Happy ’80s Birthday to Gene Tenace, who won four World Series rings as a player and two more as a coach. Not too shabby for a 20th round draft pick.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Roger Metzger, who led the league in triples in 1971 and 1973 and won a Gold Glove in 1973. He also cut off the tips of four fingers in an accident with a table saw in 1979. He returned and played 28 games for the Giants in 1980 before retiring for good.
Happy ‘80s Birthday to Les Straker, who won 10 games for the Twins in 1987 and 1988 and won a ring with Minnesota in 1987. He later became a pitching coach.
Happy ‘80s Birthday to Don Gordon, who won three games over three seasons for Cleveland and Toronto.
Happy ‘80s Birthday to Jim Weaver, who doubled off Bret Saberhagen in 1985 for his first hit and spent parts of three seasons in the bigs with Detroit, Seattle and San Francisco.
Happy ‘80s Birthday to Bill Moore, who appeared in six games for the 1986 Expos and singled off Carl Willis in his first big-league at bat.
Happy ‘80s Birthday to Francisco Cabrera, who is still a fan favorite in Pittsburgh.
10/10/80
A gimpy Joe Morgan’s leadoff triple in the bottom of the 11th inning sets the table and Denny Walling’s sac fly drives home pinch-runner Rafael Landestoy to give the Astros a 1-0 win in Game 3 of the 1980 NLCS.
10/10/80
George Brett gets all of this one and the Royals sweep the Yankees to advance to the World Series for the first time in franchise history. Brett had a pretty good year in 1980.
10/10/81
George Vukovich’s 10th-inning walkoff homer keeps the Phillies alive in the NLDS.
10/10/81
Fernando fires a 4-hitter and the Dodgers beat the Astros 2-1 to even the 1981 N.L. West Division Series at 2-2.
10/10/81
Pete Vuckovich guts out five innings a few days after running a 103-degree fever and Rollie Fingers closes it out as the Brewers beat the Yankees 2-1 in Game Four of the ALDS.
10/10/82
The Cardinals knock off the Braves and advance to the World Series for the first time since 1968.
10/10/82
Coop drives home two in the bottom of the 7th and the Brewers are headed to the World Series.
10/10/82
Tommy Lasorda gets pulled over on the way to the World Series
10/10/83
The Tigers announce the sale of the franchise to Thomas Monaghan. He has a nice first year as owner.
10/10/84
Kurt Bevacqua happens.
10/10/85
Bill Madlock and Greg Brock each drive in two as the Dodgers beat the Cardinals 8-2 to take a 2-0 lead in the 1985 NLCS.
10/10/86
Dick Schofield and Gary Pettis homer off Oil Can Boyd and the Angels beat Boston 5-3 in Game Three of the ALCS.
Gene Mauch becomes the first manager ever to be thrown out of an AL postseason series.
10/10/87
Jeffrey Leonard homers for the fourth straight game as the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4 – 2, tying the National League Championship Series at two games apiece.
10/10/87
Pat Sheridan’s 8th-inning two-run homer off Jeff Reardon gives the Tigers a 7-6 win in Game Three of the ALCS and keeps the Tigers alive after they dropped the first two games of the series.
10/10/88
Kirk Gibson’s three-run homer off Sid Fernandez helps the Dodgers take a 3-2 lead in the NLCS over the Mets. BUT, Gibby aggravates his hamstring injury. He may be done the for postseason. We’ll just have to see…
10/10/84
The Royals release Bucky Dent and his career is over. He finishes with 1,114 hits, three All-Star appearances, two rings and the eternal hated of every Red Sox fan.
10/10/84
The Royals release Leon Roberts and his career is over. He finishes with 731 hits over 11 seasons and the most homers (78) of any major leaguer born on January 22nd.
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10/10/84
The Dodgers release Rafael Landestoy and his career is over. He finishes with 291 hits over eight seasons for the Reds, Dodgers, and Astros.
10/10/85
The Orioles release Rich Dauer and his career is over. He finishes with 984 hits and a ring over ten seasons with Baltimore.
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10/10/85
The Orioles release Lenn Sakata. He signs with Oakland for 1986 and finishes his career with the Yankees in 1987.
10/10/80
Cesar Cedeno undergoes surgery on his right ankle after dislocating it in Game Three of the NLCS.
10/10/81
Dallas Green admits “it’s pretty close” to a done deal for him to leave the Phillies and join the Cubs as the GM. He takes the job and Pat Corrales takes over the Phillies in 1982.
Ken Caminiti passed away OTD in 2004
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