Sports equinox history: Epic World Series wins, Wayne Gretzky’s first NHL goal and more have happened on the celestially significant day

Monday marks the 33rd sports equinox — a single day in which games are contested in Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, National Football League and National Hockey League — and given calendar dynamics and the general peculiarity of the event, they have produced a fair share of significant moments.

Here’s a look at a few of the more memorable occurrences:

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Roberto Clemente leads Pirates to World Series title, wins MVP

Date: Oct. 17, 1971

The first sports equinox on record was perhaps the top on-field achievement by one of the greatest baseball players and humanitarians we’ve ever known. 

In Game 7 of the 1971 World Series from Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, Roberto Clemente opened the scoring with his second homer of the series — a two-out solo shot off starter Mark Cuellar in the top of the fourth inning. Clemente went 12 for 29 in the series, including a homer and a triple in Game 6, driving in four runs to earn MVP honors.

Tragically, Clemente died 14 months later while delivering relief supplies to Nicaragua following a devastating earthquake. He was posthumously named to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973 as the first player inducted by special election.

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Reggie Jackson’s first World Series MVP

Date: Oct. 14, 1973

Every epic superhero has an origin that the subsequent prequels revisit. If Hollywood ever (or the graphic novel game) attempts a sendup of Reggie Jackson’s “Mr. October” three-HR World Series game of 1977, they’ll go back to Oakland in 1973.

In front of a sellout crowd in the then-new-ish Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Jackson knocked in what would prove to be the winning runs in Game 7 of the World Series — the Swingin’ A’s second of their mid-’70s three-peat — over the New York Mets. 

Jackson spent two more seasons in Oakland and one with the Baltimore Orioles in 1976 before joining the Bronx Bombers and earning his famous moniker in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series for which he would become the first non-pitcher to win two series MVP awards.

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The Great One’s first NHL goal

Date: Oct. 14, 1979

Wayne Gretzky was a well-known commodity before he even laced up skates in the NHL. The junior prodigy turned professional at 17 and won the WHA’s Lou Kaplan Trophy as its rookie of the year for 1978-79 season before jumping to the NHL.

But for his first two games in the NHL, Gretzky was held without a goal, though he did notch a pair of assists. The goal breakthrough came late in the third period of a game the Oilers trailed 4-3 at the time to the Canucks, forcing an eventual 4-4 tie (remember those?).

The rest is well-documented history. Gretzky went on to win the first of his record nine Hart Memorial trophies as the league’s regular-season MVP, a record 10 Art Ross trophies as the top point scorer, eventually scoring 894 goals and adding 1,963 more assists. Gretzky also led the star-studded Oilers to four Stanley Cups from 1983-88.

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Diamondbacks down Yankees behind Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson

Date: Nov. 4, 2001

In 2001 the New York Yankees were riding about as high as the franchise ever had — certainly in their past 40 years — having won four of the previous six World Series and gunning for a seventh against the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were just in their fourth season as a franchise.

Add in the sentimentality around New York in the weeks following the 9/11 terror attacks, the all-conquering 2001 Yankees just seemed destined to add another Commissioners Trophy to the case. But one of the greatest tandem pitching performances in World Series history and a disastrous error from a future unanimous Hall of Famer prevented that.

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Going into the ninth inning, New York held a 2-1 lead, striking for runs in the seventh and eighth innings to chase eventual co-MVP Curt Schilling. Enter Randy Johnson, who started Game 6 the night before, to hold the Yankees for a shot at a walk-off. Hold the lead he did, setting the stage for a furious rally.

Imperious closer Mariano Rivera came on to slam the door but immediately gave up a leadoff single to Mark Grace. Then came the one moment Rivera wishes he could expunge from his MLB career. Fielding a bunt attempt from Damian Miller, Rivera’s throw to a waiting Derek Jeter sailed over the Hall of Fame shortstop’s head and into centerfield, extending the inning. 

An RBI single and hit-by-pitch later, Luis Gonzalez stepped to the plate with the bases loaded. Gonzalez looped a single just past the drawn-in infield, plating Craig Counsell and handing the Diamondbacks the title. It was the 11th and to date most recent World Series walk-off hit.

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The ‘Super Sports Equinox’

Date: Oct. 28, 2018

Four top-flight leagues staging games on the same day was rare enough before late October 2018 (only 18 had occurred prior), but throw in another governing body — Major League Soccer in this instance — all in the same city on the same day and you get the “Super Sports Equinox.”

Greater Los Angeles was the center of the sports universe on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018, featuring a World Series clincher, a hockey-hoops doubleheader in the same arena, as well as the NFL and MLS. Here’s how the hometown teams fared:

A couple of intrepid fans even managed to make it to all five games.