Three of the Yankees’ runs in a 4-1 win over visiting Cleveland on April 22, 2022, came across on two Aaron Judge home runs, but this was not to be an “All Rise” Day, but rather a coronation. Relieving Jameson Taillon to start the sixth inning, Michael King would strike out eight Guardian hitters through the eighth, seven of them in a row. Continue reading →
Let’s start April 21’s highlights with a thought about that fireplug player and oftentimes Yankee manager, Billy Martin. Billy has been accused of being feisty, a disrupter, of burning out pitching staffs, of many other things. But he won often, handling several different teams. This day in 1977 he reacted to a 2-8 slump in the previous 10 games by throwing up his hands in despair and choosing the day’s lineup by drawing players’ names out of a hat. First baseman Chris Chambliss was buried in the eight hole, but he drove in five runs with two doubles and a homer in an 8-6 Yankee win. Continue reading →
On a day with plenty of Yankee exploits, the one that stands out to this Yankee fan is that April 20, 1961, is the day the beloved, the awesome, the best (perhaps?) Yankee, was born. Happy Birthday, Don Mattingly, former Yankee hitting coach and bench coach, now Marlins manager, who unfortunately departed with Joe Torre as Joe Girardi took over as manager. The Hitman stroked 222 jacks and drove in 1,099 runs from 1982-1995, all of it with the team that plays its ball in the South Bronx. Having managed the LA Dodgers for a few years, Donnie was hired as the manager in Miami in 2016. Continue reading →
Clarke Schmidt was reached for nothing but a Richie Palacios sixth-inning solo shot on April 19, 2024, but he failed to get the W in a 5-3 Yankee victory over the visiting Rays because all five home team runs came in the bottom of the seventh, a rally punctuated by a Juan Soto three-run jack. Continue reading →
Happy Birthday to us. Yankee Stadium opened this day, as the Yanks beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1 on April 18, 1923, behind the pitching of Bob Shawkey over Howard Ehmke, and on Babe Ruth‘s three-run home run. It must have been some party; 74,000-plus were in attendance. It was a particularly poignant anniversary in 2008, and was so again in 2009. Continue reading →
It’s hard to imagine a much bigger day in Yankee history than April 17, 1951. Sure, Babe Ruth certainly performed some pretty historic feats years earlier. But on this day, as the Yankees opened at home and Vic Raschi shut out the Red Sox, 5-0, Mickey Mantle played his first Yankee game, had one hit and scored a run. And if that’s not enough, it was also the debut of Stadium public address announcer Bob Sheppard, The Voice of God to Yankee fans. Unfortunately, we finally lost Mr. Sheppard in 2010. Continue reading →
Although DJ LeMahieu Gets props for having driven in both runs (with a hit-and-run single and a home run), the April 16, 2023 2-0 victory over visiting Minnesota on April 16, 2023, belongs solely to Yankee ace Gerrit Cole, who used 108 dominant pitches to turn in the 2-0 complete-game shutout. His eighth-inning strike out of Donovan Solano gave him 23 double-digit strike outs with the Yankees, tying him with Ron Guidry for that mark. Continue reading →
Home runs from Kyle Higashioka, Anthony Rizzo, and Giancarlo Stanton carried the offense in the Yankees’ 6-1 win over the visiting Twins on April 15, 2013, but the hero of this one was righthander Domingo German, who set down the first 16 Minnesota batters on his way to striking out 11 into one out in the seventh inning. Michael King retired eight of nine to finish up. Continue reading →
Manager Aaron Boone was “greeted” with some lusty “boo”s following a 4-3 loss to visiting Minnesota on April 14, 2023. Young righty Jhony Brito was masterful through seven innings, though that he was tiring could be seen by the solo home runs he allowed to the “hated” Carlos Correa and Kyle Garlick in the sixth and seventh. Still, up 3-2 on Anthony Volpe (batting leadoff this day) and Aaron Judge homers in the first, and a Giancarlo Stanton blast later, Boone brought in closer Clay Holmes early, in the eighth, and a double, single, and Correa double turned the tables, 4-3 Twins. Continue reading →
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.‘s third homer of the day carried the visiting Jays to a 6-4 victory over the Yankees in the Stadium on April 13, 2022. Back-to-back Anthony Rizzo and Aaron Judge home runs in the fifth were not enough to overcome Vlad’s big day. Continue reading →
