May 10 in Yankee History

  • 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.
  • The Yanks seemed to be in the catbird seat in the Stadium on May 10, 2016, when they took an early 5-3 lead, largely on a Didi Gregorius three-run double, with ace Masahiro Tanaka on the mound, but one home run from Kansas City’s Alex Gordon and two from Lorenzo Cain gave the visitors a lead. But the Yanks came storming back on late rbi’s from Brian McCann and Dustin Ackley and, featuring nine pitches thrown 100 mph or better, Aroldis Chapman made the 10-7 lead stand up.
  • The Yanks almost clawed their way out of a deficit to visiting Boston with a late four-run rally for the second straight day on May 10, 2018, but once they pushed across four in the seventh to tie it, J/D. Martinez homered off Dellin Betances in the eighth to carry the Bosox to a 5-4 victory.
  • Yankee ace CC Sabathia outpitched fellow southpaw ace David Price in a 5-3 Yankee win over Tampa in Yankee Stadium on May 10, 2012. Interestingly, it was pinstriped lefty batters who did the most damage against Price, on a two-run home run from Robinson Cano and a singleton shot from Curtis Granderson. Team Captain Derek Jeter had his 10,000th career at bat in the home sixth inning.
  • Derek Jeter drove in a run and scored one, and Alex Rodriguez provided the rest of the offense with a two-run single as Freddy Garcia bested Kyle Davies and the Royals 3-1 in Yankee Stadium on May 10, 2011. The Yanks had the early lead until ex-pinstriper Melky Cabrera homered to tie it in the fourth inning.
  • It was a matter of pride to the Yankees, and a cause for celebration to their fans. The fans feasted on the gossip wires first as Oakland A’s outfielder Jose Canseco was photographed leaving pop diva Madonna‘s New York apartment on May 10, 1991. And then the team and the fans celebrated together, as the Yanks broke a 16-game losing streak to the A’s that evening via a 5-3 win.
  • Back on this day in 1936, the Yanks beat the A’s (Philly A’s at the time) 7-2 to take over first place. It was Joe DiMaggio‘s first ever home game in Yankee Stadium, and he homered, while Johnny Murphy, who really made his name in the Yankee pen, got the win in his first start of the year. The Yanks would hold onto first for the rest of the season.
  • The Yankee bullpen took another hit on May 10, 2008, when the team placed righty reliever Jonathan Albaladejo on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right elbow ligament. As usual, they recalled righthander Chris Britton from AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to fill the spot. The news on Albaladejo was not good, and he soon had season-ending surgery.
  • The Yanks pulled out a nailbiter over the Royals behind David Wells in a 3-2 win on May 10, 1997. The Royals used Chili Davis and Joe Vitiello (pinch-hitting for Johnny Damon) singles sandwiched around a Jermaine Dye double to plate two and knot things up in the top of the eighth, but Derek Jeter singled in leadoff hitter Tim Raines, who had walked and stolen second base, in the bottom half. Mariano Rivera chalked up the save. In a bit of comic relief, Yankee first sacker Tino Martinez crawled to first to nail the speedy Damon on a shot down the first base line to close out the visiting sixth inning.
  • Chien-Ming Wang had a rare bad start on May 10, 2007, allowing 11 hits and seven runs into the seventh inning. Southpaw reliever Sean Henn suffered through a forgettable seven-run eighth inning in the 14-2 Texas win, culminating in former Met Victor Diaz‘s grand slam home run.
  • And on May 10, 1959, Mickey Mantle homered in the first game and singled and scored the winning run in the 10th inning of the second as the Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Senators in New York, 6-3 and 3-2.
  • On May 10, 2019, the Yankees sent center fielder Aaron Hicks on a rehab assignment to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
  • In another doubleheader on that same 1959 day, Cubs reliever Elmer Singleton got the win and Cardinals bullpen guy (and future Yankee) Lindy McDaniel took the loss in the first game. They then reversed those roles in the nightcap, with McDaniel and Singleton garnering the win and loss, respectively.
  • The surgery to remove the aneurysm from David Cone‘s right arm took place on this day in 1996.
  • The handwriting was already on the wall by the time the Yanks sent righty reliever Felix Rodriguez to the 15-day disabled list with a torn medial meniscus in his left knee on May 10, 2005. It was clear that the knee wasn’t the only problem with the hard thrower. He was wild before the injury, and also when he returned afterward.
  • Herb Pennock was the beneficiary as Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth hit back-to-back homers on May 10, 1926 in a 13-9 win over Detroit.
  • Shortstop Christian Guzman gave the Yanks yet another little reminder that they had traded him away as he helped build the winning run in a 5-4, 10-inning Twins victory in the Stadium on May 10, 2001. A.J. Pierzynski started things in the fateful inning with a one-out double, and moved to third on Guzman’s base knock. Even though Mariano Rivera stiffened and retired the last two on a strike out and bouncer to first, the Twins catcher scored the winner on Joe Oliver‘s passed ball.
  • More Red Sox players made the headlines than Bombers from a May 10, 1953, tilt with the New Yorkers, but the bottom line belonged to Yankee Vic Raschi, who got the 7-4 win in his first relief appearance in two years by limiting the Sox to three hits over four frames. In subplots, Billy Goodman was lost to the Sox with a rib injury for three weeks when Jimmy Piersall lifted and carried him away from an argument with home plate ump Jim Duffy, and Del Wilber hit his second consecutive pinch home run in the eighth inning.
  • It was the Red Sox’s turn for victory on this day in 1946, when the Yankee offense was limited to a Joe DiMaggio grand slam. Earl Johnson picked up the Boston 5-4 win with four innings of relief in front of a huge Mothers Day crowd in Yankee Stadium.
  • In the third of four Red Sox/Yankees May 10 tilts in today’s report, the Bombers took no prisoners in an 18-3 humiliation over Boston, keyed by Hank Bauer‘s 5-for-6 on the day in 1952. The Sox did have a moment as they tied a record with 10 assists in the fifth inning.
  • It was Boston’s turn on May 10, 1965, as Carl Yastrzemski‘s two homers and sac fly overcame Mickey Mantle‘s 3-for-4 with a homer in Fenway Park, 3-2. The Mick doubled to bring the New Yorkers close with two down in the ninth, but Dick Radatz relieved Jim Lonborg (who was about to record his first career win) and got the final out.
  • On that same day in 1965, the Yanks swapped infielder Pedro Ramos for first baseman Ray Barker of the Indians, in an attempt to replace some of the offense lost due to Roger Maris‘s injury.
  • The Tigers were off to a torrid start much like the one in 1984 when they raced out to a 21-2 record in 1911, but the Yanks handed them their first home loss of the year and made George Mullin a loser for the first time that season in a 6-2, May 10, New York win.
  • It was Mickey Mantle‘s year in 1956, even if Cleveland’s Bob Lemon carried the day in a May 10, 7-2 victory over the home-standing Yanks. Mantle hit a solo homer, singled twice and doubled, bringing his batting average to a lofty .425.
  • Once Chicago’s Larry Rosenthal reached Monte Pearson for a one-out first inning single on May 10, 1937, it was all Yanks. A double play closed the frame, Pearson would not allow another hit, and the 6-0 Yankee win was largely forged by Joe DiMaggio‘s first two homers of the campaign and George Selkirk‘s fifth.
  • And on this day in 1913 the Yanks beat the Tigers 10-9 despite making eight errors.
  • On May 10, 2021, the Yankees optioned third baseman Miguel Andujar to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
  • On May 10, 2022, the Yankees signed free agent righthander Sabier Marte to a minor league contract.
  • Trying to recover from early-season injuries, the Yankees sent third baseman Brandon Drury on a rehab assignment to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on May 10, 2018. And in the same vein, the club sent first baseman Greg Bird and outfielder Billy McKinney on rehab assignments to the Tampa Tarpons.
  • Having removed him from the 40-man roster, the Yankees outrighted Kevin Russo to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on May 10, 2011.
  • When Roy Campanella surpassed 40 rbi’s in his first 30 games on May 10, 1953, the mark stood alone until Tino Martinez equaled it in 1997. And when the Angels routed the White Sox in a 19-0 laugher on May 10, 2002, they joined the 1923 Indians, the 1939 Yankees, and the 1950 Red Sox as the fourth team to ever beat two different opponents by 19 runs in the same season. They had spanked the Indians, 21-2, earlier.
  • The Yankees sent out one young righthander whose tenure with the team would end in early 2011, and replaced him with one who would have a bigger future on the club, on May 10, 2010, when they optioned Romulo Sanchez to AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and recalled Ivan Nova from AAA.
  • Among May 10 items of interest involving future or former Yankee players is the broken bone in his leg eventual Hall of Famer Wee Willie Keeler suffered while sliding in Brooklyn’s second straight last-inning, come-from-behind win over the Giants on this day in 1893. And on May 10, 2000, Rickey Henderson became the 21st player to garner a 10,000th at bat in a 13-9 Mets loss to the Pirates.
  • And in the same category, Ricky Bones of the Marlins achieved a dubious distinction on May 10. Bones, you may not recall, pitched briefly with the Yanks in 1996 when he was received from the Brewers as compensation because the Milwaukee club had sent damaged goods in Pit Listach to the Yanks in a trade involving Gerald Williams, Bob Wickman, and Graeme Lloyd. (With a broken foot, Listach would never play again.) Bones failed to make a start on this day in 2000 when he injured his lower back watching TV in a clubhouse recliner.
  • Despite a nasty cold by this beloved Yankee hero, Lou Gehrig was the driving force behind the 13-3 New York victory over the White Sox on May 10, 1934. The seven rbi’s came via two homers (one a grand slam) and two doubles before Lou left after five. On the minus side of the Yankee ledger, however, was the behavior of outfielder Ben Chapman, who shouted racial epithets at a Jewish fan during the game. Coaching the Phillies 13 years later, Chapman sadly was a leader among those bigots who made things tough for Jackie Robinson in 1947.
  • Marking the flip side of that slice of baseball history is the May 10, 1949, death of long-time Cardinals owner Sam Breadon. Without the staunch support of this fine St. Louis native, Robinson’s history-making breaking of the color line in major league baseball could never have happened.
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    Players Who Have Died This Day

  • Righthander George McConnell (1964) is the lone Yankee player to have died on May 10. He pitched 60 games (41 starts) to a 12-28 record with three saves while debuting with New York in 1909, 1912-1913. After pitching mostly for the Cubs from 1914-1916, the numbers grew to 41-54-4.
  • There are two righthanded pitchers among four notable non-Yankee players to have died this day, and lefty-hitting outfielder Jimmy Slagle (1956) too. Playing mostly for the Cubs from 1899-1908, Slagle reached two fences and knocked in 344 runs. Ed Stein (1928) won 109, lost 78, and saved three games with the Colts and the Bridegrooms from 1890-1898; and Ed Willett (1934) posted a 102-99 record with five saves for the Tigers and the St. Louis Terriers from 1906-1915. And switch-hitting, righty throwing right fielder Richie Scheinblum (2021) played with Cleveland from 1965-1969, with Anaheim in 1973 and 1974, and with Kansas City in 1972, 1974, plus three other stops. He hit 13 home runs with 127 rbi’s.
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    Players Born This Day

  • Fans who used to delight to the chants of “1918” in Yankee Stadium might be surprised to learn that the field boss who led the Sox to that last moment of glory (for a lo-o-ong time) was Ed Barrow (1868), the first Yankee May 10 birthday we acknowledge. Aside from being behind the history-making move of Babe Ruth from the pitcher’s mound to the outfield, Barrow dominated a Yankee front office from 1921 to 1945 that first brought the team to the World Championship stage once he bolted his position as Sox manager for the title of business manager with the Yankees in 1920. His Yankee teams won 14 American League pennants and 10 World Championships.
  • The only May 10 birthday belonging to a guy who played with the Yankees is that of lefty thrower John Cumberland (1947). Cumberland fashioned a 3-4 record in the Bronx once he was picked up in 1967 from the Phillies and before he was traded to the Giants for Mike McCormick in July 1970. He appeared in 18 games with the Yanks, eight of them starts, and closed out his career with brief stints in San Fran, in St. Louis, and in California with the Angels.
  • Although lefty-hitting catcher Merritt Ranew (1938) never played in the Pinstripes, he spent time with the team too. His career netted eight homers and 54 rbi’s with the 1969 Seattle Pilots, once they acquired him from the Yankees with whom he had spent the previous season in the minor leagues.
  • Other May 10 birthdays: White Sox righty Ted Blankenship (1901), who posted a 77-79 mark in the ’20s; Jim Hickman (1937); Ken Berry (1941); Tim Hosley (1947); Joey Meyer (1962); Pete Schourek (1969); Bobby Smith (1974); Tony Alvarez (1979); Craig Brazell (1980); George Kottaras (1983); Edward Mujica (1984); Kameron Mickolio (1984); Luis Atilano (1985); Matt Tuiasosopo (1986); Luke Putkonen (1986); Brayan Villarreal (1987); Ryan Jackson (1988); Salvador Perez (1990); Pierce Johnson (1991); JaCoby Jones (1992); P.J. Higgins (1993); A.J. Reed (1993); Lucas Sims (1994); Andrew Young (1994); and Nolan Gorman (2000).