Happy ’80s Birthday to Dennis Eckersley, who won 20 games for the Red Sox as a starter in 1978 and saved 51 games as a closer for the A’s in 1992. He finished his career with 197 wins and 390 saves.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Dave Winfield, who spent 22 seasons in the big leagues kicking ass.
12-Time All-Star, 6 Gold Gloves, 5 Silver Sluggers, 3,110 hits, 465 dingers, 1 ring
Happy ‘80s Birthday to Bert Roberge who spent six years in the bigs with Houston, the White Sox, and Montreal. His parents are both French, so he was a hit in Montreal.
Happy ‘80s Birthday to Bob Kearney, who made his debut with the Giants in 1979 and spent eight years in the bigs with San Francisco, Oakland, and Seattle. He enjoyed his best season in 1983 when he hit .255 with 8 homers for the A’s.
Happy ‘80s Birthday to Daryl Sconiers, who spent five years in the bigs with the Angels. He saw limited action in 1982, just 12 games, but he had a key pinch-hit in September to give the Angels a walk off win over the Royals.
Happy ‘80s Birthday to Rick Surhoff, who went 1-1 in 9 1/3 innings in 1985 for the Phillies and Rangers.
Happy ‘80s Birthday to Darrin Fletcher, who made his debut with the Dodgers in 1989 but spent the bulk of his career in Canada with the Expos and Blue Jays. Darrin played in the bigs for 14 seasons and was an All-Star in 1994.
Happy ‘80s Birthday to Junior Felix, who made his debut with Toronto in 1989 and spent six years in the bigs with four teams. He hit a career-high 15 homers in 1990.
10/3/88
The Phillies trade catcher Lance Parrish to the Angels for pitcher David Holdridge. Parrish’s two-year tenure in Philadelphia didn’t go well. He hit .230 with 32 homers and 127 RBI before being traded straight up for a pitcher in the Midwest League.
10/3/80
The White Sox sign 54-year-old Minnie Minoso. He pinch-hits in the final two games of the season, making him the only player to appear in five different decades.
10/3/82
Mike Stenhouse goes 0-for-1 as a pinch-hitter against the Pirates in his big-league debut.
He spends five years in the major leagues with three teams.
10/3/80
Joe Ferguson’s 10th inning walk off homer off Ken Forsch gives the Dodgers a 3-2 win over the Astros and keeps them alive in the N.L. West race. L.A. ends up sweeping Houston and forcing a one-game playoff to decide the division champion with Houston advancing.
10/3/81
The Expos clinch the N.L. East and qualify for the playoffs for the first time in their history.
10/3/81
The Brewers beat the Tigers 2-1 to qualify for the playoffs for the first time.
10/3/82
Joe Rudi homers off Larry Gura in the 4th inning of Oakland’s game against Kansas City. It’s the final at-bat of his big-league career. He also homered in his final World Series at bat.
10/3/82
Steve Carlton puts the finishing touch on his 4th, and final, CY Young season by striking out 13 as part of a 4-1 Phillies win over the Mets.
10/3/82
Robin Yount homers twice and triples as the Brewers beat the Orioles 10-2 to win the A.L. East
10/3/82
Willie Stargell singles off Steve Rogers in the final at-bat of his 21-year career.
10/3/82
Joe Morgan’s 7th-inning homer gives the Giants a 5-3 win over the Dodgers, eliminating them from the playoffs, and giving the Braves the N.L. West title. Atlanta lost at San Diego earlier in the day.
10/3/82
Bill Madlock becomes just the 9th player to win four batting titles. He finishes 1983 with a .323 batting average.
10/3/84
The Cubs beat the Padres 4-2 at Wrigley Field to take a two games to none lead in the NLCS. Looks like they’re headed to the World Series!
10/3/84
Johnny Grubb’s 2-RBI 11th-inning double off Dan Quisenberry gives the Tigers a 2-0 series lead over the Royals in the 1984 ALCS
10/3/86
The Orioles lose to Detroit, 6-3, assuring the Orioles of their first last-place finish since moving from St. Louis in 1954.
10/3/87
Benito Santiago goes 0-for-3 against the Dodgers to snap his rookie-record 34-game hitting streak.
The Padres win the game 1-0.
10/3/87
Alan Trammel’s walk-off single give the Tigers a 3-2 win over Toronto and clinches at least a tie for the A.L. East title. They would win it the following day.
10/3/89
Dave Stewart goes 8 and gets homers from Mark McGwire and Dave Henderson as the A’s beat the Blue Jays 7-3 in Game 1 of the 1989 ALCS
10/3/83
The Royals release Steve Renko and his career is over. He spends 15 years in the bigs and wins 134 games. He was also a quarterback at Kansas and played in the same backfield as Gale Sayers.
10/3/82
Jim Fanning steps down as Expos manager. He is eventually replaced by Bill Virdon, who was fired earlier in the year by Houston.
10/3/83
The Brewers name Rene Lachemann as their new manager. Lachemann was fired by Seattle earlier in the year. He becomes the youngest manager in the major leagues but only lasts one season in Milwaukee.
10/3/88
The Phillies hire former Cardinals coach Nick Leyva as their next manager.
In 3 years at the helm, he compiles a 148-189 record.
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