took home the honor in 1967.

Birthdays! 
Fellow Hall of Famers Dave Winfield and Dennis Eckersley tangled many times over the years, and Eck's greatest gift to Big Dave came in September of 1993, when he surrendered a single in the hole for Winfield's 3,000th hit. He is still, so far, the only member of the 3,000 hit club to get the hit against a Hall of Fame pitcher. And probably the only guy to get hit # 3000 against a guy with the same birthday!

Also born on this day, former All-Star Wil Cordero, and current guy I confuse with Felix Jose, Junior Felix.

On This Day . . .

Willie Mays makes "The Catch" in 1954.

1920: Ruth hits home run number 54 to demolish the single season record for HRs
1927: Ruth ties his own record for HRs in a season; he would break his own record the following day.
1934: Ruth hits his final homer in a Yankee uniform, his 659th with the Bombers, the 708th of his career.

1978: Jim Rice hits a double and a single in a game vs. Toronto, becoming the 1st major leaguer to amass 400 total bases in a season since Joe DiMaggio did it in 1936.

1986: The Flying Dutchman serves up home runs number 47, 48, and 49 in a game against his former club in Cleveland - setting the major league record for most homers allowed in a season.

2013: Henderson Alvarez surprises the Tigers, tossing a no-hitter in the final game of the season. Tigers starter Justin Verlander tossed a shutout of his own in opposition, but the bullpen coughed up a run in the bottom of the ninth with a wild pitch that scored Giancarlo Stanton. It was the 6th time in baseball history that a no-hitter ended in walk off fashion.

Birthday buddies! Long time teammates Craig Lefferts and Tim Flannery, fellow Padre Heath Bell, and un-fellow non-Padre Jake Westbrook.

Other notable moments - 
Stan Musial made his MLB pitching debut, retiring the one batter he faced in 1952.

John Paciorek plays in his first and only major league game for the Houston Colt .45s, goes 3 for 3, and finishes his MLB career with a perfect 1.000 average. He fails to qualify for the 1963 batting title, however....

Hall of Fame Manager Casey Stengel passes away in 1975, at the age of 85.

The Expos play their final game in Montreal in 2004 - it was announced hours earlier that the team would move to Washington, D.C.

In 2008, rookie Alexei Ramirez hits a grand slam for the White Sox, forcing a one game playoff. The Sox would win that game and advance to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS.

Ship of Fools

What do all of the following players have in common? All were born on April 1st. Pretty much everything you read on the internet today will be total nonsense, but the following facts about each of these guys is 100% True.

"Le Grand Orange" Rusty Staub was in the bigs seemingly forever. As a pinch hitter he lasted well into the 1980s. In the photo above, he's still below the legal drinking age. He's one of only 4 guys to have a home run before turning 20 and after turning 40. Can you name the other three?

 When Curt Flood refused to be traded to the Phillies in 1969, Willie Montanez was the player that ended up taking his place. Willie was up in the big leagues for good in 1971, and responded with a 30 homer campaign. He had several good seasons in the majors, but none quite as good as his rookie year. He was part of several big trades in his career- the aforementioned Curt Flood trade sent Tim McCarver to Philly and Dick Allen to Saint Louis. In 1976 he played in 163 games, he was traded mid season from San Fran to Atlanta in a deal that included Darrell Evans. He was also part of the massive four team deal in 1978 that included Al Oliver, Bert Blyleven, and various other pieces that changed teams between Atlanta, the NY Mets, the Pirates, and the Texas Rangers. The Rangers later traded Montanez to San Diego for yet another Hall of Fame pitcher. Can you name him?

Phil Niekro is the winningest pitcher of the April Fools, and the only Hall of Famer (Though Staub may have a case with the veteran's committee some day). He won over 300 games, struck out over 3,000 batters, and pitched in more than 800 games for more than 5,400 innings. His signature pitch was the knuckleball, and he has more wins than any other pitcher with that specialty in their arsenal. Along with his brother Joe, they hold the record for most combined career wins by siblings. His 300th win was a shutout, which set another record. He was the oldest pitcher to record a shutout at the time. Do you know who broke that record?

 Ron Perranoski (not so sneakily wearing a Dodgers uniform under that magic marker) played for the Saint Paul Saints and the Minnesota Twins - a feat that is now quite commonplace, but at the time was much more rare. He has 4 World Series rings -- 2 as a player and 2 as a pitching coach -- all with the Dodgers. He led the American League in Saves in 1969 and 1970 as a member of the Minnesota Twins.

 He Struck out 6 batters in a row in 1966 - who has the most consecutive strikeouts, with 10?

 Rich Amaral was a pest to left handed pitching in 1993, his rookie season. By that time, Amaral was already 31 years old. His road to the majors was a long one, but his persistence paid off. He ended his playing career with nearly 500 major league hits, which is nothing to sneeze at for anyone, especially considering he had a late start.

 He was the PCL batting champ in 1991, which finally propelled him to the big leagues. He managed to play for parts of 10 seasons in the majors after that. 31 is old, but which rookie was the oldest?

 Frank Castillo came within a few inches of a no-hitter in 1995. Pitching for the Cubs against Saint Louis, Castillo had two outs in the ninth inning without surrendering a hit. Cardinals outfielder Bernard Gilkey hit a liner out towards Sammy Sosa. Despite a diving effort, the ball skipped away to the wall and ended up as a triple. Castillo managed to salvage the shutout, and the process reached a career high of 13 strikeouts. Gilkey's hit ruined Castillo's no-no -- which active player has broken up 3 no hitters with a 9th inning hit in his career?

 The Ax Man is still slinging the ol horsehide today- he signed a 2 year deal with Oakland this past offseason.

Back in 2011, John Axford tied for the league lead in saves with 46. He converted a total of 49 straight save opportunities from 2011 and into 2012. In 2015, Axford took over the closer role in Colorado, and ended up saving 25 games for the Rockies, his highest season total in 3 years. Axford is second all-time among Canadian born pitchers in saves. Who is number 1?

Fresh off some big time postseason heroics (and one flub he'd rather forget), Daniel Murphy took his talents to the nation's capital this offseason. His six consecutive postseason games with a home run set an MLB record, and also set a Mets team record for most homers over the course of an entire postseason. Murphy's new team hasn't had many chances at post-season glory, but which batter has the most homers in a postseason for Washington?