15 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 15 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.

22 - 45 - 5 - 10 - 99 - 9 

October 15, 1912 - Boston Red Sox legend Tris Speaker completed the only world series unassisted double play, from the outfield

October 15, 1964 - American sprinter Bob Hayes tied a world record 10.0s to beat Cuba's Enrique Figuerola by 0.2s and win the men's 100m gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Hayes would use that speed in the NFL as a mmber of the Dallas Cowboys for twn seasona and the San Francisco 49ers for 1 season wearing Number 22 for his entire career.

October 15, 1964 - World Series Game 7 had the St Louis Cardinals win thier MLB 7th title as they knocked off the New York Yankees, 7-5 at Busch Stadium to clinch series, 4-3. The MVP was St Louis pitcher Bob Gibson, Number 45. The Cards retired that number in 1975 in honor of their former pitcher

October 15, 1970 - World Series Game 5 saw the Baltimore Orioles beat Cincinnati Reds, 9-3 at Memorial Stadium to claim series, 4-1. The MVP of this Championship was Orioles 3rd baseman Brooks Robinson, Number 5. Robinson earned the nickname of "Hoover" for the fact of so many that he seemed to attract, like dirt to a vacuum cleaner.

October 15, 1979 - New York Knicks retired the franchise's second jersey, It was of Number 10, Walt Frazier

October 15, 1989 - Number 99, Wayne Gretzky passed hockey legend Number 9, Gordie Howe as NHL's all time top scorer

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 FAMU athlete Robert Hayes practices running on the track: Tallahassee, Florida. Date: March 15, 1962  Accompanying note: "Hayes Will Try for World Mark--Florida A & M University's rapid Robert Hayes, who unofficially tied the world mark for the 100-yard dash at 9.2 just a month ago at Miami, tunes up on the track here and will be gunning to lower the official 9.2 record held by Villanova's Frank Budd. Hayes, 19, and a sophomore, will be running Saturday, Mar. 17, on the same track at University of Miami, where he ran his 9.2 and officials there say the track will be even faster as the measured straightway has been groomed daily." from the Repository: State Library and Archives of Florida,