It was a no-brainer when an Associated Press panel voted Babe Ruth Player of the Century on December 10, 1999, and I won’t even haggle with their nod to the splendid Willie Mays in the second spot. But we’ll need to have a talk with the ESPN “experts” who chose basketball player Michael Jordan over the Babe as Athlete of the Century in a similar end-of-1999 designation. The Sultan of Swat retired from playing some 70 years ago, but now, several years into a new Millennium, he is already once again talked about as often as the fading-from-memory Jordan.
The Yankees signed free agent shortstop Cito Culver to a minor league contract on December 10, 2017.
On December 10, 2015, the Reds claimed outfielder Jake Cave off waivers from the Yankees, but Cave would be back in the Bomberrs’ system during the coming season. And on this same day, the New York club signed free agent righthander Jean Polanco to a minor league contract.
The Yankees signed free agent catcher Juan Graterol to a minor league contract on December 10, 2014, and invited him to spring training.
Perhaps the best thing about the Yanks’ signing of free agent Jimmy Key to a four-year contract on December 10, 1992, happened 3.5 years later when he and the Bombers bested Greg Maddux and the Atlanta Braves in Game Six of the 1996 World Series. Maddux had left more money from the Yankees on the table when he joined the Braves the day before Key was signed. Despite missing almost all of the 1995 season, Jimmy would post a 48-23 regular-season mark in the Bronx.
The Yankees signed DH Chili Davis to a two-year deal on December 10, 1997. A Spring Training knee injury wiped out most of Davis’s 1998 season, but the 19 homers and 78 rbi’s in his final major-league campaign in 1999 were huge.
Admitted gambler Howie Spira‘s attempt to extort money from Yankee owner George Steinbrenner netted him a 2.5-year prison sentence on December 10, 1991.
The Yanks were looking for lightning in a bottle when they shipped reliever Pete Mikkelson to Pittsburgh for veteran starter Bob Friend on December 10, 1965, but they didn’t find it. Mikkelson performed similarly in Pittsburgh (10-10 with 16 saves in 1966-1967) as he had in New York (11-13, 13 saves in 1964-1965), but Friend struggled to a 1-4 record in 12 games in New York before retiring.
It was not a trade that resulted in Willie Randolph signing with the Dodgers on December 10, 1988, but it amounted to the same thing. Once the Yanks had signed the four-years-younger former Dodger Steve Sax to be their second baseman weeks before, Randolph signed with L.A. Steve would hit 19 homers and drive in 161 over three seasons in the Bronx, while Willie only kicked in three homers and 45 rbi’s playing part-time in L.A. in ’89 and ’90, but despite those numbers, most Yankee fans regret that the move was ever made. The consolation: The Yanks would cash Sax in for Melido Perez, Bob Wickman, and Domingo Jean (from the White Sox) in 1992.
First baseman George McQuinn was already 36 when the Yanks signed him on this day in 1946 after the A’s released him, but the 24 homers and 121 rbi’s over two seasons were worth the investment.
Cleveland shipped pitcher Red Embree to the Yanks for outfielder Allie Clark on December 10, 1947. Embree would go 5-3 in 20 games for the ’48 Yanks, while Clark would contribute 17 homers and 71 rbi’s to the Tribe over four years.
The Yankees filled two coaching positions on December 10, 2001, naming Rick Down hitting coach and assigning Rich Monteleone to bullpen duties. Down has gone on to coach elsewhere since, including serving as the Mets’ hitting coach in 2004, while Monteleone continued to work for the Yanks as a special-assignment coach in 2006.
In a move that hardly makes the radar, the Cubs purchased the contract of Yankee backup catcher Charlie Silvera (one homer, 50 rbi’s from 1948-1956) on December 10, 1956. Charlie knocked in two runs in 26 games for the Cubs.
The American League voted unanimously to adopt the Designated Hitter rule for a three-year experimental basis on December 10, 1972.
Detroit rookie Pat Dobson, who would later pitch for the Yanks, struck out 21 Arecibo batters in a 6-3 San Juan victory in a Puerto Rican League game on December 10, 1967.
On December 10, 1940, the seven other AL clubs voted to continue to abide by the rule they had adopted the December before and not deal with the Yankees, even though the Bombers’ four-year stranglehold on the World Championship had been broken.
The list of December 10 transactions that moved former and/or future Yankees leads off with the signing of catcher Joe Girardi, who managed the 2006 Marlins after a stint as Yankee bench coach, to a three-year contract with the Cubs in 1999. Girardi was allowed to leave by the Yanks with Jorge Posada deemed ready to assume the starting job full time. Girardi begins his second season as Yankee manager in 2009. Also: Toronto traded shortstop Alex Gonzalez to the Cubs for lefty reliever Felix Heredia, eventually a bust in the Bronx, in 2001; the Mets got Jesse Orosco from the Orioles for Chuck McElroy in 1999; Melido Perez was included in a Royals trade with the White Sox for Floyd Bannister in 1987; and the Mariners shipped outfielder Danny Tartabull with another player to K.C. for pitchers Scott Bankhead and Steve Shields, and outfielder Mike Kingery in 1986.
The A’s nabbed Joaquin Andujar from the Cards in 1985 for catcher Mike Heath and pitcher Tim Conroy; and Bill Veeck started remaking the White Sox by sending lefty Jim Kaat and shortstop Mike Buskey to the Phillies for pitchers Dick Ruthven and Roy Thomas and infielder/outfielder Alan Bannister in 1975. Also, C.J. Nitkowski accompanied Brad Ausmus, Jose Lima, Trever Miller, and Daryle Ward from Detroit to Houston for Brian Hunter, Orlando Miller, Doug Brocail, and Todd Jones on December 10, 1996; and the Royals signed Rey Sanchez as a free agent two years later. Barely qualifying in this category is the Boston trade of Rick Burleson and Butch Hobson to the Angels on this day in 1980 (Hobson closed out his career with 30 games in the Bronx in 1982). Finally, Yankee shortstop (nine years) and manager (just one season) Roger Peckinpaugh (1925 AL MVP with Washington) left the Senators to pilot the Indians on December 10, 1927.
On December 10, 1919, the Yanks joined compatriot American League teams in Boston and Chicago in blocking a league resolution against American League founder Ban Johnson.
The crosstown New York Mets made a standout bad trade on December 10, 1971, when they included Nolan Ryan in the four players they sent to the Angels for Jim Fregosi, thereby missing out on 295 Ryan victories and seven no-hitters.
The University of Pittsburgh bought Forbes Field from the Pirates on this day in 1958.
In other Stadium news, with the A’s departing the City of Brotherly Love for K.C., the Phillies purchased Connie Mack Stadium on December 10, 1954.
Players Who Have Died This Day
Outfielder/third baseman Cozy Dolan (1958) easily outstrips two other guys as the Yankee to have died on December 10 with the longest resume for the team. Dolan hit no homers but drove in 17 runs in 37 games for the 1911-1912 Highlanders, achieved on 33 hits in 129 at bats. After playing parts of two seasons with the Phillies and Pirates and one with the Reds, the Pirates, and the Giants between 1911 and 1922, he had six long balls and driven in 111 runs. First baseman/outfielder Joe Harris (1959) went hitless in one at bat playing two games with the 1914 Yankees, and smacked 47 home runs good for 517 rbi’s from 1917-1927 with the Red Sox, the Indians, the Senators, and the Pirates. Righthander Rosy Ryan (1980), the last of the three Yanks to succumb this day, pitched just three games (no starts) to no record for the 1928 Yankees, and went 52-47-19 overall from 1919-1933 pitching mostly with the Giants.
Legendary Hall of Fame hurler Walter Johnson passed away on December 10, 1946. He won 417, lost 279, and saved 34 games pitching from 1907-1927 exclusively for Washington. The list of other noteworthy nonYankee players who have died on November 22 includes three righthanded pitchers, a southpaw, three outfielders, a shortstop, and a catcher. Portsider Carl Fischer (1963) won 46 games, lost 50, and saved 11 from 1930-1937 throwing mostly for the Senators and the Tigers; while Vic Keen (1990) posted a 42-44-6 mark pitching mostly for the Cubs from 1918-1927; Whitey Moore (1987) won 30, lost 29, and saved four games pitching more often than not with the Reds from 1936-1942; and Willard Nixon (2000) earned his entire 69-72-3 record from 1950-1958 with the Red Sox. Portsided outfielder Jack Tobin (1969) hit most of his 64 home runs with 581 rbi’s from 1914-1927 with the Browns; Johnny Mostil (1970) reached 23 fences good for 376 runs driven in from 1918-1929 with the White Sox; and lefty-hitting Freddy Leach (1981) contributed most of his 72 long balls with 505 rbi’s from 1923-1932 to the Phillies and the Giants. Finally, shortstop Danny Thompson (1976) went yard 15 times and knocked in 194 runs mostly with the Twins from 1970-1976; and lefty-hitting, righty-throwing catcher Babe Phelps (1992) played from 1931-1942, most of it with the Dodgers, good for 54 roundtrippers and 345 runs driven in.
Players Born This Day
Listing the New York Yankee players born December 10 in descending order by seniority, we start with catcher Doc Edwards (1936), who contributed one home run, one stolen base and nine rbi’s during the 45 games he played for the 1965 club. Doc played two years with the Indians, three with the K.C. A’s, and one with the Phillies, and managed the Tribe in Cleveland from 1987 through 1989. The Yankees got Edwards from the Kansas City Athletics in May 1965 for Johnny Blanchard and Rollie Sheldon. The Bombers shipped him to Cleveland for Lou Clinton the following January.
Lefty-hitting outfielder Roy Carlyle‘s (1900) career-capping 11 rbi’s during 35 games for the 1926 Yanks rank him next; he played in Washington and Boston, along with New York, in 1925 and 1926. The Yanks selected Carlyle off waivers from the Red Sox in June 1926.
The 2-2 mark lefty reliever Paul Assenmacher (1960) recorded in 26 games for the 1993 club fall in the middle of his 1986-1999 career, spent with the Braves and Cubs before the Yanks, and with the White Sox and Indians afterward. Assenmacher arrived in New York from the Cubs as part of a 3-team trade in July 1993. New York sent John Habyan to the Kansas City Royals, and K.C. sent Karl Rhodes to Chicago. The Yanks got Brian Boehringer from the White Sox for Assenmacher in March 1994.
Infielder Gregorio Petit (1984) was traded from Houston to the Yankees just before opening day in 2015, and in 20 games manning second and third base, and even as Designated Hitter, he hit .167 and knocked in five runs. Signed by Oakland as a free agent in 2001, and at one time actually traded for one-time Yankee reliever Edwar Ramirez, Petit had one rbi in 25 games for the 2008-2009 A’s, and collected nine rbi’s and hit two home runs in 37 games for the 2014 Astros. Petit had a decent year in 2016 with a bad Angels team.
Lefthander Bots Nekola (1906) pitched in nine games for the 1929 Yankees, starting one, and completed his time in the bigs with two appearances for the 1933 Tigers. However, there is a fifth franchise player born this day, as southpaw Charlie Shields (1879) posted a 4-11 mark with one save in 23 games (15 starts) with the 1902 Baltimore Orioles, the soon-to-be New York Highlanders. Sold by Baltimore to the St. Louis Browns in September 1902, Shields finished that year there and played for the Cardinals in 1907, with an overall record of 7-13. And another (much more modern) player for Baltimore, lefthander Nestor Cortes, Jr. (1994), who pitched in four games for the O’s in 2018 to no record, was drafted and signed by the Yankees in 2013.
The new longevity champ on this list is southpaw Nestor Cortes, Jr. (1994), who was drafted by the Yanks in 2013, but was lost to the Orioles in 2017 to the rule-5 draft. But after pitching in just four games for Baltimore, Nestor was returned in 2018, and he pitched in 33 games to a 5-1 record for the 2019 Yankee squad. Although he started just one of those games, he did often serve as “the starter” following a one- or two-inning opener. He did quite well early, then struggled later, and was traded to Seattle for future considerations in November ’19. He posted an 0-1 record in five games (one start) for the Mariners in 2020. Once released there, the Yankees re-signed Nestor, and he was a solid if part-time addition to the 2021 rotation, going 2-3 with one save in 22 games, 14 of them starts. And he rose to All Star status in 2022, when he posted a 12-4 record and a 2.44 era in 28 games (all starts), including one complete-game shutout. But 2022 was a down year, lost mostly to injury, as Nestor went 5-2 in just 12 games, all starts.
Speaking of a Yankee hurler who had a down 2022 season, lefty Carlos Rodon (1992) signed a big five-year contract in the Bronx starting with that season, then suffered several injuries that kept him out for more than half a year. And it got worse when he recovered, posting a 3-8 record with an era of almost 7.00 in 14 games, all starts. This brought his career record since 2015, almost all of it with the White Sox, to 59-54 in 166 games (161 starts). Needless to say, much better is hoped for and expected going forward.
Other birthdays: utility player Jimmy Johnston (1889), who spent 10 years of his 1911-1926 career with Brooklyn; Bob Priddy (1939); Dalton Jones (1943); Steve Renko (1944); Rick Wrona (1963); Doug Henry (1963); Mel Rojas (1966); Norberto Martin (1966); Jon Zuber (1969); Joe Mays (1975); Dan Wheeler (1977); Victor Diaz (1981); Brandon Jones (1983); Matt Clark (1986); Pedro Florimon (1986); Matt Clark (1986); Wil Myers (1990); Austin Wynns (1990); Dillon Thomas (1992); Christin Stewart (1993); Sheldon Neuse (1994); and Adrián Martínez (1996).
