October 3rd in baseball

today in 1951, the third and final game of the best of three playoff to get to the World Series was contested between the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers. the teams split the first two games - the Giants winning the first 3-1 and the Dodgers winning the second 10-0. the finale was at the Polo Grounds - home of the Giants. Brooklyn got the first run of the game in the first inning going up 1-0, while the Giants tied it in the 7th. Brooklyn scored three in the 8th to go up 4-1. by the bottom of the ninth came, the press were told to pick up their passes in the Brooklyn clubhouse after the game over the P.A. system. that must have spurred the Giants. Alvin Dark started the rally with a single off of Don Newcombe. Don Mueller, while batting lefthanded, shot a base hit through a large defensive gap (Gil Hodges was playing the line guarding a double instead of a double play position). Dark went to third on the hit. Newcombe got Monte Irvin to foul out to Hodges. Whitey Lockman hit a double scoring Dark and Mueller went to third. Mueller slid awkwardly, hurting his ankle. he was replaced by pinch runner Clint Hartung. Dodger manager Chuck Dressen came out and pulled an exhausted Newcombe and replaced him with Ralph Branca. Bobby Thomson was at bat. Branca threw one pitch by Tomson - a strike. the second pitch Thomson hit into the left field stands. the only recording still around was from Russ Hodges, who went bananas after the home run. the home run was called "the shot heard 'round the world" due to armed forces radio covering the game from all over the world. also - in 1993 was the last true pennant race was decided. (the wild card was introduced in 1994 along with the three division system that is used still today). it came down to the last day of the season in the National League West division. the Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giant went into the last day with 103 wins each. Atlanta won their last game 5-3 over Colorado, while at the same time the Giants got blown out 12-1 by the Dodgers. the Braves won the division with 104, and the Giants were second with 103 - missing out of the playoffs despite the amount of wins (likely resulting in the wild card being introduced the next season. two years later, in 1995 the first postseason featuring three division winner and the wild card began play today. (1994 strike began August 12 with the season being cancelled September 14. the strike ended April 2, 1995 after judge Sonia Sotomayer issued a preliminary injuncion against the owners on using replacement players two days earler. owners had voted 27-3 to use them. the judges decision was supported by the Court of Appeals). on October 3, four games were played. the Atlanta Braves (N.L. East) beat the Colorado Rockies (N.L. wild card) 5-4, the Cincinnati Reds (N.L. Central) beat the Los Angeles Dodgers (N.L. West) 7-2, the New York Yankees (A.L. wild card) beat the Seattle Mariners (A.L. West) 9-6 and the Cleveland Indians (A.L. Central) beat the Boston Red Sox (A.L. East) 5-4 in 13 innings. the Braves won the World Series over the Indians that year. so that is it for this day.