On October 6, 1926, Yankee slugger Babe Ruth hit a record
three homers against the St. Louis Cardinals in the fourth
game of the World Series. The Yanks won the game 10-5,
but despite Ruth’s unprecedented performance, they lost
the championship in the seventh game. In 1928, in the fourth
game of another Yanks-Cards World Series, Ruth tied his
own record, knocking three more pitches out of the same
park.
TIM MAGUIRE
On this day in 1962, Johnny Carson took over from Jack
Paar as host of the late-night talk program The Tonight
Show. Carson went on to host The Tonight Show
Starring Johnny Carson for three decade.
JOHNNY CARSON AS CARNAC THE MAGNIFICENT (1978)
Cy Young, pitching for the recently established Boston
Americans, threw the first perfect game of the World
Series era on this day in history, May 5, 1904.
Young mowed down 27 straight batters in front of 10,267
fans at the former Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston
as the Americans — later renamed the Red Sox — beat the
Philadelphia Athletics 3-0.
Perfect games are one of the rarest feats in all of sports
— with an average of less than 1 per 10,000 games.
Denton True "Cy" Young (March 29, 1867 – November 4, 1955)
On September 30, 1947, the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn
Dodgers, 5-3, in Game 1 of the World Series—the first Fall Classic
game broadcast on television. It is the second “Subway Series”
between and Yankees and Dodgers and first World Series to
involve a black player. Jackie Robinson of the Dodgers broke
Major League Baseball’s color barrier six months earlier.
While Red Barber and Mel Allen (below) called the game on the
radio, Bob Stanton described the action on NBC.
Red Barber (1908 – 1992) Mel Allen (1913 – 1996)
Jack Roosevelt Robinson
(January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972)
TIM MAGUIRE
On this day in 1962, Johnny Carson began hosting the “Tonight”
show on NBC television. He was introduced by Groucho Marx
(left) who warmed up the audience with a 15-minute monologue.
Jack Paar was the previous host of the show. Carson stayed with
the late night talk show for nearly 30 years.
Johnny Carson with second banana Ed McMahon (left).
Talk show host Johnny Carson wipes his eye after
watching a series of clips from earlier shows during
the last taping of the "Tonight Show" in 1992.
