A trip to see the Staten Island Yankees is usually a hoot, as attending most minor league games is, and the round trip to the game on the Staten Island Ferry is always fun. But we got a real treat on August 19, 2016, when 2016 second-round pick and second baseman Nick Solak had two hits, scored a run, and drove one in. On a fast track to the majors, Solak played in Staten Island the full year, started in Tampa in ’17, and jumped to AA Trenton as August of that year arrived. Shortstop Angel Aguilar led the offense with a double and home run in a 4-1 victory over the rival Brooklyn Cyclones. And the fun of the evening was highlighted by it being Pat Venditte Bobblehead Night. The former Yankee draftee is famous for being an ambidextrous pitcher, a feature displayed in the giveaway. Continue reading →
Those of us of a certain age generally agree that Roy White was a better player than he was perhaps given credit for, mostly on a bad ballclub, but the Yanks had improved by 1976, and on August 18 of that year the switch-hitting outfielder homered from each side of the plate in an 8-6 win over the Rangers. Unlike later Yankee hero Don Mattingly, White would play a long frustrating career in Pinstripes, but last long enough to earn a couple of rings. Continue reading →
The visiting Rays led 4-0 in the sixth inning of an August 17, 2022, battle in the Bronx, but the Yanks tied it in regulation. It looked for naught when Tampa plated three in the 10th, but Josh Donaldson‘s game-winning grand slam in the bottom half came with no outs, 8-7 Yankees. Continue reading →
Just the other day we commemorated the death of the great teammate and Yankee, Mickey Mantle. On August 16, 1948, the legendary Babe Ruth, the greatest to ever play the game and the true Athlete of the Century in any clear-eyed vote, passed away, succumbing to throat cancer at the age of 53. The Bambino’s body was made available for viewing at Yankee Stadium where more than 100,000 fans paid their respects. Continue reading →
Gerrit Cole was the unfortunate, hard-luck loser when the only run through eight innings of a Tampa/Yankees tilt in the Stadium on August 15, 2022, scored after under-pressure left fielder Aaron Hicks badly misplayed what was ruled a triple by David Peralta in the top of the fourth. The Rays won this one 4-0 as both Wandy Peralta and Lou Trivino struggled in the ninth. Continue reading →
The Yankees battered the Bosox 10-3 in the Stadium on August 14, 2020, with plaudits aplenty to go around. Gerrit Cole allowed one run while going seven, Gleyber Torres went 4-for-4 with two runs scored and two rbi’s, Mike Tauchman knocked in four with three hits while scoring two, and Gary Sanchez homered for two. Continue reading →
If you took a pathway to Yankee and baseball fanhood similar to mine, then share my grief on this worst day on the baseball calendar. Mickey Mantle passed away on August 13, 1995. We’ll go into numbers and detail how incredibly bad a day on the Yankee front this is in that respect where we list player deaths below. Continue reading →
One highlight stands above all others on August 12 (with not such good news, after a few good items, to follow tomorrow). On this day in 1974, Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Continue reading →
The M&M race was heating up in 1961, and the daily record of Yankee excellence defines what Yankee history is all about. On August 11 of that glorious year, both Mickey Mantle (his 44th) and Roger Maris (42nd) homered off Pete Burnside to lead the Bombers to a 12-5 win over Washington. Continue reading →
The big bat behind the Yanks’ 9-3 win over Anaheim in Yankee Stadium on August 10, 2011, belonged to Curtis Granderson, who went yard for three runs in the first, and added a singleton shot and a walk later. Robinson Cano may have been denied a cycle by a fine Mark Trumbo play at first, because the Yankee second sacker had a double, triple, and homer in his other three at bats. Before the game, the release of a children’s album, “Believe,” organized and recorded by Nick Swisher, was announced on the scoreboard. Ex-Yank Bernie Williams and SF Giant Barry Zito played guitar on the record. Continue reading →
