July 9 in Yankee History

  • Hit No. 2,999, a single to left, led off the bottom of the first, and history came two innings later as Derek Jeter powered David Price‘s seventh pitch over the wall in left center for a 2-2 tie in the game, and history, the Yankee Captain’s 3000th career hit. Amazingly, once he scored after his fifth-inning double (No. 3,001), he tied the score again. Although it was followed by a double steal, hit No. 3,002, a sixth-inning single, went for naught, but when he went 5-for-5 on this record-setting day with a single (No. 3,003) in the eighth, he drove in the winning run in a 5-4 Yankee victory over Tampa Bay on July 9, 2011.
  • When Brett Gardner homered in the first inning of a 6-2 Yankee win over Oakland in the Stadium on July 9, 2015, it came about two hours before the announcement that the pinstriped left fielder had made the AL All Star squad as a replacement for the injured Alex Gordon. Infielder Cole Figueroa, added to the roster that day and playing third base, doubled twice and scored twice in this, his first Yankee game. (He would play in just one more.) While getting 23 outs, Masahiro Tanaka allowed just two hits, both unfortunately grouped with a second inning error and leading to the A’s two runs.
  • Ex-Red Sox player Travis Shaw ruined Masahiro Tanaka‘s day in a 5-3 Milwaukee win over the Yanks in the Stadium on July 9, 2017, collecting four rbi’s on a first-inning three-run homer and a fifth-inning rbi single. Yet another Clint Frazier tater, a two-run shot in the three-run Yankee fourth, was all the response the home team could muster.
  • Journeyman Sydney Ponson had one of his best Yankee starts in a no-decision against Edwin Jackson of the Rays in Yankee Stadium on July 9, 2008. Staked to a first-inning, 1-0 lead on Jason Giambi‘s rbi single that scored Derek Jeter, Ponson’s only blemish among five hits and two walks allowed was the game-tying blast from Carlos Pena in the fifth. Jeter worked a one-out, eight-pitch walk against Grant Balfour in the bottom of the tenth, and scored from there when Bobby Abreu followed four straight foul balls with a double to right center for the 2-1 Yankee win.
  • Through six tense innings, it seemed the run the Yanks had plated on Brett Gardner, Ichiro Suzuki, and Robinson Cano singles in the first inning of a July 9, 2013, game would stand up against James Shields and the Royals, but late homers from David Lough and Billy Butler, and an Eric Hosmer rbi off CC Sabathia, settled matters in the 3-1 KC victory. The quickly disappearing DH Travis Hafner struck out three times with a walk.
  • On July 9, 1955, Bob Turley and the Yanks prevailed over the Washington Senators, largely on the strength of Mickey Mantle‘s five hits in as many at bats. Turley tossed a two-hit shutout in the 4-0 win.
  • Ron Guidry won his 10th straight decision on July 9, 1985, when he beat the Royals, 6-4. But he allowed nine hits while only striking out one.
  • Yankee hurler Jim Coates‘s major league record fell to 17-2 after a 6-5 loss to the Red Sox on July 9, 1960. He had started the season with nine straight wins, a streak that actually extended to 14 in a row, counting the end of the 1959 season. A single, double, and home run off the bat of Vic Wertz did the most damage.
  • The Yankees overcame a Rich Reese pinch-hit grand slam home run to beat the Twins, 9-6, on this day in 1972.
  • With Thurgood Marshall, Jr., in attendance, the Yanks celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education decision that spelled the death knell of segregation, on July 9, 2004. Javier Vazquez prevailed over John Halama of the Devil Rays 5-4, and center fielder Kenny Lofton reached four times, scored twice, and knocked in one.
  • The Old Timers Game in the Bronx on July 9, 2005, featured many of our all-time favorites, including both Whitey Ford and Phil Rizzuto, who would sadly miss the ’06 affair, and then pass away in 2007. And among the recent Yankee stars making either their first or second appearances were David Justice, Luis Sojo, Jim Leyritz, and Wade Boggs. Unfortunately, with the House That Ruth Built hosting some of the best living ballplayers in American League history, the Yanks sent recently acquired starter Darrell May to the mound in the game that followed. Back-to-back first-inning homers from Gary Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez were quickly overcome as May was driven from the mound down 7-2 in the fifth largely on two taters by Jose Hernandez and one by Jhonny Peralta. The Indians held on for an 8-6 win.
  • Mike Piazza‘s sixth-inning three-run jack off Roger Clemens in Yankee Stadium on July 9, 1999, was the big blow as Al Leiter earned the 5-2 Mets win.
  • Once the Yanks got righty reliever Tim Stoddard from San Diego on July 9, 1986, he went 10-6 for them over the following 2.5 years. But the fact that this transaction sent the not-built-for-New-York starter Ed Whitson out of the Bronx was what made it a really successful trade.
  • The Red Sox earned yet another win over Jack Chesbro and the Highlanders on July 9, 1904. The 2-1 loss to Boston was New York’s third straight to their northern rival.
  • The Yanks swept a double dip from the Tigers on July 9, 1932, 7-6 and 14-9. In the latter, Ben Chapman tied a record, not because he hit three home runs, but because two of them were of the inside-the-park variety.
  • The Yankees fell in Fenway Park by a 14-6 score on July 9, 1959, with Frank Sullivan getting the win. Vic Wertz, Ted Williams, and Bobby Avila homered, and Williams and Avila drove in seven runs between them.
  • On July 9, 2022, the Yankees sent righthander Domingo German on a rehab assignment to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. The team also sent righty Jonathan Loaisiga on a rehab assignment to the Tampa Tarpons.
  • The Yankees recalled righty reliever Giovanny Gallegos from the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on July 9, 2018.
  • Shuffling their bullpen roster on July 9, 2016, the Yankees optioned righthander Chad Green to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, and recalled righty Nick Goody from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
  • Infielder Cole Figueroa, who was mentioned in the game report near the top of this column, had his contract selected from the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders this day by the Yankees. The club created room on the 40-man and 25-man rosters by designating outfielder Taylor Dugas for assignment, and optioning second baseman Jose Pirela to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yankees also sent infielder Brendan Ryan on a rehab assignment to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre; signed righthander Patrick O’Brien; and signed two free agents to minor league contracts: righty Jose Solano and shortstop Sandy Mota.
  • On July 9, 2014, the Yankees nervously placed righthanded starter and ace Masahiro Tanaka on the 15-day disabled list, with right elbow inflammation. The team recalled outfielder Zoilo Almonte from the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders to fill the spot.
  • On July 9, 2013, the Yankees signed free agent catcher Luis Sanchez to a minor league contract.
  • Rescinding a vocal agreement they had made with the Yanks, the Seattle Mariners traded lefty starter Cliff Lee and righty reliever Mark Lowe to the Texas Rangers for righthanders Blake Beavan and Josh Lueke, first baseman Justin Smoak and second baseman Matt Lawson on July 9, 2010.
  • Also on July 9, 2010, the Yanks signed third baseman Chad Tracy and assigned him to AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre the next day.
  • Bud Selig officially became Commissioner of Baseball in a vote of the owners on July 9, 1998.
  • Larry Dierker of the Astros no-hit the Expos on July 9, 1976, in a 6-0 win. And Tom Seaver threw what became known as his “Imperfect Game” on July 9, 1969, as Cubs player Jimmy Qualls broke up his perfecto with a one-out single in the ninth. The Mets won, 4-0.
  • Even though the Phillies did beat the Dodgers 6-5 on July 9, 1953, Robin Roberts‘s amazing streak of 28 consecutive complete games was broken.
  • The Yankees had a bad day on July 9, 2000. Not only did they lose to the Mets in Shea Stadium, with Mike Hampton beating Andy Pettitte 2-0, but also Shane Spencer damaged his knee, and ended his season, when he stumbled in the Shea Stadium outfield.
  • The A’s beat the Angels 1-0 in 20 innings on July 9, 1971, in the longest shutout in American League history.
  • Lou Gehrig homered in a four-run first against Cleveland in the hottest July 9 on record in New York in 1936, under 100-degrees-plus temps. But it all went downhill from there in an 11-4 defeat. Hal Trosky, Roy Weatherly, and Joe Vosmik all homered in the top of the second, with Trosky (again) and Earl Averill going yard later.
  • July 9 highlights featuring future or former Yankee players include Toby Harrah replacing Bobby Valentine as Texas Rangers manager on this day in 1992; and Felipe Alou hitting two home runs off Sandy Koufax in a 5-2 Atlanta win over the Dodgers on July 9, 1966. This would be the third and last time Koufax was reached for two dingers in the same game by one hitter.
  • On this day in 1996, former Devil Rays, Rockies, Red Sox, et al, hurler Rolando Arrojo defected to the U.S. from Cuba.
  • The Yankees still held a 6.5-game lead after the doubleheader loss to the Red Sox on this day in 1939 by 4-3 and 5-3 scores. Boston had just swept a five-game series.
  • The first draft pick in 1993, current Yankee Alex Rodriguez, stroked his first two major league hits in a Mariners 7-4 victory over the Red Sox on July 9, 1994. He was the youngest player to start in the majors since 1978.
  • The uniform that beloved Yankee star Lou Gehrig wore when he gave his “Luckiest man” speech in the Stadium in 1939 fetched almost half a million dollars in an auction on July 9, 1999.
  • In a sporting environment where the NBA, NHL, and NFL All Star games bear very little resemblance to the way the regular season games are played, I thought the outrage the 7-7 tie in the MLB All Star Game provoked on July 9, 2002, was way over the top. In most years, stars of one team or another don’t play in the game, but Joe Torre and Bob Brenly answered that protest by using all of their players. The result was that they ran out of pitching after 11 innings. Yankee Alfonso Soriano homered in the contest.
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    Players Who Have Died This Day

  • Catcher Aleck Smith (1919) earns the distinction of being the lone Yankee player to have died on July 9 by virtue of the 41 games he played with the 1902 Baltimore Orioles team that would be relocated to New York as the Highlanders the next year. He went 34-for-145 and drove in 21 runs with no home runs for Baltimore, but an 1897-1906 career spent largely with the Bridegrooms and the Superbas yielded overall numbers of one long ball and 130 runs driven in.
  • The list of nonYankee players to have passed this day begins with Hall of Fame Detroit Tiger outfielder and first baseman Harry Heilmann (1951). Heilmann hit 183 roundtrippers good for 1,539 rbi’s between 1914 and 1932. Catcher Ossee Schrenkgost (1914) reached nine fences and knocked in 338 runs playing mostly for the A’s from 1897-1908; and lefty-hitting, righty-throwing hurler Red Lucas (1986) won 157, lost 135, and saved seven games from 1923-1938 pitching more often than not for the Reds and the Pirates. And yet another outfielder/first baseman is the newest entry, as Don Lenhardt (2014) played from 1950 through ’54, mostly with the Browns and Red Sox, contributing 61 home runs and 239 rbi’s during that time. Infielder Sammy Esposito (2018) played most of his 1952-1963 career with the White Sox, but finished with 11 games with Oakland at the end. He hit eight home runs and drove in 73.
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    Players Born This Day

  • There are three Yankee July 9 birthdays, starting with righty Jack Powell (1874), who spent 1904 and 1905 pitching for the Yanks in a career that spanned 1897-1912. He posted a 31-32 win-loss record in New York with one save. Powell arrived in New York via a January 1904 trade that saw the Highlanders send Harry Howell to the St. Louis Browns. The Browns purchased Jack’s contract back in September 1905. Powell won 245 while losing 254 in his career.
  • Tex Clevenger (1932) finished a nine-year stint in the bigs with the 1961 and 1962 Yankees, going 3-1 in 54 games. The Yanks sent Lee Thomas, Ryne Duren, and Johnny James to the Los Angeles Angels for Clevenger and Bob Cerv in May 1961. Tex posted much of his 36-37 record with 30 saves with the Senators.
  • Hector Lopez (1929) spent his last eight years, spanning 1959 through 1966, in the Yankee outfield. There he hit 69 homers with 322 rbi’s, and he was a proven postseason performer. He was acquired with Ralph Terry from the Kansas City Athletics for Johnny Kucks, Tom Sturdivant, and Jerry Lumpe in May 1959, and was released by the Yankees in October 1966.
  • Other birthdays: Infielder Buck Herzog (1929), who hit 20 homers and notched 445 rbi’s playing for the Reds, the Giants, and the Braves from 1908-1920; lefty-hitting catcher Glen Myatt (1929), with 38 taters and 387 rbi’s for the Indians from 1920-1936; Wally Post (1929); Mike Andrews (1943); southpaw George Stone (1946), owner of a 60-57 mark in Atlanta from 1967-1975; Willie Wilson (1955); Guy Hoffman (1956); Tom Evans (1974); Tommy Hottovy (1981); Miguel Montero (1983); Rusney Castillo (1987); Steven Okert (1991); Oscar Hernandez (1993); Jace Fry (1993); James Bourque (1993); Kenny Rosenberg (1995); and Jared Young (1995).