It was a true rarity on July 10, 2011, when James Shields of the Rays and Yankee CC Sabathia traded four-hitters and complete games in a 1-0 Yankee win, with the run scored on an error. They each allowed one walk, and CC struck out nine to just five for Shields. But when Shields threw wildly trying to pick Robinson Cano off third in the seventh inning, the only run of the game scored. Continue reading →
Hit No. 2,999, a single to left, led off the bottom of the first, and history came two innings later as Derek Jeter powered David Price‘s seventh pitch over the wall in left center for a 2-2 tie in the game, and history, the Yankee Captain’s 3000th career hit. Amazingly, once he scored after his fifth-inning double (No. 3,001), he tied the score again. Although it was followed by a double steal, hit No. 3,002, a sixth-inning single, went for naught, but when he went 5-for-5 on this record-setting day with a single (No. 3,003) in the eighth, he drove in the winning run in a 5-4 Yankee victory over Tampa Bay on July 9, 2011. Continue reading →
It was Clint Frazier‘s biggest 2017 day when his three-run ninth-inning jack walked off the visiting Brewers 5-3 on July 8. With the Yanks struggling to recover from Domingo Santana‘s three-run homer off Luis Severino in the first all game, the first breakthrough was Clint’s rbi double in the two-run Yankee seventh. Sevy went seven, and Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman combined to strike out five of the last six Milwaukee batters to set the stage for the Frazier heroics. Continue reading →
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 →
With Anthony Rizzo sidelined with injury and ineffectiveness much of the year, Ben Rice, primarily a catching prospect, was pressed into service at first base in a game hosting Boston on July 6, 2024. Fans were delighted when he homered to start the home first, but by the time Ben came to bat in the fifth, the Yankees were in the midst of a seven-run inning which Rice capped with a three-run bomb. And he added an additional three-run home run in the seventh of a 14-4 Yankee win. Not a bad day. 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 →
