Ron Guidry pitched the Yanks to a 3-1 victory over the Brewers on July 23, 1977. Paul Blair‘s ninth-inning, three-run bomb won it.
As if Mickey Mantle hitting for the cycle off Bob Keegan in a 10-6 win over the White Sox on July 23, 1957, wasn’t enough, he stole a base too.
A two-run Josh Willingham home run and a singleton shot by ex-Yank Hideki Matsui did most of the damage in a 4-3 Oakland victory in Yankee Stadium on July 23, 2011. It was a hot, steamy Saturday afternoon, and Dan Haren bested A.J. Burnett.
Team Turmoil described the Yanks in July of 1978. Reggie Jackson returned to play on July 23 and the Yanks won their fifth straight, 3-1, over the White Sox. But Billy Martin was fuming, and it will come to a head tomorrow.
The duo of Gary Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez teamed for a run and a ninth-inning win over the Red Sox on July 23, 2004. As you might expect, Shef hit the Monster for a double with one down in the ninth inning of a 7-7 tie in Fenway, but Alex “only” singled him in, for the 8-7 win. Their heroics were forced by the stellar day of Sox first baseman Kevin Millar, who hit consecutive singleton home runs off Jon Lieber (in the fourth), Paul Quantrill (sixth inning), and Tom Gordon (eighth frame) to forge the tie.
Lou Gehrig hit the first of his 23 grand slams on July 23, 1925, and the Yanks beat Firpo Marberry and the Senators, 11-7. This win allowed the A’s to skip into first via a 5-4 win over the Red Sox.
Popular first baseman Tino Martinez stroked his 250th career home run and Roger Clemens climbed past Tom Seaver on the all-time strike-out list in a 7-2 win over the Blue Jays in Yankee Stadium on July 23, 2001.
It would have been difficult to convince any Yankee fan that the trade that brought Denny Neagle to the Bronx in 2000 was not a great one on July 23 of that year. The lefthander achieved his second win in as many tries when he limited the Devil Rays to four hits in beating them 5-1. Fourth-inning rbi doubles by Derek Jeter and Paul O’Neill gave Neagle all the support he would need.
Cy Young of the Red Sox whipped the Highlanders 6-1 in the first of two on July 23, 1903, in Boston in one hour, 35 minutes. New York recovered to win the nightcap by a 4-2 score.
The Indians and Yankees headed for extra innings in a 7-7 tie game with lots of action on July 23, 1999. And things looked bleak when Enrique Wilson, who would later play with the Yankees, gave the Tribe the lead by knocking in Einar Diaz in the top of 10th. But the local fans went home happy when Derek Jeter cashed in the tying and winning runs with a two-run double in that inning’s bottom half for a 9-8 Yankees win.
Yankee righty (and long-time pitching coach) Mel Stottlemyre was thrust into the All Star start on July 23, 1969, when Denny McLain was late arriving for the Classic after a dental appointment. Willie McCovey hit two home runs in the game and the NL prevailed by a 9-3 score.
The Yankees jumped out to a 4-0 lead over the Angels early in a July 23, 1997 game in Yankee Stadium. First came a two-run home run by Charley Hayes. And it seemed a small matter that Yankees were thrown out at third and then at second on back-to-back rbi singles by Paul O’Neill and Tino Martinez in the third. But extra runs would have come in handy once Tim Salmon‘s three-run sixth-inning jack on Ramiro Mendoza‘s first pitch in relief of Doc Gooden tied the game. The Yanks plated one in the bottom of the ninth to win, 5-4, however.
The Cincinnati Baseball Club that came to be called the Reds was established on July 23, 1866.
Baseball is so number-crazy, and on this day in 1991 a statistical anomaly occurred. In the same game, Nolan Ryan got his 308th win in a 5-4 victory over the Red Sox for the Rangers. Former Yankee reliever (and eventual Hall of Famer, finally) Goose Gossage came in to close and earned his 308th save.
The Yanks lost to the Angels 7-6 on July 23, 1966, Old Timers Day, but Mickey Mantle hit his ninth career grand slam in the loss. He tied Babe Ruth in games played as a Yankee that day as well.
It was this day in 1999 that the Mets traded Terrence Long to the Athletics for ex-Yankee lefty Kenny Rogers, a move that initially helped them into the playoffs, but it also helped the Flushing-based club out of the playoffs too. They would lose Game Six of the NLDS to the Braves on a Rogers bases-loaded walk.
The Red Sox released the beleaguered Bill Buckner on July 23, 1987, replacing him on their 25-man roster with power-hitting Sam Horn.
The Yanks traded outfielder Elmer Miller, shortstops Chick Fewster and John Mitchell, and later pitcher Lefty O’Doul, to the Red Sox for third baseman Joe Dugan and Elmer Smith on July 23, 1922.
Two different July 23 highlights in 1971 feature future Yankee pitchers. Pat Dobson of the Orioles won his 10th straight in a 4-3 victory over California. And although Catfish Hunter was knocked out of an Oakland battle with the Tigers the same day, he not only got the 9-7 win; he knocked in four of those runs himself.
Players Who Have Died This Day
Switch-hitting outfielder/first baseman John Anderson (1949) is the only Yankee player to have died July 23. He went 178-for-697 good for three home runs and 96 rbi’s in 175 games for the 1904-1905 Highlanders. This was in the middle of an 1894-1908 career spent mostly with the Bridegrooms, the Senators, and the Browns; his totals: 49 homers, 976 runs driven in.
The four noteworthy nonYankee players who have died this day include two righthanders and two outfielders. Roy Mahaffey (1969) posted most of his 67-49 record with five saves from 1926-1936 with the Philly A’s; and Red Munger (1996) won 77, lost 56, and saved 12 with the Cardinals from 1943-1952, with a one-year-plus stint with Pittsburgh at the end too. Buttercup Dickerson (1920) notched four roundtrippers and drove in 127 runs playing mostly for the Redlegs and the Worcester Ruby Legs from 1878-1885; and Bill Lange (1950) hit his 39 long balls with 578 rbi’s from 1893-1897 with the Colts and the Orphans.
Players Born This Day
There are five Yankee July 23 birthdays, none well known, at least to today’s fans. Johnny James (1933) pitched three years from 1958 to 1961 for the Yanks with a 5-1 record and two saves. He was a 1953 amateur free agent signing by the Yankees, and he was traded with Ryne Duren and Lee Thomas to the Los Angeles Angels for Tex Clevenger and Bob Cerv in May 1961. Ray Scarborough (1917) pitched much of 10 years with Washington, but went 7-3 for the ’52-’53 Yanks once they purchased him from the Boston Red Sox in August 1952.
Lew Brockett (1880) went 11-12 for the 1907-1911 Highlanders in his only big-league service. Second baseman Mack Hillis (1901) played only 12 major league games, one with the 1924 Yanks, during which he went 0-for-1 without a walk, though he somehow managed to score a run. He played the other 11 games with the 1928 Phillies. Lastly, Bubba Carpenter (1968), a 1991 Yankees amateur free agent, went 6-for-27 in 15 games for the 2000 Colorado Rockies once he signed with them after his October 1999 release by New York.
Other birthdays: Jimmie Wilson (1900) caught for 18 years, mostly for Philly and St. Louis; Dodgers Hall of Famers Don Drysdale (1936) and Pee Wee Reese (1918); Detroit outfielder Johnny Groth (1926), who hit 60 dingers with 486 rbi’s from 1946-1960; righthander Chuck Crim (1961), who went 47-43 with the Brewers, the Angels, and the Cubs from 1987-1994; Dallas McPherson (1980); Hong-Chih Kuo (1981); Joe Mather (1982); and Andrew Carignan (1986).
Phenomenal (ex-)Boston shortstop Nomar Garciaparra (1973), responsible for 182 home runs and 710 rbi’s from 1996 through 2004, gets an individual mention in honor of the way he spent his 29th birthday this day in 2002. He homered three times and knocked in eight runs in a 22-4 Red Sox pummeling of Tampa Bay. Nomar reignited his career as an All Star with the Dodgers in 2006, but he spent much of the time on the DL with the West Coast club. He played with the A’s in 2009, and retired to broadcasting.
