Results tagged ‘ yankees ’
May 23 – Happy Birthday Buck Showalter
Many Yankee fans, including me, were livid at George Steinbrenner after the 1995 season. We had just gone through two strike-shortened baseball seasons at the very same time our Yankees were on the verge of once again becoming baseball’s best team. Don Mattingly had just had a wonderful playoff series against Seattle and although the Yankees lost that series three games to two, we were convinced that in Buck Showalter, the Yankees had the right manager to lead them back to post season prosperity.
Then the Boss lowered the boom. The Yankees did not try to convince Donnie Baseball to continue playing and instead acquired Tino Martinez to play first base. Just as upsetting was the firing of Showalter who was replaced by the nice guy but perennial loser as a manager, Joe Torre.
It is amazing how a little thing like winning four World Championships in a five year period can help you let bygones be bygones. And come to think of it, Buck Showalter never seemed to be having any fun. And why the heck did he always wear that completely zipped-up Yankee jacket in the dugout, even when the temperature was in the nineties?
Seriously, Buck Showalter restored a sorely needed level of low-key professionalism to the Yankee dugout after the Billy Martin-to-Stump Merrill era of merry-go-round managers. His record as Yankee skipper was 313-268. He went on to manage both the Diamondbacks and Rangers and was a two-time AL Manager of the Year winner. He is now skippering the Baltimore Orioles back to respectability.
Update: The above post was last updated in May of 2011. Since that time, Showalter’s Orioles have made it back to the postseason and once again become one of the Yankees’ most competitive rivalries. Baltimore finished in second place just two games behind New York in the AL East in 2012 and then gave the Bronx Bombers everything the could handle in the 2012 ALDS before finally losing in five games.
Many Yankee fans, including me, were livid at George Steinbrenner after the 1995 season. We had just gone through two strike-shortened baseball seasons at the very same time our Yankees were on the verge of once again becoming baseball’s best team. Don Mattingly had just had a wonderful playoff series against Seattle and although the Yankees lost that series three games to two, we were convinced that in Buck Showalter, the Yankees had the right manager to lead them back to post season prosperity.
Then the Boss lowered the boom. The Yankees did not try to convince Donnie Baseball to continue playing and instead acquired Tino Martinez to play first base. Just as upsetting was the firing of Showalter who was replaced by the nice guy but perennial loser as a manager, Joe Torre.
It is amazing how a little thing like winning four World Championships in a five year period can help you let bygones be bygones. And come to think of it, Buck Showalter never seemed to be having any fun. And why the heck did he always wear that completely zipped-up Yankee jacket in the dugout, even when the temperature was in the nineties?
Seriously, Buck Showalter restored a sorely needed level of low-key professionalism to the Yankee dugout after the Billy Martin-to-Stump Merrill era of merry-go-round managers. His record as Yankee skipper was 313-268. He went on to manage both the Diamondbacks and Rangers and was a two-time AL Manager of the Year winner. He is now skippering the Baltimore Orioles back to respectability.
Update: The above post was last updated in May of 2011. Since that time, Showalter’s Orioles have made it back to the postseason and once again become one of the Yankees’ most competitive rivalries. Baltimore finished in second place just two games behind New York in the AL East in 2012 and then gave the Bronx Bombers everything they could handle in the 2012 ALDS before finally losing in five games. Oakland’s Bob Melvin edged out Showalter for the 2012 AL Manager of the Year Award.
Another Yankee manager was also born on May 23rd as was this former Yankee catcher who was once pegged as Bill Dickey’s eventual successor.
| Rk | Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | W | L | Finish | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1992 | 36 | New York Yankees | AL | 162 | 76 | 86 | .469 | 4 | ||
| 2 | 1993 | 37 | New York Yankees | AL | 162 | 88 | 74 | .543 | 2 | ||
| 3 | 1994 | 38 | New York Yankees | AL | 113 | 70 | 43 | .619 | 1 | ||
| 4 | 1995 | 39 | New York Yankees | AL | 145 | 79 | 65 | .549 | 2 | ||
| New York Yankees | 4 years | 582 | 313 | 268 | .539 | 2.3 | |||||
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 3 years | 486 | 250 | 236 | .514 | 3.0 | |||||
| Texas Rangers | 4 years | 648 | 319 | 329 | .492 | 3.3 | |||||
| Baltimore Orioles | 4 years | 426 | 220 | 206 | .516 | 3.8 | |||||
| 15 years | 2142 | 1102 | 1039 | .515 | 3.1 |
May 22 – Happy Birthday Tommy John
My wife dragged me to a performance of Les Miserables at Proctor’s Theater in Schenectady, NY several years ago. I was not a fan of the place because the seats were built for munchkins and there was absolutely no way for a person my size to get comfortable. Plus if you’re familiar with the epic play about the French Revolution, you know I was not in for a night of excitement and laughs.
Sure enough, as soon as the curtain opened I started fidgeting and with my knees crammed against the seat in front of me, both of my legs quickly went to sleep. I was just about to close my eyes and force myself into a numbing nap when I heard my wife whisper, “That’s that Yankee pitcher’s son singing.” I opened up my program and sure enough, one of the lead characters was Tommy John’s boy. I think it was Travis and he had an absolutely amazing voice.
In spite of this connection to my all-time favorite baseball team, my legs were getting prickly, the lady next to me was pushing my arm off the armrest and I spent the rest of the evening in a painful agony. I remember how good it felt when the final curtain came down and we were able to get up and start walking toward the theater’s exit. As we crawled along with the large crowd approaching the door leading outside, I noticed a man leaning against the wall in the corner nearest me. As I passed him I smiled and told him that his son had a wonderful voice. Tommy John smiled and mouthed back the words “Thank you.”
I liked Tommy John when he pitched for the Yankees but I liked him even more when I saw him that night at Proctor’s Theater. After all, John is 6’3″ tall just like me so I know his legs were sore too. I knew then and there that in addition to being a great pitcher, Tommy was also a good father.
John may be most famous for the surgery (ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction) named after him but he was a pretty good Yankee pitcher too. He had two twenty-victory seasons with New York during his first stay in the Bronx and then went 13-6 for them as a 44-year old in 1987. One of the things that most surprised me when I was doing research for this post was finding out that Tommy won more games as a Yankee (91) than he did for the Dodgers (87) or White Sox (82.) As of right now, those 91 wins place him in the 20th spot on the Yankees’ all-time career wins list. He has more wins as a Yankee than Roger Clemens (83), Bob Turley, David Wells (68) or Catfish Hunter (64) were ever able to achieve in pinstripes.
John was born in Terre Haute, Indiana on May 22, 1943, the only member of the Yankee all-time roster to be born on today’s date. I was also surprised to find out that there were not too many former Yankee all-star-level players born in Indiana. The best of the Hoosier-born Yankees were Don Mattingly, Don Larsen and John.
| Year | Tm | W | L | G | GS | GF | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | NYY | 21 | 9 | .700 | 2.96 | 37 | 36 | 1 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 276.1 | 268 | 109 | 91 | 9 | 65 | 111 | 1.205 |
| 1980 | NYY | 22 | 9 | .710 | 3.43 | 36 | 36 | 0 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 265.1 | 270 | 115 | 101 | 13 | 56 | 78 | 1.229 |
| 1981 | NYY | 9 | 8 | .529 | 2.63 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 140.1 | 135 | 50 | 41 | 10 | 39 | 50 | 1.240 |
| 1982 | NYY | 10 | 10 | .500 | 3.66 | 30 | 26 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 186.2 | 190 | 84 | 76 | 11 | 34 | 54 | 1.200 |
| 1986 | NYY | 5 | 3 | .625 | 2.93 | 13 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 70.2 | 73 | 27 | 23 | 8 | 15 | 28 | 1.245 |
| 1987 | NYY | 13 | 6 | .684 | 4.03 | 33 | 33 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 187.2 | 212 | 95 | 84 | 12 | 47 | 63 | 1.380 |
| 1988 | NYY | 9 | 8 | .529 | 4.49 | 35 | 32 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 176.1 | 221 | 96 | 88 | 11 | 46 | 81 | 1.514 |
| 1989 | NYY | 2 | 7 | .222 | 5.80 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 63.2 | 87 | 45 | 41 | 6 | 22 | 18 | 1.712 |
| 26 Yrs | 288 | 231 | .555 | 3.34 | 760 | 700 | 22 | 162 | 46 | 4 | 4710.1 | 4783 | 2017 | 1749 | 302 | 1259 | 2245 | 1.283 | |
| NYY (8 yrs) | 91 | 60 | .603 | 3.59 | 214 | 203 | 7 | 53 | 12 | 0 | 1367.0 | 1456 | 621 | 545 | 80 | 324 | 483 | 1.302 | |
| CHW (7 yrs) | 82 | 80 | .506 | 2.95 | 237 | 219 | 5 | 56 | 21 | 3 | 1493.1 | 1362 | 573 | 490 | 99 | 460 | 888 | 1.220 | |
| LAD (6 yrs) | 87 | 42 | .674 | 2.97 | 182 | 174 | 6 | 37 | 11 | 1 | 1198.0 | 1169 | 460 | 396 | 64 | 296 | 649 | 1.223 | |
| CAL (4 yrs) | 24 | 32 | .429 | 4.40 | 85 | 76 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 489.1 | 610 | 263 | 239 | 42 | 125 | 143 | 1.502 | |
| CLE (2 yrs) | 2 | 11 | .154 | 3.61 | 31 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 114.2 | 120 | 63 | 46 | 11 | 41 | 74 | 1.404 | |
| OAK (1 yr) | 2 | 6 | .250 | 6.19 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48.0 | 66 | 37 | 33 | 6 | 13 | 8 | 1.646 | |
May 21 – Happy Birthday Hank Johnson
This right-hander was just 19 years old when he made his big league debut for Miller Huggins’ Yankees in April of 1925. The legendary New York skipper was impressed enough with the youngster’s stuff that he got him into 24 ballgames that season, mostly as a reliever. But the native of Bradenton, Florida wasn’t quite ready for prime time and he spent the next two years back in the minors.
Huggins brought Johnson back up to begin the 1928 season and inserted him into a Yankee starting rotation that included two Hall of Famers in Waite Hoyt and Herb Pennock, plus 20-game winner George Pipgras. The kid was able to hold his own with that impressive group, finishing the year with a very good 14-9 record. That mark was no doubt boosted by the powerful 1928 Yankee lineup because Johnson’s 4.30 ERA and his league-leading 104 walks that season indicated he did not dominate opposing lineups. He then sat in the Yankee dugout watching his teammates sweep the Cardinals in the ’28 World Series. In fact, New York used just three pitchers during that entire Fall Classic as Hoyt won two complete game starts and Pipgras and Tom Zachary each got one.
He went just 3-3 in 1929 and then bounced back with a 14-11 record in 1930 and a 13-8 mark in ’31. But his control problems continued as he walked over 100 hitters in each of those seasons. Meanwhile, Huggins had tragically died from an eye infection in 1929 and after his successor, Bob Shawkey led New York to a third place finish in 1930, Joe McCarthy had taken over the team. He had stuck with Johnson in his rotation through the 1931 season but he was impressed by a 27-year-old rookie named Johnny Allen during the Yanks’ 1932 spring training camp. When Johnson got off to just a so-so start that year Marse Joe had seen enough. He was traded to the Red Sox on June 5, 1932 and Johnny Allen went on to win 17 games for New York in his rookie season. When Hank Johnson left the Bronx, his career ERA for New York of 4.79 was the highest of any Yankee pitcher with more than 500 innings pitched. It still is today.
Johnson spent the next three years starting and relieving for the Red Sox and continuing to walk too many hitters and allow too many runs. After a horrible three game tenure with the A’s he went back down to the minors to try and find the strike zone. He never did.
When Johnson was a kid, he used to pick oranges out of the groves near his home and try to throw them across Florida’s Braden River. He always credited that activity with giving him the arm strength necessary to pitch in the big leagues.
Johnson shares his May 21st birthday with this former Yankee third baseman and this one-time Yankee back-up catcher.
| Year | Tm | W | L | G | GS | GF | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1925 | NYY | 1 | 3 | .250 | 6.85 | 24 | 4 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 67.0 | 88 | 58 | 51 | 3 | 37 | 25 | 1.866 |
| 1926 | NYY | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4.000 | |
| 1928 | NYY | 14 | 9 | .609 | 4.30 | 31 | 22 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 199.0 | 188 | 107 | 95 | 16 | 104 | 110 | 1.467 |
| 1929 | NYY | 3 | 3 | .500 | 5.06 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 42.2 | 37 | 28 | 24 | 5 | 39 | 24 | 1.781 |
| 1930 | NYY | 14 | 11 | .560 | 4.67 | 44 | 15 | 19 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 175.1 | 177 | 112 | 91 | 12 | 104 | 115 | 1.603 |
| 1931 | NYY | 13 | 8 | .619 | 4.72 | 40 | 23 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 196.1 | 176 | 114 | 103 | 13 | 102 | 106 | 1.416 |
| 1932 | NYY | 2 | 2 | .500 | 4.88 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 31.1 | 34 | 18 | 17 | 7 | 15 | 27 | 1.564 |
| 12 Yrs | 63 | 56 | .529 | 4.75 | 249 | 116 | 81 | 45 | 4 | 11 | 1066.1 | 1107 | 665 | 563 | 89 | 567 | 568 | 1.570 | |
| NYY (7 yrs) | 47 | 36 | .566 | 4.84 | 157 | 76 | 51 | 31 | 3 | 7 | 712.2 | 702 | 439 | 383 | 56 | 403 | 407 | 1.551 | |
| BOS (3 yrs) | 16 | 15 | .516 | 4.72 | 69 | 37 | 15 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 310.2 | 359 | 200 | 163 | 28 | 141 | 145 | 1.609 | |
| PHA (1 yr) | 0 | 2 | .000 | 7.71 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.2 | 16 | 16 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 2.229 | |
| CIN (1 yr) | 0 | 3 | .000 | 2.01 | 20 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 31.1 | 30 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 13 | 10 | 1.372 | |
May 20 – Happy Birthday Tom Morgan
One of the things the Yankees did not seem to need after winning the 1950 World Series was starting pitching. Their rotation was loaded with the glorious triumvirate of Vic Raschi, Allie Reynolds and Eddie Lopat,15-game winner Tommy Byrne and a cocky rookie southpaw named Whitey Ford. But Ford would miss the entire 1951 season to military service and Byrne, who always had control problems suddenly couldn’t find the plate. That made room in the rotation for a rookie Yankee left-hander named Tom Morgan. Casey Stengel let the 20-year-old native of El Monte, California start 16 times during that ’51 season and he went 6-3 in those games, including two shutouts. He also relieved in 11 other games that year and earned two saves.
Morgan credited two guys for helping him become a successful big league pitcher. The first was his younger brother Dick, who became a minor league catcher himself. Tom would spend hours throwing a baseball to his sibling in the yard of their California home and he credited those sessions for helping him master control of his very good fastball. He also used to say that his Yankee pitching coach, Jim Turner was instrumental in helping him master both a sidearm curve and change up, giving him the confidence he needed to throw those pitches whenever he needed to at the big league level.
Morgan’s most distinctive physical trait was the way he walked. He’d bend his body at the waist, hunch his shoulders and take his steps slowly, looking as if he was always pulling something behind him. As a result, the Grand Annointer of pinstriped nicknames, Yankee announcer Mel Allen gave Morgan the nickname of “the Plowboy.”
Morgan started 12 more times in 1952 and then missed the entire ’53 season to military service. When he returned to action in 1954, Stengel began using him more out of the bullpen and he had his best season in pinstripes with an 11-5 record and a 3.34 ERA. He was then converted to a full-time reliever and over the next two seasons he saved 21 games for New York. But his ERA climbed dramatically in 1956 and the following February he was included in a humungous deal with the A’s that eventually caused 13 players to exchange uniforms.
After one year in Kansas City, Morgan spent two-and-a-half years with the Tigers and a half season as a Senator. The expansion Angels purchased him in 1961 and he surprised everyone by putting together two very strong years out of the Angels bullpen. He couldn’t keep the string going, however, and he was done as a player after the ’63 season. He then became a minor league pitching instructor with the Angels and scouted for the Yankees. He eventually became the Angels’ big league pitching coach and later held that same position with the Padres. Cy Young Award winners Nolan Ryan and Randy Jones credited Morgan with helping them become all star pitchers. He was still coaching at the minor league level when he suffered a stroke and died of a heart attack in 1987 at the age of 56.
Morgan shares his May 20th birthday with one of my favorite all-time Yankees, this very good Yankee pitcher, and this other Yankee pitcher.
| Year | Tm | W | L | G | GS | GF | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | HBP | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | NYY | 9 | 3 | .750 | 3.68 | 27 | 16 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 124.2 | 119 | 56 | 51 | 11 | 36 | 57 | 3 | 1.243 | |
| 1952 | NYY | 5 | 4 | .556 | 3.07 | 16 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 93.2 | 86 | 34 | 32 | 8 | 33 | 35 | 4 | 1.270 | |
| 1953 | Did not play in major leagues (Military Service) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1954 | NYY | 11 | 5 | .688 | 3.34 | 32 | 17 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 143.0 | 149 | 58 | 53 | 8 | 40 | 34 | 5 | 1.322 | |
| 1955 | NYY | 7 | 3 | .700 | 3.25 | 40 | 1 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 72.0 | 72 | 29 | 26 | 3 | 24 | 17 | 5 | 1.333 | |
| 1956 | NYY | 6 | 7 | .462 | 4.16 | 41 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 71.1 | 74 | 41 | 33 | 2 | 27 | 20 | 3 | 1.416 | |
| 12 Yrs | 67 | 47 | .588 | 3.61 | 443 | 61 | 204 | 18 | 7 | 64 | 1023.1 | 1040 | 467 | 410 | 95 | 300 | 364 | 40 | 1.309 | ||
| NYY (5 yrs) | 38 | 22 | .633 | 3.48 | 156 | 46 | 61 | 13 | 7 | 26 | 504.2 | 500 | 218 | 195 | 32 | 160 | 163 | 20 | 1.308 | ||
| LAA (3 yrs) | 13 | 4 | .765 | 2.86 | 120 | 0 | 64 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 166.2 | 147 | 65 | 53 | 14 | 42 | 75 | 9 | 1.134 | ||
| DET (3 yrs) | 6 | 11 | .353 | 3.81 | 107 | 2 | 49 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 184.1 | 197 | 93 | 78 | 24 | 32 | 83 | 7 | 1.242 | ||
| WSH (1 yr) | 1 | 3 | .250 | 3.75 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24.0 | 36 | 15 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 1 | 1.708 | ||
| KCA (1 yr) | 9 | 7 | .563 | 4.64 | 46 | 13 | 24 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 143.2 | 160 | 76 | 74 | 19 | 61 | 32 | 3 | 1.538 | ||
May 19 – Happy Birthday Gil McDougald
The Yankee teams of the 1950s were among the best in the elite franchise’s illustrious history. Managed by Casey Stengel, they won eight of the decade’s ten possible Pennants and six World Championships. One of the key members of those great teams was a Scottish-American infielder, born in San Francisco by the name of Gil McDougald. Signed by the Yankees out of the University of San Francisco in 1948, McDougald tore up Minor League pitching, averaging .340 during his three-year climb through the Yankee farm system. He was brought up to the Bronx in 1951 along with a much more heralded Yankee rookie named Mantle. It was McDougald who won that season’s Rookie of the Year award with a .306 average. In that year’s World Series against the cross-town Giants, McDougald became the first rookie to hit a grand slam home run in Fall Classic history.
Stengel loved McDougald’s defensive versatility and took full advantage of it. During his career in the Bronx, the infielder played 599 games at second, 508 at the hot corner and another 284 at shortstop and was selected as an All Star at all three positions. He had a lifetime batting average of .276 and hit 112 regular season and seven World Series home runs.
Two line drives had tremendous impact upon McDougald’s career. The first came off the bat of Yankee teammate, Bob Cerv during batting practice before a game in August of 1955. McDougald was standing near second base and the ball struck him in the left ear. Even though no one realized it at the time, the resulting damage caused a gradual hearing loss that resulted in McDougald being almost completely deaf early on in his retirement years. In 1957, another line drive, this one off McDougald’s bat, hit Cleveland Indian pitching sensation, Herb Score square in the face. Score was never again the same pitcher and McDougald later admitted that the incident impacted his play as well.
After the Yankees suffered their heartbreaking loss to the Pirates in the 1960 World Series, the front office informed Gil that he would not be protected in the upcoming AL expansion draft. McDougald decided to call it quits at that time. He died in November of 2010, at the age of 82.
Gil shares his May 19th birthday with this one-time Yankee catcher and this former Yankee starting pitcher.
| Year | Tm | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | NYY | 131 | 473 | 402 | 72 | 123 | 23 | 4 | 14 | 63 | 14 | 56 | 54 | .306 | .396 | .488 | .884 |
| 1952 | NYY | 152 | 633 | 555 | 65 | 146 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 78 | 6 | 57 | 73 | .263 | .336 | .369 | .705 |
| 1953 | NYY | 141 | 614 | 541 | 82 | 154 | 27 | 7 | 10 | 83 | 3 | 60 | 65 | .285 | .361 | .416 | .777 |
| 1954 | NYY | 126 | 474 | 394 | 66 | 102 | 22 | 2 | 12 | 48 | 3 | 62 | 64 | .259 | .364 | .416 | .780 |
| 1955 | NYY | 141 | 615 | 533 | 79 | 152 | 10 | 8 | 13 | 53 | 6 | 65 | 77 | .285 | .361 | .407 | .768 |
| 1956 | NYY | 120 | 518 | 438 | 79 | 136 | 13 | 3 | 13 | 56 | 3 | 68 | 59 | .311 | .405 | .443 | .848 |
| 1957 | NYY | 141 | 625 | 539 | 87 | 156 | 25 | 9 | 13 | 62 | 2 | 59 | 71 | .289 | .362 | .442 | .804 |
| 1958 | NYY | 138 | 578 | 503 | 69 | 126 | 19 | 1 | 14 | 65 | 6 | 59 | 75 | .250 | .329 | .376 | .705 |
| 1959 | NYY | 127 | 481 | 434 | 44 | 109 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 34 | 0 | 35 | 40 | .251 | .309 | .353 | .661 |
| 1960 | NYY | 119 | 387 | 337 | 54 | 87 | 16 | 4 | 8 | 34 | 2 | 38 | 45 | .258 | .337 | .401 | .737 |
| 10 Yrs | 1336 | 5398 | 4676 | 697 | 1291 | 187 | 51 | 112 | 576 | 45 | 559 | 623 | .276 | .356 | .410 | .766 | |
May 18 – Happy Birthday Reggie Jackson
I remember it was the middle of the work week because I called in sick the next day. The Yankees were playing the Dodgers in the sixth game of the 1977 World Series at Yankee Stadium. It had been a crazy season because of Billy Martin’s intense dislike for Reggie Jackson. Reggie wasn’t an easy guy to warm up to if you didn’t have a microphone in your hand but every manager in baseball would have loved to had him sitting in the middle of their lineup back then. Every manager except Martin that is. The mercurial skipper and outspoken slugger despised each other.
In any event, on that night over thirty years ago, I witnessed one of the greatest World Series performances in the history of the Fall Classic. After walking on four straight pitches in his first at bat Jackson hit the next three pitches he saw that night from three different Dodger hurlers, for home runs. Bam. Bang. Boom. His last shot was the most prodigious, soaring high into the Bronx nighttime sky to straightaway center field onto the famous black tarp that provided the hitter’s background at the old Stadium.
I will never forget Jackson’s glee as he circled the bases after that third blast. How he patted the back of the helmet of on deck hitter Chris Chambliss as he crossed home plate and bounded down into the steps of the Yankee Stadium dugout being congratulated by teammates who both loved and despised him, including Manager Martin.
It was one of the great moments in baseball history, made even more intense by the Martin – Jackson feud and the fact that the always over-dramatic Howard Cosell was in the TV booth. After that game was over I could not go to sleep. It had been sixteen years since the Yankees won their last World Series and for a time there in the late sixties I didn’t think I’d ever see them win another one. But loud brash number 44 took care of all that with three swings of the bat. Reggie, who was born in Wyncote, PA, turns 67 years old today. Nicknamed Mr. October for his ability to dominate games in the postseason (Jackson played in five World Series during his career,) Reggie ironically shares his birthday with a catcher who literally seemed to disappear when his Yankee teams played in World Series.
| Year | Tm | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | NYY | 146 | 606 | 525 | 93 | 150 | 39 | 2 | 32 | 110 | 17 | 74 | 129 | .286 | .375 | .550 | .925 |
| 1978 | NYY | 139 | 581 | 511 | 82 | 140 | 13 | 5 | 27 | 97 | 14 | 58 | 133 | .274 | .356 | .477 | .834 |
| 1979 | NYY | 131 | 537 | 465 | 78 | 138 | 24 | 2 | 29 | 89 | 9 | 65 | 107 | .297 | .382 | .544 | .926 |
| 1980 | NYY | 143 | 601 | 514 | 94 | 154 | 22 | 4 | 41 | 111 | 1 | 83 | 122 | .300 | .398 | .597 | .995 |
| 1981 | NYY | 94 | 382 | 334 | 33 | 79 | 17 | 1 | 15 | 54 | 0 | 46 | 82 | .237 | .330 | .428 | .758 |
| 21 Yrs | 2820 | 11418 | 9864 | 1551 | 2584 | 463 | 49 | 563 | 1702 | 228 | 1375 | 2597 | .262 | .356 | .490 | .846 | |
| OAK (10 yrs) | 1346 | 5432 | 4686 | 756 | 1228 | 234 | 27 | 269 | 776 | 145 | 633 | 1226 | .262 | .355 | .496 | .851 | |
| CAL (5 yrs) | 687 | 2721 | 2331 | 331 | 557 | 87 | 6 | 123 | 374 | 14 | 362 | 690 | .239 | .343 | .440 | .782 | |
| NYY (5 yrs) | 653 | 2707 | 2349 | 380 | 661 | 115 | 14 | 144 | 461 | 41 | 326 | 573 | .281 | .371 | .526 | .897 | |
| BAL (1 yr) | 134 | 558 | 498 | 84 | 138 | 27 | 2 | 27 | 91 | 28 | 54 | 108 | .277 | .351 | .502 | .853 | |
May 17 – Happy Birthday Del Webb
Most of the Yankees’ most successful (World Series-winning) owners were born with silver spoons in their mouths. That’s certainly the case with the Steinbrenner brothers, Hank and Hal who inherited the team from their father and with “the Boss” himself, who’s dad left him the American Shipbuilding Company. Jacob Ruppert’s dad gave his son a thriving beer brewery. The spoon in Dan Topping’s mouth when he was born was actually made of tin because his grandfather on his mom’s side was one of the largest owner of tin mines in the entire world.
The only Yankee owner who wasn’t born with money was Topping’s partner, Del Webb. Webb entered this world on May 17, 1899 in Fresno, California and actually started out wanting to be a ballplayer. He quit high school to become a carpenter’s apprentice and play semipro baseball. In his late twenties he came down with typhoid fever and moved to Phoenix, AZ because doctors told him the drier climate would help him recover from the dreaded disease. He brought his tool-box with him to his new desert home and started his own one-man construction company. He might not have made it as a baseball player but he grew that little construction company into one of the largest and most diversified construction, real estate development and property management firms in the country. When WWII broke out, he got the contract to build the infamous Poston War Relocation Center, the Arizona-based internment camp that was home to 17,000 Japanese Americans. His company, Del Web Corporation, built and managed huge retirement communities, resort hotels, major league ballparks and Las Vegas casinos.
On January 26, 1945, Webb and Topping along with Larry MacPhail Sr. purchased the Yankees from the estate of Ruppert for $2.8 million. The plan was for Webb and Topping to treat the purchase as an investment and rich man’s hobby and let MacPhail run the thing. But when legendary Yankee skipper, Joe McCarthy quit because he couldn’t stand his new boss and his successor, Bill Dickey did likewise, Topping and Webb bought out MacPhail and took full control of the franchise.
Webb often said his most significant contribution to the team was convincing Casey Stengel to leave his job as a manager of the Oakland Oaks in the Pacific Coast League to become Yankee skipper in 1949. Stengel’s successor as New York manager, Ralph Houk absolutely adored Webb and the feeling was mutual.
Topping and Webb maintained ownership of the franchise for two decades during which the Yankees captured fifteen pennants and ten world championships, still the most successful twenty year period in the club’s history. They sold it to CBS in August of 1964 for $11million. Del Webb had become an extremely wealthy man by knowing when to buy and when to sell a property and he certainly made the right calls when he decided to purchase and then dump his Yankee shares. He died from lung cancer on July 4, 1974. Married twice he had no children. In 2001, the Del Webb Corporation was purchased by a company called Pulte Homes.
Webb shares his birthday with this former Yankee DH and this former Yankee pitcher.
May 16 – Happy Birthday Jim Mecir
Jim Mecir did not compile extraordinary numbers during his eleven-season career as a big league reliever, but it was a remarkable career nonetheless. This Bayside, New York native was born with two club feet. He underwent a series of surgeries as a child that helped correct much of the defect, but the procedures left him with an atrophied right calf, a fused right ankle and a right leg that was about an inch shorter than his left. Despite all that, he somehow managed to become a successful pitcher in Major League Baseball and I consider that achievement absolutely amazing!
Mecir was drafted in the third round of the 1991 MLB Amateur Draft by Seattle. He spent his first three seasons in the Mariner system being groomed as a starter but was switched to the bullpen after the 1993 season. He made his big league debut in 1995 with two relief appearances for Seattle. That December, he and Jeff Nelson accompanied Tino Martinez to the Bronx in a mini-blockbuster that sent Yankees Sterling Hitchcock and Russ Davis to Seattle.
During the next two seasons Joe Torre inserted Mecir into 51 Yankee games. He went a combined 1-5 with an ERA in the mid five’s which explains why New York left him off both their 1996 and ’97 postseason rosters. In September of 1997, the Yankees sent Mecir to Boston to complete an earlier deal. Two months later he got a break when the Red Sox left him unprotected in the 1997 AL Expansion Draft and he was selected by Tampa Bay.
He found his groove with the Devil Rays and he went a combined 14-4 for them in 1998 and most of ’99 until he was traded to Oakland. Mecir pitched for the A’s until 2004 and then spent a year with the Marlins before hanging up his glove for good.
Due to his physical deformity, Mecir employed an unorthodox pitching motion and it was often said that the strange delivery actually helped increase the movement on his signature screwball. Today he serves as a motivational speaker.
Mecir shares his birthday with this former Yankee manager, this former Yankee starting pitcher and this other former Yankee starting pitcher.
| Year | Tm | W | L | G | GS | GF | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | HR | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | NYY | 1 | 1 | .500 | 5.13 | 26 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40.1 | 42 | 24 | 6 | 23 | 38 | 1.612 |
| 1997 | NYY | 0 | 4 | .000 | 5.88 | 25 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33.2 | 36 | 23 | 5 | 10 | 25 | 1.366 |
| 11 Yrs | 29 | 35 | .453 | 3.77 | 474 | 0 | 126 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 527.0 | 482 | 240 | 41 | 225 | 450 | 1.342 | |
| OAK (5 yrs) | 13 | 21 | .382 | 3.91 | 246 | 0 | 55 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 250.2 | 242 | 121 | 20 | 104 | 225 | 1.380 | |
| TBD (3 yrs) | 14 | 5 | .737 | 3.03 | 123 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 154.1 | 118 | 54 | 8 | 69 | 125 | 1.212 | |
| NYY (2 yrs) | 1 | 5 | .167 | 5.47 | 51 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 74.0 | 78 | 47 | 11 | 33 | 63 | 1.500 | |
| SEA (1 yr) | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1.500 | ||
| FLA (1 yr) | 1 | 4 | .200 | 3.12 | 52 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 43.1 | 39 | 17 | 2 | 17 | 34 | 1.292 | |
May 15 – Happy Birthday David Adams
If the rumors circulating in the Yankee sports media are correct, David Adams will celebrate his 26th birthday on his first day as a member of the New York Yankees’ big league roster. Today’s Pinstripe Birthday Celebrant exemplifies just how difficult it is to make it to the Major Leagues. Born in Margate, Florida in 1987, this right-hand hitting infielder was drafted out of high school by the Detroit Tigers in the 21st round of the 2005 Amateur Draft. He chose to play collegiate baseball instead at the University of Virginia and in 2008, he was drafted again, this time in the third round and this time by the Yankees.
He has been climbing his way up the rungs of New York’s minor league ladder during the past six seasons and dealing with injuries along the way. But he’s played well at just about every stop, averaging right around three hundred and playing an acceptable second base. With a durable superstar in Robbie Cano playing second, the Yankees have been in no rush to get Adams to the Bronx. He doesn’t have the range to play short and though he’s been playing a lot of third base this season in Scranton, his lack of power makes it a long shot that the Yanks would groom him to replace A-Rod at hot corner. He’s already old for a rookie but with the decimated left side of the Yankee’s current infield already at the third and fourth string level, this may be the only shot Mr.Adams ever gets to do something special enough to remain in pinstripes or even the big leagues for that matter.
I’ll be rooting for the guy for two reasons. Up until Adams gets called up the only Yankee born on this date is a guy named C.B.Burns who got one at bat for the Baltimore Orioles (who were the Yankees before the Yankees moved to New York) in 1902. The second reason I’d like to see Adams stick is his wife, Camille, who is an associate blogger of mine at the MLB Blog site. She writes about what its like to be a wife of a professional ballplayer and she does it very well. You can check her blog out here. Congratulations David and Camille for making it to the big show!
May 14 – Happy Birthday Dave LaRoche
The Yankees signed Dave LaRoche ten days after the start of the strike-shortened 1981 season. The left-hander had been released by the California Angels two and a half weeks earlier. When he joined the Yanks, he had eleven big league seasons already on his resume, during which he had established himself as a better than average reliever.
His first year in pinstripes was his best as he went 4-1 with a 2.49 ERA and pitched an inning of scoreless relief for New York in the 1981 World Series. I often refer to that 1981 season as George Steinbrenner’s tipping point as a Yankee owner. The players strike coupled with the Yankee defeat to the Dodgers in that year’s Fall Classic seemed to turn the Boss from a hard-to-work for egomaniac into an impossible to please tyrant. Under his complete control, the Yankee front office began making a series of spur-of-the-moment personnel decisions that undermined the team’s field management and filled the roster with anxiety.
Laroche became a victim of that calamity in 1982, when he began being bounced back and forth between the Bronx and Columbus, as the Yankee front office made roster moves with alarming frequency. Despite all the frequent flier miles, the Colorado Springs native continued to pitch effectively for New York, compiling a 4-2 record in his second season with the team. But even LaRoche had limits. When the team tried to send him back to Triple A at the end of the ’83 exhibition season, LaRoche quit instead. At the time his wife was undergoing a very difficult pregnancy and LaRoche wanted a guarantee that if he did go to Columbus, he could remain with the Clippers until the baby was born. When the Yankees refused that request, LaRoche left baseball to be with his wife.
Unable to land a steady job, LaRoche contacted the Yankees after the baby’s birth to see if they still wanted him to pitch for the organization. He returned for one final go-round in 1983, appearing in seven games for Columbus and just one for the parent club.
I remember LaRoche’s Yankee days very well, primarily because he frequently threw a slow, high arching eephus pitch his Yankee teammates had nicknamed La Lob. After he finished his pitching career, the Yankees hired him as a minor league pitching coach and he has spent the last quarter century working in that role for a number of minor league teams. He is also the father of two big league players. They are the Washington National’s slugging first baseman Adam LaRoche and the former Dodger and Pirate infielder, Andy LaRoche.
He shares his may 14th birthday with this Hall-of-Fame Yankee center fielder, this former Yankee reliever and this pennant-winning manager.
| Year | Tm | W | L | G | GS | GF | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | NYY | 4 | 1 | .800 | 2.49 | 26 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47.0 | 38 | 16 | 13 | 3 | 16 | 24 | 1.149 |
| 1982 | NYY | 4 | 2 | .667 | 3.42 | 25 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50.0 | 54 | 19 | 19 | 4 | 11 | 31 | 1.300 |
| 1983 | NYY | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.000 | |
| 14 Yrs | 65 | 58 | .528 | 3.53 | 647 | 15 | 381 | 1 | 0 | 126 | 1049.1 | 919 | 448 | 411 | 94 | 459 | 819 | 1.313 | |
| CAL (6 yrs) | 35 | 32 | .522 | 3.65 | 304 | 10 | 170 | 1 | 0 | 65 | 512.1 | 462 | 223 | 208 | 51 | 204 | 386 | 1.300 | |
| CLE (3 yrs) | 8 | 9 | .471 | 2.51 | 135 | 0 | 95 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 197.1 | 133 | 64 | 55 | 10 | 113 | 216 | 1.247 | |
| NYY (3 yrs) | 8 | 3 | .727 | 3.12 | 52 | 1 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 98.0 | 94 | 37 | 34 | 8 | 27 | 55 | 1.235 | |
| CHC (2 yrs) | 9 | 7 | .563 | 5.17 | 94 | 4 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 146.1 | 158 | 91 | 84 | 16 | 76 | 83 | 1.599 | |
| MIN (1 yr) | 5 | 7 | .417 | 2.83 | 62 | 0 | 43 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 95.1 | 72 | 33 | 30 | 9 | 39 | 79 | 1.164 | |
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