Baseball History on October 15
Major League Baseball Events on October 15 | Baseball Almanac
Baseball history on October 15, including a list of every Major League baseball player born on October 15, a list of every Major League baseball player who died on October 15, a list of every Major League baseball player who made their big league debut on October 15, and a list of every Major League baseball player whose final big league game was on October 15.
"No matter how your mind works, baseball reaches out to you. If you're an emotional person, baseball asks for your heart. If you are a thinking man or a thinking woman, baseball wants your opinion. Whether you are left-brain or right-brain, Type A or Type Z, whether your mind is bent towards mathematics or toward history or psychology or geometry, whether you are young or old, baseball has its way of asking for you. If you are a reader, there is always something new to read about baseball, and always something old. If you are a sedentary person, a TV watcher, baseball is on TV; if you always have to be going somewhere, baseball is somewhere you can go. If you are a collector, baseball offers you a hundred things that you can collect. If you have children, baseball is something you can do with children; if you have parents and cannot talk to them, baseball is something you can still talk to them about." - Baseball Historian Bill James in The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (Free Press Publishing, 06/13/2003, "Part 1: The Game", Page 5)
Baseball history on October 15 includes a total of Major League baseball players born that day of the year, Major League baseball players who died on that date, baseball players who made their Major League debut on that date, and Major League baseball players who appeared in their final game that date.
On October 15 in Baseball History...
- 1912 - On a cold day in Boston, the Giants catch up with Joe Wood's smoke, teeing off for six runs on seven hits before the 32,694 fans have settled down for Game Six. The 11-4 win evens the Series. Tris Speaker turns an unassisted double play in the eighth for Boston, the only one by an outfielder in World Series play.
- 1917 - The Chicago White Sox won the World Series when the New York Giants left home plate uncovered and Eddie Collins dashed home with third baseman Heinie Zimmerman chasing him in helpless pursuit.
- 1923 - Babe Ruth hits a first-inning home run in Game Six, but the Giants take a 4-1 lead into the eighth. The Giants walk in two runs before Bob Meusel raps a single that scores the go-ahead runs. Sam Jones holds off the Giants, and the Yankees have their first World Championship.
- 1925 - Kiki Cuyler's bases-loaded double in the eighth inning gave the Pittsburgh Pirates a 9-7 victory over Walter Johnson and the Washington Senators in Game 7 of the World Series, capping a comeback from a 3-1 deficit.
- 1946 - Enos Slaughter scored from first on a single to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-3 victory and the World Series title in the seventh game against the Boston Red Sox.
- 1964 - St. Louis takes an early lead in Game Seven as Lou Brock's fifth-inning home run triggers a second three-run frame and a 6-0 lead for Bob Gibson. Mickey Mantle, Clete Boyer and Phil Linz homer for New York, but it's not enough, as the Cards win 7-5.
- 1968 - Roger Nelson is the initial choice of the Royals in the AL expansion draft. Don Mincher is the first choice of the Seattle Pilots.
- 1970 - For the third time, the Orioles overcome a 3-0 deficit to bury the Reds, 9-3, and win the World Championship in five games. Brooks Robinson easily wins the World Series MVP award for his hitting and unbelievable fielding.
- 1972 - The A's win 2-1 as Joe Rudi clouts a home run and makes a game-saving catch to back up Catfish Hunter's pitching before a record Cincinnati crowd of 53,224. The A's take a 2-0 World Series advantage as the scene shifts to Oakland.
- 1974 - The surprise starter for the Dodgers in Game Three is Al Downing, but Catfish Hunter pitches Oakland to a 3-2 win.
- 1975 - Luis Tiant throws 163 pitches in winning his second game of the World Series against Cincinnati, 5-4, to even the Series after four games.
- 1977 - The Yankees win 4-2 to take a 3-1 World Series advantage over the Dodgers. Reggie Jackson doubles and homers, and Ron Guidry notches a four-hitter.
- 1978 - The Yankees pummel the Dodgers with 18 hits in Game Five to win 12-2. Bucky Dent, Mickey Rivers and Brian Doyle have three hits each.
- 1981 - Dave Righetti, Ron Davis and Goose Gossage combined on a 4-0 shutout of the Oakland A's to give the New York Yankees their 33rd American League pennant.
- 1982 - Willie McGee has two home runs to drive in four runs and makes a great catch to save another run in Game Three. Joaquin Andujar wins 6-2 despite having to leave the game after being hit by a line drive.
- 1986 - The Boston Red Sox capped one of the greatest comebacks in history by defeating the California Angels, 8-1, to win the American League pennant after trailing three games to one in the playoffs.
- 1986 - Ray Knight keyed a three-run ninth to tie the score, and the New York Mets won their third National League pennant by beating the Houston Astros, 7-6, in 16 innings in the longest postseason game.
- 1988 - With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Kirk Gibson hit a two-run, pinch-homer to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Oakland in Game 1 of the World Series. Gibson, who did not start because of a strained left knee, limped around the bases as the Dodgers won one of the most dramatic games in Series history.
- 1997 - Mike Mussina pitches two-hit baseball for eight innings, but the Orioles can't score. Charles Nagy and three Indians relievers strand 14 Baltimore baserunners. Tony Fernandez homers in the 12th inning for the only run of the game as the Indians win the pennant for the second time in three years.
Did you know that there were baseball players born on every date of the year and baseball players who died on every date of the year? Use the calendar below to select any date in baseball history.
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Bill James, on the same page of the same book we used at the top of this page, said, "But as I began to do research on the history of baseball (in order to discuss the players more intelligently) I began to feel that there was a history a baseball that had not been written at that time, a history of good and ordinary players, a history of being a fan, a history of games that meant something at the time but mean nothing now." To that end, I have created Baseball Almanac. A site to worship baseball. A site by a fan who is trying to tell the history of good and ordinary baseball players.