It seems forever since we’ve led off a Yankee daily history report with a mention of Mickey Mantle. On December 13, 1961, The Mick signed a contract for the 1962 season. He would earn $82,000, the second highest Yankee total (to Joe DiMaggio) to that point in time. He would only play 123 games due to injury, but what would he earn today for the 30 home runs and 89 rbi’s?
From No. 7 to a guy who reportedly wore Pinstriped No. 25 because the individual digits add up to that number. Little did Yankee fans realize the roller coaster trip to come when the team inked first baseman Jason Giambi to a seven-year $120 million contract on December 13, 2001. His 2002 numbers were top-notch, but a 2003 eye ailment early and knee injury late dipped his batting average to .250. With an almost certainly steroids-affected pituitary gland tumor, he was a nonfactor in 2004. The early 2005 season promised more of the same, but Giambi surprised us yet again, and his 32 home runs and 87 rbi’s netted him Comeback Player of the Year. Numbers in 2006 of 37/113 set him up well for the coming season but the 14/39 (with .236 ba and just .356 obp) in an injury-devastated 2007 left him just one more season under Yankee contract to improve how he is regarded in the future. The 211 home runs with 604 rbi’s were big, the defensive play wasn’t, but bottom line, the Yanks only reached the World Series once while Jason was here, and lost to the Marlins in 2003. His best moment? Perhaps the two home runs off Pedro Martinez in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, keeping the Yanks close enough for a stirring comeback win.
On December 13, 2022, the Yankees signed the following free agents to minor league contracts: righthanders Dari Brito, Mariano Salomon, and Michell Chirinos; outfielder Niurby Asigen; third baseman Adrian Gonzalez; and shortstop Ovandy Frias.
The Yankees signed free agent outfielder Thomas Milone to a minor league contract and invited him to Spring Training on December 13, 2020.
On December 13, 2019, the fears of many Yankee fans were confirmed when two players from the ’19 squad signed free agent contracts with other teams. The Philadelphia Phillies inked shortstop Didi Gregorius, and the Detroit Tigers signed catcher Austin Romine.
On December 13, 2018, the Tigers traded Tyler Hill to the Yankees for cash.
The Yankees signed two free agents on December 13, 2011, catcher Gustavo Molina and righthander Matt Daley.
The Bombers made what turns out to be another valuable transaction the same 2001 day they added Giambi. Lefty-hitting outfielder John Vander Wal, acquired in a trade with the San Francisco Giants, stroked a disappointing six homers with only 20 rbi’s in 84 games in 2002. And with 219 at bats, many of those games were starts. But it was a good pickup on balance, because the club sent Jay Witasik to the Giants in return, and Jay’s stay in the Bronx had been truly horrible.
Weeks of drama leading from his historic opt-out during the seventh game of the World Series came to an end when the Yankees made it official by signing third baseman Alex Rodriguez to a 10-year contract on December 13, 2007. To all reports, the relationship between Alex and super agent Scott Boras, who advised him to break his ties with the Yankees, have not cooled since.
Arbitrator Peter Seitz released Catfish Hunter from his contract with Charley Finley and the A’s on December 13, 1974, freeing him up to shop his services around. Hunter would use his new-found freedom to sign with the Yankees a few weeks later.
A hole had been created in the Yankee rotation when free agent Andy Pettitte signed with the Astros. So on December 13, 2003, the Yanks tried to close the gap by acquiring Kevin Brown from the Dodgers for playoff outcast Jeff Weaver, minor league righthander Yhency Brazoban and another minor leaguer. The addition of Brown, alas, would prove even more disastrous than the loss of Pettitte. Andy did great work in a 2007 return, by the way, and went 14-14 in 2008 with a poor second half. But he was solid in the new ballpark in 2009, and started and won the Championship-winning game. He was even better in 2010, until a muscle tweak put him out for almost two months, an injury that has fans wondering if he’ll be retiring before the 2011 season dawns.
Chad Curtis contributed more than many expected once he was acquired by the Yanks, and he was a World Series hero in 1999. But there was friction between him and teammates, and he was shipped to the Rangers on December 13, 1999, for two minor league pitchers, Brandon Knight and Sam Marsonek. Knight made most of the headlines and pitched in the Bronx (to no record and a high era) in 11 games in 2001 and 2002, but was released twice. But Marsonek continued to pitch in the Bombers’ system for four years, progressing each season. He reached AAA Columbus in 2003, where he went 4-4 with a 4.84 era in 54 games, just two of them starts. Marsonek finally managed to make his major-league debut with the Yankees in 2004, allowing no runs and two hits while recording four outs in one game just before the All Star break.
The Yanks traded pitcher Red Embree to St. Louis with Sherm Lollar and Dick Starr on December 13, 1948, for Fred Sanford and Roy Partee. Lollar would catch in the majors until 1963. But the Yanks got a 7-3 mark out of Stanford in 1949 (and 12-10 through 1951). And a good stat on Embree: He posted a joint 26-42 mark for the Indians (1941-1947) and Browns (1949), and managed his only winning season in Pinstripes in 1948 (5-3).
Despite a tailoff in the 2004 ALCS versus Boston, the two seasons Tom Gordon turned in for the Yanks once they signed him as a free agent were exemplary, and got him closer money to sign with Philly in December 2005. All of this becomes even more impressive when you consider that the ligament reconstruction surgery Gordon had on his right elbow as a member of the Red Sox on December 13, 1999, had officials in Boston giving the diminutive but hard-throwing righty a 10- 15-percent chance of ever pitching again.
It was a genuine goodbye (and good riddance from many fans) when righthanded reliever Jose Veras filed for free agency on December 13, 2009. He pitched some (and not very well) in the Marlins bullpen in 2010.
Former New York Highlanders Manager Clark Griffith (their first field boss) was team president for the Washington Senators when he requested and received permission on December 13, 1927 to start the 1928 AL season a day early in the nation’s capital to celebrate a “National Day.”
The Dodgers’ trade of Luke Prokopec and Chad Ricketts to Toronto for Paul Quantrill (a stalwart in the Yankee pen in 2004) and Cesar Izturis in 2001 is the first of several December 13 transactions involving former and future Yankee players. Also on the list are two moves made that same day: The Red Sox traded (former Yankee draft choice) Carl Everett to Texas for Darren Oliver, and the Mets signed reliever David Weathers. The Mets also penned Rickey Henderson in 1998; the Blue Jays swooped in and grabbed Roger Clemens on this day over fellow bidders the Yankees in 1996; the Angels got Lee Smith in 1994; the Mariners received Danny Tartabull as compensation for the White Sox penning of Floyd Bannister in 1982; and the Cardinals sold the contract of minor leaguer (at the time) Johnny Mize to the Reds on December 13, 1934. Also moved on December 13 were infielder Alex Arias, who signed a two-year deal with the Padres on this day in 2000, and outfielder Harry Rice, traded with Emil Vangilder by the Tigers to the Browns in 1927.
Former Yankee player and manager Billy Martin was between those two career stops when he was fired as manager of the Minnesota Twins on December 13, 1969.
Players Who Have Died This Day
Switch-hitting first baseman Dan McGann (1910), the first of four Yankee players to have died on December 13, earns that distinction due to the 68 games he spent playing for the 1902 Baltimore Orioles team just one season removed from being relocated to New York as the Highlanders. He drove in 42 runs on 79 hits in 250 at bats, in the middle of an 1896-1908 career in which he hit 42 home runs and drove in 727 runs, most of it with the Giants. Lefty thrower Al Schultz (1931) debuted pitching 47 games (27 starts) for the Highlanders and Yankees from 1912-1914 to a 9-17-0 record, a mark that morphed to 47-62-4 after pitching with the 1914-1915 Buffeds of the Federal League and the 1916 Reds. Lefty-hitting outfielder Orth Collins (1949) knocked in one run on six hits in 17 at bats debuting in five games for the 1904 Highlanders; he added no homers or rbi’s playing with Cincinnati in 1909. And catcher Billy Shantz (1993), brother of Yankee hurler Bobby Shantz, ended his big-leagues play with one game for the 1960 Yankees, with no at bats. He hit two home runs and drove in 29 runs playing with the A’s in 1954-1955.
First baseman Chick Gandil (1970) is the most famous on the list of noteworthy nonYankee players who have died on December 13, unfortunately because he was one of the players banned for life in the Black Sox Scandal, although a quite storied opponent in Yankee history falls near the bottom of this list. Gandil hit 11 home runs and drove in 557 runs from 1910-1919, mostly with the White Sox. Righty-throwing, lefty-hitting George Baumgardner (1970) won 36 games, lost 47, and saved four from 1912-1916 throwing only for the Browns; while righthander Mike Ryba (1971) posted a 52-34-16 mark pitching for the Cardinals and the Red Sox from 1935-1946. Lefty-hitting first baseman/catcher Klondike Douglass (1953) hit 10 home runs and drove in 275 runs with the Browns and the Phillies from 1896-1904; and shortstop Andre Rodgers (2004) cleared 45 fences from 1957-1967 with the Giants, the Cubs, and the Pirates, good for 245 rbi’s. “Yankee Killer” Frank Lary (2017), a righthander who repeatedly bested the Yankees throughout his 1954 through 1965 career, mostly with Detroit, posted 121 wins, 116 losses, and 11 saves in the big leagues. And southpaw Frank Baumann (2020) pitched for the Red Sox from 1955-1959, the White Sox from 1960-1964, and with the 1965 Cubs. He posted a 45-38 record with 13 saves. And probably eclipsing Gandil on this list in terms of play afield, lefthander Curt Simmons (2022) pitched for the 1947-1960 Phillies, the 1960-1966 Cardinals, the 1966-1967 Cubs, and in one more spot to a 193-183 record with five saves in 569 games, 462 of them starts. Curt hit one home run with 76 rbi’s.
Players Born This Day
Indications are good that the Yanks landed a generational star when they acquired middle infielder Gleyber Torres from the Cubs for Aroldis Chapman in the 2016 stretch run. Torres, a 2013 amateur free agent signing in Chicago, was born on this day in 1996, and if he fills half the expectations had of him, he’ll top the December 13 Yankee birthday list for years to come. Following an early 2018 callup, and around a midseason DL stint with a shoulder problem, Gleyber hit 24 home runs with 77 rbi’s in 123 games in his rookie season, logging most of his time at second base, although he may eventually be destined to play shortstop. Although his 38 homers and 90 rbi’s in 2019 solidified the advance word on this budding star, the bizarre 2020 season was not a good one for him. He played 42 of the 60 games, with three long balls, 16 rbi’s, and just a .243 ba. He did hit better in the post, with two home runs and five rbi’s in seven games, but the nine errors in the shortened season at short, and continued struggles at that position in 2021, pushed him back to second base as the season came to a close. He also continued to disappoint offensively in 2021, with nine home runs and 51 rbi’s. Once thought to be the most untouchable of Yankee prospects, Gleyber’s 2022 numbers sound disappointing, though improved (24 home runs, 76 rbi’s, a .257 ba), unless compared with much of the Yankee lineup that year. Nonetheless, as was the case in 2021, he could be a target to be traded, for some value. Gleyber hit 25 home runs and drove in 68 runs in 158 games in 2023.
Of the Yankee players born on December 13 to arrive on the scene before 2018, one of two very recognizable names belongs to Dale Berra (1956). Dale’s fame derives from his father, Yogi Berra, and not the three homers, 21 rbi’s, and one stolen base he got with the 1985-1986 Yankees after eight seasons with the Pirates. The Yankees sent Steve Kemp, Tim Foli, and cash to the Pirates in December 1984 for Berra, Jay Buhner, and Alfonso Pulido. They released Dale in July 1986.
Bullpen star Lindy McDaniel (1935) not only fashioned a 38-29 record with 58 saves for the 1968-1973 Yankees after eight years with the Cardinals, three with the Cubs, and three with the Giants, he brought Lou Piniella and Ken Wright in trade when he was shipped to Kansas City, where he pitched two more years. The Yanks got McDaniel from the Giants in July 1968 in a trade for Bill Monbouquette.
Second baseman Nate Oliver (1940) had only one at bat in one game for the 1969 Yankees, but he arrived in New York via a trade for third baseman Charley Smith, who had been acquired for Roger Maris in 1966. New York exchanged Oliver for Lee Elia of the Cubs in April 1969.
Bill Castro (1953), whom the Yanks signed as a free agent in February 1981, went 1-1 in 11 games for the 1981 Bombers, and was traded to the California Angels for Butch Hobson the following March.
Jeff Robinson (1960) went 3-6 in 54 games for the 1990 Yanks; he arrived in New York with Willie Smith in a December 1989 trade with the Pirates for catcher Don Slaught.
Third baseman Hank Majeski (1916) went 1-for-12 while playing eight games in the Bronx for the 1946 club. He was acquired from the Boston Braves in September 1942, and sold to the Philadelphia Athletics in July 1946.
Although he never played for the Yankees, Paul Boris (1955) was signed by the Bombers as an amateur free agent in April 1978. Lost to the Twins in the rule-V draft and then recovered from them, he was traded by New York with Ron Davis and Greg Gagne to Minnesota for Roy Smalley in April 1982. Boris posted a 1-2 record in 23 games for the Twins that year, his only one in the bigs.
Other birthdays: Hall of Famers Larry Doby (1923) of the Indians; and Ferguson Jenkins (1942) of the Cubs and Rangers; Carl Erskine (1926), 122-78 with the Dodgers in Brooklyn and L.A. from 1948 through 1959; Billy Loes (1929), who went 80-63 for the Dodgers, Orioles, and Giants from 1950-1961; Joe Christopher (1935); J.C. Martin (1936); Ron Taylor (1937); Mike Mordecai (1967); Matthew LeCroy (1975); Josh Fogg (1976); Ricky Nolasco (1982); Aneury Rodriguez (1987); Perci Garner (1988); Tyler Pastornicky (1989); Brandon Leibrandt (1992); Austin Slater (1992); Carson Fulmer (1993); Johan Camargo (1993); and Luis Garcia (1996).
