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 →
Starter Joba Chamberlain was of course not around long enough for the win in a 5-4 Yankee extra-inning victory over Boston in Yankee Stadium in the ESPN Sunday night game on July 6, 2008, but he did have some fun before leaving by throwing yet another pitch above the head of Kevin Youkilis. Alex Rodriguez homered off Tim Wakefield in this one, and Robinson Cano had a key two-run triple that tied the game in the seventh. But the star of the game award goes to Brett Gardner, who got the start in center in place of Johnny Damon, who was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained left shoulder earlier that day. The speedy rookie singled and scored in the sixth, and drove in Cano with the game winner in the bottom of the tenth. Astronaut and Yankee fan Garrett Reisman, who in April had thrown out the first pitch in a Stadium game from the International Space Station, threw out the first pitch in person this day, having returned to Earth in the interim. He also moved the games counter down to 34, following Elston Howard‘s granddaughter, who had moved it down the day before. The Yanks recalled outfielder Justin Christian from AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to fill Damon’s spot. Continue reading →
The inside-the-park homer, a grand slam, that Lou Gehrig hit on July 5, 1934, was the big blow in the Yanks’ 8-3 win over the Senators. It was the 17th of the Iron Horse’s career-record 23 grand slams, a record that would not be matched for more than 70 years, until Alex Rodriguez tied it in 2012. Continue reading →
“I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” More recent achievements on the Yankees field of battle notwithstanding, the day in 1939 that Lou Gehrig addressed a full house in the Baseball Cathedral, and became the first ballplayer to have his number (No. 4) retired, will always be the biggest moment in July 4 Yankee baseball history. It is a rarely reported side note that on the day the Yanks split two games, falling 3-2, but rebounding strongly to blast Washington 11-1 in the nightcap. Continue reading →
Fans expected an explosive night after the game in which the Yankees hosted the Orioles on July 3, 2023, as it had been billed as Fireworks Night. And the postgame display was epic. But they also had to wait a bit for lightning to strike on the field too, as five of the team’s runs scored in the 6-3 win came via back-to-back singleton homers by Anthony Volpe and Kyle Higashioka in the fifth, and Harrison Bader‘s three-run jolt in the eighth. Continue reading →
The Yankees were able to match the visiting Braves at 3-3 through five innings on July 2, 2018, on a day when youth was served. Aaron Judge homered and Gleyber Torres scored twice for the home team, against Johan Camargo and Ronald Acuna, Jr. rbi’s for the visitors. The tie held for six innings, until Acuna homered off David Robertson in the top of the 11th, for a 5-3 Atlanta win. Continue reading →
I thought the “bummer” highlight from 1990 a few paragraphs down would remain the lead-off July 1 item, but the Yankee Captain and gang proved me wrong in 2004. Tony Clark and Jorge Posada home runs propelled Brad Halsey and the Yankees into a 3-0 lead over Pedro Martinez and the Red Sox in a Thursday night classic in Yankee Stadium, but Boston tied it on a two-run Manny Ramirez home run and a David McCarty double that heartbreakingly glanced off Bernie Williams‘s glove in the seventh. Onto bonus play, the Sox loaded the bases with no outs on two singles and a walk against Mariano Rivera in the 11th, but Alex Rodriguez turned a miraculous 5-UA, 5-2 double play that would have been a triple play on a 2-5, but the latter throw retired Ramirez coming from second for the second time on the play, a twist you won’t find in the rule book. A second-and-third, two-out threat against Tanyon Sturtze the following frame was averted when Derek Jeter dove face first into the left-field boxes after snaring Trot Nixon‘s flair into no man’s land. Was it all for naught when Ramirez homered deep to left leading off the top on the 13th? Of course not. After two quick outs, Ruben Sierra, Miguel Cairo, and John Flaherty delivered hits in succession, and the Yanks and their fans celebrated a 5-4 victory in the darnedest game you could ever see. Continue reading →
Having walked off the game the day before in a traditional manner, with two ninth-inning home runs, the Yankees scored a much quieter 2-1 “walk”-off win on June 30, 2016, as two walks around a sac bunt off righty Tony Barnette, followed by a fielder’s choice grounder to first, set it all up, and Chase Headley scored the game winner on Robert Chirinos‘s passed ball. Michael Pineda pitched six strong and, following a frame apiece by Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller, Aroldis Chapman got himself a “W” on the miscue. Continue reading →
The Yankees won a game in the way they were assembled to on June 29, 2022, once they had fallen behind visiting Oakland 3-0 in the top of the first on Stephen Piscotty and Elvis Andrus rbi base hits. Retribution was immediate, as Aaron Judge homered for two in the bottom half, and went yard for three in the third in a 5-3 Yankee victory. Continue reading →
You don’t earn a name like the Bronx Bombers lightly, but putting up numbers like the Yanks did on June 28, 1939, sure helps. The eight home runs they hit in the first game of that day’s doubleheader was a record. When they made it 13 on the day with five more in the second game, that was another, as were the 53 total bases they earned in the two games. Joe DiMaggio, Babe Dahlgren, and Joe Gordon each hit three home runs as the Yankees swept the A’s, 23-2 and 10-0. Continue reading →
