This Day in Yankees History: Yankee Stadium’s first ever World Series game takes place

Welcome to This Day in Yankees History. The playoffs may be underway, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a trip into the past. These daily posts will highlight two or three key moments in Yankees history on a given date, as well as recognize players born on the day. Hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane with us!

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(As you might expect, this in history features a ton of big October moments. So many that in choosing three, a wild pitch that cost the Yankees a pennant, a Mickey Mantle Fall Classic walk-off home run, and a World Series game seven were all left off. Apologies and don’t at me if you think any of those were bigger than the three chosen.)

97 Years Ago

The first ever World Series game at the original Yankee Stadium is played when the Yankees and Giants kick off the 1923 edition of the Fall Classic in the Bronx. The two teams had met in the two previous editions too, but the Yankees still shared the Polo Grounds with their opponents at that time. The ‘23 season was the first in their new home, and they christened it with a trip to the postseason.

Game one went right down to the wire and was tied at four going into the ninth. With two outs in the top half of the inning, Giants’ center fielder Casey Stengel hit an inside the park home run to give his team the lead. They closed it out in the bottom half of the frame to get off to a 1-0 lead. The Yankees would bounce back and go on to win the series, taking their first World Series title. Both the new stadium and that Stengel guy would be part of some other memorable October Yankee moments over the years.

64 Years Ago

In game seven of the 1956 World Series, Yankees’ starter Johnny Kucks allows just three hits in nine innings and blanks the Dodgers to win the clinch another title. (It also somehow wasn’t the best Yankee pitching performance of the series. Shout out to Don Larsen.) It was the Yankees’ 17th championship overall and their seventh in 10 years.

It would also be the final ever World Series game played at Ebbets Field. The Dodgers fell to third in the NL the following season and moved to Los Angeles in 1958.

58 Years Ago

With the game and series both tied at two, Tom Tresh stepped to the plate against the Giants in game five of the World Series. With two on in the bottom of the eighth, the 24-year old rookie homered to right, giving the Yankees a 5-2 lead. That homer would be especially huge as the Giants scored in the ninth, but still came up two runs short. The win gave the Yankees a crucial 3-2 series lead as played shifted back to San Francisco for the last two games. The Yankees would eventually win the series in seven games.

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Today is apparently “notable players with brief Yankee careers” day as it is the birthday of both Andrew McCutchen and Troy Tulowitzki. Happy birthday to them. The only other former Yankee born on October 10th is pitcher Bobby Tiefenauer, who threw 20.1 innings for the franchise in 1965.

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We thank Baseball-Reference and Nationalpastime.com for providing background information for these posts.