This Date in Baseball

Oct. 14

1905 - Christy Mathewson blanked the Philadelphia Athletics 2-0 to give the New York Giants the World Series in five games. All were shutouts, with Mathewson getting three, Joe McGinnity one, and Chief Bender of Philadelphia one.

1929 - The Philadelphia A’s rallied for three runs in the ninth inning to beat the Chicago Cubs 3-2 and take the World Series in five games.

1965 - Sandy Koufax tossed his second shutout to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 2-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins and the world championship in seven games.

1969 - New York’s Tommie Agee made two spectacular catches to save five runs and secure a 5-0 victory over Baltimore as the Mets took a 2-1 lead in the World Series.

1971 - Pittsburgh’s Nelson Briles threw a two-hitter against the Orioles for a 4-0 victory to give the Pirates a 3-2 edge in the World Series.

1972 - Oakland catcher Gene Tenace became the first player to hit home runs in each of his first two at-bats in the World Series, leading the Athletics to a 3-2 opening-game victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

1975 - The Reds took a 2-1 lead in the World Series with a controversial 6-5, 10-inning victory over the Boston Red Sox in Cincinnati. In the 10th, Reds pinch-hitter Ed Armbrister attempted a sacrifice bunt and bounced the ball in front of the plate. Catcher Carlton Fisk fielded the ball but collided with Armbrister and threw the ball into center while trying to force Cesar Geronimo at second. Geronimo went to third - and later scored the game-winning run - and Armbrister moved to second. Home plate umpire Larry Barnett ruled there was no interference despite heated protests by the Red Sox.

1976 - Chris Chambliss hit a ninth-inning home run off Kansas City’s Mark Littell to give the New York Yankees a 7-6 victory over the Royals and their first American League pennant since 1964.

1984 - Kirk Gibson hit two home runs to lead Detroit to an 8-4 victory and the World Series in five games over the San Diego Padres.

1985 - Ozzie Smith’s one-out, ninth-inning home run off Tom Niedenfuer gave the St. Louis Cardinals a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers and a 3-2 lead in the National League playoffs.

1992 - The Toronto Blue Jays became the first Canadian team to reach the Series with a 9-2 win over the Oakland Athletics in Game 6 of the American League championship series.

1998 - The San Diego Padres reached the World Series for the first time since 1984, shutting down the Atlanta Braves’ comeback bid behind MVP Sterling Hitchcock for a 5-0 victory in Game 6 of the NL championship series.

2000 - Roger Clemens pitched a one-hitter and struck out an ALCS record 15 as the New York Yankees beat Seattle 5-0.

2003 - Steve Bartman, a Cubs fan, became a household name after reaching for a foul ball and deflecting a potential catch by Chicago outfielder Moises Alou in Game 6 of the NLCS. Chicago had a 3 games to 2 lead in the best of seven series and was leading Miami 3-0 in the eighth inning at Wrigley Field. With one out and a man on second base, Miami’s Luis Castillo hit fly ball down the left field line which several fans along with Alou tried to catch. If Alou had caught the ball, the Cubs would have been four outs away from winning their first NL pennant since 1945. Instead the Marlins went on to score eight runs in the inning for an 8-3 victory and then won the series the next night.

2008 - Evan Longoria hit his rookie-record fifth home run of the playoffs, and Carlos Pena and Willy Aybar also homered off aging knuckleballer Tim Wakefield on to give Tampa Bay a 13-4 victory and a 3-1 lead over the Red Sox in the ALCS.

2015 - Jose Bautista wiped out the need for protests or umpire reviews with a three-run homer after three Texas Rangers errors for a 6-3 victory in the deciding Game 5 of the Division Series. Bautista’s homer capped an event-filled, 53-minute seventh inning that took a turn when Toronto catcher Russell Martin’s seemingly routine throw back to the pitcher deflected off batter Shin-Soo Choo and allowed the tiebreaking run to score.

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