The Yankees battered the Bosox 10-3 in the Stadium on August 14, 2020, with plaudits aplenty to go around. Gerrit Cole allowed one run while going seven, Gleyber Torres went 4-for-4 with two runs scored and two rbi’s, Mike Tauchman knocked in four with three hits while scoring two, and Gary Sanchez homered for two.
On that same August day, the Yankees recalled infielder Thairo Estrada from their Alternate Training Site, after placing outfielder Aaron Judge on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 12, with a right calf strain.
The Yankee battery carried them to a 6-5 victory over the visiting Orioles on August 14, 2019, as Gary Sanchez poked a three-run home run in the first in a three-for-three day with a walk, and J.A. Happ went five for the win. A two-run Mike Ford single in the sixth would be huge, as Baltimore rallied for three runs in the seventh.
A really strong J.A. Happ outing highlighted a 4-1 win over visiting Tampa Bay on August 14, 2018. The newly acquired southpaw went seven innings, allowing just one hit, as the Rays scored their lone run on a Willy Adames homer in the eighth. Miguel Andujar led the offense with two doubles and a run scored.
An unlikely pitching duel between the Mets and Yankees featuring righthanders Miguel Montero and Luis Cessa took place in Yankee Stadium on August 14, 2017. Cessa was recalled from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this day for the start, as lefthander Caleb Smith was optioned to AAA to make roster room. A 2-2 tie was broken when both Aaron Hicks and Gary Sanchez homered in the bottom of the eighth. Filling a role he rarely takes on, Dellin Betances cashed in the 4-2 save. Following her induction into the Hall of Fame two weeks earlier, writer Claire Smith threw out the game’s ceremonial first pitch to get the festivities started.
Despite the positive buzz both from a weekend dedicated to commemorating the Yanks’ 1996 World Series Championship and the addition of a Mariano Rivera plaque to Monument Park, the home team took a 12-3 beating from the visiting Rays on August 14, 2016, largely thanks to a six-run fourth inning against rookie Luis Severino. Much of the offense was supplied by three-run home runs from Corey Dickerson and Nick Franklin, and a Tim Beckham double that plated three runs. On the plus side, all the Yankee runs were driven in on home runs from young Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez.
Not only did the late Bob Sheppard give a tribute to Phil Rizzuto in Yankee Stadium before the August 14, 2007, game with the Orioles after The Scooter had passed away the night before, the number “10” adorned each of the bases as well. But Phil would not have enjoyed the game that followed. Jeff Karstens put the home team in a 5-0 hole through three innings, and reliever Jim Brower showed that a low AAA era can’t be trusted as the O’s jumped on him for six more scores. Daniel Cabrera and two relievers gave up two singles, and the Yanks were blanked 12-0.
The late-arriving return of Alfonso Soriano in the Bronx in 2013 was the highlight of an 11-3 win over Jered Weaver and the Anaheim Angels on August 14, as Sori’s first-inning grand slam and second inning two-run double had the Bombers up 8-0 before you could blink. Ivan Nova pitched into the eighth, Soriano stroked another homer for seven rbi’s (and 13 in two days), and Robinson Cano had four hits in as many tries.
The inestimable Hiroki Kuroda had one of his best Yankee starts against Texas in the Bronx on August 14, 2012, holding the hard-hitting Rangers hitless into the seventh, and blanking them 3-0 on two singles for the complete-game win. And it was a good thing, as his teammates didn’t score until the seventh either, posting all three runs on back-to-back home runs from Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira.
I remember Dick “Dirt” Tidrow more as a reliever, but he had some big starts in the stretch run when the Yanks won their first World Series in 15 years in 1977. Starting on August 14, Dick allowed only two hits through six. The Yankees, meanwhile, amassed 15 safeties in a 15-3 win over the Angels.
And on that same day, the Indians got more hits (18) and one less run off Milwaukee’s Bill Travers, and 14 runs in a 14-5 pasting. The next time one pitcher would be allowed to surrender as many as 14 runs in a game would happen almost exactly 21 years, and the Yankees would supply the lumber. The Bombers beat up on the A’s Mike Oquist for that many runs on August 3, 1998, a highlight I shared in this column 11 days ago.
Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, and Alex Rodriguez each stroked three hits in a 9-3 win, and four-game sweep, over the Rangers on August 14, 2005. Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui knocked in three apiece, while Texas catcher Rod Barajas drove in all three runs for the visitors. Shawn Chacon went five for the win.
Randy Johnson posted his 4,500th career strike out when he got Anaheim DH Tim Salmon swinging in the fourth inning of a 7-2 Yankee win in the Bronx on August 14, 2006. The Yanks got the scoring started in the home third after a Melky Cabrera leadoff double when Derek Jeter responded to the infield-in defense by homering to dead center field. Cabrera, Jeter, and Jorge Posada had three hits apiece, with the Yankee catcher’s last a singleton home run that started a four-run eighth-inning rally.
On August 14, 2002, two American League contests lasted 14 innings. Geronimo Gil‘s two-run homer won one for Baltimore, 6-5, over Minnesota. In the other, Ramiro Mendoza extended his record to 8-3, as Bernie Williams plated the winner on an rbi single in a 3-2 Yankees win over the Royals. Of some note, Kansas City’s Mike Sweeney pulled off a straight steal of home earlier in the game.
Yankees, ex-Yankees, and Yankees-to-be dominated the high (and low) lights of a California 9-5 win over the Yankees on August 14, 1990. Jim Abbott got the win for the Angels, and Luis Polonia ran out a grand slam home run against a leisurely pursuing New York right fielder Jesse Barfield. Polonia’s inside-the-park salami was the 74th in major league history. In case you missed it, let me assure you, “those were not the days,” my friend.
In some late-inning magic for a team that had very little of it at any time, the Yanks beat the White Sox, 3-2, on August 14, 1969, as Horace Clarke tripled in two runs in the ninth and then scored the game winner on a passed ball. Jack Aker won it with Wilbur Wood taking the loss.
Yankee reliever Ryne Duren was victimized by Red Sox first baseman Vic Wertz, who pinch-hit a grand slam off the hard thrower to lead Boston to an 11-6 win on August 14, 1959. Red Sox player Pete Runnels tied a record when he walked twice in the same inning.
You took the good days when you got them as Mickey Mantle‘s career was approaching its end. He hit a homer off Indians lefty Jack Kralick in a doubleheader sweep of the Tribe by the Yanks on this day in 1966, 7-3 and 6-4, but injured a knee that kept him out for the next two weeks. The Indians helped beat themselves that day, by the way, by committing six errors in one inning of the second game.
Six years earlier, Mickey Mantle had a tougher day. Apparently thinking there were two outs, he did not run hard on a grounder. As he jogged to first, the Bombers lost Roger Maris as he hurt his ribs trying to break up the double play. Mantle was booed during that 6-3 loss to Washington in the nightcap, once the Yanks had already dropped the opener 5-4 to pitcher Camilo Pascual‘s grand slam.
Derek Jeter homered on Joe Kennedy‘s second pitch of the night in a rainy, drawn-out ballgame in Yankee Stadium on this day in 2001, and Tino Martinez closed the Yankee scoring with a three-run jack in the fifth of a 5-4 Yankees win over Tampa Bay.
David Cone could not get four outs before all the damage in the second inning of a 5-3 loss to the Twins on August 14, 1999. Cone almost escaped after Chuck Knoblauch‘s miscue on Terry Steinbach‘s ground ball leading off, but two-out singles from Jacque Jones, Denny Hocking, and Todd Walker plated four to beat the Yanks.
The Yankees vanquished Detroit 5-4 in Tiger Stadium on August 14, 1919, despite the fact that catcher Muddy Ruel bounced into a triple play.
On August 14, 2021, the Yankees signed free agent righthander Sal Romano to a minor league contract.
The Yankees cut final ties with lefty reliever Mike Myers on August 14, 2007, when they gave him his release.
The Tigers’ doubleheader sweep over the Yanks on August 14, 1934, extended their win streak to 14, and Detroit hurler Schoolboy Rowe won his 13th straight. After the 9-5 and 7-3 wins this day, however, the Yanks ended the streak the next day.
Mike Schmidt of the Phillies stroked his 300th career home run off Mike Scott on August 14, 1981, in a 4-2 win over the Mets.
On Charlie Gehringer Day in Detroit on August 14, 1929, the popular second sacker was a one-man wrecking crew in a 17-13 Tigers win over the visiting Yankees. He handled 10 batted balls, hit three singles and a home run, and stole home.
When the Yankees beat the A’s 11-2 on August 14, 1942, they turned a major-league record seven double plays. Three were started by Phil Rizzuto and Joe Gordon up the middle; third baseman Red Rolfe triggered one; reliever Johnny Murphy initiated another; and Bill Dickey threw out two would-be base stealers following strike outs.
The Yankees signed free agent outfielder Daniel Aldrich on August 14, 2012.
On August 14, 2019, the Yankees optioned righthander Adonis Rosa to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders; and designated righty Brady Lail for assignment. The team also recalled infielder Thairo Estrada from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre; and claimed righthander Ryan Dull off waivers from the Giants.
Bob Gibson no-hit the Pirates 11-0 on August 14, 1971. He walked three, struck out 10, and even chipped in with three rbi’s.
Former Yankee outfielder Dave Winfield spurred the Angels to a 7-4 win over the Twins when he hit his 400th career home run on August 14, 1991.
When Padre (and former Yankee prospect) Fred McGriff hit a grand slam for the second consecutive game in a 4-1 win over the Astros on that same 1991 day, he became the 12th player — but just third National Leaguer — to perform the feat. Yankee immortal Babe Ruth is still the only one to do it twice.
The Tigers had a huge day in a doubleheader sweep of the Browns, setting a scoring record of 36 runs in the 16-1 and 20-7 wins on August 14, 1937. They were in second place all by themselves, but 10 big games behind the Yankees.
Cleveland Indian (and one-time Yankee prospect) Vic Power stole only three bases during the 1958 season, but two occurred on August 14 as he stole home both in the eight and the 10th innings of a 10-9 win over the Tigers.
Former Yankee announcer Bill White, a major league vet who never played for the Yankees, hit for the cycle in the first of two games, both of which his Cards lost to the Pirates, on August 14, 1960. And when recent Yankee starter Randy Johnson threw a one-hitter to beat Oakland 4-0 for Seattle on this day in 1991, one-time Yankee Mike Gallego got the lone hit.
The Philadelphia Phillies lost their 17th consecutive game on this day in 1961.
Players Who Have Died This Day
Righty-throwing, lefty-hitting Lynn McGlothlen (1984) is one of three Yankee players to have died August 14 by virtue of the four-game (no starts) stint he had to end his career in the Bronx in 1982. He had pitched mostly for the Cubs, the Cards, the Red Sox, and the Giants from 1972-1981 to an 86-93-2 record. Outfielder Tim Hendryx (1957) cleared five fences good for 60 rbi’s while playing 153 games for the Yanks from 1915-1917 in the middle of a 1911-1921 career in which he also played with the Indians, the Browns, and the Red Sox, resulting in overall numbers of six long balls and 192 runs driven in. Hall of Fame lefty-hitting outfielder Joe Kelley (1943) makes the list by virtue of the 60 games he played for the 1902 Baltimore Orioles, the team that would be moved to New York and renamed the Highlanders the next season. Kelley hit one home run with 34 rbi’s then, and 65 with 1,194 rbi’s in his 1891-1908 career spent largely with the old National League Orioles team, and the Reds and the Dodgers too.
Hall of Fame shortstop Pee Wee Reese (1999), who hit all of his 126 home runs with 885 rbi’s for the Dodgers from 1940-1958, is the first of many nonYankee noteworthy players who have died this day. Lefty-hitting shortstop Charlie Hollocher (1940) hit all of his 14 long balls with 241 runs driven in from 1918-1924 for the Cubs; catcher Tommy Clarke (1945) hit most of his six roundtrippers and knocked in 191 runs for the Reds from 1909-1917; righthander Phil Collins (1948) won 80, lost 85, and saved 24 mostly for the Phillies from 1923-1935; and lefty-hitting outfielder Fred Clarke (1960) cleared 67 fences and drove in 1,015 for the Colonels and the Pirates from 1894-1915. Catcher Spud Davis (1984) hit 77 roundtrippers good for 647 rbi’s playing more often than not with the Phillies, the Pirates, and the Cardinals from 1928-1945; lefty-hitting outfielder Pat Mullin (1999) hit 87 home runs and pushed across 385 runs only for the Tigers from 1940-1953; and lefty Ken Heintzelman (2000) posted a 77-98-10 record with the Pirates and the Phillies from 1937-1952. Lefthanded first baseman George Kernek (2022) played 30 games with St. Louis in 1965-1966; he hit no home runs with six rbi’s.
Players Born This Day
Jim Mason (1950) from the World Series-losing 1976 team is one of nine Yanks born on August 14. The Yankees got Mason from the Texas Rangers in December 1973, and lost him to the Blue Jays in the 1976 expansion draft. In between Jim hit eight home runs and notched 67 rbi’s in Pinstripes, and is remembered for once stroking four doubles in the same game.
Outfielder Jim Pisoni (1929) notched only one rbi during 37 games for the 1959 and 1960 Yankees. He arrived in New York from Kansas City with Ryne Duren and Harry Simpson in a trade for Billy Martin, Ralph Terry, Woodie Held, and Bob Martyn in June 1957. Pisoni was lost to the Milwaukee Braves in the 1958 rule-V draft.
Bill Reynolds‘s (1884) only major league service was in nine games as the Yankee catcher in 1913 and 1914. Lefty first baseman Babe Borton (1888) was Reynolds’s teammate when he played 33 games for the 1913 club, recording 11 rbi’s. The Yanks acquired Borton, who hit four long balls with 136 rbi’s in his career, with Rollie Zeider from the Chicago White Sox in June 1913 for Hal Chase.
Second baseman Edwin Rodriguez (1960) went 3-for-9 with one rbi in the Bronx in 1982. A 1980 Yankees amateur free agent signing, Rodriguez was traded with Dennis Rasmussen to the Padres for John Montefusco in September 1983. The 22-30 record and 45 saves of righty Joe Grahe (1967) came with the Angels, the Rockies, and the Phillies from 1990-1995 and in 1999, but the Bombers purchased Grahe’s contract from the Atlantic League Nashua Pride in July 1998, only to release him that December.
One of a flurry of trade deadline moves in 2014 was Brian Cashman‘s acquisition of Esmil Rogers (1985) off waivers from the Blue Jays. Serving mostly as a long man, Esmil appeared in 18 games for that team, posting a 2-0 record, and in another 18 games for the 2015 team, as of this writing. He went 1-1. Pitching mostly for the Rockies from 2009, Rogers has posted a 19-22 big league record, appearing in 210 games, 43 of them starts.
The most recent addition to this list is righthander Giovanny Gallegos (1991), whom the Yankees signed as a free agent in 2011, and who made the club in 2017 after a nice showing in Spring Training. Gallegos suffered one loss in 16 appearances with the 2017 Yankees, and cashed in one save in four ’18 games before being traded to St. Louis with Chasen Shreve for Luke Voit and international bonus slot money just before the July 31 trade deadline in the latter season. Gallegos has flourished in St. Louis, going 18-20 with 43 saves since.
Born this day in 1995, righthander Stephen Ridings, who was drafted by the Cubs in 2016, opened some eyes pitching in five games out of the Yankee pen in 2021. Slowed by injuries since, Stephen initially, at least, failed to recover, was selected off waivers by the Mets in 2022, then released in 2023.
Lefthander Josh Maciejewki (2000) was drafted by the Yankees in the 10th round of the 2018 amateur draft. He has pitched to a decent era in four 2024 games (no starts), going seven innings having allowed two earned runs and posting seven Ks, giving much needed rest to other members of the ’24 bullpen.
Other birthdays: Hall of Fame Orioles Manager (and bane to Yankee fans) Earl Weaver (1930); White Sox hurler Joel Horlen (1937); Tigers starter (and breath of fresh air for the game) for a brief time Mark “The Bird” Fidrych (1954); Don Carman (1959); Mark Gubicza (1962); Mark Loretta (1971); McKay Christensen (1975); Juan Pierre (1977); Scott Chiasson (1977); Leo Nunez (1983); Clay Buchholz (1984); Chris Valaiika (1985); Jeremy Hazelbaker (1987); David Peralta (1987); Alex Liddi (1988); Chris Rowley (1990); Dylan Covey (1991); Josh Bell (1992); TJ Friedl (1995); Cade Cavalli (1998); Joe Boyle (1999); Johan Rojas (2000); and Colt Keith (2001).
