Following months of sometimes acrimonious negotiations, the Yankees signed free agent right fielder Aaron Judge on December 20, 2022.
On December 20, 1966, the Yanks acquired shortstop Dick Howser from the Indians for minor leaguer Gil Downs. Although Dick would only garner 13 rbi’s during 148 games in ending his playing career with the 1967 and 1968 Yanks, he would establish a relationship that would eventually lead to his guiding the club. He would manage one game (a loss) for the ’78 World Champion winners, spanning the transition from fiery Billy Martin to the calmer Bob Lemon. Howser piloted the 1980 club that achieved a 103-59 record, although they would lose to the Royals in the ALCS.
Luis Polonia returned for the second of three stops in the Bronx when he signed a free agent contract with the Bombers on December 20, 1993. In 162 games (before being traded to the Braves for minor leaguer Troy Hughes) in the ’94 and ’95 seasons, he hit three home runs, knocked in 51 teammates, and stole 30 bases.
On December 20, 1921, the Yanks went to the Boston well again, and the prize they came away with was “Bullet” Joe Bush, who would post a 62-38 mark over the next three years, and would then bring Urban Shocker in trade after that. The Yanks also received shortstop Everett Scott (who had the consecutive-games-played streak until Lou Gehrig broke it) and pitcher Sad Sam Jones in the trade. (Jones would go 67-56 over five years.) Boston’s main prizes in the swap: Jack Quinn, 45-54 in four seasons in Boston; and Rip Collins, 14-11 in 1922.
But there were a couple of bad Yankee swaps on December 20, one of them with Boston. The fanbase in Beantown was unhappy when the Pilgrims sent “Long” Tom Hughes to the Highlanders (Yankees) for lefthander Jesse Tannehill on this day in 1903. Unfortunately, the citizens were wrong to find fault with this deal, because although Hughes had gone 20-7 for the Boston champs, he wouldn’t do as well in New York. Meanwhile, Tannehill would win 20 in Boston.
And on December 20, 1946, the Yanks received part-time catcher Sherm Lollar and second sacker Ray Mack from Cleveland for pitchers Gene Bearden and Al Gettel and outfielder Hal Peck. Gettel would post an 11-11 mark over two years and Peck only nine rbi’s for the Tribe, but minor league knuckleballer Bearden would arrive with a vengeance in 1948, with a 20-7 record and a league-leading era. Lollar, on the other hand, played just 33 games in the Bronx in ’47 and ’48, and Mack only one game before being traded.
On December 20, 2023, the Yankees signed free agent lefthander Tanner Tully to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training.
On December 20, 2019, the Yankees signed free agent third baseman Kaleb Cowart to a minor league contract.
On December 20, 2018, the Yankees looked to beef up their minor league veteran bullpen talent, signing free agent lefthanders Danny Coulombe and Rex Brothers to minor league contracts and inviting them to spring training.
On December 20, 2016, the Yankees traded righthander Nick Goody to Cleveland for the infamous “Player To Be Named Later.”
It was on December 20, 1973 that AL President Joe Cronin found in favor of Charley Finley and the A’s that if Dick Williams would not be managing in Oakland anymore, he couldn’t pilot the Yankees either.
Three former Yankee players changed teams on December 20, 1999, as would one who would later don the Pinstripes. Juan Acevedo was traded by the Cardinals to Milwaukee for Fernando Vina; outfielder Gerald “Ice” Williams came to terms with Tampa Bay; Graeme Lloyd signed a three-year deal with the Expos; and outfielder Stan Javier would be welcomed aboard with the Mariners. And years before John Olerud would close the 2004 season in Pinstripes, he was traded from Toronto to the New York Mets for righthander Robert Person on December 20, 1996.
Players Who Have Died This Day
Righthander Al Lyons (1965), who won one game and lost one pitching 19 games (one start) in the Bronx between 1944 and 1947, is one of four Yankee players to have died on December 20. After a 1947 stop with the Pirates, and a stint with the 1948 Braves, his record stood at 3-3-0. Infielder Doc Farrell (1966), who played shortstop most often, drove in 10 runs while gathering 36 hits in 159 at bats playing 70 games for the 1932-1933 Yankees. Adding in his play for the Giants and Braves and two other clubs from 1925-1935, his numbers were 10 long balls and 213 rbi’s. But southpaw Tommy Byrne (2007) starred in pinstripes, playing more than nine of his 13 years with the Yanks, both starting and finishing his career in the Bronx. All but 13 of his wins and 24 of the losses in his 85-69-12 mark came with New York. Tommy won one game and lost one in the 1955 Series with the Dodgers. And righty Stan Williams (2021) pitched from 1958 through 1972, and spent the 1963-1964 seasons with the Yankees, for whom he went 10-13 with no saves in 50 games (31 of them starts). Stan pitched in LA with the Dodgers in 1958-1962, with Cleveland from 1965 to 1969, and with the Twins from 1970-1971, with two other stops. His overall record was 109-94 with 43 saves, pitching in 482 games, 208 of them starts.
Think “catcher” when perusing the list of noteworthy nonYankee players who have died on December 20, because the list consists of three players who primarily utilized the “tools of ignorance” to play baseball, plus a first baseman who did some catching on the side. Hall of Famer Gabby Hartnett (1972), famous for developing some of the catching equipment we’ve seen used over the years, did almost all of his playing from 1922-1941 with the Cubs, and he hit 236 home runs and drove in 1,179 runs. Parke Wilson (1934) played just with the Giants from 1893-1899, and he cleared three fences and knocked in 170 runs during that time; and Dick Bertell (1999) caught all of his games from 1960-1967 with the Cubs except for a brief stop with the 1965 Giants; he homered 10 times and contributed 112 rbi’s. First baseman Willard Brown (1897), who also took his turn behind the plate as well, hit six roundtrippers with 252 rbi’s from 1887-1994, mostly with the Giants and the Colonels. And two infielders, an outfielder, and two righthanded pitchers are the most recent additions. Second sacker Fred Andrews (2021) played 16 games with the 1976-1977 Phillies, with no homers and two rbi’s; and center fielder Kimera Bartee (2021) played from 1996 through 2001, with the Tigers in 1996-1999 plus two other stops. He cleared four fences with 33 rbi’s. And righty Jack Whillock (2021) also played in Detroit where he pitched all seven of his games (no starts) in 1971, to an 0-2 record with one save. Lefty hitting, righty throwing second baseman Denny Doyle (2022) played in 944 games with the 1970-1973 Phillies, the 1974-1975 Angels, and the 1975-1977 Red Sox. Denny cleared 16 fences and drove in 237 runs. Righthander Ray Herbert (2022) pitched 407 games (236 starts) for the 1950-1954 Tigers, the 1955, 1958-1961 Kansas City A’s, the 1961-1964 White Sox, and the 1965-1966 Phillies. Ray posted a 104-107 mark with 15 saves.
Players Born This Day
Oscar Gamble (1949) is the player born December 20 who most recently played with the Yanks. The lefthander adapted well to the House That Ruth Built, chipping in with 87 homers and 276 rbi’s in 1976, and 1979-1984. He first arrived in the Bronx in a 1975 swap with Cleveland for hurler Pat Dobson. Gamble’s departure from the team at the inception of the ’77 season garnered future hero Bucky Dent from the White Sox, and Oscar would return when Mickey Rivers was shipped to Texas in ’79.
Righty Thad Tillotson‘s (1940) two years in the Bronx (1967-1968) were his only big-league experience; he went 4-9 with two saves in 43 games, and was on the losing end of an 18-inning game in 1967. The Yankees got Tillotson from the Dodgers for Dick Schofield in September 1966. After winning his first three decisions in 1967, Tillotson tied Bill Hogg‘s 1908 Yankee record for consecutive losses by dropping nine straight. A relief win in his only 1968 decision saved him from setting a new mark.
Righty George Pipgras (1899) got his start in the Bronx, and was Cubs hurler Charlie Root‘s mound opponent on the day of Babe Ruth‘s notorious “called shot” in the 1932 World Series. He posted a 91-64 mark with 11 saves from 1923-1933 and he won all three of his World Series decisions. The Yanks got him with Harvey Hendrick from the Red Sox in January 1923 for Al DeVormer and cash. They sold him back to Boston 10 years later.
Continuing with more Yankee birthdays, the infamous “Bonehead” pennant-costing play Fred Merkle (1888) had made with the Giants was almost two decades behind him when he finished his 19-year career in the Bronx by knocking in one run in eight games for the 1925-1926 Yankees; he played 10 years with the Giants, two with the Dodgers, and four with the Cubs before hanging his spikes up in the Bronx. Second baseman Paddy Boumann (1885) posted three homers, 61 rbi’s, and 21 stolen bases for the Yanks from 1915-1917 after four years in Detroit.
Second sacker Jimmy Williams (1876) was one of the only five Baltimore Orioles that remained with the franchise when it relocated into New York as the Highlanders in 1903. Jimmy hit 16 homers, drove in 358 runs, and stole 69 bases from 1903 through 1907 with the Yanks. Williams jumped from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Baltimore Orioles before the 1901 season. During the two seasons in Baltimore, Jimmy hit 15 home runs with 179 rbi’s. He was traded by the Highlanders with Hobe Ferris and Danny Hoffman to the St. Louis Browns for Fred Glade and Charlie Hemphill in February 1908.
And lastly, most fans know Hall of Fame Manager Branch Rickey (1881) as the guy who introduced Jackie Robinson to the bigs, thus breaking the color barrier, but Rickey had a playing career too. He was a catcher on the 1907 Highlanders (Yankees), for whom he drove in 15 runs. His combined numbers after the brief stop in New York and three years of part-time duty with the St. Louis Browns: three long balls with 39 runs driven in.
Other birthdays: Hall of Fame catcher Gabby Hartnett (1900), who played 19 years with the Cubs, and one with the Giants, and who blasted 236 taters with 1,197 rbi’s; Cecil Cooper (1949); Bill Laskey (1957); Jose DeLeon (1960); Marc Valdes (1971); Augie Ojeda (1974); Aubrey Huff (1976); David DeJesus (1979); Luke Carlin (1980); Chris Narveson (1981); James Shields (1981); David Wright (1982); Tyler Sturdevant (1985); Erik Goeddel (1988); Bruce Maxwell (1990); joey Krehbiel (1992); Trent Giambrone (1993); Dave Dunning (1994); Abraham Toro (1996); and Bryse Wilson (1997).
