Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Oct. 1, according to the Tribune’s archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
High temperature: 92 degrees (1971)
Low temperature: 32 degrees (1974)
Precipitation: 1.56 inches (2018)
Snowfall: None
The Chicago White Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds 9-1 at Redland Field during Game 1 of the 1919 World Series on Oct. 1, 1919. (Chicago Tribune)
1919: The Chicago White Sox opened the World Series with a 9-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Redland Field. With the second pitch of the game, Eddie Cicotte — who had won 29 games that season with a stingy 1.82 earned-run average — hit Reds batter Morrie Rath in the left arm. First baseman Chick Gandil, who dropped a throw to first in the seventh that would have been the first out of the inning, had the White Sox’s only official error.
After Chicago lost the championship, eight White Sox players were charged with throwing the World Series. Despite earning the nickname the “Black Sox,” the men were acquitted by a jury in 1921, that deliberated just 2 hours and 47 minutes.
A day after their acquittal, however, baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis ruled that the players allegedly involved — Joe Jackson, Cicotte, Oscar Emil “Happy” Felsch, Gandil, Frederick William McMullin, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver and Lefty Williams — were banned for life from organized baseball.
The New York Yankees beat the Chicago Cubs 7-5 on Oct. 1, 1932, during the third game of the World Series at Wrigley Field. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig each hit two home runs, including one just after Ruth apparently called his shot. (Chicago Tribune)
1932: In Game 3 of the World Series — which ended in a New York Yankees sweep — Babe Ruth either pointed to the Wrigley Field bleachers or at Chicago Cubs taunting him from the dugout, then hit a homer that went down in history as Ruth’s called shot.
“Yes, the Cubs were very peppery when Mr. Ruth went to bat with the score tied in the fifth. The Cub bench jockeys came out of the dugout to shout at Ruth. And Ruth shouted right back,” Tribune reporter Edward Burns wrote. “Ruth held up two fingers indicating the two strikes in umpire fashion. Then he made a remark about spotting the Cubs those two strikes. Well, it seems that Charley Root threw another good one. Mr. Ruth smacked the ball right on the nose and it traveled ever so fast.
“You know that big flag pole just to the right of the scoreboard beyond center field? Well that’s 436 feet from the home plate. Ruth’s drive went past that flag pole and hit the box office at Waveland and Sheffield avenues.
“Ruth resumed his oratory the minute he threw down his bat. He bellowed every foot of the way around the bases, accompanying derisive roarings with wild and eloquent gesticulations.”
Ruth and Lou Gehrig each hit two home runs in the 7-5 win against the Cubs.
“Today elevated and subway trains, street cars and “Surface Lines” buses — all are joined in unified operation and owned by you, the people of Chicago,” read an advertisement published on Oct. 1, 1947, in the Tribune. That was the first day of operation of the Chicago Transit Authority. (Chicago Tribune)
1947: The city’s buses, streetcars, subways and elevated lines began running under municipal ownership — the Chicago Transit Authority.
Fare was increased from nine cents to 10 cents on surface lines and remained at 12 cents on the “L.”
Chicago’s legendary Bushman in his cage at the Lincoln Park Zoo on his 22nd birthday, circa 1950. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)
1950: The largest and oldest gorilla in captivity at the time, Bushman got out of his cage and roamed the monkey house for almost three hours, having never previously escaped or injured anyone in his 20 years at the zoo. While on the loose, Bushman bit his longtime keeper, Eddie Robinson, who required four stitches for the wound. It was only when a small garter snake was pushed into Bushman’s hiding place that the gorilla finally retreated to his cage.
Vintage Chicago Tribune: Remembering the Go-Go White Sox
1959: After a 40-year absence from World Series play, the White Sox mauled the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1. Ted Kluszewski slugged two home runs at Comiskey Park. The Sox ultimately lost the series four games to two.
On Oct. 1, 1973, a new Illinois law went into effect that allowed 19 and 20 year olds to legally drink beer and wine at bars. The age limit was returned to 21 in 1980. (Chicago Tribune)
1973: At midnight, 19- and 20-year-olds around the state began legally buying and drinking beer and wine as Illinois’ new law — which was signed into law by Gov. Dan Walker on June 13, 1973 — went into effect. The young drinkers could not, however, buy hard liquor.
On Jan. 1, 1980, the legal drinking age in Illinois again became 21 years old.
A Continental Airlines plane pushes back from Terminal 2 at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Dec. 13, 2006, with United Airlines planes at Terminal 1 in the background. (Charles Cherney/Chicago Tribune)
2010: The merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines, which created the world’s largest airline, was legally finalized.
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