Well, if the triple play game ending 2-1 Yanks on May 21, 2022, wouldn’t be wisely called “Gleyber Day,” how about the 7-0 win over the Palehose on May 22? Sure, Gerrit Cole surprised us all by coaxing 13 ground ball outs with seven K’s through seven (the second batter of the game, Adam Eaton, hit the only Chicago fly ball until Yermin Mercedes flied out off Luis Cessa to end the game in the ninth), but the offense was driven by Torres, still playing shortstop to begin the season. Gleyber both homered and singled for two rbi’s each in the fourth and fifth frames.

I was eager to attend some baseball when the Orioles came to the Bronx on May 22, 2022, as I had just missed the three-game series with the White Sox once I came down with Covid. But Baltimore bunched five hits into a four-run attack vs Gerrit Cole in the third. The Yanks had had an early lead on an Aaron Judge home run, and tied it on a two-run Judge shot in the fifth. But the O’s tallied single runs in the seventh and ninth for a 6-4 victory.

The home-standing Yankees used three home runs to overcome southpaw Jason Vargas — who was off to a great 2017 start — and the KC Royals 4-2 on May 22. Down early 2-0 on a Jorge Bonifacio homer in a two-run third vs Michael Pineda, the Bombers stormed back on long balls by Brett Gardner, Didi Gregorius, and Chris Carter.

There was not much to like in the 10-9 loss the Yanks suffered at the hands of visiting Texas on May 22, 2015, as the Rangers put up a seven spot in the top of the third against Michael Pineda, with considerable help from two errors, one by Big Mike himself. They got just four hits that frame, but two loud ones were over the wall, by Mitch Moreland and Prince Fielder. Sadly, had David Carpenter not failed in relief yet again in this one, the Bombers’ comeback might have been successful, with three-run jacks from Didi Gregorius and Garret Jones getting the home team close. A Mark Teixeira ninth-inning jolt left New York one run short however, and one-time Yankee Ross Ohlendorf chalked up the save. Slade Heathcott reached base three of four times in this, his first start, including a booming double in his first at bat.

A Robinson Cano home run and fifth-inning rbi’s by Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson were just enough to carry Phil Hughes and the Yankees to a 3-2 win over the Royals in Yankee Stadium on May 22, 2012, but it wasn’t easy. Joe Girardi used five relievers to preserve the one-run lead, three of them in top of the eighth inning.

On May 22, 2011, the Mets scored three second-inning runs in response to Curtis Granderson‘s home run, but the Yanks used a much quieter and longer seventh inning (single, walk, hit by pitch, single, stolen base, single, single, double, single, and e4) to score eight runs in the 9-3 win. Two singles by Derek Jeter, who had tied Rickey Henderson in all-time steals by a Yankee with 306 the game before, brought his hits total to 2,975.

It was one of the few times in his mostly very successful Yankee career that Chien-Ming Wang pitched in relief when he went the last three frames replacing A.J. Burnett in a 7-3 loss to the Phillies in Yankee Stadium on May 22, 2009. Wang had been activated from the Disabled List that day, with Jonathan Albaladejo being optioned to AAA Scranton-Wilkes Barre to make roster room. Fans expected, rightly, that they might be seeing a preview of the coming World Series. The Yanks made a statement by scoring their three runs late on homers by Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Mark Teixeira, while Carlos Ruiz, Jayson Werth, and Raul Ibanez went yard for Philly in a game thet ended a nine-game Yankee winning streak.

Thoughts go out to Yankee rookie righthander Ian Kennedy, who later underwent aneurysm surgery, when considering May 22 highlights, because in a very difficult year for him, Ian actually deserved to get a Win on that day in 2008. He and Baltimore southpaw Brian Burres pitched 1-1 ball through six innings, with Burres going five outs further. Hard-throwing reliever Jim Johnson struck out Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi in the bottom of the ninth after Hideki Matsui reached him for a leadoff single, but Robbie Cano knocked in the 2-1 game winner following a walk. Matsui scored both Yankee runs, and broadcaster Ken Singleton moved the games-remaining counter in the old Stadium down from 59 to 58. Kennedy became a mainstay in the starting rotation for the D’backs.

Our next May 22 Yankee highlight involves a “tale of the tape.” The paying crowd got more than their money’s worth on this day in 1963 as the Yanks took a 7-0 lead on Kansas City, only to allow the visitors to tie. Then throw in Mickey Mantle‘s 11th-inning game winner, “the hardest ball I ever hit,” Mickey was to say. The ball, served up by Bill Fischer, hit the Stadium facade as it was rising. It was conservatively estimated that it would have traveled 620 feet had not the facade gotten in the way.

When we posted May 22 Yankee history a few years ago, Roger Clemens was sitting on 299 career wins, so it was quite topical when we included his victory in Pinstripes over the White Sox, 10-2, on this day in 1999. It allowed him to set the American League record of 18 consecutive victories, obviously spanning two seasons. Unfortunately, Chicago recovered to win the second of two that day by a 2-1 score.

Shoddy Mets fielding contributed to the 5-3 victory the Yanks notched in a come-from-behind effort in Shea on May 22, 2005. Using a strategy against Pedro Martinez they had been refining for years, the Yanks extended him to 31 tosses in a bases-loaded, but no-runs-scored first, ensuring the visitors would get a crack at the Flushing pen before the game was over. Eighth-inning, back-to-back infield errors set it up, and when Hideki Matsui and Bernie Williams singled, then doubled, the three-run rally turned the game the Yanks’ way.

On this day in 1977, Ron Guidry beat the Orioles 8-2 on a four hitter. In so doing, he halted a three-game Yankee losing streak.

The Yankees and A’s took no prisoners in Philly on May 22, 1930, as the teams combined to blast 14 dingers in a doubleheader swept by the Bronx Bombers 10-1 and 20-13. Babe Ruth “touched ’em all” twice in Game One, with Ben Chapman and winning pitcher George Pipgras stroking one apiece too. The Yanks plated nine by the second inning of the nightcap, but Philly tied it up at 12 behind Jimmie Foxx‘s two bombs for six rbi’s. Ruth mashed another, Lou Gehrig drove home eight on three taters, and Tony Lazzeri went 4-for-4, knocked in four, and tallied five himself.

Among the 19 safeties stroked by the visiting Red Sox in an 8-2 win over the Yanks on May 22, 1997, were five hits by Wil Cordero and four from Tim Naehring. Former Yank Mike Stanley hit a three-run blast, and Mo Vaughn whacked his 10th on the season in the eighth. Boston starter Tom Gordon went seven for the win.

Allie Reynolds and Mickey Mantle teamed up on a 7-0 whitewashing over visiting Boston on May 22, 1954. Mantle went 4-for-5 and drove in four of the runs, while Reynolds picked up the shutout. The Mick’s three-game-series rbi total would climb to 10.

It was a bad moment with ramifications from his bad second half of the 2007 season when Mike Mussina was victimized by a three-run, Manny Ramirez first-inning home run in a 7-3 loss to the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium on May 22, 2008.

Mickey Mantle attempted the old trick of batting righty against righthanded knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm of the Orioles on this day in 1959 rather than from the left side one would expect of a switch hitter, but to no avail. As it was, Jerry Lumpe‘s eighth-inning single was the only thing that stood between Wilhelm and a no-hitter, though he did get the 5-0 shutout.

Elam Vangilder blanked the Yankees 3-0 into the eighth inning on May 22, 1922, but Babe Ruth‘s homer began the uprising that carried the Yanks to a 4-3, 12-inning win. Everett Scott plated Bob Meusel with the winner off Hub Pruett.

It was Fleet Week in New York as the Yanks closed a homestand against the Blue Jays with a Wednesday day game on May 22, 2002. Adrian Hernandez, “el duquecita,” got the start in front of a crowd sprinkled with sailors in many different uniforms, but the little duke wasn’t up to the task. He walked four and surrendered Eric Hinske and Raul Mondesi home runs in an 8-4 Blue Jays win.

On May 22, 1933, Yankee Joe Sewell struck out for the first time that season, as the Yanks blanked the Indians 3-0 behind Lefty Gomez. Sewell went on to strike out only three times in 524 ab’s that year.

When St. Louis Browns rookie Dwight Stone shut out the Yanks 7-0 on May 22, 1913, despite allowing six hits, seven walks, and three hit batsmen, the New Yorkers established an undesired record for men left on base in a shutout (with 15) that would not be topped until 1994. It was losing pitcher Ed Klepfer‘s only decision of the year.

Shades of 2004 Barry Bonds, as Roger Maris, who was never walked intentionally during the entire 1961 season, received five free passes, four of them intentionally, in a 2-1, 12-inning Yankee win vs. the Angels on May 22, 1962. Yankee hurlers Whitey Ford, Jim Coates, Bud Daley, and Bob Turley allowed only one hit in the game, a one-out, ninth-inning single by Bob Rodgers off Coates.

It was entirely fitting that the Yanks would celebrate Dwight Gooden Day in the Stadium eight days after his May 14 no-hitter in 1996, but Yankee-Killer Geronimo Berroa wasn’t in a very congratulatory mood. The Athletics tied an AL record when their five runs came on five singleton home runs, three of them by Berroa in a 5-1 Oakland win.

A dramatic one-run loss will have a more damaging effect on a team’s psyche than a blowout. The formerly undefeated Whitey Ford fell to the Tigers on May 22, 1956, when Red Wilson delivered a two-out, two-run, bottom-of-the-ninth home run to deliver a 3-2 win to the delirious Detroit fanbase.

Following that theory, the 12-4 setback to the Senators on the same day in 1953 was probably not as painful to the Yanks, despite the bizarre way the game came to a close, when Irv Noren lined to pitcher Bob Porterfield, who started a game-ending triple play. The Yanks were out of that one early, as Allie Reynolds allowed five runs in the first. Clyde Vollmer had a big day, with a three-run home run and a two-run double.

The Yankees turned a May 22 triple play of their own in defeating Detroit at the Stadium on this day in 1946, 5-3.

And Allie Reynolds proved that the May 22 date held no particular fears for him, as he shut out Harry Dorish and the Red Sox 9-0 on the same day in 1947.

Lou Gehrig put together a string of driving in at least one run per game for 10 straight contests for the second time in his career in a tilt against Cleveland on this day in 1934. Unfortunately, it was the lone Yankee run in a 5-1 loss.

When Babe Ruth settled a tense 15-inning, 1-1 tie by cracking a two-run homer off White Sox hurler Mike Cvengosa on May 22, 1923, it made a winner out of Herb Pennock, who allowed but four hits in going all the way.

On May 22, 2022, the Yankees placed catcher Kyle Higashioka and left fielder Joey Gallo on the 10-day injured list, and placed catcher Ben Rortvedt on the 60-day injured list. The team then activated catcher Rob Brantly, and selected his contract from the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Finally, the club also recalled righthander David McKay and center fielder Estevan Florial from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

On May 22, 2017, the Yankees optioned righthander Giovanny Gallegos to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

The Yankees signed free agent lefthander Ramon Benjamin to a minor league contract on May 22, 2014.

The Yankees transferred first baseman Nick Johnson from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list on May 22, 2010, thereby making 40-man roster room for infielder Kevin Russo, whom they then recalled from AAA. The team also placed catcher Jorge Posada on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to May 17, with a hairline fracture in his right foot. Finally, the Yanks optioned righthander Mark Melancon to AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

An eighth-inning double with two outs was the only hit former Tiger starter (and former Yankee) Jeff Weaver gave up as he beat the Indians 2-0 on May 22, 2002.

In one more May 22 highlight affecting a former or future Yankee player, lefty Noodles Hahn struck out 16 Boston Braves in the Reds’ 4-3 win on this day in 1901. It set a club record that stood until Jim Maloney matched it in 1963. Hahn would go 3-2 in six games in a career-closing stint with the Highlanders in 1906.

Dennis Eckersley succeeded as both a starter and a reliever without much of a move to first base. So when he picked off Blue Jays pinch-runner Kenny Williams in the ninth inning of a 2-1 Oakland win on May 22, 1991, it was his first success in that area in four years. He had picked off a White Sox runner in June 1987. The same Mr. Williams was his victim that day too.

When Cliff Curtis of the Braves lost his 23rd straight game on May 22, 1911, his ignominious record would stand until Anthony Young broke it with 27 in 1993; Young did most of that damage with the Mets.

On May 22, 1998, the Mets acquired Mike Piazza from the Marlins.

 
Players Who Have Died This Day

Righthander Harry Howell (1956) would have qualified as the only Yankee player to die May 22 based on his 23-36 record with the 1901-1902 Baltimore Orioles, as it was that team that was moved to New York as the Highlanders in 1903. But Howell compiled a 9-6 mark that year pitching for the Highlanders as well. In an 1898-1910 career spent largely with the Browns, Howell’s overall record was 131-146 with six saves.

A list of noteworthy nonYankee players who have died this day begins with Hall of Fame pitchers who threw from opposite sides. Chief Bender (1954) posted most of his 212-127 record with 34 saves from 1903-1917 with the Philly A’s; the same team southpaw Lefty Grove (1975) compiled roughly half his 300-141 mark with 55 saves with from 1925-1941; Grove spent the latter half with the Red Sox. Three more righthanders, each with losing records: Kaiser Wilhelm (1936) makes the list more for the imperial handle than the 56-105-5 record between 1903 and 1921 with the Dodgers, the Beaneaters, and the Terrapins; Dick Fowler (1972) won 66, lost 79, and saved four games exclusively for the Philly A’s from 1941-1952; and Warren Hacker (2002) struggled as well, with a 62-89-17 record mostly with the Cubs from 1948-1961. Lefthanded outfielder Harry Lumley (1954) stroked all of his 34 long bals and 305 rbi’s with Brooklyn from 1904-1910; and lefty-hitting third baseman/second baseman Fred Hatfield (1998) reached 25 fences good for 165 runs driven in from 1950-1958 for the Tigers, the Red Sox, and the White Sox. Another recent entry is a righthander who batted from both sides of the plate, Joe Beckwith (2021), who, pitching for the Dodgers from 1979-1983 and 1986; and with the 1984-1985 Royals, won 18, lost 19, and saved seven in 229 games, five of them starts. And lefty thrower who hit from the right side Don Collins pitched for the 1977 Braves and the 1980 Indians to a 3-9 record with two saves. He appeared in 44 games, six of them starts.

 
Players Born This Day

Former Yankee lefty and Staten Island Yankees skipper Tommy John (1943) is the most noteworthy of two Yankee players who share May 22 as their birthday. His just-miss HOF numbers (288-231 in 26 seasons) include a 29-24 mark with the Yanks in a stint at the end of his career. In his first Pinstriped tour, he notched a 52-26 mark in the Bronx from 1979-1981 once he was signed as a free agent in November 1978. The Yankees shipped him to the Cal Angels in August 1982 for a player to be named later who became lefty Dennis Rasmussen after that season. John will probably always be more famous for the surgery that carries his name, and that gave him a second career throwing a baseball for a living.

Southpaw Rich Hinton (1947) toiled most of his career for the White Sox. He went 1-0 in seven games for the 1972 Yankees once they got him from Chicago for Jim Lyttle in October 1971. Hinton’s overall career mark from 1971-1979 was 9-17 with three saves.

A free agent signer with the Yankees in 2017, Ezequiel Durán (1999) was traded to Texas in the Joey Gallo acquisition in July 2021. In 212 games (as of this writing) for the Rangers in 2022 and into 2024, he has 19 home runs and 75 rbi’s.

Hall of Fame Philadelphia A’s oufielder Al Simmons (1902) leads off the other birthdays. Al hit 307 home runs with 1,827 rbi’s from 1924-1944. Rounding out the birthday list are Walt Hriniak (1943), known mostly as a hitting coach; righty Bill Lohrman (1913), who went 60-59 with eight saves mostly for the Giants from 1934-1944; Jim Colborn (1946); Jose Mesa (1966), who notched his 300th career save in April 2005; Alan Levine (1968); Vaughn Eshelman (1969); Julian Tavarez (1973); John Bale (1974); Chad Tracy (1980); Ruddy Lugo (1980); Rick VandenHurk (1985); Collin Cowgill (1986); Eric Sogard (1986); Jaye Chapman (1987); Drake Britton (1989); Corey Dickerson (1989); Sam Goviglio (1990); Rio Ruiz (1994); Andre Lipcius (1998); and Jordan Walker (2002).