This Date in Baseball-Week Ahead, Sept. 30 - Oct. 6

Sept. 30

1904 — Doc White of the Chicago White Sox pitched his fifth shutout in eighteen days, a 4-0 win over the New York Yankees.

1915 — The Boston Red Sox clinched the American League pennant when St. Louis beat Detroit 8-2, giving Boston a 2 1/2-game margin.

1916 — New York’s Rube Benton pitched a 4-0 one-hitter over the Boston Braves to give the Giants their record 26th straight win in the first game of a doubleheader.

1927 — Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of the season in the eighth inning off Tom Zachary to lead the New York Yankees to a 4-2 victory over the Washington Senators.

1934 — Dizzy Dean beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-0, for his 30th victory of the year as the St. Louis Cardinals clinched the NL pennant.

1934 — New York’s Babe Ruth played his final game as a Yankee, going 0 for 3 with a walk, in a 5-3 loss to the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium.

1945 — Hank Greenberg’s grand slam in the top of the ninth inning gave the Detroit Tigers a 6-3 win over the St. Louis Browns and the American League pennant on the last day of the season.

1947 — In the first televised World Series, the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 5-3, in the opening game.

1951 — Jackie Robinson homered in the 14th inning to give the Brooklyn Dodgers a 9-8 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, tying the New York Giants for first place in the National League and forcing a playoff.

1962 — Willie Mays homered to give the San Francisco Giants a 2-1 victory over the Houston Colt 45s in the season’s final day. That, coupled with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 1-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, forced a playoff for the NL pennant.

1972 — Roberto Clemente doubled off Jon Matlack during Pittsburgh’s 5-0 victory over the New York Mets. The hit was the 3,000th and last for the Pirates star, who was killed in a plane crash during the offseason.

1984 — California’s Mike Witt tossed 97 pitches in a perfect game against the Texas Rangers, winning 1-0.

1988 — Dave Stieb of the Toronto Blue Jays lost a no-hit bid with two outs in the ninth for the second consecutive start and finished with a 4-0 one-hitter over the Baltimore Orioles.

1992 — George Brett became the 18th player to get 3,000 hits in the Kansas City Royals’ 4-0 win over the California Angels at Anaheim. Brett went 4-for-5 and got the milestone with a single in the seventh off rookie reliever Tim Fortugno.

2007 — The New York Mets missed the playoffs when Tom Glavine was tagged for seven runs during the first inning of a season-ending 8-1 loss to Florida. No major league team had owned a lead of seven games or more with 17 to play and failed to finish in first place. New York, which had that margin on Sept. 12, matched the largest lead blown in September.

2014 — The Kansas City Royals overcame a 7-3 lead to force extra innings and outlasted Oakland 9-8 in 12 innings in the AL Wild Card playoff. This was the first wild card game to go extra innings.

2017 — Detroit’s Andrew Romine became the fifth player in baseball history to play all nine positions in one game, helping the Tigers to a 3-2 win over Minnesota.

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Oct. 1

1903 — The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Boston Red Sox 7-3 in the first World Series game. Jimmy Sebring hit the first series home run. Deacon Phillippe was the winning pitcher and Cy Young the loser.

1932 — Babe Ruth, as legend has it, called his home run against Chicago’s Charlie Root in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the World Series, won by the New York Yankees 7-5 at Wrigley Field. Ruth and Lou Gehrig each hit two homers for the Yankees.

1946 — For the first time in major league history, a playoff series to determine a league’s championship was played between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Cardinals won the first game 4-2, with Howie Pollet holding the Dodgers to two hits — a homer and RBI single by Howie Schultz.

1950 — The Philadelphia Phillies clinched the NL pennant with a 4-1 10-inning victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers on the season’s last day. Dick Sisler’s three-run homer off Don Newcombe in the top of the 10th inning came after outfielder Richie Ashburn saved the game in the ninth.

1961 — Roger Maris hit his 61st home run against Tracy Stallard of the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. The homer eclipsed Babe Ruth’s 34-year-old single-season home run record. The Yankees won 1-0.

1967 — The Boston Red Sox won the American League pennant with a 5-3 win over the Twins on the final day of the season. Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski went 4-for-4 and finished with 44 home runs, 121 RBIs and a .326 average to win the Triple Crown.

1973 — The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs 6-1 to win the National League East. It was the first game of a scheduled make-up doubleheader at Wrigley Field, a day after the regular season ended. The Mets, 11 1/2 games behind and in last place on Aug. 5, won their 82nd game, the lowest number of victories to win a title.

1978 — The Cleveland Indians beat the New York Yankees 9-2 on the last day of the season to force a one-game playoff between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox won their eighth straight game with a 5-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

1988 — Tony Gwynn went 2-for-3 to raise his league-leading batting average to .313 but hurt his hand in a 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros. Gwynn is the first NL batting champion to win the title with an average below .320. The previous low was Larry Doyle’s .320 in 1915.

2000 — Detroit’s Shane Halter became the fourth major leaguer to play all nine positions in a game. He capped his adventure by scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Tigers over Minnesota 12-11.

2004 — Ichiro Suzuki set the major league record for hits in a season. He broke George Sisler’s 84-year-old mark with two early singles, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 8-3. Sisler set the hits record of 257 in 1920 with the St. Louis Browns over a 154-game schedule. Suzuki broke it in the Mariners’ 160th game.

2007 — Matt Holliday and the Colorado Rockies scored on Jamey Carroll’s shallow fly, capping a three-run rally in the 13th inning against Trevor Hoffman. He led the Rockies past the San Diego Padres 9-8 in a tiebreaker for the NL wild card.

2018 — Lorenzo Cain hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning, Christian Yelich had three more hits, sending the Milwaukee Brewers to their first NL Central title since 2011 by downing the Chicago Cubs 3-1 in a tiebreaker game. Yelich won the NL batting title with a .326 average. He fell one home run and one RBI short of what would’ve been the NL’s first Triple Crown since Joe Medwick in 1937.

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Oct. 2

1908 — Addie Joss of the Cleveland Indians pitched a perfect game, defeating the Chicago White Sox, 1-0.

1916 — Grover Alexander pitched a 2-0 three-hitter against the Boston Braves for his 16th shutout and 33rd victory of the season.

1920 — The only tripleheader in this century was played, with the Cincinnati Reds defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first two games. The Pirates won the nightcap, which was called after six innings because of darkness.

1938 — Bob Feller struck out 18 Detroit Tigers to set a single-game record that stood until Steve Carlton broke it in 1969.

1968 — Bob Gibson set a World Series record by striking out 17 Detroit Tigers in Game 1.

1978 — In a one-game playoff for the AL East title, Bucky Dent hit a three-run homer off Mike Torrez to lead the New York Yankees to a 5-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

1986 — Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets became the first pitcher in baseball to strike out 200 batters in each of his first three seasons as he fanned seven en route to an 8-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

1991 — The Toronto Blue Jays clinched the American League East title and became the first team in sports history to draw four million fans in one season.

1995 — The Seattle Mariners, behind Randy Johnson’s three-hitter, beat California 9-1 in a one-game playoff for the AL West title.

2001 — Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cube, becomes the first player in MLB history to total 60 home runs in three seasons.

2005 — Roy Oswalt got his 20th win to lead the Houston Astros over the Chicago Cubs 6-4, clinching the NL wild-card berth and capping a historic comeback. Houston started the season 15-30 and became the first team since the 1914 Boston Braves to make the postseason after falling 15 games under .500.

2009 — B.J. Upton became the first player in Tampa Bay history to hit for the cycle. He went 5 for 5 with a career-high six RBIs in a 13-4 win over the New York Yankees.

2013 — Tampa Bay posted another must-have win on the road, beating the Cleveland Indians 4-0 in the AL wild-card game. The Rays playing in their third city over four days advanced to the best-of-five division series.

2016 — Baltimore’s Matt Wieters homered from both sides of the plate and Kevin Gausman gave the Orioles a clutch pitching performance to beat the New York Yankees 5-2 and snag a playoff spot on the final day of the regular season.

2018 — Tony Wolters hit a tiebreaking single with two outs in the 13th inning, and the Colorado Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs 2-1 in an epic NL wild-card game.

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Oct. 3

1897 — Cap Anson closed a remarkable 27-year career, which started in the National Association in 1871. He hit two home runs against St. Louis. He was 46, the oldest player to homer in the majors.

1936 — The New York Yankees beat the New York Giants 2-1 to take 2-1 lead in the World Series. Lou Gehrig homered off Freddie Fitzsimmons in the second inning to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Jimmy Ripple tied the game with a homer in the fifth off Bump Hadley In the bottom of the eighth, Frank Crosetti’s infield hit off the glove of Fitzsimmons scored Jake Powell.

1946 — The St. Louis Cardinals won the National League pennant by beating the Brooklyn Dodgers 8-4 and sweeping the best-of-three playoff.

1947 — Floyd Bevens of the Yankees held the Dodgers hitless until two were out in the ninth, when pinch-hitter Cookie Lavagetto doubled in two runs for a 3-2 Brooklyn victory in the fourth game of the World Series.

1951 — Bobby Thomson hit a three-run homer off Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the New York Giants a 5-4 playoff victory and the National League pennant.

1962 — The San Francisco Giants rallied for four runs in the ninth inning to win the third game of the tie-breaking playoffs, 6-4, over the Los Angeles Dodgers and move on to the World Series.

1971 — Bob Robertson’s three home runs led the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 9-4 trouncing of the San Francisco Giants, tying the National League playoffs at 1-1.

1974 — Frank Robinson signed a $175,000-a-year player-manager contract with the Cleveland Indians, making him the first black manager in major league history.

1987 — Benito Santiago’s 34-game hitting streak, a rookie record, ended as the San Diego Padres snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

1990 — George Brett became the first player to win a batting title in three different decades. Brett went 1-for-1 in Kansas City’s 5-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians to win the American League title with a .329 average. Brett also won AL batting titles in 1976 and 1980.

1990 — Willie McGee became the first player to win a batting title in a league in which he didn’t finish the season. McGee, who had a .335 average when St. Louis traded him to Oakland on Aug. 28, won his second National League crown when Dave Magadan of the New York Mets failed to catch him on the season’s final day.

1990 — Cecil Fielder completed a startling season by homering for the 50th and 51st times as the Detroit Tigers beat the New York Yankees 10-3. Fielder was the first American Leaguer since 1961 to hit 50 home runs.

1993 — The Toronto Blue Jays became the first team in American League history to have teammates finish 1-2-3 in the batting race. John Olerud led the league with a .363 batting average. Paul Molitor finished at .332 and Roberto Alomar closed the year at .326.

2006 — Frank Thomas went 3-for-4, hitting two home runs to send Oakland to a 3-2 victory over Minnesota. The 38-year-old Thomas became the oldest player to have a multihomer game in postseason history.

2012 — Miguel Cabrera became the first player in 45 years to achieve the batting Triple Crown in Detroit’s 1-0 victory over Kansas City. Cabrera finished with an American League-leading .330 average, 44 homers and 139 RBIs, becoming the 15th player to achieve the milestone and the first since Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.

2012 — Houston ended its National League tenure with a 5-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs. The Astros set a franchise record for losses in a season, finishing 55-107, one more loss than last year. The Astros became the first team with 106 or more losses in consecutive seasons since the 1964-65 New York Mets.

2012 — Evan Longoria homered three times and Tampa Bay beat Baltimore 4-1, ending the Orioles’ bid to force a one-game tiebreaker for the AL East title.

2015 — Max Scherzer pitched his second no-hitter this season for Washington, striking out a team-record 17 and leading the Nationals over the NL East champion New York Mets 2-0 for a doubleheader sweep.

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