The Yankees invited the Colorado Rockies to the Stadium on July 19, 2019, and walloped them 8-2, largely on DH Edwin Encarnacio‘s third-inning grand slam. J.A. Happ went five, and Aaron Judge added a two-run bomb in the three-run home sixth.
The Yankees held a pregame moment of silence for MLB executive Susanne Hilgefort, who died earlier in the day in a plane crash, before their July 19, 2016, game hosting Baltimore. In the game that followed, a strong Michael Pineda allowed five hits and struck out eight through six innings, and the New Yorkers blanked the Orioles 5-0 by scoring in five different innings, with four of the tallies coming on singleton home runs from Brett Gardner, Mark Teixeira, Ronald Torreyes, and Carlos Beltran.
The Yanks had just five hits off “King” Felix Hernandez, the Mariners seven off CC Sabathia, as each allowed one run and went six innings in hot, steamy Yankee Stadium on Sunday, July 19, 2015. But Mark Teixeira‘s eighth-inning home run off Fernando Rodney carried the Yanks to the 2-1 win in a scintillating two hours, 45 minutes, on this, the last day before the All Star break. The first Yankee run was driven in by a single from Carlos Beltran, activated from the disabled list this day. Ex-Yankee prospect Jesus Montero crossed with the lone Seattle run after a leadoff single in the fifth.
As alluded to in the above game report, when the Yankees activated outfielder Carlos Beltran from the 15-day disabled list, they cleared roster space by optioning Rob Refsnyder to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. This closed an exceedingly weird chapter in Refsnyder’s ’15 season, as he had been named the starting second baseman in place of Stephen Drew a week earlier, and had won a game in Fenway Park by blasting a home run over the Green Monster. It’s almost a year later that Rob is finally getting regular at bats with the Yanks, floating among several defensive positions.
Like the older highlight that follows, The Yankees gave their fans two treats on July 19, 2009. First, in the three-inning Old Timers Game, the Clippers bested the Bombers 5-2 with late nineties outfielder Chad Curtis collecting a two-run triple. Then the Yanks outpitched the Tigers 2-1 for the second game in a row, with Joba Chamberlain outdueling Edwin Jackson. Singleton home runs accounted for all the scoring, with Detroit right fielder Clete Thomas blasting a monster shot to the back of the right field bleachers, and the Yanks winning the game on blasts by Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira.
The Yanks had a doubly big day on July 19, 1950. Eddie Lopat threw a two-hitter at the Browns and the Yanks piled it on to the tune of a 16-1 win in the first of a two-game sweep, winning the latter contest, 4-3. Meanwhile, the team signed their first black players as the contracts of Elston Howard and Frank Barnes were purchased from the Kansas City Monarchs.
The unexpected lift from the midseason acquisition of righthander Brandon McCarthy was on display loud and clear in a 7-1 win over the visiting Cincinnati Reds on July 19, 2014. McCarthy struck out nine while surrendering six hits over six, the last four safeties in the fifth and the sixth; Carlos Beltran homered; Brett Gardner drove in three runs; and Brian Roberts scored three times.
It was an early good sign that the young Melky Cabrera/Brett Gardner outfield tandem that was playing in the Bronx in 2009 had promise when they both stroked rbi singles in the second inning of a game vs. the A’s on Saturday, July 19, 2008 in Yankee Stadium. Joba Chamberlain held onto a 2-1 lead through six, but the game went to extras at 3-3 only because Wilson Betemit came through with a ninth-inning rbi single. The unlikely offensive hero in the 4-3 Yankee win was catcher Jose Molina, who took a 12th-inning, 1-2, bases-loaded pitch from lefty Lenny DiNardo off his foot, for a “limp off” win, so to speak. New York Football Giants coach Tom Coughlin advanced the games-remaining counter in the old Stadium down from 31-30, a poignant moment really. From that point on, the old ballpark had a slowly decreasing less than half season left.
It is a rarely mentioned aspect of the shameful way major league baseball took the Yankee victory away when they won over the Royals in the George Brett “Pine Tar Game” that several years earlier the league did nothing when the Bombers lost a game to the very same rule. When Twins catcher Glenn Borgmann pointed out the tar on Thurman Munson‘s bat in a 2-1 Yankee loss to Minnesota on July 19, 1975, the Yankee catcher’s first-inning single and rbi were nullified.
Moose Skowron had perhaps his biggest day in the Pinstripes in a 13-11 victory over the Indians on July 19, 1960. Roger Maris and Jimmy Piersall had already homered, each for their respective teams, when Moose followed a Yogi Berra homer in the eighth with one of his own, but the Indians held the lead, and even added to it. Skowron then delivered a bases-loaded double in the ninth for the win.
Things were looking good when Bobby Abreu doubled in two runs off Dustin McGowan with nobody out in the first inning of a Blue Jays/Yankee Thursday afternoon tilt in steamy Yankee Stadium on July 19, 2007. Chien-Ming Wang held the Jays scoreless on two hits through six, but the Yanks failed to pad their lead, and lost the game when Toronto bunched four hits into the top of the seventh for the 3-2 win.
The All Star Game was played in the reworked and reopened Yankee Stadium on July 19, 1977. Unfortunately, the NL jumped on Jim Palmer of the Orioles for four quick runs and beat the AL, 7-5.
Yankee catcher Rick Cerone pitched an inning during which he allowed a walk but no runs in a 20-3 blasting the Bombers received at the hands of the Texas Rangers on July 19, 1987. In the loss, Don Mattingly set a record when he notched an extra base hit in his 10th consecutive game.
As with any other year in the New York, Old Timers Day was a special day in the Bronx in 2003. But while a full house celebrated the exploits of the players of yesteryear, Captain Derek Jeter added another line to that growing book of Yankee lore during the game that followed. A David Wells 2-0 lead on singleton homers by Alfonso Soriano and Raul Mondesi was obliterated when back-to-back Jody Gerut and Milton Bradley fourth-inning bombs accounted for four quick Cleveland runs. But the Yanks had gotten one back in the fifth, and had two outs and the bases loaded, with Jeter at first. The count to Jason Giambi went full at three and two. The runners were off, and Mr. Jeter scored behind his two teammates when Jason stroked a, yes, three-run single. Derek added a double and another run in the eighth inning of a 7-4 Yankee win.
Whitey Ford was the unwitting victim when the Indians blanked the Yankees 3-0 on July 19, 1964, in Luis Tiant‘s major league debut. El Tiante allowed but four hits and struck out 11.
On July 19, 1959, the Bombers swept a pair from the White Sox in the Stadium. Mickey Mantle was the hitting star in the nightcap, as his homer off Turk Lown provided the difference in a 6-4 win. In the first game, veteran Enos Slaughter hit two homers at the age of 43, a record that stood until Carlton Fisk surpassed it 32 years later. Slaughter’s power show carried the Yanks to a 6-2 win.
The hitting star of the Yankees’ 15-6 whipping of the Cleveland Indians on July 19, 1940, was catcher Buddy Rosar, who hit for the cycle. Teammate Joe Gordon would accomplish the same feat that September. Two on a team in one year is rare, as the last Yankee cycles were by Tony Fernandez in 1995, then Melky Cabrera more than a decade later.
Derek Jeter‘s three-run triple and David Justice‘s two-run home run were the big blows in a 9-1 Yankee victory over Hideo Nomo and the Tigers on this day in 2000.
When Norm Siebern had his second five-hit game of the month on July 19, 1958, it wasn’t enough, and the Yankees fell to the A’s, 6-4.
The inspired 14-game comeback that the Yankees engineered in 1978 featured many a big win, but the 2-0 Ed Figueroa shutout over Geoff Zahn and the Minnesota Twins on July 19 was the game in which many feel their charge to the top began.
Washington took two from the Yankees on July 19, 1961, 8-4 and 12-2. In the second game, won by Dick Donovan, Mickey Mantle hit a 500-foot home run in the fourth inning.
Outfielder/DH Ruben Sierra went to the disabled list on July 19, 2005, with the strained left hamstring he had sustained in Texas the day before. In other moves, righty reliever Felix Rodriguez was activated from the same list; and lefty Darrell May was outrighted to AAA Columbus with infielder Andy Phillips making the opposite trip.
During the 2004 season, Mariano Rivera wrested the record for game appearances as a Yankee from former closer Dave Righetti. It was on July 19, 1990, that Rags recorded the save in a 2-1 win over the Twins in his 499th Bomber game, one more than Whitey Ford‘s total.
On July 19, 2021, the Yankees signed righthanders Bailey Dees, Will Warren, and Sean Hermann.
On July 19, 2019, the Yankees optioned lefthander Nestor Cortes Jr. to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
On July 19, 2018, the Yankees activated catcher Gary Sanchez from the 10-day disabled list. They made room on the roster by optioning catcher Kyle Higashioka to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
On July 19, 2017, the Yankees designated first basemen Rob Refsnyder and Ji-Man Choi for assignment, and optioned lefthander Chasen Shreve to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
In another bleak day for the 2013 roster, the Yankees placed shortstop Derek Jeter on the 15-day disabled list on July 19, retroactive to July 12, with a right quad strain. The team also released right fielder Brennan Boesch, creating roster space they used to select the contract of third baseman Brent Lillibridge from the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
On July 19, 2012, the Yankees optioned righthander D.J. Mitchell to AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and filled the spot on the roster by recalling fellow righty David Phelps from the same AAA club.
The owner of Yankee Stadium in 1962, John W. Cox, donated it to Rice University on July 19 of that year.
When the Yankees beat the A’s in Oakland by a 3-0 score on July 19, 1991, it resulted in the strange phenomenon that 10 of 14 AL teams had a .500 record or better. Jeff Johnson got the win over Mike Moore, with Steve Farr getting the save.
The Yankees placed righthander Sergio Mitre on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to July 16, 2011 with right shoulder tendinitis on July 19, 2011, and recalled southpaw Steve Garrison from the AA Trenton Thunder to fill his spot.
The Yankees fined Johnny Broaca $250 on this day in 1937. In addition, he was suspended indefinitely for having jumped the club.
The Yankees signed Jorge Alcantara on july 19, 2009.
The sad situation of the 1902 Baltimore Orioles started affecting other teams in the league on July 19, as manager John McGraw released nine players from the Giants to make room for four who had just arrived from the disintegrating Orioles. The situation would eventually lead to the Baltimore franchise being relocated in New York as the Highlanders the following year, a happy conclusion to the ugly problem.
Big baseball doings on July 19 almost 100 years ago. The first unassisted triple play of the 20th Century was turned in by Cleveland shortstop Neal Ball on this day in 1909. And one year later, the legendary Cy Young earned his 500th win, 5-4 over Washington in 11 innings.
When Dick Bosman of the Indians no-hit Oakland in a 4-0 shutout on this day in 1974, it was his own fourth-inning error that prevented it from being a Perfect Game.
In an Old Timers’ Classic in RFK Stadium in Washington on July 19, 1982, 75-year-old Luke Appling homered off Warren Spahn to help the American League beat the National League 7-2 in five innings.
When Joe Carter of the Indians homered three times in a game for the second time in 1989 on July 18, it was the fourth time he went yard three times in a game in his career. In so doing, he tied the American League record established by Lou Gehrig.
Today’s highlight involving future or former Yankee players actually involves two. Robin Ventura drove in six runs on two homers and two doubles in the White Sox 14-3 over Milwaukee on July 19, 1991. The victory went to fellow future Yank Jack McDowell.
Players Who Have Died This Day
Three of four Yankee players who have died on July 19 were righthanded pitchers, but Spec Shea (2002) deserves the first mention off his 29-21 record with three saves while debuting with the club from 1947-1951. The numbers jump to 56-46-5 after a 1952-1955 stint with the Senators. Joe Beggs (1983) also got his start in the Bronx, pitching to a 3-2-0 mark during 14 games (nine starts) with the 1938 team. A 1940-1947 stay with the Reds and a one-plus year one with the Giants brought him to 48-35-29. And Rugger Ardizoia (2015) pitched in his only major league game for the 1947 Yankees, tossing two innings, to no record, with a 9.00 era. Finally, lefty-hitting outfielder Elmer Valo (1998) got no hits but two walks in five at bats playing eight games for the 1960 Yankees. Valo hit 58 home runs and drove in 601 runs mostly with the Philly and Kansas City A’s from 1940-1961.
Of the three noteworthy nonYankee players to have passed this day, righty Bob Smith (1987) won 106 games, lost 139, and saved 40 mostly for the Braves from 1925-1937. And portsided first baseman Jiggs Donahue (1913) reached four fences and collected 327 rbi’s from 1900-1909, playing most of that time with the White Stockings and the Pirates. Most recently, lefthander Don Mossi (2019) pitched for the Indians from 1954 through 1958, and with the Tigers from 1959 to 1963, and two other teams through 1965. He pitched to an overall mark of 101-80 with 50 saves; Don started 148 of 165 games.
Players Born This Day
The Yankee birthday list received an addition in one of its traditional most valuable positions when lefty Phil Coke (1982) pitched in 12 games to a 1-0 record in 2008. A bullpen stalwart the following year, Coke was traded to Detroit following the 2009 season having gone 5-3 with two saves in Pinstripes. He was 5-0 in the Detroit bullpen halfway through the 2010 season, but was made a starter in 2011, and struggled in the role. The Yanks had him back for three games (as of this writing) in 2016.
There are nine Yankee players who were born on July 19. Lefty Butch Schmidt (1886) played three years with the Braves, but he pitched one game for the Yanks in 1909. Catcher Ed Sweeney (1888) played eight of nine years in the Bronx starting in 1908; he hit three home runs with 151 rbi’s.
Bob Meusel (1896) played in the Yankee outfield in the twenties side by side with some pretty great ballplayers, but held his own with 87 homers and 1,051 rbi’s. Bob was selected from the Yankee roster off waivers by the Reds in October 1929 and he played in Cincinnati the following year.
Shortstop Mark Koenig (1904) was a teammate of Meusel from 1925 through 1930 with 15 homers and 241 rbi’s. Mark was traded with Waite Hoyt to the Detroit Tigers for Ownie Carroll, Yats Wuestling, and Harry Rice in May 1930.
Lefty Marius Russo (1914) pitched for the Yanks for his entire 1939-1946 career, amassing a 45-34 record and five saves. Russo passed away in March 2005. Second baseman Billy Gardner (1927) was a baseball nomad who played multiple years with four different clubs, including the 1961-1962 Yankees. Gardner was acquired from the Minnesota Twins for Danny McDevitt in June 1961, and was shipped to the Boston Red Sox for Tom Umphlett the following June.
Lefty-hitting outfielder Gene Locklear (1949) played in 14 games with the Yanks in 1976 and 1977. The Yankees got him from the Padres for Rick Sawyer in July 1976. And righty Curt Kaufman went 1-0 in 11 games for the 1982-1983 Yankees. Curt was a 1979 Yankee amateur free agent selection; they traded him to the California Angels for Tim Foli in December 1983. Finally, shortstop Dick Scott (1962) was drafted by the Yanks in 1981, but never played for them. After his 1988 release he signed with Oakland and got into three games with them.
Lefthander Luis Avilan (1989) signed a free agent deal with the Yankees in February 2020, and pitched to no record or saves in 10 games. Signed by Atlanta as a free agent in 2005, Luis has gone 23-11 with two saves from 2012 through 2022, mostly with the Braves and Dodgers, but also with the White Sox, Pirates, and Mets. Luis appeared in four games with the Nationals in 2021, suffering just that 11th loss.
Other birthdays: shortstop Jackie Hayes (1906), who hit 20 homers with 493 rbi’s for the Senators and the White Sox from 1927-1940; lefthanded Chicago Cubs first baseman Phil Cavaretta (1916) from 1935-1955, with 95 homers and 920 rbi’s; Vicente Palacios (1963); Mark Carreon (1963); David Segui (1966), with 138 dingers and 671 rbi’s, and some “juicing” history recently revealed, from 1990-2003; Preston Wilson (1974); Yorvit Torrealba (1978); Rick Ankiel (1979); Jimmy Gobble (1981); Wilton Lopez (1983); Tim Dillard (1983); Ernesto Frieri (1985); Evan Scribner (1985); Yan Gomes (1987); Patrick Corbin (1989); Jonathan Pettibone (1990); David Holmberg (1991); Jack Reinheimer (1992); Mauricio Dubon (1994); Jermaine Palacios (1996); and Jonathan Cannon (2000).
