Not only did Giancarlo Stanton hit an early home run against the visiting Orioles on September 3, 2021, that helped send the 2-2 contest to extra innings, it was his single in the bottom of the 11th that drove in Aaron Judge with the game winner in the 3-2 victory. Nestor Cortes made the start, and Clay Holmes was the winning pitcher.
On September 3, 2023, the Yankees placed righthander Ian Hamilton on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 31, with a right groin strain; and recalled righty Greg Weissert from the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
On September 3, 2022, the Yankees placed left fielder Andrew Benintendi on the 10-day injured list, with right wrist inflammation. The team also recalled center fielder Estevan Florial from the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, and selected the contract of righthander Ryan Weber from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The team then designated lefthander Anthony Banda for assignment.
On September 3, 2021, the Yankees activated shortstop Gleyber Torres and optioned center fielder Estevan Florial to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
There was a lot to like about the 10-1 decimation (almost literally, though not in the gruesome fashion, outscoring an opponent by a factor of 10) of visiting Texas on September 3, 2019, starting with the 33,000-plus in attendance that pushed the mark on the year above 3,000,000. James Paxton struck out 12 over seven shutout innings, and all 10 Yankee runs scored on home runs, from Didi Gregorius, Brett Gardner, and Edwin Encarnacion (returned from the IL this day), with Gary Sanchez both opening and closing the Yankee scoring with two-run jacks.
On September 3, 2020, the Yankees sent shortstop Jordy Mercer outright to the team’s Alternate Training Site.
The Yankees already had a 3-1 lead on Boston ace Chris Sale before they pounded a litany of relievers to a six-run sixth inning in Yankee Stadium in the ESPN Sunday night game on September 3, 2017. Solo homers from Chase Headley, Matt Holliday, and Todd Frazier did the early damage, more than enough to offset the lone Red Sox tally, on two [rare] Frazier errors in the sixth. Starlin Castro had a three-run double in the big inning, and Luis Severino struck out nine over six innings for the 9-2 win.
Going strongly against the trend he had established in two previous seasons, Hiroki Kuroda finished strong in 2014, and the 5-1 win over Boston in Yankee Stadium on September 3 was one of his best. Outdueling Red Sox righty Anthony Ranaudo, he used 95 throws to retire the visitors through seven on four hits and no walks, with eight strike outs, surrendering one run. And the offensive star was from the other side of the day’s battery, as Brian McCann went 4-for-4 and drove in three runs on a two-run jack and an rbi single.
Another mini-Mantle fest starts with the defeat of Bob Lemon and the Indians on September 3, 1954, which snapped an 11-game Lemon winning streak. Mickey Mantle‘s bomb way up into the right field upper deck in the sixth started the Yankee scoring, which resulted in a 3-2 Bomber win.
On September 3, 1958, Mickey Mantle‘s eighth-inning homer brought the Yanks even from having been behind Boston, 5-3. Once Yogi Berra hit a three-run ninth-inning shot to end it at 8-5 Yanks, he and Mickey were tied with 85 rbi’s on the season.
When Mickey Mantle hit his 50th homer of the year on September 3, 1961, he and Roger Maris (53) became the first teammates with 50 each. Mantle’s blow, his second home run that day, tied the Tigers in the ninth inning, and then Elston Howard won it 8-5 with a three-run drive.
Home runs from Adam Lind and Eric Thames had Bartolo Colon on the short end of a 4-3 score in Yankee Stadium on September 3, 2011, but Robinson Cano‘s two-run double and an rbi single from Nick Swisher comprised a three-run seventh-inning rallly in the 6-4 Yankee win.
The newly hot Curtis Granderson led the way with two doubles and three rbi’s in a 7-3 Yankee win over Toronto in Yankee Stadium on September 3, 2010. Brett Gardner walked twice, tripled, and scored all three times. It was one in a series of starts where young righty Ivan Nova showed promise, but failed to qualify for a win because he was lifted with two on and two outs in the fifth inning. Nova appeared to solve his fifth-inning problem in 2011.
Seattle came to town for a Labor Day battle on September 3, 2007, trailing the Yanks by just two games in the Wild Card standings. An expected pitchers’ duel between Felix Hernandez and Roger Clemens never materialized, and struggling Mike Mussina relieved The Rocket at 5-1 down after four. Ichiro Suzuki and Jose Guillen had three hits apiece and Ichiro homered in the 7-1 Mariners win.
Yankee fans needn’t have worried when Darrell Rasner got a start vs. the Twins on September 3, 2006, even though Torii Hunter‘s second inning home run gave the visitors a 1-0 lead, as the Yanks would storm back to win 10-1, with Rasner going six. In playing his 1,647th game as Yankee shortstop, Derek Jeter tied Phil Rizzuto, whom we lost last year. Alex Rodriguez drove in five with a single and two home runs, giving him nine straight seasons with at least 100 rbi’s and 30 homers, a mark that he would stretch to 10 years in a row in August 2007. No other player in history can make that claim.
The best that can be said for our third day being held hostage in Veterans Stadium (OK, we were just in Philly and attended games there three days running, but it felt like we were being punished) on September 3, 1997, was that the Yanks actually put up a fight before falling 5-4 in a three-game Phillies sweep. Mickey Morandini‘s single off Mike Stanton started the game-winning rally in the bottom of the ninth.
Yankees starter Roger Clemens was dominant in a 4-2 victory in Yankee Stadium vs. the Red Sox on September 3, 2002. He pitched into the eighth allowing just three hits, and the 10 strike outs marked the 102nd time in his career he posted them in double digits. Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi homered and Frank Castillo took the loss.
The Yanks wasted fourth-inning home runs by Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada in a 4-3 loss to the Blue Jays in Toronto on September 3, 2003.
The Yankees recalled righthander Jonathan Albaladejo from AAA Scranton-Wilkes Barre on September 3, 2009.
On September 3, 1947, the Yankees set a record by totaling 18 singles in their first-game, 11-2 win over the Red Sox. The New Yorkers took the second game that day too, 9-6 in Fenway Park.
Joe McGinnity hurled both ends of a doubleheader on September 3, 1901 for the Baltimore Orioles, the franchise that would be relocated to New York as the Highlanders in 1903. Joe defeated Milwaukee 10-0 in the opener, but lost the second game to them 6-1.
There are two very familiar highlights, one good and one bad, from the Yanks’ 3-1 loss to the Orioles in Yankee Stadium on September 3, 2004. When Derek Jeter homered to right on Rodrigo Lopez‘s fourth pitch of the game, he moved ahead of the beloved Don Mattingly into ninth place on the Yankees’ all-time runs-scored list. On the down side, Kevin Brown bobbled John Olerud‘s throw, fell to the ground, and hurt himself on Geronimo Gil‘s fifth-inning roller to first. Sound familiar? Lopez, ex-Yank Jason Grimsley, and Jorge Julio held the Yanks to six hits while striking out 10.
The Yanks beat the Senators 9-3 in Washington on September 3, 1921, behind the pitching of Carl Mays and Babe Ruth‘s 50th home run of the season.
When Matt Kinney of the Twins dueled Roger Clemens in Yankee Stadium on September 3, 2000, they left the game tied at one on Tino Martinez and Ron Coomer home runs. But Minnesota pushed the winner across in the top of the 10th in a 2-1 win.
While the Yankees were sweeping two games from the Red Sox, 1-0 and 4-1, on September 3, 1917, the White Sox took two from the Tigers for the second day in a row. Many in Boston suspected later that Detroit did not make their best effort against Chicago in those four games, in effect handing them the 1917 AL pennant.
Brooks Robinson knocked in both runs in a 2-0 Orioles win over the Yanks behind Jack Fisher‘s seven hitter on September 3, 1960.
It was weird how Bobby Thigpen, a phenom in college, came on the major league scene like a house afire, eclipsing Dave Righetti‘s league-record 47 saves on September 3, 1990, eventually reaching 57. The totals that followed, 30 in 1991, 22 in 1992, and two more in the next few years, bespeak his sudden fade from prominence.
In a 5-1 Yankees victory over the A’s on September 3, 1951, newly acquired hurler Johnny Sain threw a five-hitter in the win, but Philadelphia recovered to take Game Two 3-2.
The Philadelphia A’s beat the Yanks 3-0 on September 3, 1952 behind Harry Byrd‘s one-hitter.
The Yankees were the beneficiaries of wins in two forfeited games on September 3, the first one over the Athletics in 1906. New York won the first game 4-3. Then when Yankee baserunner Willie Keeler collided with shortstop Lave Cross in the nightcap, two runs scored. The A’s protested to the ump to no avail, and when they continued he awarded the game to New York (though the score was listed as 3-3).
Likewise, the second game of two against the Red Sox in 1939 was declared a Yankee win, by a 5-5 score, though the ruling would be overturned by the League office. After the Yanks fell in Game One 12-11, Boston was protesting New York’s efforts to slow down Game Two with a curfew looming, and the umpire objected to the the strident nature of their complaints.
Trailing the Tigers by five games on Labor Day in 1934, the Yanks split two with the A’s, winning Game One 11-7, while falling 10-3 in the second.
It was a day game during the week, I can tell you from having attended, when the Athletics squeaked by the Yanks, 10-9, in Yankee Stadium on September 3, 1995. The defeat came despite the cycle hit by Tony Fernandez, the last time that offensive achievement was successfully completed by a home-team ballplayer in the Bronx.
The Yanks fell 1-0 to Lefty Grove on September 3, 1927. The 300-game winner threw 35 shutouts in his career, and this was the second of them.
In a precursor to a play that would also be pulled off by Orlando el duque Hernandez 12-13 years later, Giants hurler (briefly and unhappily a Yankee later) Terry Mulholland threw his glove with ball to first when he couldn’t dislodge the ball to make the play in the conventional manner during a 4-2 loss to the Mets on September 3, 1986.
On September 3, 2019, the Yankees activated first baseman Edwin Encarnacion from the 10-day injured list; and signed free agent catcher Jose Heredia to a minor league contract.
On September 3, 2018, the Yankees sent outfielder Shane Robinson and lefthander Ryan Bollinger outright to the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
The Yankees placed center fielder Aaron Hicks on the 10-day disabled list, with a left oblique strain, on September 3, 2017. They also recalled lefthander Caleb Smith from the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
On September 3, 2012, the Yankees activated third baseman Alex Rodriguez from the 15-day disabled list, making room on the roster by outrighting Ramiro Pena to AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Cardinals starter Bud Smith became the 16th rookie ever to throw a no-hitter when he shut down the Padres, 4-0, on September 3, 2001. Bill McCahan of the Athletics was one of the 15 to precede him, as he no-hit the Senators 3-0 in his debut year on this day in 1947.
The Blue Jays strung 10 hits in a row together in the second inning of a 16-5 win over the Twins on September 3, 1992.
When 2004 Yankee Kenny Lofton, playing for Cleveland in a 12-11 victory over Baltimore on September 3, 2000, scored in the first frame, he tied the big-league record for having scored in 18 consecutive games. He shares the record with Yankee Red Rolfe, who set the mark in 1939.
A disastrous three weeks had dropped the St. Louis Browns from first place, but they came back to beat the rival Tigers on September 3, 1944. But two days later they were both also-rans as first place was purloined by the surprising, late-charging Yankees.
At least two different guys recorded their 20th wins on September 3, starting when Jack Sanford of the Giants won his 14th straight in a 7-3 decision over the Dodgers in 1962. Mike Flanagan of the Orioles took his 20th with a 5-1 win in the second of a two-game sweep over Toronto on this day in 1979.
The 84-year-old hits-in-a-season record that Ichiro Suzuki smashed in 2004 was originally set on September 3, 1920, when George Sisler notched his 257th hit in a 16-7 Browns win over the White Sox.
Two September 3 records in futility: The White Sox amassed an unprecedented 39 one-run losses in 1968 when they fell 2-1 to the Senators; and when the Mets were beaten 3-2 by the Marlins in the first of two on this day in 2002, they set a new NL record for consecutive home losses.
Two additional September 3 highlights affecting future or former Yankee players playing for other teams took place in the 1970s. Making his major-league debut, John Montefusco, who would later go 10-3 for the Yankees in finishing up his career, homered in his first ever at bat and got a win with nine innings of relief in the Giants’ 9-5 victory over the Dodgers on this day in 1974. And 1982 Yankee oufielder and recent bench coach Lee Mazzilli homered from each side of the plate in a Mets 8-6 win over L.A. on September 3, 1978.
Warren Spahn of the Braves took the career lead in shutouts by an NL lefthander on September 3, 1957, garnering his 41st in an 8-0 win over the Cubs.
Players Who Have Died This Day
Both Yankee players who have died on September 3 played with the team two years. Outfielder Armando Marsans (1960) ended his career by playing 62 games for the 1917-1918 teams. A 24-rbi man on 49-for-211 hitting in New York, Marsans’s career numbers were two home runs and 221 rbi’s, achieved during a four-year stint with Cincinnati, and two years each with the Terriers and Browns, all from 1911-1917. Lefthander Marshall Bridges (1990) won 10, lost four and saved 19 with the 1962-1963 Yankees in 75 games (no starts), and posted an overall 23-15-25 record, including three years with the Cardinals and Reds beforehand, and two with the Senators afterward.
There are two position players and two pitchers among noteworthy nonYankee players to have died this day. First baseman Ed Cartwright (1933) hit 24 long balls and drove in 333 runs with the Browns in 1890 and the Senators from 1894-1897; and lefty-hitting outfielder Dusty Miller (1945) reached most of his 22 fences good for 421 rbi’s between 1889 and 1899 with Cincinnati. The two pitchers each hit the opposite way they pitched. The lefty pitcher (and righty hitter) Jack Pfiester (1953) won 71 and lost 44 from 1903-1911 with the Cubs and Pirates; while the righty-throwing, lefty-hitting Rip Sewell (1989) posted a 143-97-15 record with the 1932 Tigers and the Pirates from 1938-1949.
Players Born This Day
Hard-throwing righty reliever Eric Plunk (1963) was the only ballplayer who served as a Yankee and was born on September 3 until he got company in 2013. Drafted by the New York Yankees in the fourth round of the 1981 amateur draft, he was traded to the A’s with Tim Birtsas, Jay Howell, Stan Javier, and Jose Rijo for Rickey Henderson and Bert Bradley in December 1984. He was also returned to the Yankees when Rickey was traded the other way in June 1989, bringing Greg Cadaret and Luis Polonia back with him. Playing for the Yankees in 1989 through 1991, Plunk went 15-13, with one save.
The 2013 addition to the list is third baseman Chris Nelson (1985), acquired in May from Colorado and becoming one of the 10-plus players to try to fll the position in the Bronx in injury-ravaged 2013. Chris, who had eight hits, knocked in two runs, and scored three in 10 games in New York, has 16 home runs and 100 career rbi’s in the bigs since 2010 as of this writing, most of it with Colorado; he is with San Diego in 2014.
Other birthdays: Phil Rizzuto‘s nemesis Eddie Stanky (1916); Red Sox righty Tom Brewer (1931), 91-82 with three saves from 1954-1961; Rene Gonzalez (1960); Alan Bannister (1951); Dave Clark (1962); Luis Gonzalez (1967), who, although he had amassed 221 home runs through the 2001 regular season, broke Yankee fan hearts in November 2001 with a broken bat bloop over shortstop; Chad Fox (1970); Dave Berg (1970); Nate Robertson (1977); Juan Perez (1978); Jake Woods (1981); Matt Capps (1983); Troy Patton (1985); Brandon Beachy (1986); Domonic Brown (1987); Drew Hayes (1987); Josh Osich (1988); Shae Simmons (1990); Carl Edwards Jr.(1991); Corey Oswalt (1993); David Peterson (1995); Jake Wong (1996); Carter Kieboom (1997); and Jacob Amaya (1998).
