On this day in Yankee history...
1921: The Yankees, training in Shreveport, LA, journey to Lake Charles to play a game against the St. Lousi Cardinals, based in Orange, TX. The game is proclaimed 'Ruth-Hornsby Day,' but Hornsby hits only a single while the Babe lofts a home run over the short right field fence. The Yankees win, 14-5.
1936: Joe DiMaggio makes his Yankee debut, collecting four hits including a triple. The day is marred only by the Cardinals, who win the Grapefruit League game 8-7.
2017: The Yankees no-hit the Tigers in Grapefruit League play, taking the game 3-0. Masahiro Tanaka strikes out 6 in 4 1/3 innings, Chasen Shreve completes the 5th inning, and rookie Jordan Montgomery completes the feat with four perfect innings.
On this day in Yankee history...
1932: In St. Petersburg training camp, Babe Ruth signs a one-year contract for $75,000 and a percentage of the exhibition gate. Legend has it the Bambino signed a blank contract with the amount filled in later by Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert.
1978: High-priced free agent pitcher Andy Messersmith separates his shoulder in an exhibition game for the Yankees. A 20-game winner both for the Angels and Dodgers, Messersmith will never win a game in pinstripes.
1981: Curtis Granderson is born
2010: Former Yankee second baseman Chuck Knoblauch pleads guilty to a charge of domestic violence, stemming from an assault on his common-law wife in their Houston, TX home last September. He is given a $1000 fine and probation time. Retirement has not been easy for Knoblauch; in 2007 he was named in the Mitchell Report for his use of performance-enhancing drugs as a player.
On this day in Yankee history...
1945: Dock Ellis of the 1976 pennant winners is born. He died in 2008.
1956: At Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg there are no maybes about it as Mickey Mantle hits a Grapefruit League pitch from Larry Jackson over the left field wall into the bay. The Yankees top the Cardinals, 4 - 3. Stan Musial contends that "no
home run has ever cleared my head by as much as long as I can
remember." Mantle will hit another at Al Lang on March 20th off Bob
Mabe that also lands in the water, and will clock a 500-foot shot in Miami four days later against the Dodgers.
1960: Mickey Mantle signs
a one-year contract worth $65,000. The new deal represents a $7,000 cut
in pay for the star, who batted .285 with 31 home runs and 75 RBI for
the Yankees in 1959.
1974: Bobby Abreu is born.
2001: The Yankees formally announce the signing of Cuban defector Andy Morales, a third baseman, to a four-year contract. Morales will wash out and be waived from
his minor league team by July. The Yankees will try and sidestep his
contract with proof that his listed age of 26 years is really 29.
2002: The Yankees release outfielder Ruben Rivera for stealing Derek Jeter's glove from his locker and selling it on the black market for $2,500. There are
rumours that Rivera also took other memorabilia items, such as things
belonging to Roger Clemens, but Clemens denies it. Rivera had been signed to a one-year contract for $1 million.
