Yankee fans were crushed when Jimmy Key left the Bronx and signed with the Orioles after the ’96 win in the World Series, and the fact that David Wells left the Birds and signed with the Yanks on December 17, 1996, was not greeted with glee. But “The Boomer” enjoyed two, two-year stints in the Bronx afterward, and went 34-14 each time, very impressive numbers.
On December 17, 2018, the Yankees signed free agent lefthander J.A. Happ, a move that did not work out as well as anticipated. The team also designated righthander Parker Bridwell for assignment.
On December 17, 2015, the Yankees revealed that infielder Brendan Ryan would be the player to be named later in their trade with the Chicago Cubs to acquire Starlin Castro. Righthander Adam Warren was the principal player shipped out a few days earlier. Also on the 17th, the club signed free agent catcher Sebastian Valle to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training.
It worked out very well for the Yankees and their fans since the club signed free agent outfielder Gary Sheffield, who had been with the Braves, to a three-year contract with a club option for 2007 on December 17, 2003. Though not beloved in New York following his stay, the hard-swinging Sheffield was a consistent source of power, with home run/rbi totals of 36/121 and 34/123 in the next two years. These numbers are not at all negated by the wrist injury that ruined his 2006 season. And Sheffield netted three young arms, none of whom worked out now that Humberto Sanchez failed to fire after surgery, in a postseason trade with Detroit. Shef is persona non grata in New York for negative comments about now ex-Yankee manager Joe Torre after he left.
The Yankees claimed outfielder Jordan Parraz off waivers from the Boston Red Sox on December 17, 2010.
The inking of righty reliever Paul Quantrill that same day (December 17, 2003) got off to a great start, and Quantrill went 7-3 with a save as the seventh-inning guy in 2004. But he tailed off badly in an 86-appearance season, and pitched his way off the team in 2005.
Once Rondell White signed a free-agent deal with the Yanks on December 17, 2001, he managed to avoid injury more than the Yanks feared, but he had a disappointing year anyway, contributing 14 homers and 62 rbi’s. His 22-dinger, 87-rbi, 2003 season with the Padres and Royals is more what the Yankees had in mind when they inked him. He faded to 19 and 67 with the Tigers in 2004, was revisited by the injury bugaboo in ’05, and suffered a disappointing power fall-off with Minnesota afterward.
The Yanks also made two disappointing trades on December 17. The swap on that day in 1942 of outfielder Roy Cullenbine and catcher Buddy Rosar to the Indians for Roy Weatherly and infielder Oscar Grimes netted the Yanks a guy who hit seven homers and 28 rbi’s in 1943 and another who chipped in with only nine/96 over the next four years.
But the trade for first baseman Dick Wakefield on December 17, 1949, was even less productive. He kicked in one rbi during two at bats for the 1950 Yanks, while first sacker Dick Kryhoski, shipped to the Tigers in exchange, flourished in Detroit. After hitting one homer with 27 rbi’s for the 1949 Bombers, Kryhoski cleared the fences 16 times for the Tigers in 1950 and 1951, to the tune of 76 rbi’s. Wakefield had hit more than 50 homers with 300-plus rbi’s over several seasons with Detroit, but he barely registered in New York.
The Yankees spent three arms for one on December 17, 1924, going for broke in acquiring aging, four-time, 20-game winner Urban Shocker from the St. Louis Browns. He didn’t achieve that number in the Bronx, but he did win 19 once and posted a 49-29 mark with four saves in a career-ending four-year stint from 1925-1928. The Yanks won their second and third World Championships with Shocker, but he didn’t come cheap. Inexperienced Milt Gaston (5-3 for the ’24 Bombers, then 38-49 in three years for the Browns) and Joe Giard (0-0 in 16 games in the Bronx, and 13-15 for the 1925-1926 Browns) were throw-ins. Joe Bush was the prize. He had won 62 and lost 38 for the 1922-1924 Yanks, but slipped to 14-14 in St. Louis.
The Yankees can more often than not spend a buck, but they have saved a few too. The club sold Yankee Stadium to a Kansas City concern and the Knights of Columbus on December 17, 1953, then leased it from them, in a scheme to avoid having to pay taxes.
Not beloved of baseball players in general, the Houston Astrodome hosted its premier event on December 17, 1965, a concert featuring Judy Garland, and the Supremes. Aside from its unforgiving turf, the Astrodome fences were hard to reach, while Minute Maid Park, which has replaced it, is a power hitter’s dream venue.
Of the December 17 player moves affecting former and future Yankee players, the two that took place in 1995 were the Orioles’ swap of Joe Borowski to the Braves for Kent Mercker; and Jose Offerman heading to K.C. in exchange for lefty reliever Billy Brewer, moved to the Dodgers. Others: The Orioles inked Xavier Hernandez to a free-agent deal in 1998; lefthanded reliever Chris Hammond came to terms with the Red Sox on the 17th of the month in 1996; the Athletics signed Rickey Henderson this day in 1993; Minnesota came to terms with hometown player Dave Winfield in 1992; and the Senators purchased the contract of Dutch Ruether from Brooklyn on December 17, 1924.
It was on this day in 1920 that both leagues agreed to outlaw the spitball, while allowing the 17 hurlers (eight in the National League, nine in the American) who had it in their pitching arsenals to use it until they retired. Jack Quinn was the only Yankee among the bunch at the time, but Urban Shocker had pitched in New York earlier and would again from 1925-1928, Stan Coveleski threw for the Bombers in 1928, and Burleigh Grimes was the last legal spitballer, finishing up his career by throwing in 10 games for the 1934 Yankees.
Players Who Have Died This Day
Of the four Yankee players to have died on December 17, one played just in the Bronx, two others ended long careers here, and one had a very brief stay. Righty Lou McEvoy (1953) appeared in just 34 games (just one start) with the 1930-1931 Yankees, posting a 1-3-4 mark. Outfielder Ping Bodie (1961) cleared 16 fences and drove in 196 runs playing 385 games for the 1918-1921 Yankees, accruing 369 hits in 1,557 at bats during that time. That capped a record begun with the 1911-1914 White Sox with 43 long balls and 516 rbi’s overall. Catcher Hank Sevareid (1968) did not add to his 17 homers but drove in the last 13 runs of the 539 he contributed from 1911-1926 with the 1926 Yanks. He did so with 34 hits in 127 at bats. An 11-year stint with the Browns dominated Eric’s career. And most recent to have passed, righthander Hal Brown (2015) threw two games (one start) and went 0-1 with the 1962 Yankees during a 1951-1964 career in which he threw mostly for Baltimore, but also for the Red Sox, the White Sox, and the Houston Colt 45s. He pitched to a 85-92 record with 11 saves.
Four righthanded pitchers dominate the list of noteworthy nonYankee players to have died on December 17, along with a southpaw, a lefty-hitting catcher, and an outfielder. Backstop Ken O’Dea (1985) hit most of his 40 home runs with 323 rbi’s from 1935-1946 playing four years with the Cubs, three with the Giants, and five with the Cardinals; while portsider Fritz Ostermueller (1957) won 114 games, lost 115, and saved 15 tossing eight years for the Red Sox, three for the Browns, and five for the Pirates from 1934-1948. Lee Viau (1947) posted an 83-77-1 mark from 1888-1892, mostly with the Reds and Indians; Jesse Flores (1991) won 44, lost 59, and saved six games between 1942 and 1950 pitching most of the time with the A’s; and Larry Sherry (2006) went 53-44-82 pitching more often than not with the Dodgers and the Tigers from 1958-1968. Most recent to pass, righty Frank Pastore (2012) won 48, lost 58, and saved six from 1979-1986, most of the time pitching for the Reds. Switch-hitting, righty throwing outfielder Wilbur Howard (2022) played in 466 games and hit six home runs and drove in 71 playing with the 1973 Brewers and the 1974-1978 Astros.
Players Born This Day
Righthander Rollie Sheldon (1936), who started his big-league career in the Bronx, is the Yankee born on December 17 with the longest career in Pinstripes. He posted a fine 23-15 record with two saves in New York from 1961-1965, and hurled for the A’s and then Red Sox the next two years. A 1960 Yankees amateur free agent free agent selection, Sheldon was traded with catcher Johnny Blanchard to the A’s for Doc Edwards in May 1965.
Lefty-hitting first baseman Kent Hadley (1934) finished his career by blasting four homers and 11 rbi’s for the 1960 Yanks after two years in K.C. Hadley arrived on Roger Maris‘s coattails with Joe DeMaestri in the December 1959 trade that brought the slugger to New York from Kansas City for Don Larsen, Hank Bauer, Norm Siebern, and Marv Throneberry.
The remaining four birthday guys made brief appearances, with the first two sharing the trait of lefthandedness. Of these two, one finished his career with the Yanks and the other began his. Bobby Ojeda (1957) threw three innings in two starts for the 1994 club to cap a 15-year career that featured six years in Boston and five with the Mets. Lefty-hitting catcher Charlie Sands (1947) whiffed in his only at bat for the 1967 Yanks, then returned to the majors in 1971 to play two seasons with the Pirates, two with the Angels, and one with the A’s. Ojeda signed as a free agent in January 1994, and was released that May. Sands was drafted by the Yankees from the Baltimore Orioles in the 1966 first-year draft. He and two minor-leaguers were sent to Pittsburgh for three minor leaguers in October 1970.
And hearing-impaired Curtis Pride (1968) made his only hit for the 2003 Yankees a big one as he homered to bring the Yanks from behind in a big game. He is a lefty-hitting outfielder who has made appearances in the bigs since 1993 with the Expos, the Tigers, the Red Sox, and the Angels. And infielder Donovan Solano (1987) joined the 2016 Yankees as a free agent after four years playing in Miami, for whom he hit eight home runs and knocked in 97 runs from 2012 through 2015. In nine games with the ’16 Yanks after signing with them in December 2015, Solano hit one home run with two rbi’s. He would be signed as a free agent after that season, but did not play with the big club in 2017. Since signing as a free agent with the Giants in 2019, he has hit 14 homers with 82 rbi’s with them in three years, then four long balls with 24 rbi’s with Cincinnati in 2022.
Other birthdays: Ray Jablonski (1926); Cal Ripken, Sr. (1935), father and former manager of the man who took the consecutive-games-played streak from Lou Gehrig; Jerry Adair (1936); Leo Cardenas (1938); Steve Parris (1967); Chase Utley (1978); Alex Cintron (1978); Dale Thayer (1980); and the son of former Yankee outfielder Jesse Barfield, Josh Barfield (1982). Jesse was all about power and a power arm; Josh brings a speed game, having stolen 21 bases playing second for the Padres in 2006; he was traded to Cleveland in 2007, but hit just .243 over 130 games. He barely suited up in 2008, with six hits and two rbi’s in 12 games. Fernando Abad (1985); Josh Edgin (1986); Tyler Rogers (1990); Taylor Rogers (1990); Miguel Gomez (1992); Dan Vogelbach (1992); Josh Sborz (1993); Darwinzon Hernandez (1996); Brent Headrick (1997); and Ryan Weathers (1999) have joined the list.
