This Date in Baseball

Oct. 3

1897 - Cap Anson closed a remarkable 27-year career, which started in the National Association in 1871. He hit two home runs against St. Louis. He was 46, the oldest player to homer in the majors.

1936 - The New York Yankees beat the New York Giants 2-1 to take 2-1 lead in the World Series. Lou Gehrig homered off Freddie Fitzsimmons in the second inning to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Jimmy Ripple tied the game with a homer in the fifth off Bump Hadley In the bottom of the eighth, Frank Crosetti's infield hit off the glove of Fitzsimmons scored Jake Powell.

1946 - The St. Louis Cardinals won the National League pennant by beating the Brooklyn Dodgers 8-4 and sweeping the best-of-three playoff.

1947 - Floyd Bevens of the Yankees held the Dodgers hitless until two were out in the ninth, when pinch-hitter Cookie Lavagetto doubled in two runs for a 3-2 Brooklyn victory in the fourth game of the World Series.

1951 - Bobby Thomson hit a three-run homer off Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the New York Giants a 5-4 playoff victory and the National League pennant.

1962 - The San Francisco Giants rallied for four runs in the ninth inning to win the third game of the tie-breaking playoffs, 6-4, over the Los Angeles Dodgers and move on to the World Series.

1971 - Bob Robertson's three home runs led the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 9-4 trouncing of the San Francisco Giants, tying the National League playoffs at 1-1.

1974 - Frank Robinson signed a $175,000-a-year player-manager contract with the Cleveland Indians, making him the first black manager in major league history.

1987 - Benito Santiago's 34-game hitting streak, a rookie record, ended as the San Diego Padres snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

1990 - George Brett became the first player to win a batting title in three different decades. Brett went 1-for-1 in Kansas City's 5-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians to win the American League title with a .329 average. Brett also won AL batting titles in 1976 and 1980.

1990 - Willie McGee became the first player to win a batting title in a league in which he didn't finish the season. McGee, who had a .335 average when St. Louis traded him to Oakland on Aug. 28, won his second National League crown when Dave Magadan of the New York Mets failed to catch him on the season's final day.

1990 - Cecil Fielder completed a startling season by homering for the 50th and 51st times as the Detroit Tigers beat the New York Yankees 10-3. Fielder was the first American Leaguer since 1961 to hit 50 home runs.

1993 - The Toronto Blue Jays became the first team in American League history to have teammates finish 1-2-3 in the batting race. John Olerud led the league with a .363 batting average. Paul Molitor finished at .332 and Roberto Alomar closed the year at .326.

2006 - Frank Thomas went 3-for-4, hitting two home runs to send Oakland to a 3-2 victory over Minnesota. The 38-year-old Thomas became the oldest player to have a multihomer game in postseason history.

2012 - Miguel Cabrera became the first player in 45 years to achieve the batting Triple Crown in Detroit's 1-0 victory over Kansas City. Cabrera finished with an American League-leading .330 average, 44 homers and 139 RBIs, becoming the 15th player to achieve the milestone and the first since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.

2012 - Houston ended its National League tenure with a 5-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs. The Astros set a franchise record for losses in a season, finishing 55-107, one more loss than last year. The Astros became the first team with 106 or more losses in consecutive seasons since the 1964-65 New York Mets.

2012 - Evan Longoria homered three times and Tampa Bay beat Baltimore 4-1, ending the Orioles' bid to force a one-game tiebreaker for the AL East title.

2015 - Max Scherzer pitched his second no-hitter this season for Washington, striking out a team-record 17 and leading the Nationals over the NL East champion New York Mets 2-0 for a doubleheader sweep.

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