March 28th

On this day in Yankee history... 

1919: Vic Raschi is born. 

                     https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/raschvi01.shtml 


1927: In a final exhibition game between the previous World Series' opponents, the Yankees score four runs in the 1st inning off Grover Cleveland Alexander and the Cardinals. Then, Alexander shuts down the Yankees until leaving in the 8th, and the Cardinals score two in the 9th to win 6-4. Both teams use their regular lineups ~ the only teams to make no starting changes from last year's teams. The four runs off Alexander are the first the 40-year-old veteran has allowed in 15 innings of spring training work. 

 1961:  In their first meeting since Pittsburgh's dramatic World Series win over New York, the Bucs, behind would-be World Series goat Bob Friend, beat up the banged-up Bombers 9-2. The game's first run comes in the bottom of the 2nd on Roberto Clemente's bases-empty bomb over the left-field fence. Pittsburgh go up 3-0 in the 3rd on Dick Stuart's  two-run shot, likewise to left field. By the 7th, the Bucs have built their lead to 8-0 before the Yankees can push across their initial tally. Today's win boosts the Bucs' Grapefruit League-leading record to 13-5, while miring New York ever more deeply in the pre-season cellar. 

1970: In this first (and last?) 'Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial All-Star Baseball Classic', with all proceeds going to the late Dr. King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference and a memorial center planned for Atlanta, the East, managed by Joe DiMaggio, scores a 5-1 victory over the West. The losers are skippered by ex-Dodger Roy Campanella, confined to a wheelchair since a 1958 auto accident,  A crowd of 31,694 watches the charity event at Dodger Stadium.  

1988: The Yankees waive knuckleballer Phil Niekro four days shy of his 47th birthday. 

2003:  Three days prior to Opening Day, the YES Network claims Cablevision has pulled out of a proposed deal signed 17 days ago which would have provided televised Yankees games to nearly three million cable subscribers in the New York City metropolitan area. According to a YES press release, the giant cable television company failed to sign a finalized version of the hand-written document that both parties exchanged on March 12th, but Cablevision president, James L. Dolan, said when YES sent him a revised typewritten draft on two days later, the document contained alterations that he found unacceptable.