Thursday, March 27, 2014

Cliff Mapes, The Last Yankee To Wear #3


We have the best Twitter followers in the world, you guys are always up for a conversation, you're always respectful, and always just generally enjoyable to chat with every day. One of our followers, @BostonRandy, is apparently a fan of our Yankee Stadium Legacy countdown we have been doing for almost 100 days now and asked if we would do a part about Cliff Mapes. Cliff Mapes, for those who don't already know, was the last to wear the #3 for the New York Yankees, not Babe Ruth. Mapes wore a couple other notable Yankees jerseys numbers switching to the #13 currently occupied by Alex Rodriguez after the #3 was retired to honor The Babe and even donned the #7 before a trade in 1951 season allowed Mickey Mantle to take the number. Mapes is the last member of the New York Yankees to wear both Mickey's and Ruth's number, quite the accomplishment.

Mapes did some other notable things during his five season career with the New York Yankees, St. Louis Browns, and Detroit Tigers. Mapes was originally drafted by the Cleveland Indians but never played for them and ended up being a Rule 5 Draft selection for the Yankees before the 1946 season. Mapes was called up in time to win his first World Series, and the first of five consecutive for the Yankees, in 1949. Mapes only saw one game in the 1950 World Series after leading the team in strikeouts for the second straight season and saw his numbers decline more before becoming a member of the St. Louis Browns on July 31, 1951.

Mapes was not long for the game after his time with New York and played his final game of his career on September 28, 1952. Mapes passed away at age 74 in 1996 and will always be remembered as the last Yankee to wear #3, thank you Randy Clemens for reminding us all of that.




No comments:

Post a Comment

Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)