If you could get past exactly why July 16, 2010, was such a special game, and even if you couldn’t, it may have been the most scintillating regular-season game in the new baseball palace in the Bronx; it was certainly one of the most emotional. Following Taps at 6:45, the Yanks hosted a short service to honor both Bob Sheppard and George Steinbrenner, both of whom had passed away within the previous five days. Tampa’s James Shields and CC Sabathia battled to a 3-3 tie through six including back-to-back home runs from Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada, but CC surrendered run No. 4 in the seventh. Still, Nick Swisher to the rescue, via a game-tying home run off Joaquin Benoit in the eighth, and then a walkoff rbi single in the ninth to drive in Curtis Granderson, who had reached on a single off one-time Yankee southpaw Randy Choate. Continue reading →
Derek Jeter went 1-for-3 and Alex Rodriguez 0-for-2 as Mariano Rivera got five outs while being unscored upon in the All Star Game that took place in old Yankee Stadium on July 15, 2008. The American League finally won the 15-inning affair 4-3 on a Michael Young sac fly, but the Yankee fans in the crowd had their most enjoyable moment when Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon, who alienated fans every time he opened his mouth during the three-day extravaganza, blew a potential save in regulation. You read correctly. Yankee fans rooted for the AL, except when the hated Red Sox closer was on the mound. Continue reading →
It was Moose Skowron‘s big day on July 14, 1957. The Yanks had already lost the first game to the White Sox, 3-1, and things were bleak as they entered the ninth inning of Game Two trailing 4-0. But Moose supplied the highlight of the Yankee rally as his pinch-hit grand slam home run keyed the winning rally and the 6-4 victory. It was his second pinch-hit grand slam of the season, a record at the time. Yankee fans were suitably distraught when Moose passed away in April 2011. Continue reading →
Nine days after his 80th birthday, New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner passed away on July 13, 2010. The uber-owner and “Boss” purchased the team in 1973 and owned them until his death, a time during which the Yanks won seven crowns and 11 AL pennants. Coming just two days after Yankee fans were devastated by the death of Bob Sheppard, it was making for a bad year in the Bronx. Continue reading →
Effective for some time in the wake of failures from closer Aroldis Chapman, Clay Holmes had a stinker in a 4-3 loss to the visiting Reds on July 12, 2022. With the Yanks up 3-0 on masterful work by Gerrit Cole, with a good eighth inning by Michael King, Holmes, and later Wandy Peralta, allowed a walk, three singles, a fielder’s choice grounder, and two hit by pitches in a four-run ninth-inning Cincinnati rally. Continue reading →
Fans throughout Yankee land were devastated on July 11, 2010, with the disheartening news none of us wanted to hear. The one and only Bob Sheppard, the “Voice of God,” who had served as Yankee Stadium emcee since Mickey Mantle‘s rookie season in 1951, had passed away. Mr. Sheppard, and all of us who loved him and craved hearing his voice so dearly, were bitterly disappointed that he was not healthy enough to appear in the old Stadium’s final season, although video messages from him during the Baseball Cathedral’s last game were a true treasure. We all hoped he would some day christen the new stadium with his voice as well, but that was not to be. It was the beginning of a very bad week in Yankee land. Continue reading →
It was a true rarity on July 10, 2011, when James Shields of the Rays and Yankee CC Sabathia traded four-hitters and complete games in a 1-0 Yankee win, with the run scored on an error. They each allowed one walk, and CC struck out nine to just five for Shields. But when Shields threw wildly trying to pick Robinson Cano off third in the seventh inning, the only run of the game scored. Continue reading →
Hit No. 2,999, a single to left, led off the bottom of the first, and history came two innings later as Derek Jeter powered David Price‘s seventh pitch over the wall in left center for a 2-2 tie in the game, and history, the Yankee Captain’s 3000th career hit. Amazingly, once he scored after his fifth-inning double (No. 3,001), he tied the score again. Although it was followed by a double steal, hit No. 3,002, a sixth-inning single, went for naught, but when he went 5-for-5 on this record-setting day with a single (No. 3,003) in the eighth, he drove in the winning run in a 5-4 Yankee victory over Tampa Bay on July 9, 2011. Continue reading →
It was Clint Frazier‘s biggest 2017 day when his three-run ninth-inning jack walked off the visiting Brewers 5-3 on July 8. With the Yanks struggling to recover from Domingo Santana‘s three-run homer off Luis Severino in the first all game, the first breakthrough was Clint’s rbi double in the two-run Yankee seventh. Sevy went seven, and Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman combined to strike out five of the last six Milwaukee batters to set the stage for the Frazier heroics. Continue reading →
Coming from behind, beating the Red Sox, and the exploits of Mickey Mantle are three of my favorite things in baseball, so you know I’m delighted to report that the team went to the bottom of the ninth in a July 7, 1966, game vs. Boston losing 2-0; that the Yanks managed to tie them with two outs; and then that The Mick broke a 1-for-17 slump by blasting a three-run walk-off home run. Continue reading →
