This column closes out a 40-year cycle that began with the launching of Warm Up Tosses in the May 1969 issue of Baseball Digest.

Since that long ago time when the "Miracle Mets" had yet to gather steam in moving toward their first National League pennant, I’ve used this venue to write about a variety of memorable major league events and personalities.

So, at this special juncture, perhaps it’s appropriate to recall, in chronological order, some of those particular moments, players, and members of the baseball establishment as follows:

1969

September 10: The Mets reach first place to stay, sweeping a doubleheader against the Expos while the Cubs swoon.

Baseball Digest subsequently picks Tom Seaver, who won 25 games, as its "Player of the Year." The selection process was a "no-brainer."

December 24: Curt Flood of the Cardinals refuses a trade to the Phillies, the opening shot for eventual free agency for all major leaguers. A brave man was Flood for taking a stand against an unjust, archaic and unduly restrictive system.

1970

June 11: Jim Bouton, a free-spirited Yankee pitcher, receives a public denouncement from Commissioner Bowie Kuhn for writing "Ball Four," a revealing book about the peccadillos of some teammates. Kuhn scornfully calls the book "detrimental to baseball."

1971

September 3: Leo Durocher, manager of the troubled Cubs, wins an unusual vote of confidence from owner Phil Wrigley who pays for a full-page newspaper ad to criticize the "anti-Leo" faction on the team. "The dump Durocher clique might as well give up," pronounced Wrigley, a gentle man who marched to his own drummer when it came to baseball.

1972

October 24: Jackie Robinson dies of a heart attack at age 53 in Stamford, Connecticut. A courageous pioneer who paved the way for the desegregation of the majors, he suffered from diabetes and was nearly blind at his death.

December 10: The American League approves the use of the designated hitter on a three-year trial basis. Purists later consider the move the majors’ biggest blunder ever, changing the A.L. brand of baseball to a 10-man game. The "trial" lasts to this day.

December 31: Roberto Clemente is killed when the D-7 in which he was flying relief supplies to victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua crashes into the ocean off San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was 38, possessed a tremendous throwing arm, and was one of the all-time great major league stars.

1974

April 8: At Fulton County Stadium, a crowd of 53,775 watches as the Braves’ Hank Aaron connects on a 1-and-0 pitch from Al Downing of the Dodgers and sends it into the left-center field bullpen for his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s long-standing career record. The officious Mr. Kuhn is not present for the historic event, claiming he had a prior commitment in Cleveland.

April 10: On Opening Day in San Diego, the Padres are mauled by the Astros, 9-2. In the eighth inning, owner Ray Kroc takes over the public address microphone and tells the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen, I suffer with you. I’ve never seen such stupid baseball in my life!" Kroc, as might be suspected, was a passionate fan.

October 3: Frank Robinson becomes the majors’ first African-American manager, being named field boss by the Indians. "If I had one wish in the world today," he said, "it would be that Jackie Robinson could be here to see this happen."

1975

September 29: Casey Stengel, former Yankee manager and one of the game’s most unforgettable characters, dies of cancer at age 85 in Glendale, California. During his active years in New York, he was a godsend for writers struggling to get a story, of which he had many, some of them decipherable.

October 21: Carlton Fisk hits a dramatic home run off the left field foul pole at Fenway Park to give the Red Sox a come-from-behind, 7-6 win in the 12th inning of Game 6 of the World Series against the Reds. His feat of leaping in the air and waving the ball to land fair has been televised endlessly since that moment.

1977

October 18: Reggie Jackson slams three consecutive home runs off three different Dodger pitchers as the Yankees beat LA at Yankee Stadium, 8-4, to clinch the World Series title. The bombardment solidifies Jackson’s stature as "Mr. October," a moniker he loved. He was, after all, according to his view, "the straw that stirs the drink" in New York. Teammate Catfish Hunter said of Reggie, "He’d give you the shirt off his back. Of course, he’d call a press conference to announce it."

1981

May 14, Fernando Valenzuela, a rookie, left-handed pitcher from Mexico who specialized in throwing the screwball, wins his eighth straight game for the Dodgers against no losses, and "Fernandomania" takes over in LA.

1985

September 11: Pete Rose punches a single to left-center field off the Padres’ Eric Show for his 4,192nd hit, breaking a career record held by Ty Cobb since 1928. Cincinnati fans at Riverfront Stadium go wild, cheering Rose for a full seven minutes. "I started crying," Rose admitted later. "When my son Petey (the Reds’ batboy) came out to first base, I hugged him and then I cried real hard."

September 20: After a 14-day trial in Pittsburgh, seven players, including such notables as Keith Hernandez, Lonnie Smith and Dave Parker, testify about using cocaine from 1980-1983.

September 28: Cardinal manager Whitey Herzog says 11 of his players were "heavy" drug users in the early 1980s. In those years, it seemed cocaine was the major leaguers’ "poison" of choice.

1988

October 15: With two out in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Dodgers trailing the A’s, 4-3, in Game 1 of the World Series, Kirk Gibson limps off the bench on a bum leg, and connects for a two-run homer off Dennis Eckersley to produce an improbable 5-4 victory. It’s still considered one of the most exciting home runs in the history of the Fall Classic. It was like a replayed scene right out of the movie, The Natural, starring Robert Redford.

1989

August 24: Commissioner Bart Giamatti releases details of an agreement signed by Pete Rose, banning the game’s all-time hits leader from baseball. "I have concluded that he (Rose) bet on baseball," said the commissioner who would die of a heart attack at age 51 the following September 1. On the field, Rose was a terrific player; off the field, not so bright. His first wife claimed the only book he ever read was his autobiography.

October 17: Before the start of Game 3 of the World Series between the Giants and A’s, an earthquake, measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale, rocks Candlestick Park in San Francisco, suspending the Series for ten days. "That’s what we’re going to do to the A’s!" shouted a Giants fan sitting near the press section behind home plate as the quake ended. Didn’t happen. The A’s won the Series in four games.

1993

June 26: Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella dies of a heart attack at age 71 in Woodland, California. Paralyzed and wheelchair-bound since an auto accident in 1958, he once said, "You have to have a lot of the little boy in you to play baseball for a living." How true. I still remember how Campy graciously gave me, a rookie baseball writer, a cordial, one-on-one spring training interview in 1957.

September 4: Lefty Jim Abbott, who was born without a right hand, no-hits the visiting Indians at Yankee Stadium, 4-0. "It’s not the disability that defines you," he has said. "It’s how you deal with the challenges the disability presents you with." The definition of Abbott? A wise man, indeed.

1994

September 14: On a 26-to-2 vote, major league owners cancel the season after 34 days of an unsettled players’ strike that eventually eliminates the World Series. Tony Gwynn of the Padres was hitting a red-hot .394 at the time, with a reasonable chance of finishing at .400 or better over a full season. What a shame. The strike deeply embittered fans.

1995

August 13: Mickey Mantle, a magnificent baseball talent and one of the greatest Yankees of all time who struggled with alcoholism, dies of liver cancer at age 63 in Dallas. "He could run, throw and hit," said former teammate Yogi Berra. "There’s no telling how good he’d have been with two good legs."

September 6: Cal Ripken, Jr. of the Orioles at age 35 plays in his 2,131st consecutive game, breaking Lou Gehrig’s ancient durability record. In taking a lap around Camden Yards, waving to fans as he went, baseball’s new "Iron Man" helped restore some of the game’s lost reverence caused by the ’94 strike.

1998

September 8: Mark McGwire belts his 62nd home run of the season off the Cub’ Steve Trachsel at Busch Stadium, wiping out Roger Maris’ HR record set in 1961. Sammy Sosa, who had been dueling with the Cardinals’ first baseman for the home run leadership, embraced McGwire after he had completed his trot around the bases. It was a nice touch. At season’s end, McGwire had 70 homers; Sosa, 66. It wasn’t until later that allegations of steroid use cast a shadow over both players.

1999

March 8: Joe DiMaggio, another Yankee immortal, dies at age 84 in Hollywood, Florida. He never got over the loss of movie star Marilyn Monroe, the love of his life, and always shut down reporters who asked him to talk about her.

2001

October 5: Muscled-up Barry Bonds, once a skinny kid with the Pirates, drives a pitch from Chan Ho Park of the Dodgers deep into the center field seats at Pac Bell Park for his 71st home run in the Giants’ 160th game of the season. He later adds two more homers to finish the season with 73, a new all-time record. Bonds’ heroics have become tainted by charges he was into steroids in a big way. There were also charges he bulked himself up out of jealousy over the adulation McGwire and Sosa received for their home run splurge three years earlier. "He wanted to prove he was top dog," said one cynical reporter.

2002

July 5: Ted Williams, occasionally tempestuous but a bona fide baseball hero, dies in his home in Inverness, Florida at age 83. He could talk endlessly about the art of hitting and mastered the art so well he batted .406 in 1941 while striking out only 27 times. When he was young, he said he wanted "to walk down the street and have people say, ’There goes the greatest hitter who ever lived.’" He came close to achieving that goal.

2004

January 5: Pete Rose, after 14 years of denial, publicly admits that he bet on baseball while he was manager of the Cincinnati Reds. His lengthy denial can only be described as a massive screwup on the part of his advisers.

October 27: With a 3-0 triumph over the Cardinals in Game 4 at Busch Stadium, 1,042 miles from Fenway Park, the Red Sox win their first World Series in 86 years, producing a collective sigh of relief from their countless fans in New England. In being swept away, the Cardinals batted only .190. "What it comes down to," said Red Sox manager Terry Francona, "is having really, really good pitching."

2005

March 17: In a Congressional hearing in Washington, Mark McGwire refuses to answer questions about steroid use during his playing career. "I’m not here to talk about the past," he said. Rafael Palmeiro, another witness, asserts while pointing his finger at committee members, "I have never used steroids. Period." What a joke that turned out to be.

October 26: The White Sox capture their first World Series championship in 88 years, sweeping the Astros with a 1-0 win in Game 4 in Houston. As so often happens in the Fall Classic, victory comes from an unexpected source. Sub outfielder Geoff Blum homers for the only run in the game. "We ground it out from Day One," said left fielder Scott Podsednik. "Nobody cared about stats or themselves."

2008

December 23: With the signing of first baseman Mark Teixeira, the Yankees commit themselves to $423 million in future payments to three, newly acquired free agents, Teixeira and pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. Will the draining of their treasury assure them of a pennant in 2009? Maybe. But, it certainly gives fans of other American League teams another reason to hate the Yankees.

With a new season not far away, it’s time once again to look ahead, rather than back. So, I’ll end this trip down memory lane. It admittedly has been a journey with few dull moments.