Seventy years ago today, Don Larsen turned a World Series start into baseball history. On Oct. 8, 1956, the New York Yankees right-hander retired all 27 Brooklyn Dodgers he faced in a 2-0 victory, pitching the first perfect game in postseason history. It was a performance that made an otherwise modest major league career unforgettable and gave the Yankees a crucial advantage in their championship pursuit.
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The anniversary highlights an Oct. 8 sports calendar that also includes a Yankees championship milestone, the Dodgers’ departure from Brooklyn, a World Series disappointment for Chicago and a marathon breakthrough on Illinois streets. Those moments stretch from 1939 to 2023, connecting team dynasties and changing baseball geography with an individual test of endurance.
On Oct. 8, 1939, the Yankees completed a four-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds with a 7-4 victory in 10 innings at Crosley Field. The result secured New York’s fourth consecutive World Series championship, extending a run that had begun in 1936. Cincinnati had reached its first World Series since 1919, but its return ended without a victory against the defending champions.
The clincher was anything but comfortable. Cincinnati led 4-2 entering the ninth inning before the Yankees tied the score. Defensive mistakes helped unravel the Reds’ advantage, and New York scored three more runs in the 10th. Joe DiMaggio’s single was central to the decisive rally. What could have been Cincinnati’s first win instead became the final chapter of another Yankees sweep.
Seventeen years later, Larsen supplied a different kind of October drama. The 1956 World Series was tied at two games apiece when he took the mound at Yankee Stadium. He had failed to escape the second inning in Game 2, making manager Casey Stengel’s decision to start him again a significant vote of confidence. This time, Larsen never allowed a batter to reach base.
He needed only 97 pitches against a Brooklyn lineup featuring Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella and Pee Wee Reese. Mickey Mantle’s fourth-inning home run put New York ahead, and the Yankees added another run in the sixth. With two outs in the ninth, Larsen struck out pinch-hitter Dale Mitchell to finish the perfect game. Catcher Yogi Berra then leaped into his arms, providing the celebration that became inseparable from the achievement.
The victory gave New York a 3-2 series lead. The Yankees eventually won the championship in seven games, but Larsen’s individual accomplishment carried its own significance: perfection achieved against a pennant winner, with the World Series still undecided. His earlier struggles made the turnaround especially striking.
On Oct. 8, 1957, the Dodgers made news away from the field by announcing their move to Los Angeles for the 1958 season. The decision followed owner Walter O’Malley’s unsuccessful effort to secure a new stadium site in Brooklyn. The franchise’s announcement ended uncertainty about its future and confirmed that Brooklyn would lose the team that had won its first World Series only two years earlier.
With the Giants also moving from New York to San Francisco, the relocation changed the major leagues’ geographic reach. For the Dodgers, it meant replacing their Brooklyn home with a new market across the country. The move was more than a change of address: It separated an established team from its longtime community while opening a new chapter in Los Angeles.
Exactly two years after the announcement, on Oct. 8, 1959, the Dodgers won their first championship representing Los Angeles. They defeated the Chicago White Sox 9-3 in Game 6 at Comiskey Park, taking the World Series four games to two. Duke Snider hit a two-run homer, and a six-run fourth inning helped Los Angeles build an 8-0 lead.
Chicago answered with Ted Kluszewski’s three-run homer, but reliever Larry Sherry stopped the comeback and finished the game. Sherry earned World Series MVP honors after recording two victories and two saves. For the White Sox, the loss ended their first World Series appearance in 40 years; for the Dodgers, the championship arrived in only their second season in Los Angeles.
On Oct. 8, 2023, Chicago became the setting for another landmark performance when Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum won the Chicago Marathon in 2 hours, 35 seconds. His 2:00:35 finish lowered Eliud Kipchoge’s world record by 34 seconds and made him the first runner to break 2:01 in a record-eligible marathon. Kiptum was 23 and competing in just his third marathon.
After passing halfway in 1:00:48, Kiptum accelerated during the second half and finished well clear of runner-up Benson Kipruto. Sifan Hassan won the women’s race in a Chicago course-record 2:13:44. On a date already associated with baseball perfection, the marathon brought a different measure of extraordinary performance to Illinois: a world-record run that moved the sport closer to the two-hour barrier.
