The Yanks were going back to the Series after a 15-year absence! George Brett‘s three-run homer in the eighth had tied it, but Yankee first baseman Chris Chambliss hit a moon shot that appeared to scrape the back of the wall in right off Mark Littell in the bottom of the ninth on October 14, 1976, and all was beautiful bedlam in the Bronx. It’s almost quaint to view the TV feed today and see thousands in a pre-“global terror” world swarming the field as Chambliss fights his way to the Yankee dugout. He would touch third base and home plate afterward with a police escort.
Sadly, Giancarlo Stanton‘s two-run first-inning jolt in 2022 ALDS Game 2 vs Cleveland on October 9 was the last runs the Yankees would score. Nestor Cortes and three relievers held the visitors to the solo runs they scored in the fourth and fifth innings. But with starter Jameson Taillon on the mound to start the 10th, a Josh Donaldson three-base error led to two runs, and a 4-2 Bombers loss. The teams were heading to Cleveland for two in the five-gamer tied at a game apiece. This day’s game had been delayed two days by rain, and the Cleveland games would be played the next two days.
Continuing the offensive ineptitude they had displayed in 11 of 12 innings the day before, the Yanks went meekly to Anibal Sanchez and the Tigers in Yankee Stadium 3-0 on October 14, 2012, falling behind two games to none in the ALCS. Already down 1-0, the Yankee chances took a huge hit when second base ump Jeff Nelson appeared to incorrectly call Omar Infante, who overran second base, safe in the eighth, and the visitors tacked on two more runs. But the Bombers had just four hits on the night, an offensive output that would unfortunately continue for much of the next two games in Detroit, in the Tigers’ four-game sweep.
“Welcome to the Yankees!” Even though Roger Clemens had already won the clincher in the four-game World Series sweep over the Braves the season before, he had struggled during much of the regular season in his first two campaigns in the Bronx. But his 15-strike-out, one-hit masterpiece over the Mariners on October 14, 2000, silenced all the objections. The 5-0 shutout gave the Yanks a 3-1 lead in games in that year’s ALCS. Roger would produce a similar beaut next time out.
Linda Ronstadt looked quite fetching as she appeared in a girl scout uni to sing the National Anthem before Game Three of the 1977 World Series in L.A. on October 14, but the Yanks prevailed, 5-3, behind Mike Torrez‘s route-going seven-hitter. Mickey Rivers smacked three safeties in the New York win.
And one year later, the Yanks pulled even with the Dodgers by winning Game Two of the 1978 Classic, as Lou Piniella plated Roy White with the winning run in the 10th inning of the Yanks’ 4-3 win.
Graig Nettles became the first player ever to record two hits in one inning in LCS play when he singled twice in a seven-run fourth inning. The Yanks blasted the Oakland A’s 13-3 on October 14, 1981.
The Yanks’ competition in the 1999 ALCS was Boston, and the Bombers took a two-to-nothing lead in games with a 3-2 win behind David Cone over Pedro Martinez on October 14. Tino Martinez homered for the Yanks, Nomar Garciaparra for the Sox.
When the Pirates beat the Orioles 6-5 in the fifth game of the 1971 World Series on October 14, it was the last weekday afternoon game played in the October Classic.
The Yanks evened the 1964 World Series with the Cardinals on October 14, as Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle went yard on back-to-back pitches from Curt Simmons, and Joe Pepitone chipped in with a grand slam, in an 8-3 Yankee win.
The 1969 Miracle Mets went up two to one in games on Tommie Agee and Ed Kranepool homers and two fabulous catches by Agee in center in a 5-0 Mets win over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles on October 14.
Orlando “el duque” Hernandez improved his postseason mark to 9-1, as the Yankees rode a five-rbi performance from Bernie Williams to a 9-2 win over the A’s on October 14, 2001, in Game Four of the ALDS. A’s outfielder Jermaine Dye fractured his leg when he fouled a ball off his shin. David Justice walked twice and tripled and Derek Jeter scored two runs.
George Mullin pitched the Tigers to a 5-4 victory over the Pirates on October 14, 1909, winning the sixth game, and extending the World Series to seven games for the first time.
Joe Dugan was the hitting star with four hits including a homer in the Yanks 8-1 win over the Giants on October 14, 1923. The Yanks scored three in the first and four in the second off Giants starter Jack Bentley.
On October 14, 2013, the Yankees signed three free agents to minor league contracts: left fielder Yeangel Pujols; righty pitcher Abel Duarte; and southpaw Anderson Diaz.
The Cubs won the 1908 Series in five games when they took the Tigers 2-0 on a three-hitter by Orval Overall, on October 14. It was their last World Series win.
When Willie Mays contributed a hit to a four-run Mets uprising in a 10-7 Game Two win in the 1973 Series vs. Oakland on October 14, it was the last hit of his legendary big-league career.
Having lost Derek Jeter to a fractured ankle the night before, the Yankees activated shortstop Eduardo Nunez and added him to their playoff roster on October 14, 2012.
And another legendary career ended on October 14, as Walter Johnson retired from playing on this day in 1927. “The Big Train” went 417-279 in 21 years of major-league action.
James Creighton ruptured his bladder hitting a home run on October 14, 1862 and died four days later.
When the Baltimore Orioles hosted the Cincinnati Reds in Memorial Stadium in Game Four of the 1970 World Series on October 14, the surprise first-pitch honoree was none other than ex-Yankee manager Casey Stengel.
Players Who Have Died This Day
Righthander Vic Raschi (1988), the “Springfield Rifle,” is the only Yankee player to have died on October 14. Vic got his start in New York and pitched all but the last two years of his 1946-1955 career with the Yanks. In 238 games (207 starts) he won 120, lost 50, and saved three, numbers that slid (winning-percentage-wise) to 132-66-3 after brief stops with the Cards and the A’s. On six Yankee World Series-winning squads, Raschi won five games and lost three.
Of the six noteworthy nonYankee players who have died on October 14, two were righty pitchers, and three played a position. Larry Corcoran (1891) won 177, lost 89, and saved two games with the White Stockings and three other clubs from 1880-1887; and Denny Galehouse‘s (1998) 109 wins, 118 losses, and 13 saves came with the 1934-1938 Indians, the 1939-1940 and 1947-1949 Red Sox, and the 1941-1946 Browns. Outfielder Harry Blake (1919) cleared eight fences and knocked in 253 runs by playing all but one year of his 1894-1899 career with Cleveland; portsided outfielder Topsy Hartsell (1944) hit most of his 31 homers with 341 rbi’s from 1898-1911 with the Philly A’s; and third baseman Ossie Bluege (1985) hit all of his 43 long balls good for 848 runs driven in from 1922-1929 with Washington. Outfielder Ed Olivares (2022) hit no homers and drove in one playing 21 games for the 1960-1961 Cardinals.
Players Born This Day
There are six Yankee birthdays on October 14. Second baseman Pat Kelly (1969) hit 26 homers and knocked in 183 runs in his 1991 through 1997 Yankee stay before finishing up with one year each in St. Louis and Toronto. Pat was a Yankee ninth-round choice in the 1988 amateur free agent draft.
Catcher Joe Girardi (1964) went yard eight times with 153 rbi’s during his 1996-1999 stint in the Bronx after spending 1993 through 1995 in Colorado. He played seven years in two tours with the Cubs before limited duty in St. Louis in 2003 due to injury. Joe served in the YES broadcasting booth covering Yankee games in 2004, then served with distinction as Joe Torre‘s bench coach. After a stellar freshman year piloting the Marlins in 2006, Girardi came back to YES, the perch from which he was hired to succeed Torre as Yankee manager in 2008. Hopefully skipper Girardi is leading the team to his first Championship as manager in 2009, but he will always be remembered for the 1996 World Series Game 6 triple off Greg Maddux that started the winning rally. The Yanks got Girardi from the Rockies for righty Mike Dejean in November 1995.
After the Yanks got Ed Figueroa (1948) for his 1976 through 1980 stay, following two years with the Angels, he rewarded them with a hefty 62-39 record and one save before finishing 1980 in Oakland and pitching in Texas in 1981. The Bombers got Ed from the Angels with Mickey Rivers for Bobby Bonds in December 1975. Figueroa’s contract was sold to Texas in July 1980.
Outfielder Bill Renna (1924) debuted with the 1953 club with two homers and 13 rbi’s, then played with all AL teams in the next five years in Philly, KC, and Boston. After some time in New York, Bill was traded with Don Bollweg, Jim Finigan, Johnny Gray, Vic Power, and Jim Robertson to the Philadelphia Athletics in December 1953 for Harry Byrd, Eddie Robinson, Tom Hamilton, Carmen Mauro, and Loren Babe. Renna returned to the Yankees with Moe Burtschy and cash in a June 1956 trade with Kansas City in which the Yanks sent Eddie Robinson and Lou Skizas west.
Hugh Casey (1913) finished up with the 1949 Yanks by going 1-0 after a long and successful career, mostly with the Dodgers; and catcher Joe Walsh (1886) had his only big-league experience with the Highlanders, getting two rbi’s in five games during the 1910 and 1911 seasons.
Other birthdays: Hall of Fame Negro Leagues player Oscar Charleston (1896); Tommy Harper (1940); Art Shamsky (1941); Al Oliver (1946); Kiko Garcia (1953); Willie Mays Aikens (1954); Midre Cummings (1971); Henry Mateo (1976); Ryan Church (1978); Duaner Sanchez (1979); Boof Bonser (1981); Carlos Marmol (1982); Alberto Arias (1983); Kris Johnson (1984); Kole Calhoun (1987); Seth Maness (1988); Merrill Kelly (1988); William Cuevas (1990); Brad Wieck (1991); Julian Merryweather (1991); Willians Astudillo (1991); Miguel Del Pozo (1992); Austin Dean (1993); and Patrick Mazeika (1993).
