If there were a few Yankee fans too shy to yell “R-R-A-A-U-U-U-L-L-!-!-!” before October 10, 2012, his exploits that night probably put them over the top. With Baltimore’s Miguel Gonzalez barely outpitching Hiroki Kuroda, the 2-1 lead the O’s took to the ninth had them set to take that same lead in games in the five-game ALDS, after the teams had split two in Baltimore. But Joe Girardi made the controversial call and pinch hit Raul Ibanez for Alex Rodriguez with one down, and Raul tied it with a homer to right off Jim Johnson. And three innings later, Ibanez sent 50,000-plus home happy by homering off Brian Matusz for the 3-2 Yankee win.

The Yankees, never a ballclub to hesitate when they suspect decisive action is called for, announced that they had signed Joe McCarthy to manage the team for four years on October 10, 1930. Available after the Cubs failed to sign him a year after he had led them to a pennant, McCarthy would lead the Bronx-based club to eight pennants and seven World Championships by the time he resigned in 1946.

It may have been the playoff-tough Orlando “el duque” Hernandez‘s signature start when he four-hit the Indians 4-0 to even the 1998 ALCS at two games apiece on October 10 of that year. The Duke went seven, and Mike Stanton and Mariano Rivera finished up.

When the Yankees lost the second game of the 1996 ALCS to Baltimore, 5-3, on October 10 of that season, it was to another habitual playoff game winner, as would become apparent as time went by. David Wells triumphed for the Orioles in that Series-knotting game, and Rafael Palmeiro hit a key seventh-inning home run.

The Yanks seemed on their way to the clincher on October 10, 2005, with an early lead on the Angels until tragedy struck. When Gary Sheffield and Bubba Crosby collided on Adam Kennedy‘s liner into the gap it went for a two-run triple. The tiniest of silver linings in the 5-3 ALDS-clinching loss was that Randy Johnson, who had pitched poorly in his only start, was very effective in relief.

On October 10, 1920, Cleveland shortstop Bill Wambsganss recorded the only unassisted triple play in World Series history.

During few of the Yankee Highlanders years was the team very competitive, but they came close in 1904, the second year of the franchise. A two-game sweep of a twin bill with the Boston Pilgrims on October 10 of that year would have given the New Yorkers the pennant, but they lost the first game, 3-2, when a Jack Chesbro wild pitch plated the game-winner. The 1-0 Highlanders win in Game Two was a case of too little, too late.

One of the few October days the Kansas City Royals liked to play the Yankees was the 10th. They evened the ALCS with a 7-3 win over the Bombers in 1976 behind 5.7 innings of scoreless relief from Paul Splittorff.

Kansas City avenged the Yankees’ string of ALCS victories over them in three straight years ending in 1978 on October 10, 1980, when George Brett‘s three-run dinger in the seventh off Goose Gossage gave the Royals a 4-2 win and a three-game sweep.

In a bizarre incident, Roger Clemens was ejected from an Red Sox/A’s ALCS tilt for cursing at home plate ump Terry Cooney from the mound on October 10, 1990. Oakland beat Boston 3-1.

During the strange extra level of playoffs due to the 1981 work stoppage, Milwaukee beat the Yankees 2-1 on a cold day in New York on October 10, 1981. The two teams thereby split the first four games.

Yankee owner George Steinbrenner was fined $50,000 on October 10 for criticizing the work of the umpires in Seattle’s ALDS win over the Yanks in the 1995 five-gamer that had just finished up.

The Yanks lost playoff games on October 10 in both 2000 and 2001. In the former, Freddy Garcia shut them out 2-0, as Seattle took the opener of the ALCS, and Ken Griffey, Jr., went yard. In the latter, the Bombers fell to the A’s in the first match of the 2001 ALDS, 5-3. Mark Mulder got the win, Johnny Damon had four hits, and Terrence Long homered twice and Jason Giambi once.

The Jackson Five sang the National Anthem before a Baltimore/Cincinnati World Series game on October 10, 1970.

Babe Ruth shocked the Giants by reaching on a bunt in the fourth inning of a 1-1 World Series game on October 10, 1921. He would score on a Bob Meusel double, Meusel would in turn cross the plate on a sac fly, and the Yanks won the game, 3-1.

The Yanks lost the first-ever World Series game played in Yankee Stadium on October 10, 1923, when a ninth-inning 4-4 tie with the Giants was broken with veteran Casey Stengel legging out an inside-the-park home run. It was also the first time the same two opponents had faced one another in the Classic for three seasons running.

Grover Alexander of the Cardinals saved a 3-2 win over the Yanks on this day in 1926 when Babe Ruth was caught trying to steal second base in the ninth inning to end the game, and the Series.

The Yanks won the clincher in the 1937 Series over the Giants 4-2 behind Lefty Gomez on October 10. Gomez also stroked the game-winning hit, and the Bombers set a record by being the first team to win a Series without ever making an error in the match.

Barely used during the season, lefty thrower Marius Russo pitched and batted the Yanks to a 2-1 Series win over St Louis on October 10, 1943.

In Joe DiMaggio‘s last game, Hank Bauer‘s bases-loaded triple carried the Yanks to a 4-3 victory over the Giants on this day in 1951, and the Pinstripers won their third straight Championship.

Yogi Berra belted a pair of two-run jacks and Moose Skowron added a grand slam in the 9-0 win over the Dodgers that clinched the 1956 Series. Johnny Kucks pitched the shutout on October 10.

Lew Burdette bested the Bombers for the third time in the 1957 World Series on October 10, blanking them 5-0 to wrap the seven-gamer up. He was taking the flu-stricken Warren Spahn‘s place on two days’ rest. It was Burdette’s third complete game and second shutout of the Series.

The Pirates went ahead, three games to two, when Bill Mazeroski doubled in two on October 10, 1960, in a 5-2 win over the Bombers. Harvey Haddix won it with Roy Face picking up his second consecutive save.

Tom Tresh‘s three-run homer off Jack Sanford on this day in 1962 carried the Yankees and Ralph Terry to a 5-3 win over San Fran. It was probably the biggest hit of Kubek’s career.

The Yanks battled the Cards to a 1-1 tie after eight innings on October 10, 1964, behind Jim Bouton and Curt Simmons, respectively. Then Mickey Mantle homered off Barney Schultz‘s first pitch in the ninth to win it for the Bombers.

On October 10, 2022, the Yankees recalled left fielder Tim Locastro from the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

On October 10, 2020, Albert Abreu, Luis Gil, Domingo German, Brooks Kriske, Thairo Estrada, and Estevan Florial had their roster status changed by the Yankees. The team also activated third baseman Miguel Andujar; catchers Erik Kratz and Wynston Sawyer; and righthanders Luis Medina, Clarke Schmidt, and Miguel Yajure.

On October 10, 2018, the Yankees recalled Thairo Estrada from the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders; and righthanded pitchers Domingo Acevedo and Albert Abreu from the AA Trenton Thunder.

On October 10, 2016, the Yankees sent third baseman Donovan Solano outright to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, and also activated first baseman Greg Bird from the 60-day disabled list.

On October 10, 2013, the Yankees signed free agent righthander Jose Baez to a minor league contract.

When Yankees Alberto Castillo and Mike Thurman elected free agency on October 10, 2002, it effectively ended each player’s time in Pinstripes.

It is in honor of Derek Jeter‘s 5-for-5 game in the 2006 ALDS that we select catcher Mike Stanley in the October 10 feature involving a one time Yankee in another uni. Mike got five hits in a 23-7 Boston win over Cleveland on this day in the 1999 ALDS.

One of the more intriguing groups of ballplayers in baseball history were the “Go Go” Sox of the 1950s. Their era was ushered in when the White Sox hired Paul Richards as their manager on October 10, 1950. In 1951 they would add 80 steals to their league-low 1950 figure of 19.

 
Players Who Have Died This Day

All three Yankee players who have died on October 10 were pitchers, two righthanders and southpaw Russ Van Atta (1986), who debuted in the bigs by throwing 59 games (31 starts) for the 1933-1935 Yankees. His 15-9-1 record in New York became an overall 33-41-6 once his 1935-1939 stint with the Browns was added in. Interestingly, Walter Clarkson (1946) also debuted in New York (from 1904-1907), and he threw exactly 59 games (26 starts) too. Clarkson’s 14-10-1 record for the Highlanders was very Van-Atta-like as well, and it finished at 18-16-1 once Walter threw 19 games for Cleveland in 1907-1908. Louis LeRoy (1944) got his start in New York too, but he pitched less than the other two. LeRoy won three, lost one, and saved one pitching 14 games (five starts) for the 1905-1906 Highlanders; his one game for the 1910 Red Sox did not change that record.

Of the six noteworthy nonYankee players to have passed this day, three pitched, two from the port side, and three were position players. Lefthander (obviously) Lefty Leifield (1970) won 124 games, lost 97, and saved seven for the 1905-1912 Pirates, the 1912-1913 Cubs, and the 1918-1920 Browns; and righty Johnny Klippstein (2003) pitched five years each of his 1950-1967 career with the Twins and the Dodgers, for whom he posted an overall 101-118-66 mark. Catcher/first baseman Patsy Gharrity (1966) played only for Washington from 1916-1923 and 1929-1930, and hit 20 home runs with 249 rbi’s; and portsided outfielder Wally Moses (1990) cleared 89 fences and drove in 679 runs from 1935-1941 and 1949-1951 with the A’s, from 1942-1946 with the White Sox, and from 1946-1948 with the Red Sox. Finally, the career of switch-hitting third baseman Ken Caminiti (2004) is sadly entwined with the steroids controversies of the turn of the recent century. Playing 10 years for Houston and four years for San Diego from 1987-2000, Caminiti hit 239 home runs and drove in 983 runs. Southpaw Dick Ellsworth (2022) pitched with 1958-1966 Cubs, the 1968-1969 Red Sox, the 1969-1970 Indians, and the 1970-1971 Brewers, with one other stop, to a 115-137 mark with five saves. He did so in 407 games, 310 of them starts.

 
Players Born This Day

Until 2018, the only ballplayer with any Yankee experience on his resume born on October 10 was righthander Bobby Tiefenauer (1929), who arrived in the Bronx from the Milwaukee Braves in June 1965, and moved onto the Cleveland Indians that August, both of the moves in unclear transactions. While with the Yanks, Tiefenauer won one, lost one, and saved two in 10 appearances. Playing parts of seasons also with the Cardinals, the Indians, the Astros, the Braves, and the Cubs from 1952 through 1968, Bobby’s overall record was 9-25, with 23 saves.

Long-time Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen (1986) joined this Yankee club with his trade from San Francisco to New York on August 31, 2018, for cash and two minor leaguers. Andrew hit five home runs and drove in 10 for the Yankees down the stretch, and walked 22 times with his great sense of the strike zone. He had two hits, a walk, two runs scored, and an rbi in the post with the Yanks too. A first-round pick by the Pirates in 2005, a five-time All Star from 2009 through 2017, and the 2013 NL MVP, Andrew now has 243 home runs with 853 rbi’s through 2020, after splitting 2018 between San Fran and New York, and 2019 and 2020 playing for the Phillies.

I could find no other Yankee birthdays on October 10. Some others among big leaguers: righty Saul Rogovin (1923), with a 48-48 mark from 1949-1957; Gene Tenace (1946); Brian Powell (1973); Ramon Martinez (1972); Mike Holtz (1972); Luther Hackman (1974); Placido Polanco (1975); Pat Burrell (1976); Brad Ziegler (1979); Noah Lowry (1980); Troy Tulowitzki (1984); Elvin Ramirez (1987); Adrian Cardenas (1987); Fernando Martinez (1988); Isaac Galloway (1989); Jeurys Familiia (1989); Shelby Miller (1990); Kolten Wong (1990); Jonathan Aro (1990); Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (1993); Sean Murphy (1994); Garrett Hampson (1994); David Bednar (1994); Collin Snider (1995); Nick Snyder (1995); Nick Vespi (1995); Genesis Cabrera (1996); Vinnie Pasquantino (1997); Leo Rivas (1997), Guillo Zuniga (1998); and Luis Vazquez (1999).