• In the early years of the Twentieth Century, the game of baseball continued to evolve. One sign of progress was the acceptance of some practices which were then gradually called into question, only to eventually be ruled illegal. The spitball was a famous example of this phenomenon, but a less heralded one was the emery ball, described in one source as “an illegal pitch in which the ball is filed with an emery board for better grip.” This pitch was most often associated with New York Highlander righthander Russ Ford, who introduced it in 1910. Russ put up some good numbers with the Yanks, going 73-56 with three saves from 1909-1913 before spending two years with the Buffalo Blues (later Buffeds) of the Federal League. But he really excelled right after he put his innovation into practice: He posted a 48-17 mark in 1910 and 1911. The American League banned Russ’s brainchild on February 3, 1915. Continue reading →

• February 2 is a great Baseball Hall of Fame day, and by logical extension it’s a great day in Yankee history too. To start with, Babe Ruth was inducted into the very first class this day in 1936, along with Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Matthewson, and Walter Johnson. (Some accounts report this event as having taken place on January 29 too.)
• On February 2, 2023, the Yankees signed free agent righthander Justin Maese to a minor league contract. Continue reading →

• Wally Pipp, who lost his first base job to Lou Gehrig and The Streak, was sold to the Reds on February 1, 1926. A Forgotten Man, so to speak, in the Yankee past, Pipp contributed a very impressive 80 home runs and 826 rbi’s in the Bronx from 1915-1925. Wally had been the Yankee Opening Day first baseman for 11 consecutive years. Continue reading →

• January 31 is a big Hall of Fame day. First, there are several fairly prominent members who were born this day (see below). And Yankees inducted into the Hall this day include Joe Sewell, who was voted in in 1977, along with a few others. A shortstop with the Indians for a decade, Sewell was pounced upon by the Yanks when the Tribe released him. Although his Hall years were really his Cleveland ones, Joe came through with 19 homers, 186 rbi’s, and three stolen bases for the Bombers from 1931-1933. Continue reading →

• Lefty Gomez, Eddie Lopat, Whitey Ford, Ron Guidry, all great Yankee lefty starters where they’re needed most: in the House That Ruth Built, with its short porch in right. But leading the way was Herb Pennock. Business Manager Ed Barrow knew what he was doing when he procured Herb from the Red Sox on January 30, 1923, just a few months before Yankee Stadium was to open. Barrow shipped infielder Norm McMillan, pitcher George Murray, and outfielder Camp Skinner to Boston for Herb, along with $50,000. Murray would post a 9-20 mark in Beantown, and McMillan and Skinner combined for 43 rbi’s, all but one from McMillan, who also chipped in with 13 stolen bases. Pennock would notch 162 wins in the next 11 seasons, appearing in four World Series with the Yanks (3-1), during which he posted a 5-0 record. And he saved two October Classic games, earning the last one in the Babe Ruth “Called Shot” game in Wrigley in 1932. Continue reading →

• Two Yankee transactions from years ago that did not work out occurred on January 29. In 1943, the Bombers shipped second baseman Jerry Priddy and minor-league hurler Milo Candini to Washington for righthander Bill Zuber. Although Zuber posted an 8-4 mark in 1943, his four-year totals (18-23, two saves) dipped, but were not bad when compared with Priddy. He averaged more games with the Senators over three seasons than he had with the Yanks in 1941-1942, because his offensive numbers were comparably low. But Candini’s 24-21 record with eight saves in six seasons with Washington tilted the trade well into the Senators’ favor. Continue reading →

• The American League was formally organized on January 28, 1901, as the Baltimore Orioles, the Philadelphia Athletics, and the Boston Somersets joined the Washington Nationals, the Cleveland Blues, the Detroit Tigers, the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Chicago White Stockings. Franchises in Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Buffalo, in the plans for the fledging league since it was first proposed a year earlier, were folded, and Ban Johnson was in control. The Orioles would fail after playing two seasons in Baltimore, and be relocated to New York as the Highlanders for the 1903 season. Continue reading →

• It briefly seemed like a great addition after the The Yanks signed righthanded pitcher Juan Acevedo to a one-year minor league contract on January 27, 2003. Acevedo would travel north from Tampa as part of the Yankee pen, and he actually garnered six early saves with Mariano Rivera making a rare trip to the Disabled List. But the American League solved Juan’s fastball, he was hammered in a series of outings, and the Yanks would be forced to release him that June. He posted an 0-3 record in 25 appearances.
• In a pretty huge day of the 2020-2021 offseason, the Yankees signed both free agent second baseman DJ LeMahieu and free agent righthander Corey Kluber. An offensive cog and possible team MVP over two years after his free agent signing in 2019, LeMahieu, now inked to a six-year deal, would struggle for much of 2021 with injuries, hamstringing the Yankee offense. Former double Cy Young winner Kluber would have an up-and-down, injury-marred season, which included tossing a no hitter, but he has been signed to pitch elsewhere for 2022.
• The Boys Are Back in Town! That Rock ‘n’ Roll anthem was blasted from the Yankee Stadium speakers numerous times the last few seasons, as it is routinely used just before the first game of a homestand, welcoming the players “back to town.” Thin Lizzy is responsible for the song, and their drummer, Brian Downey, was born on January 27, 1951.
• On January 27, 2023, the Yankees signed free agent righthander Ian Hamilton to a minor league contract.
• On January 27, 2022, the Yankees signed two free agents, shortstop Juan Matheus and outfielder Andres Lacruz, to minor league contracts.
• The managerial careers of Casey Stengel and Joe Torre have at least one thing in common. Joe’s winning percentage as manager when he arrived on the Yankees scene was .471, Casey’s was worse at .432. It was so bad that on January 27, 1944, the new ownership group of the Boston Braves fired him. Stengel then piloted three clubs in the minors, the last Oakland in the Pacific Coast League, under General Manager George Weiss. As GM in New York in 1949, Weiss would hire Casey to manage the Yanks, and Casey’s career on the bench took the same turnaround that Torre’s would, almost 50 years later.
• Infielder Ronald Torreyes, who, following some roster machinations, would end up as the primary Yankee backup in that area during the coming season, was designated for assignment by the Dodgers on January 27, 2016.
• The departure of free agent outfielder Ichiro Suzuki from the Yankee roster became assured when the Marlins signed him on January 27, 2015.
• On January 27, 2014, the Yankees signed free agent shortstop Ricardo Ferreira to a minor league contract.
• It was a minor bookkeeping move, really, when the Yankees designated southpaw Chase Wright for assignment on January 27, 2009. Chase had gotten a couple of starts with the big club a couple of years earlier, but he went out with a bang when the Red Sox reached him for three home runs in one inning in a game in Fenway Park.
• The Yankees signed their second veteran of the Boston bullpen, free agent righthander Manny Delcarmen, on January 27, 2012, although neither he nor Hideki Okajima would stick and make the Yankee roster.
• Two former Yankee draft picks who had been let go appeared on the waiver wire January 27, 2010, when righthanders Steven Jackson and Anthony Claggett were assigned to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• When it was announced on January 27, 1956, that the New York Yankees of the NFL would be switching their home football games from the Polo Grounds to Yankee Stadium, speculation was rife in New York the baseball Giants would be making the same move.
• Another bad trade was made on January 27, this time by Philly in 1982, as they sent Larry Bowa and minor leaguer Ryne Sandberg to the Cubs for the underperforming Ivan DeJesus. Ivan would play seven games for the Yanks in 1986, and Bowa served as the third base coach in the Bronx from 2005 to 2007, though he’s headed to L.A. with Joe Torre for 2008.
• Former Angel, Yankee, and White Sox lefty Jim Abbott signed a free agent contract with the Milwaukee Brewers today in 1999. He went 2-8 in the year that followed.
• On January 27, 1953, the White Sox sent a group of players to the A’s for two-time batting champ Ferris Fain and infielder Robert Wilson. Outfielder Ed McGhee was packaged along with two guys who would eventually play in Pinstripes: first baseman Eddie Robinson and shortstop Joe DeMaestri. Robinson would blast 24 homers for the Yanks in 1954-1956, while DeMaestri knocked in four runs as he ended his time in the bigs in the Bronx in 1960 and 1961, mostly as a defensive replacement.
• Other January 26 news items affecting former or future Yankee ballplayers include the Red Sox trade of Jose Canseco to Oakland for John Wasdin in 1997. And catcher Lou Criger‘s trade from Boston to the Browns in 1909 didn’t take place on January 26, but it was the day he telegraphed his ex-teammates expressing his dismay. His next stop would be to the 1910 Highlanders, for whom he played 27 games, knocking in four tallies.
• Original Cleveland Indians and eventual Yankee hurler Luis Tiant was honored by the Boston writers as the Red Sox most valuable pitcher for the fifth year running on January 27, 1977.
• The four players voted into the Hall of Fame on this day in 1963 all entered courtesy of the Veterans’ Committee. And veterans they all were: Sam Rice hit 34 homers and knocked in 1,078 runs with the Senators from 1915-1934; Lefthander Eppa Rixey posted a 266-251 record with the Phillies and the Reds from 1912-1933; outfielder Elmer Fick hit 48 taters with 756 rbi’s in an illness-shortened career from 1898-1910 for the Phillies and the Reds; and John Clarkson posted a 328-178 record from 1882-1894, pitching for the Worcester Ruby Legs (one year), the Chicago White Stockings (four), the Boston Beaneaters (three), and the Cleveland Spiders (three).

Players Who Have Died This Day

• Righthander Monte Pearson (1978) deserves first mention among the three Yankee players to have died on January 27, as he threw to a stellar 61-27 mark with two saves in New York from 1936-1940; he won 100 games with only 61 losses with four saves in the bigs from 1932-1941. Lefthanded first baseman Dale Long (1991) ended his career by hitting seven home runs with 27 rbi’s with New York from 1960-1963, capping a 13-year big-leagues stay in which he cleared 132 fences, good for 467 rbi’s. Righty reliever Bob Kammeyer (2003) recorded no wins, losses, or saves in eight games for the 1978-1979 Yankees, his only team. Though a negative one, he holds a mark that cannot be bettered (or worsened), just equaled. In his one game with the ’79 Yanks, he allowed eight runs while failing to record an out, an era of “infinity.”
• Worthy of mention among ballplayers who did not play for the Yanks but who died on January 27 are three outfielders, three righthanded pitchers, and one who threw from the left side. Joe Vosmik (1962) hit 65 home runs good for 874 rbi’s from 1930-1944, mostly with Cleveland; while fellow outfielder Chuck Hinton (2013) cleared 113 fences and drove in 443 runs playing mostly for Cleveland and Washington from 1961 through 1971. Senators righthander Jim Shaw (also 1962) went 84-98 with 17 saves from 1913-1921; and Sarge Connally (1978), 49-60-31 with the 1921-1929 White Sox and the 1931-1934 Indians. Portsider Bob Steele (1962, again!) won 16, lost 38, and saved three games pitching for the Cardinals, the Pirates, and the Giants from 1916-1919; and righty Charlie Williams (2015), who debuted with the Mets in 1971, but played the rest of his time through 1978 with the Giants, to an overall 23-22 mark with four saves. He appeared in 268 games, 33 of them starts. Outfielder Gene Clines (2022) hit five long balls and drove in 87 runs whiler hitting a respectable .277 playing for the 1970-1974 Pirates, the 1977-1979 Cubs, and in two other stops in 870 games.

Players Born This Day

• Lefty-hitting outfielder Al Wickland (1888) started with the Cincinnati Reds in 1913, played in the Federal League for two years, and for the Braves in Boston in 1918, before finishing his career with 46 at bats in 26 games for the 1919 Yankees. The first of three Yankees who share January 27 as a birthday, Al had one rbi in New York.
• Righthander Milt Gaston (1896) went 5-3 with one save in debuting with the 1924 Bronx Bombers before being traded with Joe Bush and Joe Giard to the St. Louis Browns for Urban Shocker in December 1924. He pitched three years for the Browns, one for the Senators, and three each with the Red Sox and then the White Sox in an 11-year major league stay.
• Even at 100-plus years ago, the Yankee player most recently born on January 27 until just a few years ago was lefthander Fred Heimach (1901). He posted a fine 13-9 record with four saves in the Bronx in 1928 and 1929 after toiling with the A’s in Philly for more than six years, and Red Sox for a few months. He followed his Yankee stint with a four-year career-ending tour with the Dodgers in Brooklyn.
• The first realization of Kansas City shortstop Angel Berroa (1978) for Yankee fans was a bitter pill, as he [unfairly] edged out Yankee Hideki Matsui for the 2003 American League Rookie of the Year Award. But Berroa signed with the Yanks for the 2009 season, played extensively in Spring Training, and went 3-for-22 in 21 games for the eventual world champs until he was released on July 7. He then signed with the Mets.
• Other birthdays: John Lowenstein (1947), who smacked 116 home runs, amassed 441 rbi’s, and collected 128 stolen bases from 1970 through 1985, mostly for the Orioles and the Indians; Tom Trebelhorn (1948); Rusty Meacham (1968); Eric Wedge, (1968); Phil Plantier (1969); Ken Huckaby (1971), not only famous for the horrific collision he had with Derek Jeter in the first week of the 2003 season as a Toronto Blue Jay, but who actually spent four months in the Yankee organization in 1998; Jason Conti (1975); Pete LaForest (1978); Mike Zagurski (1983); Gavin Floyd (1983); Yohan Flande (1986); Tim Beckham (1990); Julio Teheran (1991); Bryan Reynolds (1995); Matt Foster (1995); David Villar (1997); Jon Heasley (1997); John McMillon (1998); Luis Ortiz (1999); and Angel Martinez (2002).

• Yankee fans had been driven to distraction waiting for months to see if lefty starter Andy Pettitte would retire or come back to pitch for the team in 2009, until he signed a one-year deal on January 26, 2009. And it’s a good thing, too. Not only did the crafty southpaw put together a 14-8 season, but he won four more games without a loss in the postseason, getting the win in the clinching games of the ALDS, ALCS, and World Series. Andy had a great year with the 2010 Yankees, but was hurt late, then retired, but unretired for 2012, an injury-filled year. He did retire following an 11-11, 2013 campaign. Continue reading →