This is a baseball history column, and more specifically one focused on Yankee history. But being a Yankee is about excelling, so I need to start the May 19 installment with an acknowledgement of the record-smashing Belmont Stakes run by the thoroughbred Secretariat on this day in 1973, some 40 years ago. It was an astounding performance. Continue reading →
Two Juan Soto home runs and one each from Jose Trevino and Giancarlo Stanton carried the offense in a 6-1 win over the White Sox on May 18, 2024, but the highlights of this game had to do with pitching. The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Orlando “el duque” Hernandez, a welcome feature that would grow in significance. By striking out 14 batters in his six innings, young Luis Gil set a new Yankee rookie record, which shattered the 13 el duque had posted in 1998. Continue reading →
It’s another day where a great candidate for top highlight is surpassed by an even better one. Does it help if I share that numero uno happened on Beanie Baby Day in the Bronx? It doesn’t seem possible, but the word “several” no longer applies in describing the multi-year anniversary of David Wells‘s Perfect Game, a 4-0 win over the Twins on May 17, 1998. Bernie Williams had a homer among his three hits, Latroy Hawkins manned the mound for the visiting Twins, and Boomer threw only 11 of 27 first-pitch strikes. Continue reading →
Rookie Mickey Mantle hit his first Stadium home run, knocked in four runs and scored three in an 11-3 thumping of the Indians on May 16, 1951. The Mick’s first Stadium victim was Cleveland’s Dick Rozek. Continue reading →
The greatest of events sometimes start off in the quietest ways. In a 13-1 hammering at the hands of the White Sox on May 15, 1941, Joe DiMaggio got a single in four trips against Ed Smith, but it was the first hit (and game) in Joe’s unprecedented (and unmatched) 56-game hitting streak. Continue reading →
It has to be a special highlight to top what happened on May 14, 1996, in this Yankee fan’s report, and it is, as today’s lead item is that Mickey Mantle hit his 500th home run off Baltimore’s Stu Miller on this day in 1967 in a 6-5 Yankee win. With that shot, The Mick became the sixth member of the 500-home run club. Continue reading →
What is it about mid-May, the Yankees, and nine-run comebacks? Yesterday’s column included the Yanks’ rally from an 0-8 deficit to the White Sox, from which they recovered to win 9-8 on May 12, 1996. On May 13, 1985, the Yanks’ rally from 0-8 to the Minnesota Twins was crowned by Don Mattingly‘s three-run, two-out, bottom-of-the-ninth homer off former Yank Ron Davis that propelled the home team to a 9-8 victory. Continue reading →
Fans who disregard special promos featuring one player should rethink that stance once they consider the May 12, 2023, 6-5 victory over visiting Tampa. Memorialized with the Star Wars Mandelorian bobblehead before the game, Anthony Rizzo not only homered for a run in the first inning, he also went yard for two in the bottom of the eighth, eclipsing the 5-4 bulge the Rays had achieved on a Josh Lowe three-run shot in the top half of the frame. Continue reading →
Second baseman Gleyber Torres drove in all five Yankee runs over visiting Toronto in a 5-3 win on May 11, 2022. Gleyber’s three-run, fourth-inning home run overcame an early Blue Jays 1-0 lead, and his two-run, sixth-inning single ensured the win. Continue reading →
Putting in an early bid for the 2022 AL MVP Award that he would eventually take home, Aaron Judge blasted a one-out, three-run walkoff home run off Toronto closer Jordan Romano for a 6-5 Yankee win on May 10, 2022. Before winning on Judge’s 10th home run of the year, the team had tied the game 3-3 on Giancarlo Stanton‘s seventh bomb in the sixth inning. Continue reading →
