November 2, 2022: A Combined No-Hitter In the World Series

November 2, 2022: For only the 2nd time, a no-hitter is pitched in the World Series. This being the 21st Century, it took 4 pitchers to do it.

The heavily favored Houston Astros went into Game 4 of the World Series having lost Game 1 to the Philadelphia Phillies, then won Game 2, then got clobbered with 5 home runs in Game 3. They needed a good pitching performance. They got a great one, the 2nd-greatest in Series history, behind the perfect game pitched by Don Larsen for the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Yankee Stadium in Game 5 in 1956.

Cristian Javier started, and went 6 innings, allowing only 2 baserunners, a leadoff walk to Bryce Harper in the 2nd, and a 1-out walk to Brandon Marsh in the 3rd. He struck out 9 batters. But Astro manager Dusty Baker took him out. Javier had thrown 97 pitches -- the same number Larsen had thrown in 9 innings in his perfecto.

Aaron Nola started for the Phillies, and he was pretty strong over the 1st 4 innings, allowing just 3 singles and hitting a batter. But he imploded in the 5th, allowing 3 straight singles to start the inning, to Chas McCormick, José Altuve and Jeremy Peña. José Alvarado not only couldn't stop the bleeding, he aggravated the wound, hitting Yordan Álvarez to let in a run, allowing a double by Alex Bergman that scored 2, a sacrifice fly by Kyle Tucker that scored another, and a single by Yuli Gurriel to score yet another. It was 5-0 Astros.

Bryan Abreu pitched the 7th for the Astros, and struck out the side, using only 15 pitches. But Baker didn't send him back out for the 8th. Instead, he sent Rafael Montero, who sent the Phils down 1-2-3. Finally, he sent Ryan Pressly out for the 9th. He struck Marsh out to start, then walked Kyle Schwarber. There was a little bit of hope. But Pressly got Rhys Hoskins to fly to right, and got J.T. Realmuto to ground to 3rd.

The Astros had a no-hitter, by 5 pitchers, the 1st in World Series play in 66 years. Total pitches: 141, or 45 percent more than Larsen threw. More importantly, it tied the Series at 2-2. The Astros never looked back, and won the Series in 6 games.

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November 2, 2022 was a Wednesday. Football was in midweek. There were 11 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 112-99 at Madison Square Garden. Dejounte Murray of the Hawks led all scorers on the night with 36 points.

* The Washington Wizards beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 121-111 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Miami Heat beat the Sacramento Kings, 110-107 at the FTX Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Houston Rockets, 109-101 at the Toyota Center in Houston.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Utah Jazz, 103-100 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Toronto Raptors beat the San Antonio Spurs, 143-100 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics, 114-113 at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Charlotte Hornets, 106-88 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Detroit Pistons, 116-91 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 120-117 in overtime at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

* And the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 111-106 at the Moda Center in Portland.

And there were 2 games in the NHL. The Buffalo Sabres beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-2 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

October 26, 2002: The Anaheim Comeback -- Or the San Francisco Choke

Scott Spiezio

October 26, 2002: Game 6 of the World Series, at what was then known as Edison International Field of Anaheim – the former "Big A" briefly nicknamed "the Big Ed." The San Francisco Giants led the Series 3 games to 2, and led the team then known as the Anaheim Angels, 5-0 after 6½ innings, thanks to home runs by Shawon Dunston and Barry Bonds.

Let me take a step back. On October 19, Game 1 was played at the Big Ed. The Giants won it, 4-3, and their lineup included Tsuyoshi Shinjo, making him the 1st Japanese-born player to appear in a World Series game.

On October 24, Game 5 was played at Pacific Bell Park (now AT&T Park) in San Francisco. Jeff Kent hit 2 home runs, and the Giants pounded the Angels, 16-4.

But the event that will be forever remembered came in the bottom of the 7th inning. Kenny Lofton hit a triple, driving in J.T. Snow and David Bell (son of Buddy, grandson of Gus). But Darren Baker, 3-year-old son of Giant manager Dusty Baker, acting as batboy, had come up to the plate to collect Lofton’s bat, unaware that the play was still in progress. Snow saw this, and, fearing that Darren might get hurt in a play at the plate, grabbed him by his Giants jacket and pulled him away. There was no play at the plate, and Bell was able to score standing up.

The fact that the Giants had won the game so overwhelmingly, and the fact that Darren Baker had been saved from serious injury, made the Giants look like a team of destiny. They needed to win just 1 of the possible 2 games in Anaheim to take their 1st World Championship in 45 seasons in San Francisco.

Instead, the Angels scored 3 runs in the 7th to make it 5-3, including a home run by Scott Spiezio, but the Giants were still just 9 outs away from their 1st World Championship since moving to San Francisco 45 years earlier, their 1st in any city since they were in New York 48 years earlier.

But they choked. The Angels scored 3 more in the 8th, including 1 on a home run by Darin Erstad, and won, 6-5. The Series went to a Game 7 in Anaheim tomorrow night.

That night, I had dinner at an Applebee's in Milltown, New Jersey, about 3 miles from my residence in East Brunswick. When I left, the Giants were winning. When I got home, they were losing. To put it another way: According to Baseball-Reference.com, when Spiezio came to the plate, the Giants had a 93 percent chance of winning the game, and thus the Series. But they lost.

The next night, Angels won Game 7, 4-1. Liván Hernández, one of the Florida Marlins' heroes in the 1997 World Series, began the bottom of the 3rd inning by giving up a single to David Eckstein. He gave up a single to Darin Erstad. Then he hit Tim Salmon with a pitch, loading the bases with nobody out. And Garrett Anderson doubled down the right-field line to clear the bases. John Lackey pitched 5 strong innings, and 3 relievers shut the Giants out the rest of the way.

Having already won a World Series as a player with the 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers, Mike Scioscia had now won one as the Angels' manager.

In his one and only World Series appearance, Barry Bonds went 8-for-17, .471, with 4 home runs, 6 RBIs, and a Series record 13 walks. It was all in vain.

The Angels' inability to win a Pennant had been called "The Curse of the Cowboy." Gene Autry, Western movies' "Singing Cowboy," was their 1st owner, and still owned the team at this point. There seemed to be no reason why he would put a curse on his own team, but maybe he was the one who was cursed.

In the midst of the illness that would end his life the next year, Autry sold the Angels to the Walt Disney Company in 1997. Disney changed the team's name to the Anaheim Angels. The team finally won their 1st Pennant in 2002, and then won the World Series, ending the curse. But maybe they've started a new one: They've been to the Playoffs a few times since, but still have only the 1 Pennant.

Twenty years later, Dusty Baker is managing in the World Series again. Darren Baker is 23, and played 2nd base for the Harrisburg Senators of the Class AA Eastern League, a farm team of the Washington Nationals. If he continues at his current pace of progress through the minor leagues, he could be in the major leagues by the start of the 2024 season.

Scott Spiezio and David Eckstein would be teammates on another World Series winner, the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals. Spiezio's father, Ed Spiezio, was a 3rd baseman who won the World Series with the Cardinals in 1964 and 1967.

UPDATE: The Angels have a team Hall of Fame. Through the 2025 season, the inductees are:

* From the 1960s: Founding owner Gene Autry, 2nd baseman Bobby Knoop, shortstop Jim Fregosi, and pitcher Dean Chance.

* From the 1979 American League Western Division title: Autry, Fregosi as manager, Knoop as coach, coach Jimmie Reese, 1st baseman Rod Carew, 2nd baseman Bobby Grich, left fielder Don Baylor, catcher Brian Downing, and pitcher Nolan Ryan.

* From the 1982 AL West title: Autry, Knoop, Reese, Carew, Grich, Baylor, Downing, and pitcher Mike Witt -- but not manager Gene Mauch, nor right fielder Reggie Jackson.

* From the 1986 AL West title: Autry, Knoop, Reese, Grich, Downing (now in left field), Witt, and pitcher Chuck Finley -- but, again, neither Mauch nor Jackson.

* From the 1995 team that blew a big AL West lead: Autry, Knoop, Reese, Carew (now a coach), Finley, right fielder Tim Salmon, and left fielder Garret Anderson.

* From the 2002 World Champions: Salmon and Anderson are the only players yet honored.

* From the 2004 and '05 AL West titles: Salmon, Anderson and right fielder Vladimir Guerrero Sr. From the 2007, '08 and '09 Division titles: Anderson and Guerrero. So far, no players from the 2014 Division title have been honored.

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October 26, 2002 was a Saturday. Among the college football games played that day were these:

* Number 1 Miami beat West Virginia, 40-23 at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia. Miami, defending National Champions, won the Big East Conference Championship.

* Number 2 Oklahoma had the week off. They beat Colorado in the Big Twelve Conference Championship Game.

* Number 3 Virginia Tech beat Temple, 20-10 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia. But Tech lost 4 of their last 5 regular season games, their only victory at home to arch-rival Virginia.

* Number 4 Ohio State beat Number 18 Penn State, 13-7 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. Ohio State won the Big Ten Conference Championship, and then beat Miami in the Fiesta Bowl for the Bowl Championship Series' National Championship.

* Number 5 Georgia beat Kentucky, 52-24 at Commonwealth Stadium (now Kroger Field) in Lexington, Kentucky. Georgia beat Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.

* Number 6 Notre Dame beat Number 11 Florida State, 34-24 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. Florida State recovered, and won the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship, before losing to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

* Number 7 Texas beat Number 17 Iowa State, 21-10 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. Losing to Oklahoma and Texas Tech cost Texas a shot at the Big Twelve title, but they still ended up in their frequent season finale, the Cotton Bowl.

* Number 8 Michigan were upset by Number 13 Iowa, 34-9 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Iowa finished 2nd in the Big 10, and went to the Orange Bowl.

* Number 9 Washington State beat Arizona, 21-13 at Arizona Stadium in Tucson. "Wazzu" won the Pacific-Ten Conference title, but lost the Rose Bowl to Oklahoma.

* Number 10 Louisiana State lost to Auburn, 31-7 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. LSU reached the Cotton Bowl, where they lost to Texas.

* Number 14 Oregon were upset by Number 15 Southern California, 44-33 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. USC blew their shot at the Pac-10 title by losing to Washington State, but beat Iowa in the Orange Bowl.

* Number 16 Tennessee lost in a mild upset, but by a big score, to Number 19 Alabama, 34-14 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee.

* Among the service academies, Number 22 Air Force were upset by Wyoming, 34-26 at, with some appropriateness, War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyoming; Army lost to Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), 29-26 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; and Navy lost to Tulane, 51-30 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* And Rutgers lost to Syracuse, 45-14 at the Carrier Dome (now the JMA Wireless Dome) in Syracuse, New York.

The NBA season didn't start for another 3 days. There were 13 games in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 6-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-1 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.

* On the opener of CBC's Hockey Night In Canada, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-3 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 4-3 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Chicago Blackhawks and the Carolina Hurricanes played to a tie, 3-3 at the RBC Center (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* The Washington Capitals and the Florida Panthers played to a tie, 1-1 at the Office Depot Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Nashville Predators beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres, 5-2 at the Mellon Arena (as the Civic Arena was then known) in Pittsburgh.

* The Minnesota Wild beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 6-1 at the America West Arena (now the Footprint Center) in Phoenix.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Calgary Flames, 4-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary. Eric Boguniecki scored the winning goal with 25 seconds left in overtime.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 4-3 at the Skyreach Centre (as the Northlands Coliseum was then known) in Edmonton.

* In the nightcap of Hockey Night In Canada, the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Dallas Stars, 4-1 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.

* And the Los Angeles Kings, the Colorado Avalanche, the San Jose Sharks and the Columbus Blue Jackets were not scheduled to play.

And in English soccer, Arsenal lost to Lancashire team Blackburn Rovers, 2-1 at Highbury in North London.

October 2, 1977: The Ballad of Glenn Burke

October 2, 1977: On the last day of baseball's regular season, Dusty Baker of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits a home run off J.R. Richard of the Houston Astros at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. This makes the Dodgers, who have already clinched the NL West, the 1st team in MLB history with 4 players hitting 30 or more home runs in the same season: Baker, Steve Garvey, Ron Cey and Reggie Smith.

When Baker approaches home plate, on-deck hitter Glenn Burke is waiting for him. Instead of offering his hand for a handshake, or holding it out to slap Baker on the back or the rear end (both common post-homer gestures), he holds it high over his head. Baker reaches up and slaps Burke's hand with his own. "It seemed like the thing to do," Baker said. And so, the high five is born. Burke then hits his 1st major league home run. The game is meaningless as far as the standings were concerned, and the Astros won it, 6-3.

Burke was the 1st MLB player known to be gay. He said, "By 1978, I think everybody knew," and he was "sure his teammates didn't care." Dodger 2nd baseman and Captain Davey Lopes said, "No one cared about his lifestyle." But Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda did care: He was an old-school Catholic, and was militantly anti-gay, even refusing to accept that his son Tommy Jr. was gay. He traded Burke early in 1978, to the Oakland Athletics, allegedly because Tommy Jr. frequently visited the clubhouse, and Tommy Sr. wanted to keep Burke away from him.

Despite the fact that Oakland was across San Francisco Bay from San Francisco, the American city best known for gay culture, his new teammates did not accept him as well as the Dodgers did. When Billy Martin became A's manager in 1980, he was every bit as homophobic as Lasorda, and treated Burke badly in Spring Training. Something had to give, and what gave was Burke's knee. The injury gave Martin the chance to send him down to the minor leagues, and he never played another major league game. He was through at 28, and he fell victim to cocaine addiction.

In 1991, Tommy Lasorda Jr. died of AIDS. Glenn Burke also died of AIDS, in 1995. To the day he died at age 93 in 2021, Tommy Sr. insisted that Tommy Jr. was straight and died of pneumonia. In pregame ceremonies before the 2014 All-Star Game in Minneapolis, Major League Baseball honored Burke. On June 17, 2015, the A's honored Burke as part of Athletics Pride Night. Starting in 2021, they have named the annual event Glenn Burke Pride Night.

By that point, every MLB team had held a Pride Night and established it as an annual event. The New York Yankees were among the last teams to do so, starting in 2019, but once they went in, they did what they usually do and went all in, dedicating a Plaque in Monument Park to honor the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising in New York. It includes the words, "Acceptance forms the bedrock of our community, and let it be known that Yankee Stadium welcomes everyone as a gathering place for all." 

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October 2, 1977 was a Sunday. These other MLB games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 8-7 at the old Yankee Stadium. They had score 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th to do it, including 2 on a double by Dell Alston. Earlier, they got a home run from Mickey Klutts. Alston and Klutts were both hot prospects who never made it.

Having clinched the American League Eastern Division the day before, while sitting in a rain delay of a game they would lose while Baltimore's defeat of Boston eliminated the Red Sox, they avoid accusations of "backing in" and win their 100th game, a milestone the club reaches for the 1st time in 14 years.

* The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. A rough year for the Mets, which included the trading of Tom Seaver, ends with one of the players obtained for Seaver, Pat Zachry, as the winning pitcher. Joel Youngblood went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Keith Hernandez, not yet a Met, went 0-for-3 with a walk. Lou Brock went 1-for-2 before leaving the game.

* The Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles got rained out at Fenway Park in Boston. Since they'd already been eliminated by the Yankees, the game is never made up. They both finished 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Montreal Expos, 5-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt got the day off.

* A doubleheader was split at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. The Toronto Blue Jays won the opener, 2-1. The Cleveland Indians won the nightcap, 5-4. The Jays finish their expansion season with 107 losses.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates swept a doubleheader from the Chicago Cubs at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, 5-1 and 3-2.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Pete Rose went 1-for-3, and Johnny Bench went 0-for-3.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The Mariners finished their expansion season 64-98, much better than the Jays.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Rod Carew went 3-for-4 with an RBI, to finish his best season with a .388 batting average, 14 home runs and an even 100 RBIs.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the California Angels, 2-0 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Dennis Leonard pitched a 6-hit shutout, and George Brett hit a home run.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-7 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. The A's truly did collapse, finishing 63-98, finishing half a game behind the Mariners for last in the American League West.

* And the San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-1 at Candlestick Park. Dave Winfield went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

These NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants lost to the Atlanta Falcons, 17-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The New York Jets beat the New England Patriots, 30-27 at Shea Stadium.

* The Baltimore Colts beat the Buffalo Bills, 17-14 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Washington Redskins beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 24-14 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Houston Oilers, 27-7 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 23-7 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat their arch-rivals, the Cleveland Browns, 28-14 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 17-13 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Chicago Bears, 42-24 at Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat their arch-rivals, the Green Bay Packers, 19-7 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 24-3 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium).

* The Los Angeles Rams beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, 34-14 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Seattle Seahawks, 24-13 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

* And on ABC Monday Night Football, the Oakland Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 37-28 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.