He wasn’t “Mr. October” until the 18th of the month in 1977. The Yanks had fallen behind the Dodgers, but not for long. Reggie Jackson hit three home runs on three pitched balls on October 18, 1977, and the Yankees prevailed over the Dodgers, 8-4, to win the game and the Series. Despite the return to near glory the year before, it was the first Yankee Championship in 15 years.
The Yanks finally prevailed in Game 5 of the 2022 ALDS over Cleveland 5-1 on October 18, winning the series three games to two. Giancarlo Stanton set them up to win with a first-inning three-run home run, Aaron Judge homered in the second, and Anthony Rizzo drove in the final run with a single in the fifth. Nestor Cortes went five innings for the win.
With their backs to the wall in the 2019 ALCS, down three games to one, the Yankees reached Justin Verlander for four quick scores on DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Hicks first-inning jacks in a 4-1 win on October 18, 2019. A game James Paxton, although he had baserunners in all six of his innings, delivered the three-run lead to the bullpen, largely on the strength of nine strike outs, all of them swinging. Least surprising call of the night? The Stadium loudspeakers played Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ in their ’19 “Eighties in the Eighth” feature.
The Yanks made it a home sweep of three games in the 2017 ALCS over Houston with a 5-0 victory on October 18, to give them a three games to two lead in the series. Masahiro Tanaka was masterful, giving up three hits while striking out eight through seven. The Yanks reached one-time nemesis Dallas Keuchel for four of their five runs through five, and Gary Sanchez homered, knocked in two and scored one. Aaron Judge both drove in a run and scored one as well.
It became a matter of pride when the Yanks played the Mariners in the 2001 ALCS. The Mariners had a glorious regular season during which they surpassed most of the grand numbers the Yanks had put up in 1998, but the Yanks proved that playoff baseball is a different animal. They beat Freddy Garcia and the Mariners 3-2 behind Mike Mussina on October 18, to go ahead two games to none. The Bombers plated three in the second on a Scott Brosius double and a Chuck Knoblauch single, and Stan Javier‘s fourth-inning two-run Seattle blast was the only response.
Considering the Yanks’ disappointment in pursuing him two months before, and even more so two months later, the 8-0 loss to Texas Ranger Cliff Lee in Game 3 of the ALCS on October 18, 2010 was especially frustrating. Or perhaps it was the lonely single off Jorge Posada‘s bat in the home fifth, the only saftey Lee allowed in Yankee Stadium while striking out 12 over eight innings. Not a good day in the Bronx no matter how you look at it.
On this day in 2003, Brad Penny outdueled David Wells in World Series Game One in Yankee Stadium by that same 3-2 score. Speedy Juan Pierre‘s two-run single broke up a 1-1 tie in the top of the fifth, and the Bomber answer in the form of Bernie Williams‘s sixth-inning singleton jack fell one run short, just as Javier’s two-run homer had two years earlier. The Yanks could plate none of the five baserunners they managed over the last three frames.
Almost 44 hours earlier (18 minutes into October 17, 2003, actually) the Yanks had beaten the Red Sox in the 2003 ALCS in a heart-stopping Game Seven. Four years earlier (minus one day), the Bombers clinched the ALCS over the boys from Beantown with a 6-1 win, on October 18, 1999. Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada homered for the Yanks, and Game Five winner “el duque” Hernandez was named MVP of that Series.
Although the Yanks have had a glorious postseason run since 1998, not many of their wins have been easy ones. Game Two vs. the Padres on October 18 in the 1998 World Series was one of the happy exceptions. They scored three runs each in the first and second innings and coasted to a 9-3 win behind the pitching of Orlando “el duque” Hernandez and home runs by Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada.
One of the true fun World Series moments for an AL fan whose team was not in the post occurred in the Cincinnati/Oakland contest on October 18, 1972. A two-strike passed ball had moved two Reds into scoring position with Johnny Bench at bat; the count was three balls and two strikes. The A’s set up for an intentional walk to put the double play back in order, but John Blue Moon Odom fired a fastball down the middle as the catcher moved in behind the plate. Once Odom’s delivery went by, the red-faced Bench walked away. The Reds, however, won the game, 1-0, behind Jack Billingham.
The 2004 Yankee nightmare continued on October 18. Mike Mussina fell behind Pedro Martinez 2-0, but a Derek Jeter sixth-inning three-run double got the Yanks the lead. However, the Sox tied it on a David Ortiz home run and a sac fly, and the two teams battled into the 14th. New York first baseman Tony Clark just missed plating the game winner in the ninth, but his double to Fenway’s right field wall skipped over the fence, so Ruben Sierra was not allowed to score from first. Then five innings later Ortiz reached Esteban Loaiza for a single after two walks, and the Red Sox had a 5-4 win.
Casey Stengel was relieved of his duties as manager of the Yankees on October 18, 1960, ostensibly because he had reached and passed retirement age. Casey’s take? “I wasn’t retired — they fired me.”
And 10 years earlier, Connie Mack retired after 50 years as manager of the Philadelphia Athletics on October 18, 1950.
Playing for Salt Lake City of the Pacific Coast League in 1925, Tony Lazzeri stroked his 60th home run on October 18, one year before joining the Yankee infield. The high altitude was a factor, and an extended season as well, but the record output did bode well for his Pinstriped future.
Before anything was official, the Yankees reassigned veteran southpaw CC Sabathia to the minor leagues on October 18, 2019.
When Jacob Ruppert and Cap Huston of the Yankees, Charles Comiskey of the White Sox, and Harry Frazee of the Red Sox joined a group of National League owners in New York on October 18, 1920, the intent was to force some American League teams to abandon American League founder Ban Johnson in a dispute, but the bluff scared none of the other teams.
Players Who Have Died This Day
Of the three Yankee players who have died on October 18, there is a pitcher, a first baseman, and then there is the more difficult to quantify Irish McIlveen (1960), a southpaw who would lose one game in the five he pitched in starting his career with the 1906 Pirates. McIlveen switched to the outfield in finishing up with the 1908-1909 Highlanders, for whom he collected eight rbi’s, with no home runs. He had 36 hits in 172 at bats playing 48 games for New York. Righty George Murray (1955) debuted in the bigs pitching 22 games (two starts) for the 1922 Yankees, to a 4-2-0 record. By the time he finished up with the 1933 White Sox after two-year stops with the Red Sox and Senators, his mark had dipped to 20-26-0. Lefty-hitting first baseman Nick Etten (1990) proudly earns a spot next to some other portsiders to have played the position here. In 568 games from 1943-1946, Etten cleared 63 fences good for 358 rbi’s on 562-for-2,044 hitting. Playing in Philadelphia for both the A’s and the Phillies four years before, and for the Phillies one year after, his numbers ended up at 89 home runs and 526 runs driven in.
One righthanded pitcher and two position players comprise the group of noteworthy nonYankee players who have died on October 18. Guy Morton (1934) won 98, lost 88, and saved six games from 1914 through 1924 mostly with Cleveland; third baseman Willie Jones (1983) played 13 years with the Phillies and three with the Reds from 1947-1961, accumulating 190 home runs and 812 rbi’s in that time; and lefty first baseman Ferris Fain (2001) blasted 48 long balls and knocked in 570 runs from 1947-1955 playing most of the time with the A’s in Philly.
Players Born This Day
Eight different Yankee players celebrate October 18 as their date of birth. Alan Mills (1966) spent most of his career as an Oriole, but he got his big-leagues start with the Yanks in 1990 and 1991, where he posted a 2-6 mark in 42 games. Acquired from California with Ron Romanick for Butch Wynegar in June 1987, Mills was shipped by the Yanks to Baltimore for two minor leaguers in February 1992.
Third baseman Steve Kiefer (1960) capped a six-year career in the AL when he got one hit in eight at bats over five games for the 1989 Bombers once signed as a free agent. Infielder Jerry Royster (1952) also served in New York in his last year, where he scored a run and knocked in four in 42 at bats during 18 games with the 1987 club, after playing 15 years for the Dodgers, Braves, and Padres. The Yanks got Royster from the White Sox with minor leaguer Mike Soper for minor leaguer Jeff Pries and Ken Patterson in August 1987.
Third baseman Andy Carey (1931) debuted in the Bronx and was an important cog on the team for much of the sixties. From 1952 through 1960 he collected 47 homers and 259 rbi’s, before finishing that final Bronx season and then the next two in Kansas City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. The Yanks sent Carey to Kansas City for Bob Cerv in May 1960.
Outfielder Roy Cullenbine (1913) had two homers and 17 rbi’s for the 1942 Yanks and played 11 years with Tigers, the Browns, and the Indians. Cullenbine was selected off waivers from Washington in August 1942. The Yanks traded Roy with Buddy Rosar to Cleveland for Roy Weatherly and Oscar Grimes in December 1942.
Shortstop Yats Wuestling (1903) finished up with the 1930 team with three rbi’s in 25 games after playing almost two years in Detroit. In a transaction featuring names much more famous than his, New York got Wuestling with Ownie Carroll and Harry Rice from the Tigers in May 1930 for Waite Hoyt and Mark Koenig.
Mike Donovan (1881) scored two runs and knocked in two while finishing his big-leagues experience with the 1908 Yanks, after playing also in Cleveland in 1904. The Highlanders (Yankees) purchased Donovan from the Cleveland Naps in January 1908.
And lastly, although righty Ed Farmer (1949) never played for the Yanks, they did get him in a three-teamer in March 1974. The Yankees sent Jerry Moses to Detroit, who then sent Jim Perry to Cleveland. The Indians sent Farmer, Rick Sawyer, and Walt Williams to New York. But the Philadelphia Phillies bought Farmer that same month. Ed posted most of his 30-43 record with 75 saves with the Indians and the White Sox.
Other birthdays: Bobby Knoop (1938); Willie Horton (1942); George Hendrick (1949); Andy Hassler (1951); Doug Mirabelli (1970); Alex Cora (1975); David Murphy (1981); Ross Wolf (1982); Garrett Olson (1983); Yoenis Cespedes (1985); Carson Blair (1989); Brad Miller (1989); Kevin McGowan (1991); Osvaldo Bido (1995); Patrick Sandoval (1996); and Jordyn Adams (1999).
