Tampa, Fla., February 26, 2023; Yankees 7, Atlanta 0; Yankees 9, Toronto 5 — The Yankees won two games on their second day of Spring Training games Sunday, and while at least one young pitcher and one position player newbie had outstanding days, the rules on pace of play came in mixed. The Bombers blanked the visiting Braves in Tampa 7-0 in just 2:16, while the road squad of Yankees took 3:05 to best Toronto in Dunedin, 9-5. Continue reading
Trial by Bullpen
April 8, 2022, the Bronx, N.Y.; Yankees 6, Boston 5 — The Yankees outlasted the Red Sox 6-5 in the Stadium in 11 innings Friday, on an Opening Day that would make the most agnostic of us believe, if just for a moment, that God loves baseball fans. With this as pretty a day as storming Thursday was ugly, few in the stands without a pressing engagement minded that it took 4 hours and 11 innings to decide the game. Continue reading
What’s Up Front Counts
Tampa, Fla., March 21, 2022; Yankees 5, Philadelphia 2 — If, as many say, Spring Training games are a poor gauge of team performance, because many of the players are inexperienced minor leaguers not likely to ever make a major league squad, it can be posited that what happens early in games holds some validity. That is when the front-line players do take part. For instance, when Philly came to Tampa to play the Yankees Monday afternoon, the top of their lineup included Bryce Harper, JT Realmuto, Rhys Hoskins, Jean Segura, and Didi Gregorius, facing a Yankee squad peopled by Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu, Joey Gallo, Josh Donaldson, and Aaron Hicks. On the mound, the Yanks had righthander Jameson Taillon facing Phillies righty Hans Crouse, a Texas second-round pick who started two games in the City of Brotherly Love last year. Continue reading
The Power of Zeroes
March 19, 2022, Sarasota, Fla.; Yankees 3, Orioles 3 — The Yankees, who bunched three of their five hits and all three of their runs in a Friday loss to the Pirates in the first and ninth innings, compressed their offense even further on Saturday. Playing under even sunnier and hotter skies, this time devoid of wind, they battled the Orioles to a 3-3 tie in Baltimore’s Spring home, Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. And this time all three of both their hits and runs came in a five-at-bat chunk of the top of the third inning. Continue reading
Fun in the Sun
March 18, 2022, Bradenton, Fla.; Pittsburgh 4, Yankees 3 — Although the Yankees would eventually fall to the Pirates, they got their suddenly assembled and quickly prepared Spring Training session started Friday with an encouraging first inning, demonstrating an offensive nimbleness not often in evidence in 2021. It was a gorgeous, if windy, afternoon, warm under a largely cloudless sky, played in front of 4,500 fans representing both teams, and baseball fans of all stripes. Continue reading
Baseball Boring? Balderdash!
Bronx, N.Y., May 21, 2021; Yankees 2, Chisox 1 — “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” The baseball headlines all across the country are sounding disturbingly similar, whether you get your news on paper, online, or by word of mouth. Today’s game is boring. With a half bushel of early no-hitters leading the way, there is no offense. The hard-throwing hurlers are too dominant. Everyone swings for the fences, and they strike out all the time. It’s no fun to watch a game anymore. Continue reading
Corey’s Masterpiece
Bronx, N.Y., May 2, 2021; Yankees 2, Detroit 0 — A little more than a week since Yankee fans were concerned that new free agent signer Cory Kluber would ever pitch well — or more than a few innings — the oft-injured righthander went eight dazzling innings in a 2-0 shutout over visiting Detroit in Yankee Stadium Sunday afternoon. With temps pushing 80 degrees and the persistent breezes of the last few days finally abated, a field only intermittently bathed in sunshine was the only factor making this just an almost perfect day for a game. Continue reading
No Longer Petrified Offense
Bronx, N.Y., April 3, 2021; Yankees 5, Toronto 3 — Two teams showed some early-season struggles in the Yankees’ 5-3 victory over the Blue Jays this afternoon. The Yankees gifted the visitors with single runs in the top of the third and seventh innings that each felt much longer than they were (16 and 11 minutes, respectively), while Toronto’s Marcus Semien ended Corey Kluber’s day with a fifth-inning blast to left less than a minute after that frame had begun. But although 11 hometown hits produced less than they should have, they were a welcome sight for Yankee fans more concerned with their offense than they have any right to be on April 3. Continue reading
Thanks, Sis!
Delayed in the mail, I got a birthday present the other day. It was sent by my sister, someone whom I believe has attended all of one major league baseball game in her life, certainly not more than a handful. She neither loves the game, nor knows it. But she loves her brother, which is plenty enough for me. We are not alone as a family that was unable to get together over the holidays, and I was touched by her thoughtfulness.
One of the items she sent stunned me, as it was a signed envelope on which a one-time Yankee player, Johnny Mize, is featured. I’ve always been fascinated by Mize for a number of reasons, none of which Sis was aware of. She just found this piece in a market somewhere, and figured — rightly — that her crazed Yankee fan brother would like it.
First, Johnny arrived in the Bronx the same year I did, in my case born to my parents in 1949. Mize had starred for National League teams in St. Louis and New York (the Giants) for 10 years around a three-year stint of military service in World War II. Top 10 finishes in several offensive categories (home runs, rbi’s, total bases, even a third-place finish and two seconds in the MVP vote) dot his years in the NL. His record of having hit three home runs in a game six times has been equaled just twice, by Sammy Sosa and now Mookie Betts.
But an aging Mize was no longer a full-time player when the Giants sold his contract to the Yankees as I was learning to walk in 1949. No longer a star, he was a valuable halfway player with a feared lefthanded power bat, and he would conclude his career clearing 37 fences and driving in 179 runs in the Bronx.
And in that beloved borough, Mize would set another mark, one unlikely to be ever matched. The Yankees are the only team to ever win five consecutive World Series titles, from 1949 through 1953. Johnny was on hand for all five of them, and only them.
Following the last one, Mize retired and left the Bronx. So did I, moving with my family across the Hudson River to New Jersey.
A-MIIZE-ing!
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!
’80s in the 8th
The Yankees added a new entertainment feature to their home games in the Stadium in 2019, and it’s back for 2021. It’s ’80s in the 8th, in which they play a 1980s song and fans let their freak flag fly, dancin’ to the tunes, in the middle of the eighth inning. These are YouTube links to most of the songs.
2021
04/01/21 You Give Love a Bad Name Bon Jovi
04/03/21 Don’t You Want Me The Human League
04/04/21 The Power of Love Huey Lewis & The News
04/05/21 Heaven Is a Place on Earth Belinda Carlisle
04/06/21 You Got It (The Right Stuff) New Kids on the Block
04/07/21 I Wanna Rock Twisted Sister
04/16/21 Uptown Girl Billy Joel
04/17/21 Never Gonna Give You Up Rick Astley
04/18/21 Your Love The Outfield
04/20/21 Here I Go Again Whitesnake
04/21/21 1999 Prince
04/30/21 The Moment of Truth Survivor
05/01/21 Let’s Go Crazy Prince
05/02/21 Rock Me Amadeus Falco
05/04/21 (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party) Beastie Boys
05/05/21 Mony Mony Billy Idol
05/06/21 We’re Not Gonna Take It Twisted Sister
05/07/21 Pump Up the Jam Technotronic
05/09/21 I Wanna Dance With Somebody Whitney Houston
2019
3/28 Opening Day Whip It! Devo
3/30 Cum On Feel The Noize Quiet Riot
4/1 Foolin’ Def Leppard
4/2 Separate Ways Journey
4/3 Hangin’ Tough New Kids on the Block
4/13 Candy Girl New Edition
4/14 Panama Van Halen
4/16 Together Forever Rick Astley
4/17 Heaven Is a Place on Earth Belinda Carlisle
4/18 I Wanna Rock Twisted Sister
4/19 I’m So Excited Pointer Sisters
4/20 Hey Mickey Toni Basil
4/21 Desire U2
5/3 I Think We’re Alone Now Tiffany
5/4 (Note Star Wars Day)
5/6 Opposites Attract Paula Abdul
5/7 Here I Go Again White Snake
5/8 Walk Like an Egyptian The Bangles
5/9 I Wanna Dance With Somebody Whitney Houston
5/15 It Takes Two Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock (makeup of 5/13)
5/15 Your Love The Outfield
5/18 Tainted Love Soft Cell
5/19 Dancing on the Ceiling Lionel Richie
5/27 Living in America James Brown
5/28 Mony Mony Billy Idol
5/29 Footloose Kenny Loggins
5/31 We Built This City Jefferson Starship
6/2 Kickstart My Heart Motley Crüe
6/11 Game 1 Karma Chameleon Culture Club
6/11 Game 2 You Give Love a Bad Name Bon Jovi
6/17 Dreams Fleetwood Mac
6/18 All Night Long Lionel Richie
6/20 Burnin’ for You Blue Oyster Cult
6/21 I Wanna Dance With Somebody Whitney Houston
6/22 Rhythm of the Night DeBarge
6/23 Glory Days Bruce Springsteen
6/24 Love Shack The B-52s
6/26 London Calling The Clash
7/12 Stand Back Stevie Nicks
7/13 Let the Music Play Shannon
7/14 I’m Your Man Wham
7/15 Let’s Go Crazy Prince
7/16 Eye of the Tiger Survivor
7/18 Game 1 You Spin Me Round Dead or Alive
7/18 Game 2 Just a Friend Biz Markie
7/19 Ghostbusters Ray Parker Jr.
7/20 The Heat Is On Glenn Frey
7/30 I Wanna Rock Twisted Sister
7/31 Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) Eurythmics
8/2 Take Me Home Tonight Eddie Money
8/3 Game 1 Into the Groove Madonna
8/3 Game 2 Pour Some Sugar on Me Def Leppard
8/4 When I Think of You Janet Jackson
8/12 Game 1 Girls Just Want to Have Fun Cyndi Lauper
8/12 Game 2 Bust a Move Young MC
8/13 Part-Time Lover Stevie Wonder
8/14 Smalltown Boy Bronski Beat
8/15 Dancin’ in the Dark Bruce Springsteen
8/16 Material Girl Madonna
8/17 You Make My Dreams Hall & Oates
8/18 867-5309/Jenny Tommy Tutone
8/30 We’re Not Gonna Take It Twisted Sister
9/1 Hungry Like the Wolf Duran Duran
9/3 Uptown Girl Billy Joel
9/4 Electric Boogie (The Electric Slide) Marcia Griffiths
9/19 The Power of Love Huey Lewis & The News
9/22 The Final Countdown Europe
10/4 Never Gonna Give You Up Rick Astley
10/5 All Night Long Lionel Richie
10/15 We’re Not Gonna Take It Twisted Sister
10/17 You Give Love a Bad Name Bon Jovi
10/18 Don’t Stop Believing Journey