By the time he was able to play ball under some World Series bunting, Ted Kluszewski was a few weeks past his 35th birthday, nearing the end of his career, playing for his third team in as many years. He’d make his initial stride across the biggest stage one to recall with fervor and joy. It all happened 66 years ago, at Comiskey Park on a Thursday afternoon marking the first day of October.
In the bottom of the first, Chicago’s cleanup hitter singled in the game’s first run. Kluszewski was 1-for-1 with an RBI.
In the bottom of the third, he bashed a two-run homer. 2-for-2 with three RBI.
In the bottom of the fourth, the first baseman connected on another two-run longball (to make the score 11-0 in favor of the White Sox over the Dodgers). 3-for-3 with five RBI.
Kluszewski did make an out in the sixth (grounding out against Sandy Koufax in his World Series debut), but the single scratch on the otherwise pristine effort didn’t do much to alter the picture – of one of the great individual World Series debuts leading the charge in one of the great Game 1 team outbursts in World Series history.
*Dodgers @ Blue Jays, World Series Game 1*
Addison Barger’s grand slam in the sixth highlighted a three-homer night for the Blue Jays as Toronto overpowered Los Angeles, 11-4.
~Barger’s blast was the first of its kind – a Fall Classic pinch-hit longball with the bases juiced. There had been 23 previous grand slams in the World Series; there had been 26 pinch-hit home runs in the last series of the year; before the sixth inning in Game 1 of the 2025 World Series, the two events had never smushed together.
~There have been six World Series Game 1 pinch-hit home runs. Some of the details for each are below.
1953 George Shuba – 1 man on in the 6th inning with the Dodgers down, 5-2
1954 Dusty Rhodes – 2 men on with the Giants in a tie game (10th-inning walk-off)
1960 Elston Howard – 1 man on in the 9th inning with the Yankees down, 6-2
1988 Kirk Gibson – 1 man on with the Dodgers losing, 4-3 (9th-inning walk-off)
2018 Eduardo Núñez – 2 men on in the 7th inning with the Red Sox ahead, 5-4
2025 Addison Barger – 3 men on in the 6th inning with the Blue Jays ahead, 5-2
~There have been five World Series Game 1 grand slams. Some of the details for each are below:
1987 Dan Gladden in the 4th inning with his Twins ahead, 3-1
1988 José Canseco in the 2nd inning with his Athletics down, 2-0
1998 Tino Martinez in the 7th inning with his Yankees in a 5-5 tie
2024 Freddie Freeman in the 10th inning with his Dodgers down, 3-2 (walk-off)
2025 Addison Barger in the 6th inning with his Blue Jays ahead, 5-2
~Barger’s line for Game 1 – a pair of hits and four RBI – sets the 25-year-old apart in a couple of ways. Let us count ‘em:
→Barger joined a dozen others to celebrate a World Series Game 1 with a multi-hit line featuring at least four RBI. The names in italics below did it in their World Series debut:
1903 Jimmy Sebring (3-for-5, 4 RBI)
1959 Ted Kluszewski (3-for-4, 5 RBI)
1965 Zoilo Versalles (2-for-5, 4 RBI)
1978 Davey Lopes (2-for-5, 5 RBI)
1980 Willie Mays Aikens (2-for-4, 4 RBI)
1987 Dan Gladden (2-for-4, 5 RBI)
1996 Andruw Jones (3-for-4, 5 RBI)
2004 David Ortiz (2-for-3, 4 RBI)
2012 Pablo Sandoval (4-for-4, 4 RBI)
2016 Roberto Pérez (2-for-4, 4 RBI)
2022 Kyle Tucker (3-for-5, 4 RBI)
2024 Freddie Freeman (2-for-5, 4 RBI)
2025 Addison Barger (2-for-2, 4 RBI)
→Barger became the first reserve in World Series history to produce a multi-hit line with at least four RBI.
Barger’s historic night gave a lot of juice to a special evening for the Blue Jays as the club recorded one of the highest run tallies in any World Series Game 1. Boston’s 13-1 win in 2007 owns king of the hill status, with these other clubs sharing silver and bronze medallions:
1932 Yankees win, 12-6
1996 Braves win, 12-1
1959 White Sox win, 11-0
1978 Dodgers win, 11-5
2004 Red Sox win, 11-9
2010 Giants win, 11-7
2025 Blue Jays win, 11-4
Toronto is averaging 6.83 runs scored per game in the 2025 postseason. The 2007 Red Sox are the only club to have played at least 10 postseason games in one year and finished the work with a more effusive statement.
Most Runs/Game in a Postseason (min. 10 games)
| Runs/Game | Team |
| 7.07 | 2007 Red Sox |
| 6.83 | 2025 Blue Jays |
| 6.80 | 1999 Red Sox |
| 6.43 | 2004 Red Sox |
| 6.31 | 2002 Angels |
| 6.00 | 1987 Twins |
| 6.00 | 2004 Yankees |
| 6.00 | 2018 Red Sox |
| 5.94 | 2024 Dodgers |
| 5.92 | 1993 Blue Jays |
Alejandro Kirk reached safely four times in the Blue Jays’ win, adding a walk and two singles to a two-run homer. Like his teammate Barger, Kirk’s line – when filtered through all World Series Game 1 efforts – is many degrees away from the commonplace. There are 14 Game 1 posts to submit a homer and four (or more) times reaching safely. Kirk is one of eight among them to have the effort come in his Fall Classic debut. That octet:
1924 Bill Terry goes 3-for-5 with a walk and a homer for the Giants
1933 Mel Ott goes 4-for-4 with a homer for the Giants
1934 Joe Medwick goes 4-for-5 with a homer for the Cardinals
2004 Larry Walker goes 4-for-5 with a homer for the Cardinals
2004 David Ortiz goes 2-for-3 with two walks and a homer for the Red Sox
2004 Mark Bellhorn goes 2-for-3 with two walks and a homer for the Red Sox
2023 Adolis García goes 3-for-4 with a walk and a homer for the Rangers
2025 Alejandro Kirk goes 3-for-3 with a walk and a homer for the Blue Jays
~In the “wait, there’s more” aisle, Kirk’s line also joined him up with two Hall of Fame backstops and one of the greatest single-WS performers: as catchers to have a Fall Classic line featuring at least four times reaching safely with at least one home run. Chronologically, we can start with Hank Gowdy, whose Game 3 line below was just part of a four-game performance that saw the 25-year-old slash .545/.688/1.273/1.960.*
World Series – Catchers With 4+ ToB and at least 1 HR
1914, G3 Hank Gowdy goes 3-for-4 with a walk and a homer
1956, G7 Yogi Berra goes 2-for-3 with two walks and two homers
1975, G6 Carlton Fisk goes 2-for-4 with two walks and a homer
2025, G1 Alejandro Kirk goes 3-for-3 with a walk and a homer
*Gowdy’s 1.960 OPS in 1914 is the sixth highest for any player in a World Series with at least 12 plate appearances. He’s shown up only by Lou Gehrig in 1928 (2.433), Billy Hatcher in 1990 (2.050), Hideki Matsui in 2009 (2.027), Babe Ruth in 1928 (2.022) and Barry Bonds in 2002 (1.994).
More Blue Jays offense-first notes continue with Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., who had a relatively quiet line with two singles and a walk. Still, the first baseman owns a 1.411 OPS in his 12 postseason games this year. There are 583 players who appeared in each of their teams’ first 12 games of a postseason and had at least 40 plate appearances at that moment. Organizing all 583 from highest to lowest OPS brings Guerrero to the third slot. The best five –
1.557 Carlos Beltrán in 2004
1.437 Barry Bonds in 2002
1.411 Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. in 2025
1.378 Paul Molitor in 1993
1.364 Manny Ramírez in 2007
Daulton Varsho contributed a two-run homer for his third multi-RBI game of the 2025 postseason (he’s had one in each round). He, Alejandro Kirk, Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and Andrés Giménez share the Jays’ team lead in 2025 for the most in this postseason. The three multi-RBI efforts also tie this quartet with four others for the second most in any single Toronto postseason.
Most Multi-RBI Games in a Postseason – Blue Jays
5 Paul Molitor (1993)
3 Roberto Alomar (1993), Joe Carter (1993), Troy Tulowitzki (2015), Edwin Encarnación (2016), Daulton Varsho (2025), Alejandro Kirk, (2025), Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. (2025), Andrés Giménez (2025)
Trey Yesavage – 22 years and 88 days old – got the start for the Blue Jays. A pitcher this young taking the hill to start Game 1 of the World Series had happened only once before, in the form of Ralph Branca to open the 1947 Fall Classic. Branca and Yesavage are two of five to be younger than 23. Some details for this quintet.
1947 Ralph Branca, 21 years and 267 days old, allows five runs in 4.0 IP and takes the loss
2025 Trey Yesavage, 22 years and 88 days old, allows two runs in 4.0 IP in a no-decision
1970 Gary Nolan, 22 years and 136 days old, allows four runs in 6.2 IP and takes the loss
1997 Liván Hernández, 22 years and 240 days old, allows three runs in 5.2 IP and gets the win
1912 Smoky Joe Wood, 22 years and 349 days old, allows three runs in a complete game win
Shohei Ohtani’s two-run home run provided the Dodgers with their only extra-base hit of the night and provided the two-way star with his sixth longball of the 2025 postseason.
~23 different Dodgers batters have combined for 27 homers in a Game 1 of the World Series, with Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges and Davey Lopes each having two. Both of Lopes’ came in the same game, in 1978. For all players on all teams, Joe Collins, Elston Howard, Chase Utley and Pablo Sandoval share the belt for the most, each with three. All three of Sandoval’s came in the same game, in 2012.
~Ohtani’s six round-trippers in the 2025 postseason represent the second-highest tally for a Dodger in any one year. In 2020, Corey Seager hit eight, followed by Ohtani and his six this year and then Davey Lopes and his five in 1978.
Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.
Roger Schlueter
As Sr. Editorial Director for Major League Baseball Productions from 2004-2015, Roger served as a hub for hundreds of hours of films, series, documentaries and features: as researcher, fact-checker, script doctor, and developer of ideas. The years at MLB Production gave him the ideal platform to pursue what galvanized him the most – the idea that so much of what takes place on the field during the MLB regular and postseason (and is forever beautifully condensed into a box score) has connections to what has come before. Unearthing and celebrating these webs allows baseball to thrive, for the present can come alive and also reignite the past.