The Most Memorable Halloween Moments in Sports History

Playing on Halloween has been a treat for some, a house of horrors for others and fateful for one.

For the average fan, October 31 can be the culmination of sports television viewing enjoyment. Eight times a World Series game was played on Halloween and twice (2010 and 2021) there has been a sports equinox — all four major professional sports on the same day.

The New York Yankees

The New York Yankees were involved in two of the more iconic Halloween sporting events of all time. In 2001, the World Series was played on the date for the first time after being pushed back due to 9/11.

In one of the more dramatic moments in the history of baseball, Derek Jeter took advantage of the original Yankee Stadium’s short porch, just pushing over a 10th inning walk off home run off Arizona Diamondbacks’ pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim to even the series at two games apiece. Technically, the homer occurred four minutes after Halloween, giving Jeter the ‘Mr. November’ moniker.

But we’ll give him the all-time Halloween moment, as his Yankees lost Game 6 and 7 to interrupt the three-time reigning World Series champions’ dynasty.

Jeter and the Yanks wouldn’t return to the Fall Classic again until 2009, when they beat the Philadelphia Phillies in six games to capture their 27th title. Deadlocked at a game apiece entering a rainy Halloween night in Philly, the Yankees waited out an hour-plus weather delay to score six unanswered runs en route to a 8-5 win.

Alex Rodriguez launched a two-run homer on the way to his only World Series title.

The cheating Houston Astros

Halloween continued to be frightful for teams on the losing end, as six World Series games have fallen on the date since 2009. The San Francisco Giants took a 3-1 series lead over the Texas Rangers on this day in 2010 as did the Kansas City Royals against the New York Mets in 2015.

The 2017 Houston Astros – dressed in their best trash can costumes – banged away in a 3-1 Game 6 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. A day later, Houston didn’t need any intervention from the dead to know that a 3-2 fastball was coming and the Astros took Game 7, 5-1 for their first World Series title in franchise history.

In 2021, Houston briefly escaped the grim reaper as it mounted a furious comeback in Atlanta against the eventual-champion Braves. Adam Duvall’s first-inning grand slam put the Braves up 4-0, but down three games to one, the Astros terrorized an Atlanta bullpen for nine runs on 12 hits to cut the series deficit to a game. The Braves put them away two days later for their second championship since moving to Atlanta in 1966.

The scariest Halloween for a fanbase came north of the border just a year ago, when the spunky Toronto Blue Jays had the Dodgers on the ropes.

Holding a 3-2 series lead, Toronto trailed 3-1 in the bottom of the ninth of Game 6 a year ago today. After Alejandro Kirk was hit by a pitch to begin the home half of the ninth, Addison Barger ripped a double to the left-center gap and soon left Blue Jays fans wondering if reserve Los Angeles centerfielder Justin Dean possessed mind control.

Against all odds, the ball wedged between the padding of the wall and warning track dirt, rendering the basehit a ground-rule double. With the tying run at second and nobody out, Ernie Clement popped out before Barger ran himself in a game-ending double play. A night that will forever haunt the Toronto faithful was made worse the next day, as the Dodgers scored a run in the eighth, ninth and 11th inning to pull off an implausible 5-4 win for their second straight World Series ring.

Famous Halloween football games

The NFL treated parents coming back from trick-or-treat duties with a late-night thriller on Halloween 2013. Miami Dolphins’ five-time Pro Bowl defensive end Cameron Wake pummeled Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton in the end zone for a game-ending safety to give Miami a 22-20 victory on a Thursday night in South Florida. Adding insult to injury for any young Ohioans dressed up as ‘the Red Rifle’, Wake’s takedown of Dalton marked just the third overtime safety in league history.

A year after disappointing fans with a Halloween-less football night due to the 1982 NFL strike, the ‘83 holiday weekend didn’t disappoint.

The eventual NFC Champion Washington Redskins beat the San Diego Chargers 27-24 on Mark Moseley’s last-second 37-yard field goal. The Monday night game stamped a slate that saw the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers keep the Houston Oilers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans dressed as empty seats. Both AFC Central teams stamped late rallies to send Houston and Tampa Bay to 0-9.

Perhaps the most memorable Halloween college football game in the 21st century came in 2015, when ACC referees agreed to masquerade as the 10 blind mice. Officials in the Miami-Duke game made critical errors on the final play of the game, which saw the Hurricanes throw eight laterals on a kickoff return to win 30-27 as time expired.

Eight on-field referees plus the replay official and communicator were suspended by the league for two games after it was later shown that Miami ball-carrier Mark Walton’s knee hit the ground before one of the eight laterals, a Miami player committed an egregious block in the back and a Hurricane player left the bench before the play was over.

As bad as Blue Devils head coach David Cutcliffe felt that night, it didn’t compare to that of turn-of-the-century athlete and stunt performer Erik Weisz – better known as Harry Houdini.

Known best for his handcuff and underwater straitjacket escapes, Houdini was prime athletic entertainment, long before the days of the Youtube TV quad box and NFL Sunday RedZone packages. The international superstar captivated onlookers internationally until his demise on Halloween 1926.

A week before his death, Houdini allowed Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead to punch him in the stomach to prove that he could withstand any blow. The ill-advised stunt is thought to have contributed to the peritonitis that ultimately killed him.

On that note… Happy Halloween!