Although it was long balls by Yankees Clint Frazier, Aaron Judge, and Kyle Higashioka that had the Yankees up 4-3 in Game One of the ALDS vs Tampa in Petco Park on October 5, 2020, fans walked away talking about the terrific postseason Giancarlo Stanton was having, as his ninth-inning grand slam forged the 9-3 final score. Gerrit Cole struck out eight in going seven innings for the win. Lefty Shane McClanahan made his major league debut finishing up the Yankee ninth for Tampa, while Luis Cessa closed for the Yanks.
A Yankee cap tip to a very good player who has moved on, as it was Didi Gregorius‘s third inning grand slam that, in effect, beat the Twins in Game 2 of the 2019 ALDS, 8-2, on October 5. Brett Gardner, Edwin Encarbacion, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gleyber Torres combined to plate the other four scores, and Masahiro Tanaka struck out seven while allowing three hits over five crisp innings.
Building a roster just for the Wild Card game that was to take place on October 5, 2021, the Yankees reassigned righthanders Corey Kluber, Jameson Taillon, and Luis Gil; and lefthander Jordan Montgomery to the minor leagues; and selected the contracts of catcher Rob Brantly and center fielder Greg Allen from the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. The team also designated lefthander Andrew Heaney and righthander Brody Koerner for assignment.
Game reports in this history come from my scorecard at games which I attend, which was not the case for the one-game Wild Card in Boston that 2021 day. But Yankee fans will recall that Gerrit Cole surrendered two home runs in the early innings, putting them behind 3-0, and they never seriously battled in a devastating 6-2 loss.
Regular-season Yankee highlights as far into the 10th month as this go way back almost 100 years. On October 5, 1912, the Highlanders (Yankees) played their last game at Hilltop Park, defeating the Senators 8-6 on Hal Chase‘s three-run home run. Starting the next season, they would share the Polo Grounds with the Giants until Yankee Stadium was built.
On October 5, 1910, the Yanks (still the Highlanders) defeated the A’s 7-4 in a game where the legendary manager Connie Mack played his son, Earle Mack, at catcher.
Boston’s King Brady made his only AL appearance a good one when he shut out the Highlanders 4-0 on October 5, 1908.
On October 5, 1996, the Yanks won their first ALDS title, as they took Game Four in Texas, 6-4. We were among hundreds of people who spent up to 48 hours sleeping on line outside the Stadium to buy tickets for the ALCS, and saw this game on a handheld TV while queued up. Bernie Williams homered twice, and Juan Gonzalez hit his fifth of the series in a losing cause. The following year, the Yanks instituted the bracelet system to discourage people from camping out in the Bronx.
The Yankees lost the opening game of the 1977 ALCS to Kansas City 7-2 on homers by Hal McRae, Al Cowens, and John Mayberry on October 5.
The Yanks were shocked by the Angels 9-5, losing the ALDS in four games in California, on October 5, 2002.
And the Yanks lost an ALDS game to the Angels on this day in 2005 as well, evening the series at a game apiece. The key seventh-inning rally off Chien-Ming Wang was a case of Anaheim besting the visitors on very little. Ex-Yank Juan Rivera led off with an infield single, Jason Giambi mishandled one sac bunt and another set the Angels up. Orlando Cabrera delivered two runs with a two-out single, the only well-hit ball of the frame, and Anaheim won 5-3.
The Yanks won the opening game of the ’99 ALDS against the Rangers 8-0, as Orlando “el duque” Hernandez threw a two-hitter and Bernie Williams used a single, double, and home run to drive in six.
On October 5, 1997, Mariano Rivera experienced his first postseason failure, as Sandy Alomar‘s eighth-inning homer to right in Jacobs Field knotted the fourth game of the ALDS at 2-2. Cleveland plated another in the bottom of the ninth on Omar Vizquel‘s single to win it.
Fourth-inning doubles by Jason Giambi, Bernie Williams, Hideki Matsui, and Nick Johnson off Johan Santana on October 5, 2003, wiped out the Twins’ 1-0 lead and plated six for the visitors in an 8-1 Yankee win.
One year later, the Bombers dropped Game One of the 2004 ALDS against the same Johan Santana as he blanked them over seven in a 2-0 win in the Bronx. A Shannon Stewart third-inning rbi single and Jacque Jones‘s sixth-inning homer to left off Mike Mussina accounted for the scoring.
The slew of October 5 Yankee World Series highlights begins with the Yanks’ 3-0 win over the Giants in the opener of the first single-city (and in this case, single-stadium) World Series in 1921, as Carl Mays bested Phil Douglas.
The most recent of three World Series ties in history took place on October 5, 1922. The Giants nicked Bob Shawkey for three runs in the first, and the Yanks tied it on single tallies in the first, fourth, and eighth. A near-riot erupted when umpire George Hildebrand called the game due to darkness.
On October 5, 2020, Michael King had his roster status changed by the Yankees, and the club reassigned catcher Erik Kratz to the minor leagues.
On October 5, 2017, the Yankees reassigned left fielder Clint Frazier and southpaw reliever Chasen Shreve to the minor leagues.
The Yankees reassigned left-fielders Kevin Russo and Colin Curtis; lefthander Royce Ring; catcher Chad Moeller; right-handed pitchers Chad Gaudin, Javier Vazquez, Jonathan Albaladejo, Andrew Brackman, and Ivan Nova; and first baseman Juan Miranda to the minor leagues on October 5, 2010. The club also altered the status on infielder Eduardo Nunez.
In time for the Wild Card game, due to take place the following day, the Yankees activated first baseman Mark Teixeira from the 15-day disabled list on October 5, 2015, but with his fractured shin bone it was a given that he would not appear in the game.
On October 5, 2022, the Yankees optioned righthander Greg Weissert to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders; and sent righty Chi Chi Gonzalez outright to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
The Yankees signed new draftee first baseman Trent Lockwood on October 5, 2009.
Cardinals hurler Jesse Haines five-hit the Yanks and Dutch Ruether 4-0 on this day in 1926.
The Yanks beat the Pirates on the same day the following year, with Waite Hoyt prevailing over Ray Kremer.
Babe Ruth went 2-for-3 and Lou Gehrig homered and knocked in six in a 9-3 win over the Cards on October 5, 1928. George Pipgras got the win, and Grover Alexander the loss.
The hard-charging Yankees fell short and the Giants prevailed over the Yanks with a 5-4, 10-inning win behind Hal Schumacher on this day in 1936.
Red Ruffing pitched the Yanks to a 3-1 win in the opener of the 1938 Series in Wrigley Field on this day, and Bill Dickey tied a record for the Classic with four hits in one game.
Babe Dahlgren homered and doubled and Monte Pearson carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning in a 4-0 shutout over the Reds on October 5, 1939.
Dodger catcher Mickey Owen allowed the notorious passed ball as Tommy Henrich was swinging and missing on an apparent game-ending strike out on this day in 1941. The Yanks rallied to turn a 4-3 loss into a 7-4 win.
The Cards beat the Yanks in five games behind Whitey Kurowski‘s two-run, ninth-inning homer for a 4-2 win on October 5, 1942.
AL MVP for 1943, Spud Chandler led the Yanks to a 4-2 win in the opener over the Cards on October 5, 1943.
The Yanks and Joe DiMaggio were denied victory on Al Gionfriddo‘s legendary catch in an 8-6 loss to the Dodgers on this day in 1947.
Don Newcombe struck out 11 while Allie Reynolds fanned nine in a 1-0, ninth-inning Yankee win over the Brooklyn Dodgers on Tommy Henrich‘s homer on October 5, 1949.
A year later it was Allie Reynolds again, this time besting the Phillies and Robin Roberts on Joe DiMaggio‘s 10th-inning homer in a 2-1 Yankee win.
The knee injury Mickey Mantle suffered on an outfield water sprinkler in a World Series 3-1 victory over the Giants on this day in 1951 would plague him for his whole career. Eddie Lopat got the win over Larry Jensen.
It was a loss this day in 1952, as Carl Erskine went the full 11 innings and Duke Snider doubled in Billy Cox in the 6-5 Dodgers win.
Despite the Carl Furillo ninth-inning two-run homer that tied the Yanks in Game Six of the 1953 World Series, the Bombers prevailed to close the classic out on Billy Martin‘s run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth, his at-the-time record 12th hit.
The Dodgers stormed back from a 6-0 deficit to win Game Two in 1956 on October 5, 13-8, but Yogi Berra became the first player ever to hit a grand slam in a losing effort in the World Series.
Rookie Tony Kubek homered twice and Don Larsen won in relief of Bob Turley as the Yanks beat Bob Buhl and the Braves 12-3 on this day in 1957.
Things looked bleak when the Bombers fell behind three games to one to the World Champion Braves in a 3-0 shutout by Warren Spahn on October 5, 1958.
Despite coming up with victories in both the 1961 and 1962 October Classics, the Yanks did fall in individual games on October 5 each year from 1960 through 1963. In 1960, in a portent of things to come, Bill Mazeroski hit a two-run home run off Jim Coates in the fifth inning of a 6-4 Pittsburgh win.
The Reds evened the Series on October 5, 1961, behind a Joey Jay four-hitter, a two-run home run from Gordy Coleman, and two run-scoring hits off the bat of Johnny Edwards.
The Yanks managed only three hits off Jack Sanford one year later on October 5, 1962, and the Giants knotted the Series on an rbi grounder by Matty Alou and Willie McCovey‘s dinger off Ralph Terry in a 2-0 San Francisco win.
Jim Bouton battled Don Drysdale gamely on October 5, 1963, but the first-inning tally he was nicked for resulted in a 1-0 Yankee loss and a three games to none L.A. lead in games.
Returning to regular-season events, Dave Winfield knocked in the lone Yankee run in a 5-1 loss that clinched the Blue Jays’ AL East title on October 5, 1985. In doing that, Winfield knocked in his 100th run of the season, and became the first Pinstriper to have 100 rbi’s and 100 runs scored in the same season two years in a row since Joe DiMaggio did it in 1941 and 1942.
“Warrior” Paul O’Neill is featured in the first of two October 5 highlights involving one-time Yanks with other teams when he drove in both runs and threw out a runner at third base In Cinncy’s 2-1 win over Pittsburgh on this day in 1990. And when Bob Watson was named Houston GM on October 5, 1993, he became the first black to hold that position in the major leagues. Watson DH’d for the Yanks for two-plus years, and he served as GM of the 1996 World Championship team.
On October 5, 1907, Athletics hurler Rube Vickers beat Washington, 4-0, in a five-inning Perfect Game.
Players Who Have Died This Day
By virtue of the fact that the 1901 AL Baltimore Orioles would be moved to New York and become the Highlanders in 1903, lefthander Crazy Schmit (1940) is the first of two Yankee players to have died on October 5. Schmit ended his 1890-1901 career, largely spent with the earlier NL Baltimore Orioles, by pitching four games (three starts) for the AL Baltimore club, to a 0-2-0 record. His overall mark was 7-36-0. Catcher Harry Hanson‘s (1966) lone big-league game was played with the 1913 Yankees. On offense he went hitless (with no strike outs or walks either) in two at bats, but on “D,” he did record one putout and one assist.
Two lefty-hitting position players, a righthanded catcher, and a righty thrower comprise the list of nonYankee noteworthy player deaths this day. Third baseman Eddie Grant (1918) hit five home runs good for 277 rbi’s from 1905-1915 with the Phillies, the Reds, and the Giants; and outfielder Woody Jensen (2001), a portsided thrower as well, played only with the Pirates from 1931-1939, for whom he delivered 26 homers and drove in 235 runs. Backstop Andy Etchebarren (2019) hit 43 home runs and drove in 309 runs playing with Baltimore from 1962-1975, finishing up with Anaheim in 1975-1977 and Milwaukee in 1978. Righthander Tommy Boggs (2022) pitched for the 1978-1983 Braves, and the 1976-1977, 1985 Rangers to an overall 20-44 mark with no saves in 114 games, 94 of them starts.
Players Born This Day
Rey Sanchez (1967), who hit a homer and 15 rbi’s for the Yanks in 1997 before an injury-riddled, limited stint as a backup in 2005, is the first of four guys who played for the Pinstripers and who share October 5 as their day of birth. Sanchez arrived via a trade for minor leaguer Frisco Parotte in August 1997, and was lost to free agency that November.
Andy Kosco (1941) was counted upon to relieve some of the blow from the loss of Mickey Mantle to retirement in 1968, and although his 19 homers and 74 rbi’s that year fell short of that goal, it can be said that those are better numbers than many others who were penciled into the spot over the ensuing years. Kosko was snatched from the Oakland Athletics in the November 1967 rule-V draft. Thirteen months later, the Bombers traded Andy to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Mike Kekich.
And Norm McMillan (1895) debuted with the 1922 Yankees, kicking in no homers and 11 rbi’s. Norm left town in an early blockbuster, as he went with George Murray, Camp Skinner, and cash to the Boston Red Sox for Herb Pennock in January 1923.
The Yankee October 5 list expanded to four in 2006 once the Bombers snatched Aaron Guiel (1972) from the waiver wire once he was released by the K.C. Royals. The lefty hitting outfielder hit 28 homers with 110 rbi’s from 2002 through 2005, and came off the Yankee bench that year to platoon from the left side not only in the outfield but at first base too. Guiel contributed four home runs and 11 rbi’s to the 2006 Yankee cause.
Though he never played for the Yankees, we’ll send out birthday greetings to righthander Zack Littell (1995), whom the Bombers received in a November 2016 trade from Seattle for lefty James Pazos. Zack, who was in turn sent to Minnesota along with lefty Dietrich Enns for southpaw Jaime Garcia in a trading deadline deal in ’17, pitched in seven games (one start) for the Twins in 2018, throwing to a high era and 0-2 mark.
Other birthdays: Hall of Fame Baseball Executive Henry Chadwick (1824); Jim Bagby (1889); Si Johnson (1906); Randy Bush (1958); Terry Mathews (1964); Mike Hinchley (1982); Alexi Ogando (1983); Felipe Paulino (1983); Tanner Roark (1986); Jeff Bianchi (1986); Mark Krauss (1987); Victor Reyes (1994); Zack Littell (1995); and Buddy Kennedy (1998).
