On this day in Yankee history...
1939: Phil Niekro is born.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Phil_Niekro
2001:
Andy Pettitte breezes to a win as the Yankees rout the Blue Jays in
Toronto 10-1 for their first April Fools Day victory in franchise
history.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2003/B04010TOR2003.htm
2008: The Yankees set
a major league record by winning their 11th straight home opener.
Oddly, the record had been held by the 1945-54 Pittsburgh Pirates, a club which lost 100 or more games three times in that period. The Yankees beat the Blue Jays 3-2. Chien-MingWang allows
two runs in 7 innings for the win over Roy Halladay. Derek Jeter also
sets a record by starting his 12th consecutive Yankee opener at
shortstop, surpassing the mark held previously by Phil Rizzuto.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2008/B04010NYA2008.htm
2014: The Yankees and the Astros are the last two teams to open their season, meeting before a crowd of 42,117 at Minute Maid Park. The
game does not follow the expected script as the Astros, coming off
three straight 100-loss season and having lost their last 15 games in
2013, defeat the Bronx Bombers 6-2. Scott Feldman pitches 6 2/3 scoreless innings, while Jesus Guzman and L.J. Hoes homer against Yankee starter C.C. Sabathia.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2014/04012014.htm
On this day in Yankee history...
1980: Chien-Ming Wang is born.
1995: The longest strike action in
American professional sports history ends ~ in a courtroom. A U.S. District court order
handed down by future SCOTUS justice Sonia Sotomayor forbids owners from
implementing new financial working conditions in the wake of the
impasse in negotiations. The court decides that conditions will revert
to the old rules from
the previous season. Because of the timing of the court order, 18 games
will have to be trimmed from the major league schedule.
2011: The Yankees have a successful opening, beating Detroit 6-3 at home. Curtis Granderson, whose
health was a concern before the start of the game because of a strained
right oblique muscle, makes a diving catch of a line drive hit by Will Rhymes in the 1st, then breaks a 3-3 tie with a solo homer off Phil Coke in the 7th. Mark Teixera had earlier hit a three-run blast to tie the score in the 3rd. New Yankee starting catcher Russell Martin scores twice in his debut in pinstripes as Joba Chamberlain picks up the win and Mariano Rivera the save.
On this day in Yankee history...
1955: The Yankees
sell pitcher Ewell Blackwell to the Kansas City A's. Blackwell, who was
injured in 1954, will pitch in only two games for the Athletics this
season before retiring.
2001: Dwight Gooden announces
his retirement. A four-time All-Star and Cy Young Award winner, Gooden
posted a 194-112 record with a 3.51 ERA and 2293 strikeouts over a
16-season career.
2013: 'Bullet' Bob Turley dies at the age of 82.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Bob_Turley
On this day in Yankee history...
1966: Former Yankee relief ace Wilcy Moore dies at the age of 65.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Wilcy_Moore
1975: The
Yankees release Mel Stottlemyre, who is suffering from a torn rotator
cuff. The pitcher compiled a 164-139 record and a 2.97 ERA as well as 40
shutouts in an eleven-season major league career, all with New York.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Mel_Stottlemyre
1984:
The Yankees trade one of the key members of their '70s World
Championship teams when they dispatch Graig Nettles to the San Diego
Padres for pitcher Dennis Rasmussen and a player to be named later.
Nettles, who angered George Steinbrenner by criticizing him in his book
'Balls', will hit 20 home runs and help the Padres reach the 1984 World
Series.
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.
On this day in Yankee history...
1879: Miller Huggins is born.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Miller_Huggins
1941: The Yankees sell pitcher Steve Sundra to the Washington Senators. Sundra, who posted an 11-1 record in 1939, slipped to 4-6 in 1940.
2013: The Yankees place starting pitcher Phil Hughes on a crowded disabled list, where he joins teammates Mark Teixera, all of whom will miss Opening Day.
On this day in Yankee history...
1936: Red Ruffing signs a one-year contract for $12,000.
1937: On the advice of Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio reduces the weight of his bat from 40 ounces to 36 ounces.
1951: In an exhibition game at the University of Southern California, Mickey Mantle propels a home run estimated at 654 to 660 feet. The shot clears Bovard Field and
then goes the width of a practice football field before landing. Mantle
has two homers, a bases-loaded triple, and drives in seven runs as the
Yankees flunk the Trojans 15-1.
1968: José VizcaÃno is born.
2005: Former Yankee pitcher Marius Russo dies at the age of 90.
On this day in Yankee history...
1920:
In a spring training game between the Yankees and the Brooklyn Robins,
a sweeping inside curve thrown by Robins' pitcher Jeff Peffer hits
Chick Fewster, striking the Yankees' shortstop behind the ear and
flattening him.
Fewster revives 10 minutes later but soon loses the ability to speak.
Taken to the hospital with a skull fracture and a blood clot on his
brain, Fewster will recover slowly and return to play in mid-season.
1935: The Yankees purchase
starting pitcher Pat Malone, who led the NL in wins in 1929 with 22,
and in 1930 with 21 (115 in a seven-year span). But Malone will only
post a 19-13 record with the Yankees over the next three seasons.
1955: Lee Mazzilli is born.
2010:
The Yankees release pitcher Chad Gaudin, who was competing for the
team's fifth starter position, and, failing
that, was expected to make the staff as a long reliever. Phil Hughes,
who shone as a set-up man in 2009. is announced as the winner of the
fifth starter competition, while Joba Chamberlain returns to the
bullpen. Gaudin will sign a minor league deal with Oakland on March
28th, but will be back in the Bronx before the end of the year.
2011: The
Yankees send pitcher Sergio Mitre to the Brewers in exchange for
outfielder Chris Dickerson. Mitre is expected to take the place of the
injured Zack Greinke in the Milwaukee rotation when the season begins.
Dickerson serves as
insurance for the Yanks, who are concerned over a rib injury to starting
CF Curtis Granderson, but unfortunately, he will pull a muscle in his
first game for his new
team. Mitre's departure means that three pitchers are now competing for
the last two spots in the Yanks' starting rotation: rookie Ivan Nova and
veterans Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia. They also sign veteran hurler
Kevin Millwood to a minor league contract as further insurance in case
the trio fails
to perform up to expectations, but his services will not be required as
all three will pitch well.
On this day in Yankee history...
1933: As a Great Depression austerity measure, Babe Ruth takes a $23,000 pay cut from his previous year's salary of $75,000.
1990: Starlin Castro is born.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/castrst01.shtml
1996:
Yankees infielder Tony Fernandez fractures his right elbow in an
exhibition game against the Astros, and is placed on the 60-day DL. The
injury opens a place in the Opening Day lineup for a highly touted
rookie named Derek Jeter.
2013: The
Yankees acquire veteran OF Vernon Wells from the Angels, adding a
much-needed major league bat to a line-up depleted by injuries and
departures via free agency. However, Wells is still owed $42 million for
the last two seasons on his huge multi-year contract, and has put up
dismal OBPs since the Angels acquired him from Toronto
two seasons ago; as part of the deal, the Angels will remain on the
hook for the majority of the money owed him. The deal will officially be
completed in two days, with the Yankees giving up two low-level minor
league players in return for Wells.
On this day in Yankee history...
1941: Joe DiMaggio, a holdout and late arrival at spring training, plays his first exhibition game of the year.
1952: Former Yankee pitcher Steve Sundra dies of cancer at the age of 42.
1974: The Yankees purchase
outfielder Elliott Maddox from the Texas Rangers for $60,000. Maddox
will prove to be a great defensive outfielder as well as hitting .303
this year.
1988: Dellin Betances is born.
1990: Gambler
Howard Spira is arrested for extorting money from George Steinbrenner,
who paid Spira $40,000 in January. The Commissioner will suspend
Steinbrenner because of his relationship with the unsavory character.
2012: Joba Chamberlain dislocates
his ankle while playing on a trampoline with his son. Already
recovering from Tommy John surgery, he undergoes emergency surgery for
an open dislocation. Doctors report
that he lost so much blood that there was concern for his life and that
he will need to stay hospitalized for several days. While the injury is
thought to be season-ending, Joba will be back pitching for the Yankees
on August 1st.
On this day in Yankee history...
1962: At spring training, Roger Maris declines to pose with Mets coach Roger Hornsby because the Hall of Famer criticized him in his book My Wars with Baseball.
1972: In
one of the best trades in franchise history, the Yankees acquire
reliever Sparky Lyle from the Red Sox in exchange for 1B/OF Danny Cater.
In seven seasons with the Yankees, Lyle will post a 57-40 record with
141 saves and a 2.41 ERA, win a Cy Young award, and help the team to
three pennants and two championships.
Also on this day, Cory Lidle (d. 2006) is born.
1991:
At Sotheby's in New York, a 1952 Topps card of Mickey Mantle goes for
$49,500, tripling the pre-auction estimate, while a baseball signed by
Babe Ruth and 11 other players at the 1939 Hall of Fame induction
ceremony, sells for $20,900.
2012: New
Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine gets an early introduction to the
fierce rivalry with the Yankees. After the Sox tie a Grapefruit game at
4-4 on a squeeze bunt by Jason Repko in the bottom of the 9th inning,
Valentine has reliever Clayton Mortenson on the mound ready to pitch the
10th when Joe Girardi announces that his team is leaving Fort Myers
immediately to take a bus back to their base in Tampa. Girardi later
justifies his last-minute decision by the fact that he
has used all of the pitchers he had planned to bring into the game, but
Valentine is still irked.
2015: Yankee
prospect Jose Pirela runs into the center field fence at full speed in
trying to chase down a drive off the bat of the Met's Juan Lagares. He
suffers a concussion and has to be taken to hospital, but escapes
more serious injury. Meanwhile, Lagares circles the bases with an
inside-the-park home run.
2017: Former Yankee manager Dallas Green dies at the age of 82.
On this day in Yankee history...
1936: Joe DiMaggio
runs his spring training record to 12 for 20, in an 11-2 Yankees
victory over the newly-named Boston Bees. Before the next game is
played, the prize rookie is left unattended with his foot in a diathermy
machine. The resulting burn ends his spring training and delays his
major league debut until May.
1986: The Yankees announce
that their most celebrated off-season acquisition, 26-year-old pitcher
Britt Burns, will not play at all this season because of a chronic
deteriorating
hip condition. He will never pitch again in the major leagues.
