Monday, September 6, 1920 was Labor Day and the New York Yankees played a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics.
A fan having a front row seat took this photograph during one of the games.
At bat for the Yankees is Ping Bodie, with Aaron Ward waiting on deck. In the foreground coaching first base is manager Miller Huggins. Continue reading
Orioles shortstop Willy Miranda is so tired that he required his teammates dry his hair off with a towel.
Actually its a celebration of sorts taking place in the locker room thanking Mr. Miranda.
When I first came upon this photograph it had no identifying features except the names of Chuck Diering, Miranda and a badly misspelled Don Ferrarese. No year, no place, no story – nada. Continue reading
Lou Gehrig and his mother Christina March 22, 1930 in St. Petersburg, FL at Yankees spring training.
Above is Yankee legend Lou Gehrig with his real mother in contrast to movie Gehrig and mom.
Elsa Janssen and Gary Cooper
Mrs. Gehrig: “I want you to be somebody.”
Lou: “Sure, Mom.”
Mrs. Gehrig Like your Uncle Otto, Louie. He went to university. He graduated. Don’t you see, Louie? That’s why I’m cooking at Columbia, so you can go there some day……and be an engineer like your Uncle Otto. Lou you are going to become an engineer like your Uncle Otto.”
Those are the words Mrs. Gehrig says to young Lou Gehrig in the 1942 movie The Pride of the Yankees. Continue reading
Aaron Boone – “maybe that wasn’t a good move” ALCS game 4 after Carlos Correa homer
Aaron Boone just helped push the Yankees right to the brink of playoff elimination tonight with his over-managerial moves. In game 4 of the ALCS, Boone mysteriously removed starter Masahiro Tanaka after 85 pitches when Tanaka gave up a squiggler that first baseman DJ LeMahieu could not handle. Continue reading
Calling While He’s Out
Chicago: Umpire Ed Hurley (left) calls White Sox George Kell (second from right) out at home on Kell’s try at scoring from first base on Walt Dropo’s first inning double against the Yankees July 20th in Chicago. Yogi Berra (right) makes the putout. In foreground is Sox player Jim Rivera. Chicago won 8-6. Credit: United Press Telephoto 7/20/55
Yogi Berra and George Kell were both described by sportswriters as “short and chunky.” Proving that appearance doesn’t reflect talent, both players were inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame, Berra in 1972 and Kell in 1983.
The Hall of Fame is not the only thing the two players had in common.
While today’s players don’t seem to give a second thought to striking out five times in a game, Berra and Kell rarely heard the words “strike three,” from an umpire. Continue reading
Mickey Mantle’s final All Star game July 9, 1968 Mickey Mantle swings through a Tom Seaver fastball. photo: Sam C Pierson Jr. / Houston Chronicle
Mickey Mantle hit the first home run ever at the Houston Astrodome, in an exhibition game on April 9, 1965. The Astrodome was then the new home of the National League’s, Houston Astros.
When Mantle next returned to the Astrodome in 1968 it was for the All-Star Game. Continue reading
Lake Wales, FL Feb. 21 – BIG GUNS – New York Yankees coach Bill Dickey (left) looks over the big bats carried by Bill Skowron, rookie outfielder at the Yankees baseball school here today. Skowron, from Austin, Minn., hit .341 for Kansas City last season and won the American Association’s most valuable player title while blasting 31 home runs. (AP Wirephoto 1953)
Evidentlly Bill “Moose” Skowron could swing seven bats at once. You would think with the kind of season that Bill Skowron put up in the minors in 1952 he would at least get on the roster with the big team in 1953.
Nothing doing. The 22-year-old Skowron spent the entire 1953 season in the minor leagues with Kansas City. Continue reading
Thurman Munson’s 1976 Topps baseball card shows something you won’t see on any Yankee today, a defiant beard.
At Yankee Stadium’s home opening game on April 11, 1973, the new owner and managing general partner, George M. Steinbrenner III was on hand to see his team. As he watched his players line up along the foul lines and remove their caps for the national anthem, Steinbrenner pulled out an envelope from his suit pocket. He began writing down a series of numbers on the back of the envelope.
After the game the envelope was given to manager Ralph Houk.
“What is this?” Houk wanted to know.
Sparky Lyle 1974 Topps Baseball card showing his “long” hair
Players who need a haircut was the reply.
Still not knowing any of his players names, Steinbrenner had listed the players numbers who had hair that was not to his liking.
Among the stars on the list were Bobby Murcer, Fritz Peterson, Thurman Munson, Sparky Lyle and Roy White.
Houk posted the list in the locker room and reluctantly informed his hippie players to go to a barber.
Steinbrenner had been perturbed about the long hair since first seeing the Yankees in spring training. Now it was time to do something about it.
This incident marked the beginning of George Steinbrenner’s 37 year odyssey of interference and unpredictability as owner of the Yankees.
To Steinbrenner, short hair and being clean shaven represented order and discipline. No one mentioned to Steinbrenner that baseball was not the military.
Mike Burke, part owner and president of the Yankees, had very long hair himself. Burke was not very concerned about Steinbrenner’s meddling and downplayed the hair cutting incident.
NEW YORK – JANUARY 3, 1973 Yankees President Michael Burke & George Steinbrenner at press conference at Yankee Stadium where the announcement is made that an ownership group led by Steinbrenner are the new owners of the Yankees. (Photo by: Olen Collection/Diamond Images/Getty Images)
Burke, who had been Yankee president since 1966, was instrumental in putting the deal together for Steinbrener and his 13 limited partners, to buy the Yankees from CBS. Burke was led to believe he would be considered a co-partner on an equal level with Steinbrenner.
When Steinbrenner spoke to the press on January 3, 1973 , he said he would be an absentee owner and Burke would run the team. “We’re not going to pretend we’re something we aren’t. I’ll stick to building ships.”
Burke should have more concerned about Steinbrenner’s controlling behavior and desire to be solely in charge. Soon after the haircut incident, Steinbrenner started firing off memos left and right asserting his control of the team. Less than 3 weeks after opening day, Burke resigned. The truth was Burke had been forced out as president of the Yankees and later gave up his ownership stake.
Yankee Third baseman Graig Nettles asked with a straight face, “Was his hair too long?” Continue reading
The catcher is supposed to be the anchor of your team.
Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez has not been an anchor this year, but a weight.
Sanchez made the final out in a 7-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday July 23, 2018. * That out should serve as a clear sign that it is time to send Gary Sanchez to the minors – not for rehab, but for a major attitude adjustment. *(see note at the end of the article) Continue reading
In 1967 Cleveland Indians pitcher John O’Donoghue accomplished something that was not that uncommon at the time. On July 5, in the bottom of the fifth against the Detroit Tigers, O’Donoghue reached base on a force out. He then stole second base.
His steal was so uneventful it was not mentioned in most newspaper accounts of the game.
That unremarkable steal wound up being quite an achievement. It is the last time a Cleveland Indians pitcher stole a base. That’s right, 51 years ago, 1967. That it is the longest stretch any team in major league baseball has gone without one of their pitchers stealing a base.
There are three teams that came into the league through expansion where no pitcher has ever stolen a base. Two AL teams, the Seattle Mariners (1977) and the Tampa Bay Rays (1998) and one NL team the Miami Marlins (1993). Every other team has had a pitcher steal a base in the subsequent years.
Of course stolen bases have been steadily declining over the years for all of baseball.
But the idea has been propagated that pitchers are one-dimensional entities today. They’re specialists. They’re starters. They’re relievers. They may only be brought in to pitch to one batter. They’re not hitters. And they’re definitely not base runners. Continue reading
