10 October in Sports History

We cover the greatest moments in sports history on a daily basis recognizing the athletes that performed them and the uniform numbers they wore for the date of October 10 in history.

Sports history is made every day of the year. We will preserve at least a small sampling from some great athletes every day based on the uniform number they wore.

4 - 8 - 10 - 18 - 33 - 29 - 9 - 27 - 48 - 56

October 10, 1920 - Cleveland Indians outfielder Elmer Smith hits baseball's first ever World Series grand slam (Game 5, 1920)

October 10, 1920 - Indian Bill Wambsganss made the first unassisted World Series triple play

October 10, 1921 - The NFL Decatur Staleys franchise officially played their first game as the Chicago Staleys when they hosted the Rock Island Independents at a place called Staley Field in Chicago. The Staleys won the contest 14-10. A year later, for the 1922 season the franchise would become the Chicago Bears.

October 10, 1930 - Associated Press voted Joe Cronin (Number 4 in 1931) of the Washington Senators as the unofficial AL MVP. Meanwhile the Boulder Writer Alliance named the Chicago Cubs Hack Wilson as the NL MVP.

October 10, 1951 -  World Series: two-time defending champion NY Yankees beat NY Giants, 4-3 at Yankee Stadium for 4-2 series victory; MVP: Yankees shortstop Number 10, Phil Rizzuto

October 10, 1956 -  In the World Series clincher, the Yankees behind Number 8, Yogi Berra's 2 home runs, beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 9-0 in Game 7 at Ebbets Field. MVP: Yankees pitcher Number 18, Don Larsen

October 10, 1957 -  World Series crowned the Milwaukee Braves as champs when they defeated the NY Yankees, 5-0 at Yankee Stadium to clinch 4 games to 3 series victory. The Series MVP was Braves pitcher Lew Burdette, Number 33 who went 3-0 against the Yanks.

October 10, 1960 - Ron Stewart of the Ottawa Rough Riders rushed for a CFL-record 287 yards. Stewart's Number 11 jersey has been retired by the Ottawa Rough Riders, and is also a member of the Queen's University Football Hall of Fame and the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame.

October 10, 1964 - 18th NHL All-Star Game, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, ON: All-Stars beat Toronto, 3-2, Jean Béliveau, the Center for Montreal, won the MVP award for the game. Béliveau wore the Number 4 on his sweater at that point in his career.

October 10, 1968 - It was World Series Game 7,  as the Detroit Tigers edged out the St Louis Cardinals, 4-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium to clinch, 4-3 series win. The Series MVP was Tigers pitcher Number 29, Mickey Lolich

October 10, 1979 - Quebec Nordiques' Number 9, Real Cloutier set an NHL record of a hat trick in his very first League game. The feat was matched in 2016 by Toronto's Auston Matthews among others.

October 10, 1987 - Hartford center Number 27, Doug Jarvis ends his career having played an NHL record 964 consecutive games as the Whalers lose 6-2 to the New York Rangers

October 10, 1993 -  Cleveland Browns' DB Najee Mustafaa, Number 48 set a franchise record for longest interception (97 yds)

October 10, 1994 - The New York Football Giants retired Lawrence Taylor's Number 56 jersey

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: On This Day Sports, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com.

Banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of Wambsganss, and his tripple [sic] play victims, Kilduff, Mitchell & Miller of the Brooklyn B.B. Club. Miscellaneous Items in High Demand, PPOC, Library of Congress