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Another mini-Mantle fest starts with the defeat of Bob Lemon and the Indians on September 3, 1954, which snapped an 11-game Lemon winning streak. Mickey Mantle’s bomb way up into the right field upper deck in the sixth started the Yankee scoring, which resulted in a 3-2 Bomber win. Continue reading September 3 in Yankee History
Bronx, N.Y., September 1, 2010 — The Yankees may not have cashed in their place in the 2010 postseason yet, and who could blame them, as they cling to the smallest of leads in the American League East? The team is still trying to settle on a reliable rotation, and hasn’t played with their All Star third baseman in two weeks. But up in the Grandstand, the fans are thinking playoffs, and Wednesday night we got a lesson in playoff baseball 101. Continue reading Tying Run On
It was Yankees in front of Boston in the standings on September 2, 2001. The venue was Fenway, the opposing pitchers, Mike Mussina and (at the time) Boston’s David Cone. Cone battled gamely through eight scoreless innings against the “perfect” Mussina, who lost his perfecto to Carl Everett’s single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, one half inning after Cone had allowed the only (unearned) run of the contest, on Enrique Wilson’s double. In a strange twist, Boston GM Dan Duquette fired interim pitching coach John Cumberland after the game. Cumberland had been promoted to the spot after the incumbent Joe Kerrigan had replaced the fired Jimy Williams as manager. Continue reading September 2 in Yankee History
The Yankees and the Tigers went to the ninth inning scoreless on September 1, 1961, in front of the biggest American League crowd of the year, with Whitey Ford opposing Don Mossi. The 65,000+ in Yankee Stadium thrilled to the Yankees’ 1-0 victory in this battle for first place, as two-out hits in the bottom of the ninth from Elston Howard, Yogi Berra, and Moose Skowron plated the game winner. Continue reading September 1 in Yankee History
Bronx, N.Y., August 30, 2010 — There have been a few things that have happened on August 30 over the years that have taken some time. But it’s hard to imagine any of them dragged on longer than the first inning of the A’s/Yankees game in the Stadium Monday night. The German siege of Leningrad in 1941 started this day, and must have taken longer, even if that seemed hard to believe as Trevor Cahill struggled to record even a second out in the bottom half. Given a trusty time machine, I can believe that the aged Casey Stengel may have retired on this day in 1965 because he saw this inning coming. Who knows? Maybe Cleopatra, who surrendered herself to the asp’s bite this day 2,040 years ago, got wind she’d be sitting in the moat as Cahill’s 2-0 fastball to Jorge Posada missed for a 3-0 count. Continue reading Long Inning, Monster Inning
In an August 31, 1995, game that I believe served as the template for a hilarious episode of the TV sit-com Seinfeld, Paul O’Neill homered in his first three at bats to drive in eight runs in an 11-6 win over the Angels in Yankee Stadium. Continue reading August 31 in Yankee History
The Yankees completed a three-game sweep over the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium with a 5-0 win on August 30, 2007, in a game where hometown starter Chien-Ming Wang threw no-hit ball until Mike Lowell singled with one out in the seventh inning. On offense, Robbie Cano homered off Curt Schilling his first two times up, Derek Jeter had four singles, and Bobby Abreu stroked his 400th career double. It was in this game that young Yankee reliever Joba Chamberlain earned an ejection and a suspension after throwing two straight balls over Kevin Youkilis’s head in the ninth inning. Continue reading August 30 in Yankee History
On August 23, 2003, when Ron Guidry Day was celebrated in Yankee Stadium, the team played uninspired baseball in a 7-2 loss to the Orioles in the game that followed. No such problem occurred on August 29, 1964, when the Yanks held Elston Howard Day. The Yanks took two from the Red Sox, 10-2 and 6-1. Joe Pepitone went yard three times, including a grand slam, and Roger Maris hit six singles. It was highlights all around, as Mickey Mantle hit his 447th career homer in the first game, and tied Babe Ruth’s career strike out record (1,330) in the second. Continue reading August 29 in Yankee History
Giving the lie to all the claims floating around Yankee Stadium in 2009, Robbie Cano sent a soaked fanbase home happy on August 28, 2009, when his 10th-inning three-run walkoff bomb against Chicago lefty Randy Williams gave the Yankees a 5-2 win. Rumor had it that Cano could only hit in non-rbi situations, and the game only went into extras because Nick Swisher made a great throw to nail a runner at home in the top of the seventh. Brian Bruney pitched the top of the 10th and got the win. Continue reading August 28 in Yankee History
Ask a number of Yankee fans with a sense of history individually about 1978, and two arcs will emerge. In light of the day held in his honor in Yankee Stadium in 2003, we’ll mention the incredible 25-3 Cy Young season of Louisiana Lightning, Ron Guidry first. And hand in hand with that, of course, was the stirring comeback from 14 games behind, with the Yanks finally wresting the pennant from their Boston rivals in the playoff game that has made “Bucky Dent” two thirds of a three-word epithet in much of Massachusetts and New England ever since. But what should be obvious to even the most casual fan is that you can’t mount a comeback drive like that on the strength of just one starting pitcher. Catfish Hunter beat the Oakland A’s, 6-2, on August 27, 1978, to complete a six-win/no-loss August that helped propel the Bombers on their way. Utilizing a spin windup he may have copied from the wily Luis Tiant (with the Sox at the time, but who would pitch for the Yanks too), Hunter brought to mind the old saw that has it that a flashlight burns brightest just before the light goes out. Guidry’s brilliance would have gone for naught without him. Continue reading August 27 in Yankee History
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