On May 18, 2013, the Yanks hosted their second annual “photo day” for season ticket holders before the 1 pm tilt vs. Toronto. Ringing the outfield warning track, a few thousand fans were able to greet, shake hands with, and have pictures taken with a host of Yankee players, and this one was made most special because Mariano Rivera was allowed to make his way around long beyond the expected time frame, greeting every fan who wanted to in his goodbye season. In the game that followed, David Phelps held the visitors to one run on six hits over seven innings in a 7-2 win. The source of the Yankee offense was no surprise, as Robinson Cano reached hard-throwing Brandon Morrow for two, two-run home runs; Travis Hafner added a two-run shot in the eighth. Continue reading →
It’s another day where a great candidate for top highlight is surpassed by an even better one. Does it help if I share that numero uno happened on Beanie Baby Day in the Bronx? It doesn’t seem possible, but the word “several” no longer applies in describing the multi-year anniversary of David Wells‘s Perfect Game, a 4-0 win over the Twins on May 17, 1998. Bernie Williams had a homer among his three hits, Latroy Hawkins manned the mound for the visiting Twins, and Boomer threw only 11 of 27 first-pitch strikes. Continue reading →
Rookie Mickey Mantle hit his first Stadium home run, knocked in four runs and scored three in an 11-3 thumping of the Indians on May 16, 1951. The Mick’s first Stadium victim was Cleveland’s Dick Rozek. Continue reading →
The greatest of events sometimes start off in the quietest ways. In a 13-1 hammering at the hands of the White Sox on May 15, 1941, Joe DiMaggio got a single in four trips against Ed Smith, but it was the first hit (and game) in Joe’s unprecedented (and unmatched) 56-game hitting streak. Continue reading →
It has to be a special highlight to top what happened on May 14, 1996, in this Yankee fan’s report, and it is, as today’s lead item is that Mickey Mantle hit his 500th home run off Baltimore’s Stu Miller on this day in 1967 in a 6-5 Yankee win. With that shot, The Mick became the sixth member of the 500-home run club. Continue reading →
What is it about mid-May, the Yankees, and nine-run comebacks? Yesterday’s column included the Yanks’ rally from an 0-8 deficit to the White Sox, from which they recovered to win 9-8 on May 12, 1996. On May 13, 1985, the Yanks’ rally from 0-8 to the Minnesota Twins was crowned by Don Mattingly‘s three-run, two-out, bottom-of-the-ninth homer off former Yank Ron Davis that propelled the home team to a 9-8 victory. Continue reading →
Fans who disregard special promos featuring one player should rethink that stance once they consider the May 12, 2023, 6-5 victory over visiting Tampa. Memorialized with the Star Wars Mandelorian bobblehead before the game, Anthony Rizzo not only homered for a run in the first inning, he also went yard for two in the bottom of the eighth, eclipsing the 5-4 bulge the Rays had achieved on a Josh Lowe three-run shot in the top half of the frame. Continue reading →
Second baseman Gleyber Torres drove in all five Yankee runs over visiting Toronto in a 5-3 win on May 11, 2022. Gleyber’s three-run, fourth-inning home run overcame an early Blue Jays 1-0 lead, and his two-run, sixth-inning single ensured the win. Continue reading →
Putting in an early bid for the 2022 AL MVP Award that he would eventually take home, Aaron Judge blasted a one-out, three-run walkoff home run off Toronto closer Jordan Romano for a 6-5 Yankee win on May 10, 2022. Before winning on Judge’s 10th home run of the year, the team had tied the game 3-3 on Giancarlo Stanton‘s seventh bomb in the sixth inning. Continue reading →
In one of his best starts ever on May 4, 2022, “Nasty Nestor” Cortes” held the visiting Rangers hitless until center fielder Eli White singled with one out in the eighth inning. But Clay Holmes would be credited with the 1-0 win once Anthony Rizzo drove in Aaron Judge, on base with a single, in the bottom of the eighth. Cortes struck out 11 Texas batters in a game over in 2:41 before MLB’s 2023 rules dramatically shortened the game. Continue reading →
