4 October in Sports History

In this edition of the Sports Break, we cover the top events in sports history along with the players and athletes that were a part of them on October 4. As a bonus, we place the jersey number worn at the time with the athlete as well.

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.

3 - 30 - 5 - 1 - 45 - 32 - 16 - 24 - 20 - 22 - 19 - 4 - 77 - 8 - 2 - 25 - 

October 4, 1925 - Harry Heilmann had 6 hits in Detroit's doubleheader sweep over the St Louis Browns. The final scores of  10-4 and 11-6 were reached in the games.  With the successful day in the batter's box Heilmann edged out teammate Tris Speaker for the AL batting crown, .393 to .389. Meanwhile Ty Cobb batted over .300 for the 20th time

October 4, 1930 - Philadelphia Athletics' Jack Quinn aged 47, became the oldest player to play in World Series. The elder statesman pitched 2 innings in Game 3, suffering a 5-0 defeat to St. Louis. The A's though did win the series, 4-2 eventually though.

October 4, 1944 - The only all-St. Louis World Series opens at Sportsman's Park with the visiting Browns beating the Cardinals, 2-1 on Number 3, George McQuinn's home run; Cards win series, 4-2

October 4, 1948 - Cleveland Indians beat Boston Red Sox, 8 - 3, in a one-game playoff to decide the AL pennant. The keys to the victory were the pitching of hurler Number 30, Gene Bearden and hitting of Lou Boudreau who wore Number 5 for the Tribe.

October 4, 1953 - 50th Baseball World Series pitted the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers. This day the Yanks won 4-3 at Yankee Stadium for 4-2 series clincher. New York recorded its 5th consecutive World Series Championship with the MVP being earned by New York second baseman, Number 1, Billy Martin

October 4, 1955 - At the World Series, the Brooklyn Dodgers won their first title with a 2-0 victory against arch-rival the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in Game 7. The MVP of the series was Brooklyn pitcher Number 45, Johnny Podres who won 2 games in the series in 18 innings of work, throwing 10 strike outs.

October 4, 1959 - Future Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown, Number 32 attempted a club record 37 rushing attempts in Cleveland Browns, 34-7 win at Chicago Cardinals

October 4, 1961 - New Tork Yankees pitcher Number 16, Whitey Ford records 3rd straight Baseball World Series shutout in Yankees 2-0 win v Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 at Yankee Stadium; NY wins series, 4-1

October 4, 1962 - San Francisco player Number 24, Willie Mays scored a run in the 2nd inning for the Giants ending Whitey Ford's World Series record of consecutive scoreless inning streak at ​33 2⁄3. The Yanks won despite this over the Giants, 6-2 in Game 1 and evetntually took the series in 7

October 4, 1964 - Boston Patriots' kicker Number 20, Gino Cappelletti connected on 6-from-6 field goals and 3-from-3 conversions in 39-10 win versus the Denver Broncos at Bears Stadium, Denver

October 4, 1980 - Future Baseball Hall of Fame 3rd baseman Number 20, Mike Schmidt's 2-run homer off Stan Bahnsen, Number 22 of the Expos, in 11th inning gives Philadelphia, 6-4 win v Montreal and NL East title; Schmidt's 48th of the season; breaks Eddie Mathews' single-season MLB record for 3rd basemen

October 4, 1986 - NY Yankees closer Number 19, Dave Righetti saves both doubleheader games at Fenway Park for 5-3 and 3-1 wins v Boston; Righetti's MLB record 46th save

October 4, 1987 - Winnipeg CFL defensive back James Jefferson wearing Number 4, scored 2 TDs on interception returns without making an interception; scores both on laterals in Blue Bombers' 47-14 win v Hamilton Tiger-Cats

October 4, 1989 - MLB San Francisco Giants 1st baseman Number 22, Will Clark hits first NLCS grand slam since 1977 in 11-3 win v Chicago Cubs; Clark goes 4-for-4 with 2 HRs to tie NLCS RBI record (6) for an entire series in less than 4 innings

October 4, 1991 - San Jose Sharks play first NHL game in franchise history, a 4-3 loss in Vancouver; native Californian Craig Coxe, Number 21 scored the club's first goal while Number 30, Jeff Hackett makes an impressive 48 saves between the pipes

October 4, 1995 - Jim Leyritz wearing the Number 13 on his jersey, cranks a shot over the wall with a man on in 15th inning to give Yankees 2-0 Division Series lead over Mariners

October 4, 1996 - Left wing Mike Donnelly became first player in NHL history to play for all 3 New York teams (Sabres, Rangers & Islanders) when he suits up for the NY Islanders in a 1-0 loss in Los Angeles. He was the Islanders Number 8, the Rangers Number 22, and the Sabres Number 16.

October 4, 2001 - Boston Bruins retire future Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque's Number 77 jersey in the NHL season opener at Boston Garden; beat visiting Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 4-2

October 4, 2001 - Brendan Shanahan, Number 14 scored a hat trick in Red Wings 4-3 OT win at San Jose; becomes second player in NHL history to score an opening-night hat trick twice in his career

October 4, 2001 - San Francisco Giants slugger, Number 25, Barry Bonds hits his 70th home run in 10-2 win v Houston. With it he ties another Number 25, Mark McGwire for the most MLB home runs in a single season

October 4, 2003 - Texas Tech Red Raiders' quarterback B J Symons, Number 2 set a Big 12 Conference record with 8 touchdown passes, leading Texas Tech to a convincing 59-28 win over Texas A & M

October 4, 2018 - New England's Number 12, Tom Brady becomes only 3rd NFL quarterback to record 500 career touchdown passes as he connects with Number 10, Josh Gordon in the Patriots' 38-24 win over the Indianapolis Colts at Foxborough

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 a June 8, 1921, Detroit Tigers' Harry Heilmann, in a poorly executed slide, is tagged out by Washington Senators' third baseman Howard Shanks. Senators beat the Tigers 6-2 from the National Photo Company