Back-to-back first-inning home runs from Giancarlo Stanton and Billy McKinney plated three and all but beat the visiting Astros, but Kyle Tucker tied it with a sixth-inning home run. Not to worry, though, as the Yankees took it 4-3 once Harrison Bader walked and stole second in that frame’s bottom half, and Anthony Volpe drove him in with a single. Continue reading →
There can only be one piece of Yankee history leading off this day’s column, and it is heart-rending. It was on August 2, 1979, that the beloved father, husband, and Yankee captain and catcher Thurman Munson perished in a crash of the plane he was piloting. The Yankees would host a huge crowd in the Stadium on the day after the tragic event. In recent years, it was an inspiring moment when a host of Thurman’s teammates gathered with his widow on the Yankee Stadium field at the 2004 Old Timers Game. The whole tragic event is doubly poignant now with the recent death of Thurman’s great friend, Bobby Murcer.Continue reading →
Third-inning home runs by Yandy Diaz and Randy Arozarena off Carlos Rodon on August 1, 2023, led to a 5-2 Tampa victory. Ninth-inning RBI hits from Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu denied the Rays the shutout. Continue reading →
It was unfortunate that young Yankee righty Johnny Brito had a rough start against Tampa on July 31, 2023, allowing all the runs through four frames, because Domingo German pitched five scoreless innings to follow. Jake Bauers plated the lone Yankee run with a homer in the second in the 5-1 loss. Continue reading →
It was disappointing that, due to weather and health concerns, it was decided that no game featuring the vets of yesteryear would be played on Old Timers’ Day in the Bronx on July 30, 2022. Once the stars were announced and feted, the Yanks came out and beat the visiting Royals 8-2 in the game that followed. Nestor Cortes went five for the win; and DJ LeMahieu, Aaron Judge, and Matt Carpenter homered. Continue reading →
It was Old-Timers’ Day in the Bronx on July 29, 1978, when the Yanks made the surprise announcement: Billy Martin would return to manage the Yankees in 1980. Then the Bombers went out and beat the Twins 7-3 with Ken Clay besting Darrell Jackson. The save went to Goose Gossage. Continue reading →
KC righthander Brady Singer allowed the Yanks just one hit through seven in the Stadium on July 28, 2022, but Jameson Taillon only gave up four over the same distance. The game remained the same until Aaron Judge sent the crowd home happy with a home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth, 1-0 Yankees. Continue reading →
It is amazing that the Yanks benefited so long from the input of long-standing pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre, who after years on the job attended spring training and offered guidance to Ron Guidry in 2006, and Yankee Vice President Gene “Stick” Michael. Those two vets collaborated on a 5-2 win over the Angels way back on July 27, 1970. Mel held on during a 2-2 tie that was finally broken by the Yanks in the 10th, and Stick helped get him there by pulling the Hidden Ball Trick on pinch runner Jarvis Tatum in the ninth. In one of the most moving ceremonies in the Stadium in years, Mel and Willie Randolph, who both wore No. 30, each received a Monument Park plaque on Old Timer’s Day, in July 2015. Continue reading →
July 26 was another big day for Johnny Blanchard in 1961, just one more guy on that team who had a magical year. It’s the year that indelibly glued the boy in me to the Yanks, but sometimes I think the man in me now would not only have enjoyed that season, but would have appreciated what he was seeing far more. When Blanchard homered in his first two at bats against the White Sox that day, it brought his tater total to four in a five-at-bat period over three days. The Yanks went yard four times in a 5-2 win, including a Mickey Mantle shot back-to-back behind Johnny’s in the first. Blanchard became the first player ever to hit more than 20 homers in a season of less than 250 at bats (21/243) that year. Continue reading →
The Yankees pulled off the first of two blockbuster deals that would alter the direction of their franchise in a positive direction on July 25, 2016, when they traded lefty closer Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs for righthander Adam Warren, shortstop Gleyber Torres, right fielder Billy McKinney, and outfielder Rashad Crawford. Continue reading →
