On December 11, 2017, the Yankees closed on a biggie, obtaining outfielder Giancarlo Stanton, the 2017 NL MVP, in a trade with Miami for minor leaguers Jose Devers and Jorge Guzman and second baseman Starlin Castro.
“We play today; we win today.” Though he was a huge factor in the successful 1996 World Championship season, I am not prepared to tell you that the acquisition of free agent infielder Mariano Duncan on December 11, 1995, was the biggest Yankee news ever on the day. But his trademark quote from that glorious season is just too good to bury. The defense-challenged Duncan would survive less than half the 1997 season in Pinstripes, but the eight homers, 56 rbi’s, and in particular .340 ba were crucial to the ’96 team’s success.
On December 11, 2020, the Yankees signed free agent lefthander Lucas Luetge to a minor league contract and invited him to Spring Training. A four-year veteran with Seattle who had last pitched in the majors in 2015, Luetge grabbed a spot and was a stalwart out of the pen during the entire 2021 season. His 4-2 record with one save in 57 games brought his career totals to 7-7 and three. Lucas was offered arbitration before the 2021 lockout.
On December 11, 2019, the Yankees signed free agent catcher Gabriel Bersing to a minor league contract.
The biggest event in Yankee history on December 11 is perhaps the official retirement of The Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio, in 1951. Although his 56-game consecutive-game hitting streak in 1941 may never be beaten, he patrolled the vast stretches in Death Valley with grace and skill, and he retired with a .325 career batting average, I consider his most impressive accomplishment the 361 home runs for a righty hitter who played in a ballpark where the fences in left center were virtually unreachable.
Record-setting home-run hitter Roger Maris was acquired from the Kansas City A’s on December 11, 1959, in a seven-player trade that saw pitcher Don Larsen, outfielders Hank Bauer and Norm Siebern, and first baseman Marv Throneberry moved to the Athletics. “Rajah” would win back-to-back MVPs in addition to his magical “61 in ’61.”
On December 11, 2015, the Yankees signed free agent righthander Domingo German to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training.
The Yanks erected two huge building blocks to the team that would win three pennants and two World Series the next three seasons on December 11, 1975. First, pitcher Doc Medich was shipped to Pittsburgh for pitchers Dock Ellis and Ken Brett and second baseman Willie Randolph. Then Bobby Bonds, who had been swapped for fellow outfielder Bobby Murcer the year before, was sent to California for speedy center fielder Mickey Rivers and reliable starter Ed Figueroa.
Lefty reliever Mike Stanton, who garnered a 30-12 record with 15 saves in the Bronx from 1997 through 2002, was signed by the Yanks to a free agent contract on December 11, 1996. Despite those gaudy numbers, Mike proved his mettle even more in the postseason. He would return to the Yankee pen in 2005. The brightest light in his second Yankee stint before his release was the trade that brought him and removed the ineffective Felix Heredia from the Bronx.
The Yanks lost lefty Andy Pettitte, a fixture with the Torre Championship teams his whole career, when he signed a free agent contract with the Houston Astros on December 11, 2003. A retired (?) Roger Clemens would vacate the Yankee rotation and join Houston’s as well, but the worst part in New York might very well have been the move the Yanks made to fill Andy’s spot a few days later. Pettitte did ultimately return for the 2007-2010 campaigns, pitched very well in the first, less so in 2008, but he had a big 2009, starting and winning the World Series clincher against the Phillies. He was even better in 2010, making the All Star team, but a muscle injury cost him almost two months of the season. The Pettitte retirement watch is on again, as fans wonder if he’ll return for 2011.
On December 11, 2018, the Toronto Blue Jays released shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, while still owing him plenty of money on his contract. Stay tuned.
Two and a half months after he scored the game-winning rbi on Derek Jeter‘s base hit in the latter’s last ever game at shortstop, it became official that Antoan Richardson‘s short tenure in pinstripes was over when Texas signed the free agent outfielder to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training, on December 11, 2014.
Hot-tempered Johnny Allen burned the American League to the tune of a 50-19 record with five saves from his 1932 debut through 1935 with the Yanks. But his fiery outbursts both on the field and during contract negotiations prompted the Yanks to trade him away to Cleveland on December 11, 1935, for pitchers Monte Pearson and minor leaguer Steve Sundra anyway. Allen went 92-56 the rest of his career with the Indians, the Dodgers, and the Giants.
Even eight years removed from their last Championship, the Yankee minors were savaged by other teams in the rule-5 draft on December 11, 2008. The Marlins took lefthanded pitcher Zachary Kroenke, the Twins took righthanded pitcher Jason Jones, the Padres selected infielder Everth Cabrera, and the Mariners swiped infielder Reegie Corona .
If troubled submarining hurler Carl Mays pitched today, one can only imagine the TV movie they would produce about him. He posted a superb 207-126 mark for the Red Sox, Yankees, and Reds in his 1915-1929 career, and he was traded twice after expressing anger at lack of support from his teammates. And most infamous of all was the fastball he threw for the Yanks that struck the temple of Cleveland’s Ray Chapman, causing his death one day later. The Yanks sold the Mays contract to the Reds on December 11, 1923.
Rafael Santana produced four homers, 38 rbi’s and a .240 batting average with the 1988 Yankees. He arrived via a trade from the crosstown Mets for catcher Phil Lombardi and minor leaguers Darren Reed and Steve Frey on December 11, 1987. Despite the down-to-earth, average-at-best numbers, he did provide a solid infield presence in the Bronx in his one season in Pinstripes.
The timing of the decision by the Baseball Writers Association of America on December 11, 1930, to allow former MVP Award winners to repeat certainly had an effect on the career of the immortal Babe Ruth, as he surely would have won more than one in the 1920’s when he dominated the league, the game, and the sporting world.
We start the list of December 11 baseball transactions that moved former or future Yankee players with the three that took place on that day in 1997, as the Braves sent reliever Chad Fox to the Brewers for outfielder Gerald Williams; the Orioles signed free agent pitcher Doug Drabek; and the Twins inked outfielder Otis Nixon. Also: The Mets traded Bubba Trammell to the Pirates for Donne Wall in 2000; and then signed Todd Zeile in 1999; both players later toiled briefly across town in the Bronx. The Angels procured the services of Chili Davis in 1992; the White Sox coaxed first baseman Jim Spencer and outfielder Morris Nettles out of California for Bill Melton and Steve Dunning in 1975; and Johnny Mize was moved twice on December 11, with the Giants acquiring him from the Cards for Bill Lohrman, Ken O’Dea, and Johnny McCarthy in 1941, one year before Branch Rickey sold him back to the Giants for three players and cash.
In the same vein, Alex Arias was one of three Mariners players traded to San Diego for Brett Tomko and others on December 11, 2001; and in a three-teamer in 1987, the Dodgers got Jesse Orosco from the Mets, and Jay Howell and Alfredo Griffin from Oakland with the Mets getting minor-leaguers (at the time) Kevin Tapani and Wally Whitehurst from the A’s and minor leaguer Jack Savage from L.A. L.A.’s Bob Welch and Matt Young ended up in Oakland to close the deal. The last two December 11 transactions involving at-one-time Yanks are the 1929 trade of catcher Wally Schang from the Browns to the Athletics for third baseman Sammy Hale; and in the seventh stop of hurler Burleigh Grimes‘s career before finishing up with the Yanks on his 10th move in 1934, the Cards sent him to the Cubs for the fallen Hack Wilson in 1931.
Players Who Have Died This Day
No Yankee players have died on December 11.
The list of noteworthy nonYankee players who have died on December 11 is three players long, starting with Hall of Fame lefthanded first baseman Jim Bottomley (1959). Playing with the Cards from 1922-1932, the Reds from 1933-1935, and the 1936-1937 Browns, Bottomley crushed 219 home runs and drove in 1,422 runs. Lefty-hitting righthander Cliff Fannin (1966) did all of his pitching with the Browns from 1945-1952. He won 34, lost 51, and saved six. Infielder Ted Lepcio (2019) played from 1952-1959 with the Red Sox, with brief stops with four other clubs through 1961. Ted hit 69 home runs and drove in 251 runs.
Players Born This Day
Righty Hal Brown (1924), who went 0-1 in two games (one start) for the 1962 Yankees after two years with the White Sox, three with the Red Sox, and seven-plus with the Orioles, and before two seasons with Houston, is the only Yankee player who actually played for New York born on December 11. The Yanks purchased him from the Orioles in September 1962, and sold him to the Houston Colt .45’s the following April.
It may be the only list he’ll ever top, but Bob Sykes (1954) is just one of three other players born this day who spent time with the Yankees but who did not play for them. Sykes went 23-26 with two saves for the Tigers and the Cardinals before flopping with the Yanks once they sent minor-leaguer Willie McGee to St. Louis for him in 1981.
Righty Nate Field (1975) went 3-4 with three saves over four campaigns for the Royals after they plucked him off waivers from the Yankees in June 2002; he went 1-1 with Colorado in 2006, and posted no wins or losses with the 2007 Marlins. Fellow righthander Johnny Gray (1926) posted a 4-18 mark in 48 games (24 starts) with the A’s, the Indians, and the Phillies from 1954-1957 once the Yanks traded him with Don Bollweg, Jim Finigan, Vic Power, Bill Renna, and Jim Robertson to Kansas City in December 1953 for Harry Byrd, Eddie Robinson, Tom Hamilton, Carmen Mauro, and Loren Babe.
Other birthdays: Hall of Fame hurler Charley Radbourn (1854) who won 309 games with Providence and Boston (National League) from 1881 to 1891; pitcher Fred Toney (1888), 139-102 with the Cubs, the Giants, and the Cardinals; lefty-hitting outfielder Bill Nicholson (1914), who played from 1936 to 1953 with the Philly A’s, the Chicago Cubs, the Giants, and the Cardinals; Lee Maye (1934); Mike Henneman (1961); Thomas Howard (1964); Jay Bell (1965); Derek Bell (1968); Brooklyn’s own Frankie Rodriguez (1972), who failed in Minnesota and Seattle after much hype upon entering the league with the Red Sox; Nate Field (1975); Andy Tracy (1973); Joe Blanton (1980); Josh Butler (1984); Dalton Pompey (1992); Gabriel Guerrero (1993); James McArthur (1996); and Mark Vientos (1999).
