On October 30, the Yanks turned the tables on the Diamondbacks and won Game Three in the 2001 World Series behind Roger Clemens and Mariano Rivera, 2-1, in Yankee Stadium. Jorge Posada accounted for the first Bomber run off loser Brian Anderson with a homer, and Scott Brosius delivered the game-winner with a sixth-inning single. President Bush threw out the honorary first pitch in a devastated post-9/11 New York. All fans, therefore, were guided through airport-like metal detectors when entering, the only time the Yanks have utilized that level of security.
On October 30, 2014, the Yankees activated DH Alex Rodriguez from the restricted list. An ugly chapter was coming to a close, but no one expected what would happen the next season. This day was also a big day for players electing free agency, which the following Yankees chose to do: lefthanded pitchers Rich Hill and Chris Capuano; righthanders Hiroki Kuroda, David Robertson, and Brandon McCarthy; second baseman Stephen Drew; shortstop Derek Jeter; third baseman Chase Headley; and outfielders Chris Young and Ichiro Suzuki. And of equal importance in future Yankee fortunes, southpaw Andrew Miller elected free agency from the Baltimore Orioles.
After his sparkling 25-12, 1974 season with the A’s, Jim Catfish Hunter won the American League Cy Young Award on October 30, 1974. Catfish, who at 22 threw a Perfect Game against the Twins back in 1968, had already charged Charley Finley with breach of contract, and he would be declared a free agent shortly. The Yanks would swoop in and sign him for $3.5 million two months later, on December 31, 1974.
The first-ever manager of the New York Highlanders, Clark Griffith piloted the fledgling team to two second-place finishes in their first eight seasons, and he won 32 and lost 24 while doing some pitching the first five of those seasons. But on October 30, 1911, Griffith began a relationship with the Washington Senators as their manager and then owner that would last until he passed away in 1955.
On October 30, 2020, Yankee lefthander J.A. Happ elected free agency.
On October 30, 2011, the free agency process was seriously into action, with ex-Dodger and righthander Hiroki Kuroda, who would sign with the Yanks for 2012 and have a great season, electing free agency, along with Yankee catcher and DH Jorge Posada, who would then retire as a complete-career Yankee. Outfielder Andruw Jones and third baseman Eric Chavez, 2011 Yankees and now free agents, would return to the Bronx in 2012. Among players declaring free agency but not returning to the Bronx were lefthander Damaso Marte, righties Luis Ayala and Sergio Mitre, and 2009 Yankee World Series MVP Hideki Matsui.
Willie Hernandez, Tigers reliever who would later in his career demand to be called Guillermo, won the AL Cy Young on October 30, 1984. It was the Year of the Tiger, but none of them had a better year than closer Guillermo Hernandez.
San Francisco hurler John Montefusco won the NL Rookie of the Year Award on October 30, 1975. Known as “the Count,” Montefusco posted what would have been close to a middling, .500 record over 13 seasons. But his 10-3 mark with the 1983-1986 Yanks that closed his career brought his final tally to 93-80.
The Yanks had a lot of good-byes to say on October 30, 2002, as the following five guys, none of whom were brought back that year, elected free agency: third baseman Robin Ventura, outfielder John Vander Wal, pitcher Ramiro Mendoza, first/third baseman Ron Coomer, and utility player Alex Arias.
Legendary L.A. Dodgers lefty Sandy Koufax won three Cy Young Awards, but he was named NL Most Valuable Player only once, on October 30, 1963.
Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson and fellow black player John Wright to play for the Montreal Club in the International League on October 30, 1945.
Although he toiled to middling results in the City of Brotherly Love, current Indians Manager, and one-time Red Sox skipper, Terry Francona earned his first job piloting a club in the bigs on October 30, 1996, when he was named to succeed Jim Fregosi as skipper of the Phillies.
Players Who Have Died This Day
Switch-hitting second baseman Johnny Lucadello (2001), who finished up his big-league career playing 12 games for the 1947 Yankees, is one of three Yankee players to have died on October 30. He did not hit a home run or drive in a run while getting one hit in 12 tries. Playing from 1938-1941 and in 1946 for the Browns, Lucadello hit five long balls and drove in 60 runs. In an odd twist, both of his 1941 home runs were hit on the same day in each game of a doubleheader, one from each side of the plate. Lefty-hitting outfielder Steve Brodie (1935) makes this list because he played 83 games with the 1901 AL Baltimore Orioles team that would be relocated to New York as the Highlanders in 1903. Brodie hit two home runs and knocked in 41 rbi’s on 95-for-306 hitting in that 1901 stint, numbers that grow to 15 and 900 overall in 1890-1902 play mostly with the earlier NL Orioles, the Beaneaters, and the Browns. Lefty hitting, righty throwing first baseman/outfielder Norm Siebern (2015) debuted with the Yankees in 1956, and through 1959 had hit 29 home runs and driven in 129 runs. From 1960 through 1968 he played mostly with the A’s in Kansas City, with significant stops with the Orioles and the Red Sox too, accumulating career numbers of 132 long balls with 636 rbi’s.
William A. Shea, the man after whom Shea Stadium was named, died on October 30, 1991. Also, Hall of Fame catcher and manager Al Lopez passed away on October 30, 2005. He cleared 51 fences good for 652 rbi’s playing with the Dodgers, the Bees, and the Pirates from 1928-1947. In 17 years as an AL manager for the Indians and the White Sox he won one pennant with each team. His teams were most often in it though, as they finished in second place 10 times. The list of additional noteworthy nonYankee players who have died on October 20 includes three righthanded pitchers, two outfielders, a first baseman who played some outfield, along with an outfielder who played some first base, as well. Fred Beebe (1957) won 62, lost 83, and saved four games from 1906 through 1916 pitching mostly with the Cardinals; and Dick Barrett (1966) posted a 35-58-2 mark pitching more often than not in 1933-1934 and in 1943-1945 with the Phillies. Lefty-hitting outfielder Jimmy Welsh (1970) cleared 35 fences and drove in 288 runs from 1925-1930 with the Braves and the Giants; and Joe Hornung (1931) hit 31 long balls and 564 rbi’s playing from 1879-1890 with the Beaneaters, the Bisons, and the Red Caps. Primarily a first baseman who patrolled the outfield when needed as well, lefthanded Ron Fairly (2019) played for the Dodgers from 1958 into 1969, with the Expos from 1969-1974, and made brief stops with four other clubs from 1975 through 1978. Ron hit 215 homers and drove in 1,044 runs in his career. The third righthander on this list is Rick Baldwin (2020), who batted from the left side. He pitched only for the Mets, from 1975 through 1977, posting a 4-7 record with seven saves in 105 games, no starts. And perhaps more famous to today’s fan in light of his long years as a Boston broadcaster, is lefty hitting, righty throwing second baseman Jerry Remy (2021), who played with the Red Sox from 1978 through 1984, after he had debuted with the 1975-1977 Angels. Remy collected seven homers and 329 rbi’s in his career. The temptation was to add outfielder/first baseman Frank Howard (2023) to the Yankee list because he coached for the team for several years, but “Hondo” had coaching duties with a number of clubs. The big lumbering power hitter hit 382 home runs and drove in 1,119 in 1,895 games playing for the 1958-1964 Dodgers, the 1965-1971 Senators, the 1972 Rangers, and the 1972-1973 Tigers. He managed the San Diego Padres in both halves of the strike-split 1981 season and the Mets in 1983, to sixth place finishes.
Players Born This Day
Danny Tartabull (1962) is one of six Yankee ballplayers who share October 30 as their birthday. Poor defense, multiple injuries, and a plethora of strike outs ruined Danny’s 3.5 years in New York, leading to his trade to Oakland for Ruben Sierra and Jason Beverlin in 1995. The Yankees signed the righthanded power hitter as a free agent in January 1992 after he had played three years in Seattle and five in Kansas City. Tartabull, who slugged 81 homers and knocked in 282 rbi’s in New York from 1992 through 1995, was originally drafted on the same 1980 day on which the Mets used the first choice overall to select Darryl Strawberry.
The 2008 addition to the Yankee birthday list showed real promise before an arm injury. Jonathan Albaladejo (1982) struck out 13 batters in 13.7 innings over seven games to an 0-1 record before going down. He moved between AAA and the Yankees in 2009, garnering a very good 5-1 record but a not so good 5-plus era. Albaladejo threw in 14 games for the 2007 Washington Nationals, where he won and lost one game apiece. Jonathan had a dominant 2010 season as the closer in AAA Scranton/Wilkes Barre, but did not impress following a September callup to the Bronx. Jonathan appeared in three games with the Diamondbacks in 2012.
The much-injured Jim Ray Hart (1941) smacked 157 homers to the tune of 526 rbi’s with the Giants from 1963 through 1973 before serving as Yankee designated hitter for 124 games in ’73 and ’74, with 13 dingers and 52 rbi’s. Hart was purchased by New York from the Giants in April 1973, and the Bombers released him the following June.
Righty Marty McHale (1910) went 12-27 with one save for the Bombers from 1913 through 1915, after two years in Boston. He split the 1916 season between Boston and Cleveland.
The loss of Aaron Judge to a hand fracture late in the 2018 season gave outfielder Shane Robinson (1984) a chance to play in the Bronx. Having played more than 400 games since 2009 most recently with Minnesota and Anaheim, but for the majority of the time with St. Louis, Shane had collected six home runs and 64 rbi’s by the time the Yanks signed him to a minor league deal in February 2018, with a view to filling innings in the outfield during Spring Training. But with the Yanks having traded away several young outfielders and having lost Clint Frazier to a concussion well before the Judge injury, Robinson got his chance. He appeared in 25 games for New York, and added one home run and two rbi’s to his totals. Shane was a fifth round amateur draft selection by the Cardinals in 2006.
And last, although he never threw pitch one for the Yankees, long-time Cleveland and Minnesota starter Jim Perry (1935) was involved in a three-team trade that included New York at the end of his career. In March 1974, Jim was sent by the Tigers to the Indians. The Yankees sent Jerry Moses to Detroit. The Tigers sent Ed Farmer to New York. And the Indians sent Rick Sawyer and Walt Williams to the Yankees. Infamous spitballer Gaylord Perry‘s brother, Jim won 215 major league games and the AL Cy Young Award in 1970.
Three Hall of Famers lead off the list of other October 30 birthdays: Outfielder Ed Delahanty (1867) played most of his 1888 through 1903 career in Philly. The other two: lefty-hitting New York Giants first baseman Bill Terry (1898); and Negro Leagues player Leon Day (1916). Other famous ballplayers born October 30: Joe Adcock (1927); Dave Valle (1960); Gerald Perry (1960); Mark Portugal (1962); Dave Coggin (1976); Luis Matos (1978); Jayson Bartlett (1979); Laynce Nix (1980); Mike Jacobs (1980); Ian Snell (1981); Manny Parra (1982); Anderson Hernandez (1982); Desmond Jennings (1986); Ryan Kelly (1987); Patrick Schuster (1990); Joe Panik (1990); Yuki Matsui (1995); and Wenceel Perez (1999).
