Author Archives: Dan McCourt

September 22 in Yankee History

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  • The details on the incredible life and career of the larger than life Yankee Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra will be talked about lower in this column where this sad aspect of the game is covered, but there can be no way to start a Yankee history post on September 22 than to share that it was on this day in 2015 that Lawrence Peter Berra passed away. Continue reading →

    • September 21 in Yankee History

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  • September 21, 2008, will be bittersweet to this Yankee fan as long as they continue to play the game, as it was the day they played the last game in old Yankee Stadium. The ballpark was open all day, with fans circling the infield and paying their final respects in Monument Park. In the pregame ceremonies Yankee employees, dressed as old-time ballplayers, portraying the starting nine from the opener in 1923, took the field along with Manager Miller Huggins. Then players from yesteryear were honored position by position. Several were invited to take to the field at their old positions, with Yankee widows and children taking the place of their deceased fathers and husbands in several spots. The bat that Babe Ruth used to hit the game-winning home run that day was laid across home plate, and Derek Jeter was presented with a silver bat in honor of his having eclipsed Lou Gehrig‘s record for most hits stroked in the old Stadium just weeks before. Ageless emcee Bob Sheppard greeted the fans from home on the video board several times, and recited a poem in honor of the old place. Broadcaster Michael Kay appeared on the Scoreboard in the fifth inning when it came time to reduce the games remaining in the old Stadium counter from the “1” displayed, changing it to Forever because the magic would be moving across the street to the new Stadium. Although not at his sharpest, Andy Pettitte got the start and the win. Johnny Damon‘s third-inning three-run home run wiped out an early 2-0 Birds lead, and once the visitors scored for a tying tally, unlikely offensive hero Jose Molina hit the last home run in the old Stadium for a 5-3 lead. Later, Jason Giambi stroked the last hit, and Brett Gardner scored the last run in the Cathedral pinch-running, on a sac fly by Robbie Cano, the last rbi in Yankee Stadium, in a 7-3 win. Aside from Gardner, other reserves Manager Joe Girardi let play in the historic game were Melky Cabrera, Wilson Betemit, Cody Ransom, and Ivan Rodriguez. Relievers who pitched in the game were Jose Veras, Phil Coke, and Joba Chamberlain, with the game started by Pettitte being finished by the one and only Mariano Rivera, of course. Once the game was over, Captain Jeter led the players around the field, and he exhorted us to bring Joey Gallo carried the Yankees to a 7-1 victory over visiting Texas on September 21, 2021.our memories to the new Stadium in 2009. People just hung out until well after midnight, as some just did not want to leave. Sitting in the Upper Deck at the new place across the street, I still can’t believe they have torn down the old structure, the House That Ruth Built, with its upper deck hanging right over the field, and not hundreds of feet back from the field like in the new place. Continue reading →

    • September 20 in Yankee History

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  • Roger Maris blasted his 59th home run of the 1961 season off Milt Pappas on September 20 in a 4-2 win over Baltimore. Because this was the Yanks’ 154th game of the year, AL Commissioner Ford Frick had determined that Roger neither tied nor broke Babe Ruth‘s single-season home run record of 60, because Roger would hit numbers 60 and 61 in the eight games that were to come, while Ruth had hit his during a season composed of just 154 tilts. It is worth adding, I think, that Rajah came close to no. 60 in this tilt, and that he lost a tater earlier that season in a Baltimore four-inning-plus rainout. The Yankees, meanwhile, clinched their 26th AL pennant with the win. Continue reading →

    • September 19 in Yankee History

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  • Things looked OK in the Bronx on September 19, 2023, once Gleyber Torres drove Aaron Judge in with a first-inning double, tying visiting Toronto, who had scored on George Springer‘s homer on a 3-1 pitch from Clarke Schmidt to lead off the game. But Beau Bichette went yard against Schmidt in the fifth, and the Jays tacked on three more in the ninth of a 7-1 defeat of the Yankees. Continue reading →

    • September 16 in Yankee History

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  • With the superb Gerrit Cole going in a September 16, 2020, game against visiting Toronto, it was more than OK that outfielder Aaron Judge, on his first day off the Injured List, had an oh-fer, as the rest of the team pounded the Jays 13-2. Clint Frazier and Luke Voit homered; DJ LeMahieu went yard twice; but the star of the game was catcher Kyle Higashioka, who cleared the fences three times. Continue reading →

    • A Bear Poked

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    Lakeland, Fla., February 24, 2024; Yankees 22, Tigers 10 — The 2023 Yankees barely posted a .500 record, garnered a fourth place finish, and missed the playoffs altogether. A not pretty season to be sure, but it was uglier than that. In both August and September 2023, this team suffered losses in nine different games in which they failed to score as many as three runs. Continue reading →