3 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 3 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.

26 - 28 - 23 - 13 - 7 - 34 - 35 - 14 - 11 - 16 - 19 - 27 - 20 - 45 - 4 - 25 - 21 - 77 - 24 - 51 - 8

October 3, 1904 - New York Giants pitcher Christy Mathewson struck out 16  St Louis Cardinals in a 3-1 Giants victory. It was a new MLB record and it really shortened the length of the game as the contest finished in just 1 hour, 15 minutes.

October 3, 1919 - Cuban player Dolf Luque became the first Hispanic player to appear in a Baseball World Series. During the contest Luque pitched 1 inning of relief in the Cincinnati Reds' 3-0 loss at the hands of the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park

October 3, 1920 - St Browns 1st baseman George Sisler collected his 257th hit of the season to set MLB record that lasts until the 21st century. The Browns beat White Sox, that day 16 - 7.

October 3, 1945 - Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs met in the World Series for the 4th time. Hank Borowy, Number 26 pitched a 6-hit shutout as Cubs win Game 1, 9-0 at Briggs Stadium. Detroit ended up winning that series, 4 games to 3.

October 3, 1950 - Philadelphia Phillies choose not to request MLB rule on star left-hander Number 28, Curt Simmons' eligibility to play in World Series despite being on furlough from Army; Phillies swept, 4-0 by NY Yankees

October 3, 1951 - The Famous Shot Heard Round the World occurred when Bobby Thomson, Number 23 of the Giants crushed a 3-run homer off Number 13, Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers, bottom 9th inning, 1 out, to give New York Giants dramatic 5-4 playoff win and NL pennant at the Polo Grounds

October 3, 1953 - NY Yankees legendary center fielder Number 7, Mickey Mantle hits a grand slam off of the Dodgers Number 34, Russ Meyer. The Bronx Bombers hold on to win, 11-7 v Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5 of Baseball World Series. The Yankees eventually won the series, 4-2

October 3, 1956 - Sal Maglie, Number 35 pitched a complete game as Brooklyn Dodgers beat NY Yankees, 6-3 in Game 1 of Baseball World Series at Ebbets Field The Yankees ended up winning the series, 4-3

October 3, 1965 - The Chicago Cubs lost their season finale 6-3 to Pirates. In the game though Ernie Banks (Number 14) and Don Kessinger (Number 11) combined to tie MLB record of 3 triple plays in a season

October 3, 1965 - New York's Number 16, Whitey Ford notched win #232 in a season ending 11-5 victory versus the Boston Red Sox. With the victory he became the Yankees' winningest pitcher

October 3, 1972 - Future Baseball Hall of Fame left-handed pitcher Phillies' Number 32, Steve Carlton won his 27th game of the season as Philadelphia beats the Chicago Cubs, 11-1 at Wrigley Field. Carlton accounted for almost half Phillies 59 season wins.

October 3, 1972 - Roric Harrison, Number 44 homered as the Baltimore Orioles defeated Cleveland, 4-3. He was the last AL pitcher to hit a home run until MLB inter-league play 25 years later.

October 3, 1974 - Future Basketball Hall of Fame guard Number 44, Jerry West (“Mr. Clutch”) retires after 14 NBA seasons with the LA Lakers. West had 25,192 career points, and averaged 29.1 ppg in 153 playoff games

October 3, 1982 - Center fielder Robin Yount, Number 19 homered twice as Milwaukee beat up the Baltimore Orioles, 10-2 at Memorial Stadium to win the Brewers only AL East Championship

October 3, 1989 - Darryl Sittler (Number 27), Vladislav Tretiak (Number 20), and Herbie Lewis (Number ) were each inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as players, along with builders Alan Eagleson and Father David Bauer

October 3, 1990 - Detroit 1st baseman Cecil Fielder, Number 45 became just the 11th player in MLB history to hit 50 HRs in a season; 50th & 51st in 10-3 win v NY Yankees at Yankee Stadium

October 3, 1990 - Kansas City 3rd baseman Number 5, George Brett becomes first in MLB history to win a batting title in 3 different decades. In the game Brett went 1 for 1 in Royals, 5-2 loss to Cleveland to win AL batting title with .329 average; AL batting champion 1976, 80

October 3, 1999 - St Louis 1st baseman Mark McGwire, Number 25 hits his 65th homer of the season in a rain shortened 9-5 win over Cubs at Busch Stadium; wins 2nd straight HR title over Sammy Sosa, Number 21 of the Cubs, who hits his 63rd HR in same game

October 3, 2001 - After a 21-season career, Paul Coffey (Mostly wearing Number 77) officially retires from the NHL, having won 4 Stanley Cups with Edmonton Oilers, finishing 2nd on all-time list for points by defensemen (1,531 in 1,409 games), and playing in 14 All-Star Games

October 3, 2001 - San Diego outfielder Rickey Henderson, Number 24 scored a run in the 3rd inning of the Padres' 12-5 loss to LA Dodgers to tie the MLB record of 2,245 runs scored held by the legendary Ty Cobb

October 3, 2001 - San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, Number 25 Is walked for the 171st time in 11-8 win at Houston; breaks Babe Ruth's 1923 MLB single-season record for walks

October 3, 2004 - Seattle Mariners Japanese right fielder Number 51, Ichiro Suzuki adds 2 more singles in a 3-0 defeat to Texas, to finish the season with a MLB record 262 hits

October 3, 2012 - Miguel Cabrera, Number 24 went 0 for 2 in the batter's box in a 1-0 Tigers win over the KC Royals to end the season as MLB's first Triple Crown winner since Boston's Number 8, Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. leads AL with .330 average, 44 homers and 139 RBI

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 the Baseball player Dolf Luque drawn by Robert Ripley circa 1923.