A rainout the night before kept the Anaheim Angels still alive in the 2009 ALCS, but their string ran out on October 25, even if Gary Matthews, Jr.‘s swing and miss at Mariano Rivera‘s cutter that ended the game actually occurred at one minute past midnight (and therefore technically October 26). Andy Pettitte pitched into the seventh for the win, Johnny Damon‘s fourth-inning two-run double gave the Yanks a lead they would not relinquish, and Mark Teixeira crowned a two-run eighth with a sac fly in the 5-2 Yankees win. Chuck Mangione played the National Anthem before the game, and Bernie Williams threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Yankee fans almost salivated over the prospect of having their nine face Bobby Jones of the Mets in Game Four of the World Series on October 25, 2000. But once Derek Jeter led off by belting a home run on the game’s first pitch, Jones settled in, and Mike Piazza clubbed a two-run tater. But fear not. The Yanks got 4.3 scoreless innings out of their pen and beat the Flushing nine, 3-2, to take a three games to one lead.
Ron Guidry actually threw a great game except for a brief letdown, but the Dodgers capitalized with back-to-back homers from Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager, and the West Coast team prevailed, 2-1, to go up in World Series games, three to two, on October 25, 1981.
On that same 1981 day Yankee owner George Steinbrenner got into an altercation with two fans in an elevator, emerging with a split lip and a broken hand.
The top of the fifth inning vs. the Marlins in Game Six of the 2003 World Series on October 25 was off to a good start, as Andy Pettitte notched his fifth strike out starting off, followed by a Juan Encarnacion bouncer to third. But a revitalized Alex Gonzalez followed with the first of three consecutive singles and scored the only run Florida would need to prevail in that game 2-0, and in the Series, four games to two. Josh Beckett turned in the five-hit, complete-game shutout.
Casey Stengel got his second job as skipper when he was hired to manage the Boston Bees (who would eventually become the Boston-Milwaukee-Atlanta Braves) on October 25, 1937, after having piloted the Brooklyn Dodgers from ’34 to ’36. That the year he got this job matches the number he wore on his back with the Yankees is presumably just a coincidence.
On October 25, 2013, the Yankees signed free agent righthanded pitcher Jonathan Padilla to a minor league contract.
On October 25, 2010, the Yankees activated left fielders Kevin Russo and Colin Curtis; right-handed pitchers Chad Gaudin, Javier Vazquez, Hector Noesi, Romulo Sanchez, Jonathan Albaladejo, Andrew Brackman, and Ivan Nova; second baseman Reegie Corona; first baseman Juan Miranda; left-hander Steve Garrison; and catcher Chad Moeller. They also changed the status of lefty Royce Ring; signed free agent outfielder Wilmer Romero; and activated first baseman Mark Teixeira from the 15 day DL.
Alleged spitballer Gaylord Perry fashioned a 21-6 record for the 1978 San Diego Padres. The gaudy numbers won him the NL Cy Young Award on October 25, making him the first hurler to win that prize in both leagues. Just two years later, Perry would win four and lose four pitching for the Yankees in 10 appearances.
It’s too big a moment in New York/Boston sports not to mention Game Six of the 1986 Fall Classic, which happened on October 25. One minute the Mets were trailing, 5-3, with two outs and no one on in the 10th. Then three singles and a wild pitch tied it, and Bill Buckner allowed the winning run to score when Mookie Wilson‘s meek grounder rolled between his legs and down the first base line.
Former Yankees (Mets, Dodgers, Giants) outfielder Darryl Strawberry was arrested after leaving a drug rehab center following a relapse on October 24, 2000.
Gabe Paul got his second general manager job in the bigs when Houston hired him on October 15, 1960. Paul would replace Mike Paul as Yankee President in 1974 once George Steinbrenner took control of the team.
With 31 home runs, 95 rbi’s, and a .283 average, Angels outfielder Tim Salmon was a unanimous Rookie of the Year choice in the American League on October 25, 1993.
On the one hand, the fact that Chicago’s La Marr Hoyt won the AL Cy Young Award on October 25, 1983, has to have been a bummer for Yankee fans, as he was originally a New York amateur free agent signing. But when advised that the Yanks received Bucky Dent in return in the 1977 trade that sent Hoyt to the White Sox, most would accept that move willingly.
Players Who Have Died This Day
No Yankee players have died on October 25.
The list of noteworthy nonYankee players who have died on October 25 includes a righthanded pitcher, a lefthanded pitcher, two lefty-hitting outfielders, and a catcher. Bill Phillips (1941) won 70, lost 76, and saved three games from 1890-1903 pitching mostly for Cincinnati; and righty-hitting, lefty-throwing hurler George Brunet (1991) posted a 69-93-4 mark pitching six years with California, four with the K.C. A’s, and two each with the Braves and the Houston Colt 45’s from 1956-1971. Tom Brown (1927) hit 64 home runs good for 736 rbi’s from 1882-1898 playing with the Senators, the Alleghenies, the Colonels, the Colts, the Beaneaters, and the Red Stockings; and “Pistol” Pete Reiser (1981) homered 58 times and drove in 368 runs in 1942 and from 1946-1952 playing mostly with the Dodgers and the Braves. Lefty hitting, righty throwing catcher Tim Thompson (2021) played with Brooklyn in 1954, with the KC A’S in 1956-1957, and in Detroit in 1958. He hit eight home runs and drove in 47 in 187 games.
Players Born This Day
Former Yankee GM, AL President, and member of the Hall of Fame Lee MacPhail (1917) was born on October 25, a birth date he shares with seven Yankee players. Three of them spent minimal time with the team, starting with first baseman Jack Doyle (1869), who played for the Giants and the Dodgers over 16 years, and finished up by going hitless in three at bats in one game for the 1905 Highlanders. Lee and his father Larry MacPhail comprise the only father/son tandem in the Hall of Fame.
Lefty-hitting outfielder Rowland Office (1952) played 11 years for Atlanta and Montreal before managing an rbi in two at bats over two games while finishing his career with the 1983 Yankees. Office was signed as a free agent in New York in February 1983 and was released following that season.
Righthander Andy McGaffigan (1956) gave up two runs in pitching seven innings over two games while debuting with the 1981 club, before tossing 10 years for the Reds, the Expos, the Royals, and the Giants. McGaffigan was a sixth-round choice of the Yankees in the 1978 amateur draft, and he was traded with Ted Wilborn to the Giants in March 1982 for Doyle Alexander.
Making more significant contributions were switch-hitting shortstop Roy Smalley (1952), who smacked 45 homers with 155 rbi’s with the 1982 through 1984 Bombers; and pitcher Pete Mikkelsen (1939), who posted an 11-13 mark with 13 saves in the Bronx in 1964 and 1965, extending his time in the bigs by pitching for National League teams through the 1972 season. Considering the other players involved in the trades that brought Smalley to New York from Minnesota in April 1982 (for Ron Davis, Paul Boris, and Greg Gagne) and away to the Chicago White Sox in July 1984 (for Doug Drabek and Kevin Hickey) makes my head spin. Big-time talent coming and going. Mikkelsen was signed as a Yankee amateur free agent in 1958. He was traded with cash to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Bob Friend in December 1965.
Lefty-hitting third baseman Bobby Brown (1924) spent his entire 1946-1954 career with the Yanks, with 22 homers and 237 rbi’s. Later he served as AL President after he retired as a player. And finally, southpaw Keith Garagozzo (1969), a 1991 ninth-round Yankee draft pick, was lost to Minnesota in the December 1993 rule-V draft. He posted no wins or losses in seven games with the Twins in 1994, and they returned him to New York for the waiver price afterward.
Other birthdays: Old-time Red Sox hurler Joe Wood (1889); Bobby Thomson (1923), who hit the “Shot Heard ’round the World” for the 1951 Giants; Tito Landrum (1954); Danny Darwin (1955); Kelly Downs (1960); Steve Decker (1965); and premier righty with the Expos, the Red Sox, recently the Mets, and in 2009 with Philly Pedro Martinez (1971). “Who’s Your Daddy?” Also, Joe Nelson (1984); J.J. Davis (1978); Tony Torcato (1979); Clint Nageotte (1980; Wilkin Ramirez (1985); Alberto Cabrera (1988); and Juan Soto (1998).
