On April 24, 1917, left-handed Yankee starter George Mogridge pitched a no-hitter at Fenway Park for a 2-1 win, besting Dutch Leonard. It was the first Yankee no-hitter; Dave Righetti would get the next lefty no-no for the Yanks in 1983.
The Yankees finally placed righthander Chien-Ming Wang on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 19 on April 24, 2009, with weakness in the adductor muscles of both hips. Coming off disastrous injury, Wang had gotten off to a horrendous start.
The Yanks finally had some good injury news on April 24, 2007, when they were able to activate righty starter Chien-Ming Wang from the disabled list. Outfielder Kevin Thompson was optioned to AAA Scranton to create room. Amazingly, despite missing almost all of the season’s first month, Wang would manage to post 19 regular-season victories for the second year in a row.
With Yankee Stadium cleared to reopen, a series originally scheduled to take place in Detroit opened in New York on April 24, 1998. David Cone prevailed over Greg Keagle 8-4 as Darryl Strawberry homered in a four-run first inning. Strawberry also doubled and scored in the third, and third baseman Scott Brosius went 3-for-4 with two rbi’s.
With Jason Giambi struggling in early 2005, Joe Torre gave Andy Phillips a start on April 24, 2005, and it resulted in the first baseman’s biggest day in the bigs (so far). The home run and four rbi’s represented Andy’s season totals in an 11-1 win over Pedro Astacio and the Rangers. Derek Jeter contributed a single, double, home run, and three rbi’s, and winning pitcher Randy Johnson struck out ex-Yank Alfonso Soriano three times.
The Yankees tied an AL record on this day in 1960 by scoring eight runs before Baltimore had even recorded an out. Orioles grand slams in the eighth and ninth innings unexpectedly made it a game, but the Yanks held on for a 15-9 win.
Ichiro-Mania arrived in the Bronx on April 24, 2001, as Ichiro Suzuki and the Mariners played the Yanks. Fans of Japanese extraction jammed the stands, including an enterprising crew of six bare-chested young men with I-C-H-I-R-O on their fronts and S-U-Z-U-K-I on their backs. But it was shortstop Carlos Guillen and catcher Tom Lampkin who did most of the damage off Roger Clemens, driving in two runs apiece off the Yankee fireballer in a 7-5 Seattle win.
The disappointing newly constructed 2005 Yankee rotation took another jolt on April 24 when they placed righty Jaret Wright on the 15-day disabled list and recalled reliever Colter Bean from AAA Columbus.
With President Warren G. Harding in attendance at still new Yankee Stadium on April 24, 1923, Babe Ruth hit a home run in a 4-0 Yankee win over the Senators.
Catcher Bengie Molina struck the big blow with a three-run jack off Andy Pettitte in a 6-2 Yankees loss to the Angels in Anaheim on this day in 2003.
The light-hitting Highlanders faced the legendary Walter Johnson on April 24, 1909 and, uncharacteristically, drove the flu-weakened hard thrower from the mound. They scored six runs by the third inning of an eventual 17-0 romp over Washington.
He has an historic name usually heard in a different context, but Wally Pipp blasted a two-run, 11th-inning bomb off Joe Harris in a 6-4 Yankee win on this day in 1922. It was Yankee hurler Carl Mays‘s 18th consecutive win over the Athletics without a loss.
When Washington’s Goose Gosling pinch-hit a homer off the Yanks on April 24, 1938, it was already his fifth pinch homer of the year, but the Yanks prevailed nonetheless, 4-3.
In a great day for baseball veterans, 11 were named to the Hall of Fame on this day in 1946. The honorees: Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, Frank Chance, Jess Burkett, Tom McCarthy, Rube Waddell, Eddie Plank, Ed Walsh, Jack Chesbro, Clark Griffith, and Joe McGinnity. Chance, Chesbro, and Griffith played for the Yanks at times in their careers, and Plank retired after being acquired by them in a trade. McGinnity pitched for the 1901-1902 Baltimore Orioles franchise that would be shifted to New York and become the Highlanders in 1903.
The Senators nipped the Highlanders 4-3 on April 24, 1905 at Hilltop Park, and pulled off a triple play as well.
Former Yankee VP Leonard Kleinman dropped his lawsuit against Fay Vincent, the baseball commissioner at the time, on this day in 1992. The suit had been an obstacle blocking George Steinbrenner‘s reinstatement with the team.
Darryl Strawberry‘s troubles appeared to be coming to a head when he was sentenced to six months of home confinement on tax evasion charges on April 24, 1995. But he had one productive baseball stretch left, which would be spent with the Yankees.
As the New York Giants were losing 14-5 to the Boston Braves on April 24, 1947, Johnny Mize hit three home runs in a game for a record-setting fifth time in his career. Mize wasn’t done, as he would accomplish the feat a sixth time, playing for the Yankees in 1950.
Frank Allen of the Pittsburgh Federal League franchise threw a 2-0 no-hitter against the St. Louis Terriers on April 24, 1915.
With three rainouts, the Chicago White Stockings had the honor of hosting the first ever American League game on April 24, 1901, besting the Cleveland Blues 8-2. It logically follows, therefore, that April 24, 2001 was the 100th anniversary of the league.
Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First” is perhaps the funniest baseball bit of all time. Sadly, the 78-year-old Bud Abbott passed away on April 24, 1974.
Players Who Have Died This Day
No Yankee players have died on April 24.
Lefty-hitting Red Sox outfielder Gary Geiger (1996) is one of four noteworthy nonYankee players to have died on April 24. Geiger hit 77 long balls with 283 rbi’s from 1958-1970. Outfielder Joe Birmingham (1946) played exclusively for Cleveland from 1906-1914; he reached seven fences good for 265 rbi’s. Middle infielder Elio Chacon (1992) hit four home runs and knocked in 39 for the Reds and the Mets from 1960-1962; and infielder Sibby Sisti (2006) hit most of his 27 homers with 260 rbi’s with the Braves from 1939-1942 and from 1946-1954.
Players Born This Day
Yankee April 24 birthdays include Mike Blowers (1965), who played 76 games at third for the Yanks in 1989 through 1991, and lefty pitcher Harry Harper (1895), who posted a 4-3 win/loss record in eight games for the 1921 Yanks. The Bombers got Blowers from the Expos in August 1989 for John Candelaria and shipped him to Seattle for minor-leaguer Jim Blueberg and cash in May 1991. Harper arrived in one of the Yanks’ raids on Boston’s roster, when they got him with Waite Hoyt, Mike McNally, and Wally Schang for Muddy Ruel, Del Pratt, Sammy Vick, and Hank Thormahlen in December 1920.
Two other Yankee birthdaying players are righty Joe Verbanic (1943), who went 11-10 with six saves from 1967-1970 after getting his start with Philly in 1966; and fellow hurler Walt Smallwood (1893), whose only big-league service resulted in no record in eight games for the 1917 and 1919 Yanks. The Yanks got Verbanic from the Phillies with cash for Pedro Ramos in December 1966.
Other birthdays: righthander Bob Ewing (1873), who posted a 124-118 mark mostly with Cincinnati from 1902-1912; Howard Ehmke (1894), an exactly even 166-166 with AL clubs in Detroit, Boston, and Philadelphia from 1915-1930; Frank Lucchesi (1927); Bill Singer (1944); Pat Zachry (1952), a principal in the trade that sent Tom Seaver away from the Mets initially; Bill Krueger (1958); former Indians defensive whiz at short (with the Giants when last seen) Omar Vizguel (1967); Todd Jones (1968); Chipper Jones (1972); Will Cunnane (1974); Carlos Beltran (1977); Aaron Cunningham (1986); and Welington Castillo (1987).
