October already? No, I’m not surprised. I’m just trying to get this column mentioned on Jimmy Kimmel Live! I’m probably a day late.
Let’s get right to baseball’s happenings for the period September 27 to October 3, shall we?
Floyd Who?
September 27, 1940: Cleveland fans have endured a lot of disappointment, but this had to have been the ultimate indignity. Cleveland entered the day with a record of 87-64, two games behind the first-place Detroit Tigers, whose record stood at 89-62. But they controlled their own destiny. This day saw the start of a three-game series with the Tigers at Cleveland Stadium. In the opener, Cleveland sent their ace, Bob Feller, to the mound against Tigers youngster Floyd Giebell, described by the Associated Press as a “recruit.” After spending most of the year in the minors, it was just Giebell’s second major league start of 1940 and 11th game of his career.
It doesn’t seem that any injuries pressed Giebell into duty. Rather, the AP called it a “surprise bit of strategy” by Tigers manager Del Baker. It was “the slender blond right-hander” Giebell who prevailed, beating Feller, 2-0, and clinching the American League pennant for Detroit. Both starters went the distance. Giebell gave up just six hits and two walks, showing a fastball “only occasionally” and “working the corners inside and out,” while Feller was done in by eight walks.
Floyd Giebell was born #OTD in 1909. After going 15-17 with a 3.73 ERA for the 1940 #Bisons, he was called up to Detroit, where he made two starts, including a 2-0 win over Bob Feller and Cleveland to clinch the American League pennant. #Buffalo
— The Herd Chronicles (@herdchronicles.bsky.social) 2025-12-10T18:17:46.273Z
You Won’t Believe Who the Umpire Ejected
September 27, 1951: Locked into a tight pennant race with the hard-charging New York Giants, the Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Boston Braves, 4-3, at Braves Field. The game was tied, 3-3, in the bottom of the eighth when Dodgers lefty Preacher Roe gave up a leadoff single to Bob Addis. Addis advanced to third base on a single by Sam Jethroe. Earl Torgeson then hit a grounder to second baseman Jackie Robinson, who fired the ball home. Umpire Frank Dascoli called Addis safe with the winning run. Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella and coach Cookie Lavagetto argued the call so heatedly that they were ejected. The Dodgers, no fans of Dascoli, continued to protest the call loudly from the bench. “We’ve had trouble with Dascoli all year,” Robinson told the press afterward.
Finally, Dascoli took the unusual course of ejecting the entire bench except for manager Chuck Dressen and coach Jake Pitler. Among the players ejected was September call-up Bill Sharman. Yep, that’s right – the same Bill Sharman who was twice inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, once as a player and once as a coach. Sharman played in the Dodgers minor league system for five seasons before deciding to concentrate exclusively on basketball. He remains the only player ever ejected from a major league baseball game who never appeared in one.
The Worst? Not So Fast!
September 27, 2024: The Tigers defeated the Chicago White Sox, 4-1, at Comerica Park. Not only did the victory propel the Tigers into the playoffs as a wild-card team, but it also marked loss number 121 for the White Sox, surpassing the total of the 1962 New York Mets. Contrary to popular belief at the time, however, the 1962 Mets remained the worst team in the history of modern baseball. At 40-120, the 1962 Mets had a winning percentage of .250. By winning their next two games, the 2024 White Sox finished at 41-121, a .253 winning percentage. Sorry, Mets fans.
Good Old Joe Earley
September 28, 1948: Joe Earley was a 34-year-old World War II veteran who worked as a security guard at a Chevrolet plant. Recently, the Cleveland ball club held a “night” for pitcher Don Black, who suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on the diamond on September 13, ending his career at age 32. There was talk of a Bill Veeck night in honor of the club’s zany owner. In jest, Earley wrote a letter to the Cleveland Press griping that there are too many “nights” honoring athletes who already get enough attention, but no nights honoring ordinary guys like himself, whose spending supports the team and stimulates the economy. “A lot of people depend on me (and you),” he wrote, “so let us all get together and send in your contributions for that new car for ‘Good Old Joe Earley Night.’”
Veeck, who never met a promotion he didn’t like, saw the letter. On September 28, 60,405 fans packed Cleveland Stadium for Good Old Joe Earley Night. With Veeck serving as master of ceremonies, Earley’s “night” began with a series of gag gifts. Veeck announced that Earley and his wife were receiving a brand-new house. A flatbed truck came in from the outfield carrying an old outhouse. When Veeck announced that Earley was receiving a new car, a Model T Ford filled with female models chugged to the diamond. When the driver blew the horn, the bumpers fell off. The crowd laughed hysterically. Then the night turned serious. Earley was given a case of Wheaties, books, clothes, a cocker spaniel, livestock, a lifetime pass for any AL ballpark, and a 1949 Ford convertible. Finally, there was a ball game, and Cleveland beat the White Sox, 11-0, behind Gene Bearden’s complete-game four-hitter and right fielder Allie Clark’s four-hit night.
Better to Remain Silent and Be Thought a Fool. . .
September 28, 1978: Minnesota Twins owner Calvin Griffith made the trek to Waseca, about 70 miles south of Minneapolis, to speak to the Waseca Lions Club. As much as the questioners tried to steer Griffith toward positive subjects, instead he hurled more insults than Don Rickles could pack into a 40-minute talk. Here are some examples, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune, with the caveat that Griffith’s views don’t reflect mine or anybody else’s at Pitcher List:
“I’ll tell you why we came to Minnesota [from Washington, where the team was the Senators]. It was when I found out you only had 15,000 blacks here. Black people don’t go to ball games, but they’ll fill up a rassling ring and put up such a chant it will scare you to death.”
“[Rod] Carew was a damn fool to sign [his three-year] contract [in 1977]. He only gets $170,000 [per season], and we all know damn well that he’s worth a lot more than that, but that’s what his agent asked for, so that’s what he gets.”
“The worst thing that can happen to a ballplayer is to get married and then go to spring training. [Former Twins pitcher] Jim Hughes did that, and I wrote him a letter saying he’d just signed his ticket to Tacoma. . . Well, [Butch] Wynegar did the same thing, and he’s had a miserable year. He was playing ‘hands’ with his wife during spring training, and instead of running around the outfield, he did his running around the bedroom. Now, love is love, but it comes pretty cheap for these young ballplayers these days, and I think they should take advantage of that and wait to get married.”
You Can’t Catch Me
September 28, 1986: Jim Morrison hit the ball. Then Chuck Berry hit the road. The Pirates franchise was Reelin’ but not Rockin’. Rumored to be moving the previous year, the club faced the ignominy of being the only team in the National League to finish with total attendance under one million. They were close, so, for the final home game, they scheduled a postgame concert by the Four Tops and Berry, with free boxed chicken dinners provided. The Mets had a 1-0 lead with two outs and nobody on base in the bottom of the ninth. Representing the Pirates’ last chance, third baseman Morrison hit a long home run off Mets starter Bob Ojeda.
When regulation play ended in a tie, Berry thought that was Too Much Monkey Business, and with No Particular Place To Go, duck-walked out of Three Rivers Stadium, saying that his contract said nothing about extra innings. The Mets won the game in 11 innings on a three-run homer by Darryl Strawberry off Bob Walk. Berry’s absence wasn’t explained at the postgame concert, leaving fans in attendance (including me) baffled. The Four Tops performed an unplanned, extra-long set to make up for it. (They were great, by the way.) The promotion drew 30,606 fans, pushing the Pirates’ attendance to 1,000,917. Berry had been paid in advance and absconded without offering to return the money. The Pirates were contemplating legal action.
Another Unbreakable Record Falls
September 28, 1988: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser pitched 10 scoreless innings against the San Diego Padres at Jack Murphy Stadium, and with that, he topped former Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale’s record of 58 consecutive scoreless innings, set in 1968. Drysdale’s streak ended at 58.2 scoreless innings, but the powers that be ruled that there was no such thing as a partial scoreless inning, so Drysdale’s record stood at 58. “I really didn’t want to break it,” Hershiser told Sam McManis of Press News Service. “I wanted to stop at [58.2]. I wanted me and Don to be together at the top. But the higher sources told me they weren’t taking me out of the game, so I figured, what the heck, I might as well get the guy out.” Hershiser remains the record holder with 59. The Padres won the game, 2-1, on Mark Parent’s two-run homer off Ricky Horton in the bottom of the 16th.
Morse’s Pretend Grand Slam
September 29, 2012: When is a grand slam not a grand slam, and then is a grand slam again after the batter pretends to hit a grand slam? Washington Nationals left fielder Mike Morse found out in the first inning at Busch Stadium, when he came to bat with the bases loaded against Cardinals pitcher Kyle Lohse. Morse hit a drive to right field that hit the top of the wall and appeared to bounce back into the field of play. Morse rounded first base aggressively, only to find second base occupied by a teammate. As he scrambled back to first, he was tagged and ruled out. Nationals manager Davey Johnson issued a replay challenge on the grounds that the ball left the grounds for a grand slam. Johnson prevailed, but Morse and the Nationals baserunners had to complete the formality of touching the bases. In what had to have been a first, Morse returned to the batter’s box, took a pretend swing, and completed his trip.
Washington won the game, 6-4, in 10 innings.
What the 1962 Mets Needed to Learn
September 30, 1962: It was a fitting end to a comical season as the Mets lost their 120th game at Wrigley Field, 5-1. In the top of the eighth inning, the Mets’ first two batters, Sammy Drake and Richie Ashburn, singled off Cubs pitcher Bob Buhl. The next hitter, Joe Pignatano, hit a soft fly into shallow right field. Second baseman Ken Hubbs made a magnificent catch before the ball hit the ground. Meanwhile, the runners were so sure the ball would drop that they’d ventured too far off base. Hubbs threw the ball to first baseman Ernie Banks, who retired Ashburn and threw to shortstop Andre Rodgers to retire Drake and complete a triple play. “We’ve got to learn to stay out of triple plays,” said beleaguered Mets manager Casey Stengel after the game.
3,000 for Clemente
September 30, 1972: In the bottom of the fourth inning at Three Rivers, Pirates superstar Roberto Clemente lined a double off Mets left-hander Jon Matlack, becoming the 11th player in major league history to reach the 3,000-hit plateau. As he stood on second base, Clemente flipped the ball to first base coach Don Leppert, waved his cap at the cheering crowd of 13,117, and accepted congratulations from Mets shortstop Jim Fregosi. It was his final regular season major league hit. When his turn to bat came in the next inning, his friend Bill Mazeroski pinch-hit for him and became the answer to a trivia question. The Pirates went on to win the game, 5-0. “I dedicate this hit to the fans of Pittsburgh,” Clemente said afterward. “They have been wonderful. And to the people back home in Puerto Rico, but especially to the man who pushed me to play baseball, Roberto Marin, he made me play.”
The Called Shot
October 1, 1932: Did Babe Ruth “call his shot” against Cubs pitcher Charlie Root in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series? Grainy video of the at-bat shows Ruth appearing to be pointing to the stands, right before hitting a home run to the spot where he pointed. Ruth and Lou Gehrig hit two homers each, leading the mighty New York Yankees to a 7-5 win and eventual World Series sweep. It was Ruth’s second home run that had baseball fans buzzing. After pointing to the spot or appearing to do so, he cracked “an extraordinary record-breaking blast that cleared the center field barrier in the fifth for the longest hit ever made at Wrigley Field,” according to Davis J. Walsh of International News Service. Regarding “the point,” Walsh didn’t interpret that as Ruth calling his shot and wrote, “Some of the Cubs understudies had been on the edge of the dugout heckling Ruth just before the blow fell and quite amiably, he kept time with them on his fingers as Root burned across one low curve and then another for two called strikes.” I find Walsh’s contemporary eyewitness account persuasive. But it’s kind of cool that it continues to be debated.
Another Hallowed Record Falls
October 1, 1961: The Yankees’ Roger Maris, playing in center field while Mickey Mantle nursed an injury, hit home run number 61 for the season, breaking Ruth’s thought-to-be-unbreakable single-season record. The big blow came off Boston Red Sox pitcher Tracy Stallard in the fourth inning at Yankee Stadium and was the only run in the game won by New York, 1-0. Maris tied the Babe on September 26 when he homered off the Baltimore Orioles’ Jack Fisher. The next day, under the category of Things That Would Never Happen Today, Maris asked for the day off. “I’m dead tired after all that excitement last night,” he told his manager, Ralph Houk, according to United Press International. “I’d sure like to sit this one out.” With the Yankees having already clinched the AL pennant, Houk agreed. Maris watched the game against the Orioles from the dugout for five innings, then slipped away to take his wife shopping.
That gave Maris the final three games of the season to break the record. He did it on the last day. The record-breaker was caught by 19-year-old auto parts deliverer Sal Durante, who went to the Yankees’ clubhouse after the game to make a different kind of delivery. Newspapers ran photos of a smiling Maris and Durante together. It was appropriate that Durante caught the ball; the dark-haired kid looked like New York. A Sacramento businessman had already offered $5,000 for the ball should Maris break the record. The AP reported, in Part 2 of Things That Would Never Happen Today, that Maris told Durante to keep the ball and “go and get” the $5,000. “Thanks and see whatever you can get.” Maris had kind words for the rookie Stallard. “I appreciate the fact that Stallard was man enough to pitch to me,” he told the AP.
Today In 1961: Roger Maris poses with Sal Durante, the lucky New York #Yankees fan who caught HR #61 at Yankee Stadium. Sal tried to return the ball to Roger, but he told him he should sell it, so he sold it to a California restaurateur for $5,000! #MLB #Baseball #History #RepBX
— Baseball by BSmile (@bsmile.bsky.social) 2026-10-01T12:57:03.769Z
The Unlikely Hero
October 2, 1978: That would be Yankees shortstop Bucky Dent, or, as they call him in Boston, Bucky [Bleepin’] Dent. After 162 games, the Yankees and Red Sox were tied for first place in the AL East Division, necessitating a one-game playoff at Fenway Park. The Red Sox led, 2-0, after six innings. The Yankees had two men on base in the seventh with two outs. Boston pitcher Mike Torrez only needed to retire the ninth-place hitter, Dent, who entered the game hitting .243 with four homers. Instead, Dent hit a three-run home run over the Green Monster to put New York ahead. They hung on to win, 5-4, and eventually won the World Series.
Dent didn’t even use his own bat for his famous shot. “After I fouled the pitch off my ankle and the trainer came out to look at it, Mickey Rivers hollered to me that I had a cracked bat and to take his,” Dent explained to UPI. “It was an M-44 model that he had stuck in the bottom of the bat bag. When I hit the homer, I wasn’t sure it was going out, and I didn’t even look at it until after I had gotten to first base.”
Oh, So Close
October 3, 1947: Bill Bevens stood on the mound, holding up his glove, waiting for the umpire to give him a new ball. The shocked Yankees right-hander was the only one in Ebbets Field who didn’t realize the game was over. It was Game 4 of the 1947 World Series, and Bevens had just broken his date with destiny. He was one out away from tossing the first no-hitter in World Series history. The Dodgers were able to score once in the fifth inning, when they used two walks, a sacrifice bunt, and a groundout to scratch out a run. Bevens walked 10 batters and needed several great defensive plays to preserve the no-hitter. Now he entered the bottom of the ninth inning ahead, 2-1. With one out, Carl Furillo drew a walk. After Spider Jorgensen popped out, Dodgers manager Burt Shotton sent speedy Al Gionfriddo to run for Furillo. He then sent Pete Reiser to pinch-hit for pitcher Hugh Casey.
“Pistol Pete” won the NL batting title in 1941 and was thought to be a superstar in the making. However, his all-out, bottle-rocket style of play resulted in too many collisions with outfield walls and concussions, and he now suffered from vertigo. Even so, Yankees manager Bucky Harris respected Reiser’s ability and gave an unusual order to intentionally walk him, even though he represented the winning run. It was Shotton’s turn for an unusual move. He sent Lavagetto to bat for Eddie Stanky. It didn’t seem like much of a percentage move. Both were right-handed hitters, and Lavagetto hit .261 compared to Stanky’s .252. Lavagetto whiffed on the first pitch, and struck the second one, a high, outside fastball, off the right field wall to score the runners and win the game for Brooklyn, 3-2. After the 1947 Series, neither Bevens nor Lavagetto would ever play in the major leagues again.
The Shot Heard ‘Round the World
October 3, 1951: The Dodgers and Giants ended the 1951 season tied for first place in the NL, necessitating a playoff. Unlike the 1978 Yankees and Red Sox, this playoff would be decided by a three-game playoff series. The Giants won Game 1 at Ebbets, 3-1. The scene shifted to the Polo Grounds for the remainder of the series, and the Dodgers took Game 2, 10-0. For the pivotal Game 3, the Dodgers sent big Don Newcombe to the mound to oppose their Giants nemesis, Sal Maglie.
The Dodgers led, 4-1, as Newcombe took the hill in the bottom of the ninth. But “Newk” was tired. With the race tight, Dodgers manager Dressen rode Newcombe hard in August and September. He pitched 103 innings during those months. There was an 11-day stretch during which he made four starts. He pitched a complete game on September 29 and came back the next day and pitched 5.2 innings in relief. But in 1951, starters didn’t dare tell their managers they were tired.
However, the Giants’ ninth began with singles by Al Dark and Don Mueller. One out later, Whitey Lockman’s double drove in Dark and moved Mueller to third. Mueller sprained his ankle sliding into third, and Clint Hartung entered as a pinch-runner. With Bobby Thomson due up, Dressen decided it was finally time for a pitching change. He phoned the bullpen, where Ralph Branca and Carl Erskine were warming up, and asked coach Clyde Sukeforth which pitcher was throwing better. On Sukeforth’s recommendation, Dressen chose Branca. Thomson then chose to line Branca’s 0-1 fastball over the left field wall to win the game, 5-4.
Dressen publicly blamed Sukeforth for the loss. The next season, Sukeforth joined the Pirates as a coach and scout. Both parties maintained that Sukeforth wasn’t fired, but in any event, it couldn’t have been pleasant for him to stick around where the manager was scapegoating him. On a scouting mission for Pittsburgh, Sukeforth discovered a raw, talented outfielder in the Dodgers system who’d be eligible for the 1955 Rule 5 draft. His name was Clemente. Oops!
In 2001, an investigation by Wall Street Journal reporter Joshua Prager revealed that the Giants employed an elaborate sign-stealing scheme down the stretch in 1951. Prager asked Thomson whether he got any “help” on Branca’s pitch. “My answer is no,” said Thomson. “I was always proud of that swing.”
Closing Time
As Pitcher List pivots to the postseason, this is the final This Week in Baseball History. Dry your tears, as it doesn’t mean I’ll be disappearing as Berry did. Special thanks to graphics artist/designer extraordinaire Kurt Wasemiller for making this column look sharp each week.
