Historical Events
Baseball Record
Oct 1 Seattle Mariners Japanese outfielder Ichiro Suzuki gets his 258th hit of the season, breaking George Sisler's 84-year-old MLB single-season record; Ichiro ends season on 262
- Oct 2 American Samoa joins the North American Numbering Plan
Baseball Record
Oct 2 Jeff Kent becomes all-time home run leader for MLB 2nd basemen when he hits 2 in Astros' 9-3 win v Rockies; 302 overall HR to break Ryne Sandberg's major league record established in 1997
- Oct 2 Montreal Expos earn the last win in the franchise's MLB history, beating New York Mets, 6 - 3 at Shea Stadium; Brad Wilkerson hits the Expos' final home run in 9th inning, his 32nd of the year
- Oct 3 Final game in Montreal Expos team history is played in NYC against the Mets at Shea Stadium, an 8-1 defeat; Jamey Carroll scores the final Expos run and Endy Chavez is the last Expos batter
- Oct 3 Seattle Mariners Japanese right fielder Ichiro Suzuki adds 2 more singles in a 3-0 defeat to Texas, to finish the season with a MLB record 262 hits
- Oct 3 TV series "Desperate Housewives" starring Teri Hatcher and an ensemble cast premieres in the US on ABC
- Oct 4 SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight
Scottie Pippen Retires
Oct 5 7-time All-Star and 6-time NBA Champion forward Scottie Pippen announces his retirement from the NBA and the Chicago Bulls
Event of Interest
Oct 7 King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia abdicates
Nobel Peace Prize
Oct 8 Kenyan Wangari Maathai is the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for "her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace"
Martha Stewart Jailed
Oct 8 Martha Stewart begins 5 months incarcerated at Federal Prison Camp, Alderson for insider trading and obstruction of justice
F1 World Champion
Oct 10 Having already clinched his record 7th F1 World Drivers Championship, German Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher wins a record 13th race of the season with victory at the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka
Sports History
Oct 16 17-year old Lionel Messi makes his league debut for FC Barcelona in a 1-0 win against cross-town rivals Espanyol at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Barcelona
- Oct 19 Care International aid worker Margaret Hassan is kidnapped in Iraq
- Oct 19 Myanmar prime minister Khin Nyunt is ousted and placed under house arrest by the SPDC on charges of corruption
- Oct 20 MLB American League Championship: Boston Red Sox come back from 0-3 to beat New York Yankees, 4 games to 3
- Oct 21 MLB National League Championship: St. Louis Cardinals beat Houston Astros, 4 games to 3
- Oct 22 Discovery and isolation of new wonder material Graphene announced in paper by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov (Nobel Prize 2010). Incredibly they used scotch tape to peal layers off Graphite. [1]
- Oct 23 16th College Football Holy War: Boston College beats Notre Dame 24-23 in South Bend
- Oct 23 A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata prefecture, northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated.
- Oct 24 10 people including NASCAR driver Ricky Hendrick and 4 family members are killed in a plane crash near Martinsville Speedway in Virginia; plane owned by NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports
- Oct 24 German Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher finishes 8th at season-ending Brazilian F1 Grand Prix at Autódromo José Carlos Pace; his 5th straight World Drivers Championship, record 7th career world title; Ferrari's 6th straight Constructors title
- Oct 24 Manchester United beats Arsenal, 2-0 at Old Trafford; ends Gunners' English Premier League record 49-game unbeaten streak
Event of Interest
Oct 25 Fidel Castro, Cuba's President, announces that transactions using the American Dollar will be banned by November 8
- Oct 27 Baseball World Series: Boston beats St. Louis, 3-0 in Game 4 at Busch Stadium to sweep Cardinals and win Red Sox first title since 1918; MVP: Boston outfielder Manny Ramirez
- Oct 27 Pedro Martínez wins Game 3 of the World Series, helping the Red Sox secure their first championship in 86 years
Event of Interest
Oct 29 Arabic news network, Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a video of Osama bin Laden in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election
- Oct 29 In Rome, 25 European heads of state sign a Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe
- Oct 30 Breeders' Cup Horse Racing, Lone Star Park; winners: Ghostzapper, Wilko, Ashado, Better Talk Now, Oujja Board, Sweet Catomine, Singletary, Speightstown
Famous Birthdays
- Oct 3 Noah Schnapp, American actor (Stranger Things), born in New York City
Famous Weddings
Katey Sagal
Oct 2 "Married ... With Children" actress Katey Sagal (50) weds "The Shield" writer Kurt Sutter (42) in Los Feliz, California
Billy Joel
Oct 2 "Piano Man" singer-songwriter Billy Joel (55) weds American television food critic and chef Katie Lee (23) at 15-acre waterfront estate in Centre Island, New York; divorce 2009
Tiger Woods
Oct 5 Professional golfer Tiger Woods (28) weds former Swedish model Elin Nordegren (24) at Sandy Lane Resort in St. James, Barbados
Joseph Stiglitz
Oct 28 Economist Joseph Stiglitz (61) weds professor Anya Schiffrin (41) at the Municipal Building in New York
- Oct 29 "Jackass" member Chris Pontius (30) weds Claire Nolan in Malibu
Travis Barker
Oct 30 Blink-182 pop punk band drummer Travis Barker (28) weds actress and First Runner Up Miss USA 1995 Shanna Moakler (29) at the Bacara Resort & Spa in Santa Barbara, California
Famous Divorces
- Oct 7 Actress Andie MacDowell (46) divorces businessman Rhett Hartzog (45) after nearly three years of marriage
Famous Deaths
- Oct 3 John Cerutti, American baseball pitcher (Toronto Blue Jays) and broadcaster (Rogers Sportsnet), dies of ventricular arrhythmia at 44
- Oct 4 Gordon Cooper, American aerospace engineer, test pilot and astronaut (Mercury-Atlas 9, Gemini 5), dies of heart failure at 77
- Oct 4 Rio Diaz, Filipino actress and TV hosts (b. 1959)
- Oct 5 Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born English physicist (Nobel 1962-X-ray diffraction studies of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) proved crucial to the determination of DNA’s molecular structure by James D. Watson and Francis Crick), dies at 87 [1] [2]
- Oct 5 William H. Dobelle, American biomedical engineer (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2013 nominee), dies at 62
- Oct 7 Hildy Parks, American stage and screen actress, and Emmy Award-winning producer and writer (Tony Award presentations), dies of complications from a stroke at 78
- Oct 7 Ken Bigley, British civil engineer, kidnapped and murdered in Iraq (b. 1942)
- Oct 8 Jacques Derrida, French philosopher (b. 1930)
- Oct 8 James Chace, American historian (b. 1931)
- Oct 10 Arthur H. Robinson, American cartographer (b. 1915)
Christopher Reeve (1952-2004)
Oct 10 American actor (Superman, Somewhere in Time), dies of an adverse reaction to an antibiotic at 52
- Oct 10 Ken Caminiti, MLB third baseman, 1987-2001, (Houston Astros, San Diego Padres, and 3 other teams; NL MVP- 1996), dies of a drug overdose at 41
- Oct 10 Maurice Shadbolt, New Zealand writer (Season of the Jew), dies at 72
- Oct 11 Keith Miller, Australian cricket all-rounder (55 Tests, 7 x 100, HS 147, 70 wickets, BB 7/60; Victoria, NSWCA), dies at 84
- Oct 11 Nicholas Gordon-Lennox, British diplomat (Ambassador to Spain, 1984-88), dies at 73
- Oct 13 Enrique Fernando, Chief Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court, dies at 89
- Oct 14 Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell, British historian, dies at 67
- Oct 14 Vlassis Bonatsos, Greek actor, singer, actor, and TV game show host (Kontres - Greek Family Feud), dies of obstructive laryngitis at 54
- Oct 16 Pierre Salinger, American newsman (ABC) and press secretary (John F. Kennedy), dies at 79
- Oct 17 Uzi Hitman, Israeli pop singer-songwriter, actor, and television personality, dies of a heart attack at 22)
- Oct 18 Veerappan, Indian bandit and smuggler (b. 1945)
- Oct 20 Anthony Hecht, American poet, dies at 81
- Oct 20 Chuck Hiller, American MLB second baseman (first NL player in history to hit a grand slam HR in World Series play, 1962), dies from leukemia at 70
- Oct 22 Alastair Down, CEO (Burmah Oil), dies at 90
- Oct 22 Samuel Lee Gravely Jr., American naval officer, First African American fleet commander, dies at 82
- Oct 23 Edward Toner Cone, American pianist, composer and pedagogue, dies at 87
- Oct 23 Robert Merrill [Moishe Miller], American operatic baritone (NY Metropolitan Opera, 1945-76), and actor, dies at 87
- Oct 24 James Cardinal Hickey, American Catholic archbishop (b. 1920)
- Oct 24 Randy Dorton, American race car engine builder (Director of Engine Operations Hendrick Motorsports; 9 x NASCAR C'ships), dies in a plane crash at 50
- Oct 24 Ricky Hendrick, American auto racer and team owner (NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series 1 win, 23 top 10s), dies in plane crash at 24
- Oct 25 John Peel, English DJ and Broadcaster dies of a heart attack aged 65
- Oct 26 Bobby Ávila, Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman (MLB All-Star 1952, 54, 55; AL batting champion 1954; Cleveland Indians), dies of diabetes and lung ailment at 80
- Oct 27 Claude Helffer, French classical pianist and composer, dies at 82
- Oct 27 Lester Lanin, American orchestra leader (40 Beatle Hits), dies at 97
- Oct 28 Gil Mellé, American jazz saxophonist and composer, dies at 72
- Oct 28 Jimmy McLarnin, Irish boxer (NYSAC, NBA, The Ring welterweight world champion 1933-35; International Boxing HOF), dies at 96
- Oct 29 Alice, British Princess and Duchess of Gloucester, aunt of Elizabeth II, dies at 102
- Oct 29 Edward Oliver LeBlanc, Dominican politician, dies at 81
- Oct 29 Peter Twinn, English mathematician (b. 1916)
Vaughn Meader (1936-2004)
Oct 29 American comedian and musician, dies of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at 68 (b. 1936)
- Oct 29 Washington Castro, Argentine cellist, conductor, composer, and pedagogue, dies at 95
- Oct 30 Margaret O'Rene "Peggy" Ryan, American dancer and actress (Hawaii Five-0), dies at 80
