Hank retires with 3,771 hits and 2,174 runs scored, both 2nd at the time only to Ty Cobb; a .305 batting average, a 155 OPS+; and with these all-time records: 755 home runs, 2,297 RBIs, 6,856 total bases, and 1,477 extra-base hits (624 doubles, 98 triples and 755 homers). Only the home run record has been broken, and that, dubiously.
The Brewers retire his Number 44 on this day, even though he only played 2 seasons for them. It's more of a recognition for his contribution to baseball in Milwaukee, which was 14 seasons counting his tenure there with the Braves. The Atlanta version of the Braves will retire Number 44 for him on their next Opening Day.
This was the 30th season of racially integrated Major League Baseball. Hank Aaron was the last active MLB player who had played in the Negro Leagues.
Another note from the '76 Brewers: On September 23, pitcher Danny Frisella, a member of the Mets' 1969 World Champions, made his last appearance of the season. There was no indication that he wouldn't be pitching in 1977. But on New Year's Day, in Phoenix, he was killed in a dune buggy accident. He was only 30 years old, and was the 1st member of the "Miracle Mets" to die.
This Brewers-Tigers game was also the last for Tiger catcher Bill Freehan. A key member of their 1968 World Series winners, he had been battling a thumb injury, and retired at age 34. In the late 1960s and early '70s, he was, beyond any question, the AL's best catcher. He made 11 appearances in the All-Star Game. No other player has made that many and still not been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Another Tiger whose career was ending was Alex Johnson, who last played on October 1. As a rookie in 1964, he nearly helped the Philadelphia Phillies win the NL Pennant. In 1970, with the California Angels, he won the AL batting title. But he rarely played so well again, and wore out his welcome with 7 different teams. He later took over his father's trucking company, and admitted he enjoyed it more than baseball. Also in 1970, his brother, Ron Johnson, playing for the Giants, became the 1st player for an NFL team in New York to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.
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On the same day, the last day of the regular season, the Kansas City Royals' George Brett and Hal McRae, and the Minnesota Twins' Rod Carew, 3 players, are separated by .001 for the American League batting title -- and their teams are playing each other at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.)
Brett, who goes 3-for-4, edges his Royals teammate for the crown with the deciding hit, an inside-the-park home run, a line drive that outfielder Steve Brye misplayed, leading McRae to believe the lack of effort was intentional, and racist. (Like McRae, Carew was black; unlike McRae, he was also Hispanic. His thoughts on McRae's theory are unrecorded.) The final totals: Brett .333, McRae .332, Carew .331. Or, to take the decimal point one step further: Brett .3333, McRae .3321, Carew .3306.
In case you're wondering about on-base percentage: McRae .407 (to lead the AL), Carew .395, Brett .377. So Brett had the lowest of the 3 in that category.
Both Carew and Brett would win more batting titles, and both would flirt with a .400 batting average: Carew finished at .388 in 1977, while Brett finished at .390 in 1980.
Another former AL batting champion, Tony Oliva, had been battling knee injuries, and last played for the Twins on September 29. He retired, at age 38.
Tommy Davis had been a National League batting champion, in 1962 and '63 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he never fully recovered from a broken ankle in 1965, and over the next 11 seasons, played for 9 teams, including Finley's A's twice. He played his last game for the Royals on October 2, and retired at 37.
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Also on this day, only 9,155 fans come out to the Oakland Coliseum to witness what is already expected -- correctly, as it turned out -- to be the end of an era. The California Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 1-0. Nolan Ryan of the Halos and Mike Torrez of the A's each go the distance.
With the reserve clause having been struck down in the previous off-season, free agency is coming in the upcoming one. Having already lost ace pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter to a legal wrinkle, and having traded away his best player, right fielder Reggie Jackson, A's owner Charlie Finley goes on to refuse to offer new contracts to reliever Rollie Fingers, 3rd baseman and team captain Sal Bando, left fielder Joe Rudi, 1st baseman Gene Tenace, shortstop Bert Campaneris, or even the recently acquired right fielder Don Baylor. He also looks to trade pitcher Vida Blue, this time without the interference of Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.
Hunter, Jackson and Fingers would make the Hall of Fame. All-Star Game appearances for these players: Jackson 14, Hunter 8, Fingers 7, Campaneris and Blue 6 each, Bando 4, Rudi 3, and Tenace and Baylor 1 each. Blue and Hunter had won an AL Cy Young Award; Blue, Jackson, Baylor and Fingers would each win an AL Most Valuable Player award.
Finley thought that, with the money he saved by not paying them, he could build a new dynasty. In the next 3 seasons, the A's were dreadful. But in the 4th, 1980, they finished 2nd; in the 5th, 1981, they won the AL Western Division. But before the 1980 season ended, he sold the team, and didn't get to enjoy being proven, at least partially, right.
This was also the last game in Oakland uniforms for future Hall-of-Famers Billy Williams, the great former Chicago Cub left fielder, who retires; and Willie McCovey, who heads back across the Bay and re-signs with the San Francisco Giants. Nate Colbert, former star for the San Diego Padres, was also on the A's roster, and had last played on October 1. That would be his last game as well: After trying to catch on with the expansion Toronto Blue Jays in the next season's Spring Training, his back injury convinced him to retire at the age of 30.
Over the next 3 seasons, the A's would lose 299 games, and play before a total of 1,329,361 home fans -- an average of 5,471 fans per game. Their attendance had never been good, and the Coliseum, even when new and considered suitable, had already been nicknamed the Oakland Mausoleum. Finley's cheapness and stubbornness had blinded him to what needed to be done, and one of the best teams in baseball history became a joke franchise almost overnight.
Over the next 3 seasons, the A's would lose 299 games, and play before a total of 1,329,361 home fans -- an average of 5,471 fans per game. Their attendance had never been good, and the Coliseum, even when new and considered suitable, had already been nicknamed the Oakland Mausoleum. Finley's cheapness and stubbornness had blinded him to what needed to be done, and one of the best teams in baseball history became a joke franchise almost overnight.
A note from the '76 Angels: This game against the A's turned out to be the last major league game for shortstop Mike Miley. A quarterback at Louisiana State University, where he was known as "Miracle Mike," he got them into the 1974 Orange Bowl, losing to Penn State. He left school to play pro baseball, and played 70 games with the Angels in '75 and another 14 in '76. But on January 6, 1977, back in LSU's seat of Baton Rouge, he was killed in a car crash, only 23 years old.
*
October 3, 1976 was a Sunday. These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Steve Carlton outpitched Craig Swan. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Rick Burleson singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 15th inning. Carl Yastrzemski did not play. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-6.
Rico Petrocelli did not play, either. The shortstop on the Sox' 1967 AL Pennant winners, and the 3rd baseman on their 1975 Pennant winners, had been battling an inner ear infection, and hadn't played since September 14. The Sox released him early in 1977, without playing him again. He was not quite 34 years old. There were no hard feelings, and he later coached and broadcast for the Sox.
On September 29, Tommy Harper played for the Orioles, and it turned out to be his last major league game. He had been one of baseball's top base stealers, but his hitting had tailed off, and he retired at 36.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the St. Louis Cardinals at Three Rivers Stadium, winning both games by a 1-0 score. Jim Rooker pitched a 7-hit shutout in the opener, while Jerry Reuss pitched a 5-hit shutout in the nightcap. Neither the Pirates' Willie Stargell nor the Cardinals' Lou Brock got into either game.
Bob Moose didn't get into the game for the Pirates, either. The relief pitcher had last appeared on September 25. On October 9, his 29th birthday, he was driving back from the charity golf tournament of former teammate Bill Mazeroski, in Maz's hometown of Martins Ferry, Ohio, when he was killed in a car crash.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 11-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 2-for-3 with 2 walks and an RBI. Johnny Bench went 0-for-2 with 2 walks. On June 13 of that season, Pat Darcy, who gave up the game-winning home run to Carlton Fisk in Game 6 of the previous year's World Series, was sent down to the minors. At 26, he never appeared in another major league game.
Carl Morton, the 1970 National League Rookie of the Year, had lost his consistency, and last pitched for the Braves on August 21. After struggling in the minor leagues the next 2 seasons, he retired, and died of a heart attack while jogging in 1983, only 39.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 8-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-0 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Len Barker pitched a 3-hit shutout. Earlier in the year, on June 19, former Yankee pitcher Fritz Peterson made his last major league appearance, for the Rangers. Injuries convinced him to retire at age 34.
On August 17, another member of the Oakland dynasty, pitcher John "Blue Moon" Odom, made his last appearance, for the White Sox. He returned to Oakland's minor-league system in 1977, but an injury forced him to wrap it up at 32.
Cleon Jones, a key figure on the 1969 Mets, made what turned out to be his last major league appearance with the '76 ChiSox, on May 1. Team owner Bill Veeck saw him not hit well in 13 games, and released him. It was just as well: Veeck had given the team awful uniforms, and made them worse later on, with shorts. Jones was spared this indignity.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Dave Winfield did not play.
* The New York Yankees, the Cleveland Indians, the Houston Astros and the San Francisco Giants finished their seasons the day before. Frank Robinson, officially still the player-manager of the Indians, had not played since September 18, although he never officially announced his retirement as a player. On September 29, former Twins star César Tovar, now with the Yankees, played his last game.
And these games were played in the NFL:
* The New York Giants lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 27-21 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The New York Jets lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 17-6 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
* The New England Patriots beat the Oakland Raiders, 48-17 at Schaefer Stadium (later Sullivan Stadium and Foxboro Stadium) in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. But the Raiders would beat the Pats in the Playoffs, en route to winning Super Bowl XI.
* The Baltimore Colts beat the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 42-17 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.
* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Atlanta Falcons, 14-13 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Miami Dolphins, 31-28 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.
* The Houston Oilers beat the New Orleans Saints, 31-26 at the Superdome in New Orleans.
* The Buffalo Bills beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 50-17 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in Orchard Park, New York.
* The Cincinnati Bengals beat their arch-rivals, the Cleveland Browns, 45-24 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
* The Chicago Bears beat the Washington Redskins, 33-7 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
* The Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions, 24-14 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
* The Denver Broncos beat the San Diego Chargers, 26-0 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
* The Dallas Cowboys beat the expansion Seattle Seahawks, 28-13 at the Kingdome in Seattle.
* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Minnesota Vikings beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 17-6 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
Actor Seann William Scott was born on this day.
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