Although many trace the origin of the Yankees to the 1903 New York Highlanders, the franchise actually entered the American League on November 13, 1900, as the Baltimore Orioles. They would play in that Maryland city for two seasons, and then be moved to New York.
Most fans were pleased when the Yankees pulled the trigger on a trade on November 13, 2008, acquiring switch-hitting outfielder/first baseman Nick Swisher and righthander Kanekoa Texeira from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for infielder Wilson Betemit and righties Jeff Marquez and Jhonny Nunez, although the trade for Swisher seemed to mean he would be playing first base, and not the still free agent at the time Mark Teixeira. Most Yankee fans were more than happy with Swisher’s power and RBI seasons playing right field in the Bronx, though he did disappoint in the post.
Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter were the two Yankee players presented with Silver Slugger Awards on November 13, 2008.
On November 13, 1978, Luis Tiant joined the Yankees. He had been with the Red Sox, but was the first veteran to sign following that year’s re-entry draft. El tiante would go 13-8 for the Yanks in 1979.
The ball Babe Ruth hit for the first home run in Yankee Stadium, back in 1923, was bought at auction on November 13, 1998, for $126,500. A personal check signed by Lou Gehrig fetched $15,306 on the same day.
The Newark Bears franchise of the International League was purchased by Jacob Ruppert, owner of the Yankees, on November 13, 1931. They would dominate their league for a decade and provide their parent club with a steady flow of good young ballplayers.
The Reds purchased pitcher Danny McFayden from the Yanks on waivers on November 13, 1934, but they didn’t hold onto him for long. And after posting a 22-25 mark with the Yanks, Cincinnati appeared to have made a wily move when they parted company with the righty once he compiled a 1-2 mark in seven games, because he finished the 1935 season by going 5-13 for the Braves. But he then won 45 games for Boston’s National League club in the next three years.
When Lefty O’Doul‘s All Stars, including Joe DiMaggio, Ferris Fain, and Billy Martin, lost 3-1 to a Pacific League all-star team on November 13, 1951, it was only the second time an American professional team had lost in Japan since 1922.
You think politics makes strange bedfellows? How about baseball? The Red Sox bought then-Washington Manager Joe Cronin from the Senators after the 1934 season to do the piloting in Beantown, and Washington replaced Cronin with skipper Bucky Harris on November 13, 1934. As the “Boy Manager,” Harris had led the Senators to the Championship 10 years earlier. Despite a 1946 AL pennant, Cronin would win no Championships with the Sox before he retired after the 1947 season. Coincidentally, that was the year that Harris signed with the Yanks and led them to the brass ring.
The Indians pitcher (at the time) Cliff Lee won the AL Cy Young Award on November 13, 2008. There were two pre-2003 November 13 Cy Young winners in each league: Diamondback (and 2005-2006 Yankee) Randy Johnson and Atlanta Brave Greg Maddux won the NL prize in 2001 and 1995 respectively. Oakland’s Bob Welch won in the AL in 1990 behind his 27 wins, and Pedro Martinez was a unanimous 2000 winner for the Red Sox. And Greg Gagne became the fifth Cy Young winner this day when he won the NL award in 2003.
All eight November 13 MVP winners represented the National League, though they did it in only seven years, as Willie Stargell of the Pirates and Keith Hernandez of the Cardinals shared the prize in 1979. Other winners: Bob Gibson of the Cards in 1968; the Dodgers’ Steve Garvey in 1974; Chicago Cub Ryne Sandberg in 1984; Barry Larkin of the Reds in 1995; the recently deceased Ken Caminiti of San Diego in 1996; and Colorado’s Larry Walker in 1997.
Players Who Have Died This Day
A list of two Yankee players to have died yesterday was led by catcher Bill Dickey. The lone Yankee player to succumb on November 13 is catcher Muddy Ruel (1963). Ruel played 170 games for the Yanks from 1917-1920, delivering one home run and 47 rbi’s on 130 hits in 517 at bats. A 1915-1934 career dominated by an eight-year stint with Washington left him with overall numbers of four long balls and 534 runs driven in.
The list of noteworthy nonYankee players who have died on November 13 includes one righthanded pitcher, a lefthanded first basemen, two outfielders, a Hall of Fame second baseman, and a shortstop. Righty Les Webber (1986) pitched much of his 1942-1948 career with the Dodgers and the Indians, to a 23-29-14 record. First sacker Willie Clark (1932) hit two homers and drove in 199 runs playing for the Giants from 1895-1897 and the Pirates in 1898-1899. Outfielder Bris Lord (1964) hit 13 roundtrippers and knocked in 236 runs from 1905-1913, playing six years with the A’s, two with the Indians, and one with the Braves. Lefthanded outfielder Jim Rivera (2017) played most of his 1952-1961 career with the White Sox; Jim hit 83 home runs with 422 rbi’s. Second sacker Bobby Doerr (2017) played his entire 14-year career (1937-1951) with the Red Sox, only manning second base in 1,862 games (he must have pinch-hit or run in his other three games). He hit 223 home runs and drove in 1,247. Shortstop Rob Belloir (2023) hit no home runs but drove in 13 in 81 games with the 1975-1978 Braves, the only team for whom he played.
Players Born This Day
Yankee November 13 birthdays lead off with a touch of class, Mel Stottlemyre (1941). Mel bridged the great Yankee teams that culminated with his 20 wins in 1965 and carried himself with dignity in the tough years that followed, starting with the 20 losses he suffered in 1966. He pitched at least 250 innings in each of his nine full seasons. He posted a 164-139 record with one save in his Pinstriped career, and only played for the Yankees, after signing with them as an amateur free agent before the 1961 season. He served with distinction as Joe Torre‘s pitching coach with the Yanks from 1996 through the 2005 season, winning four rings during that time. He had that same job with the Seattle Mariners later.
Lefty-hitting outfielder Jim Delsing (1925) had a home run and five rbi’s in 21 games for the 1949-1950 Yanks, but his greatest claim to fame was as the guy who pinch-ran for midget Eddie Gaedel once Eddie walked in his only major league at bat for the Browns in 1951. Delsing arrived in New York in December 1948 via a trade from the White Sox for Steve Souchock. He was sent to the Browns with Don Johnson, Duane Pillette, Snuffy Stirnweiss, and cash for Tom Ferrick, Joe Ostrowski, Leo Thomas, and Sid Schacht in June 1950.
Tom Daley (1884), also a lefty-hitting outfielder, knocked in 10 runs in 79 games for the 1914-1915 Bombers once they got him from the Philadelphia Athletics in June 1914 in exchange for Jimmy Walsh. And third baseman Ezra Midkiff (1882) hit from the left side too, and he drove in 23 teammates while playing for the 1912-1913 club. Ezra stole 13 bases in the Bronx, but he helped the Yankee running game even more after he was traded to Baltimore for third baseman Fritz Maisel in 1913. Maisel became known as “The Flash,” and his club record 74 steals in a season (1914) stood until Rickey Henderson broke it with 80 in 1985.
Other birthdays: Steve Biko (1928); Wes Parker (1939); Gene Graber (1947); Dan Petry (1958); Pat Hentgen (1968); Rigo Beltran (1969), who in 2004 helped knock the American Olympic team from the games when he threw a masterpiece for Mexico; Vic Darensbourg (1970); Jason Simontacchi (1973); Gerald Laird (1979); Tony Abreu (1984); Asdrubal Cabrera (1985); Juan Perez (1986); Josh Bell (1986); Bryan Price (1986); Wade Miley (1986); Tim Adleman (1987); Lane Adams (1989), whom the Yankees actually selected off waivers from Kansas City in January 2016, only to release him without a big league appearance six months later; Carlos Frias (1989); Arodys Vizcaino (1990); Chris Devenski (1990); Luke Bard (1990); Daniel Gossett (1992); Santiago Espinal (1994); Trevor Rogers (1997); and Brett Baty (1999).
