This Day In New York Yankees History 7/27: Three Errors On One Play & Tommy John

Never in the history of Major League Baseball have we seen a pitcher commit three errors in one play until the Yankees Tommy John did so on this day in 1988. Tommy John throws the pitch to Jeffrey Leonard grounds the ball back to the pitcher that John bobbles for the first error. In an effort to get Leonard at first base he rushes the throw and throws the ball past the first baseman to Dave Winfield in right field for the second error. Winfield retrieves the ball and fires home and John cuts the ball off and throws home wildly for the third error allowing two more runs to score. John, 45 years old, still gets the victory in a Yankees 16-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Personally I blame his new ulnar collateral ligament but maybe it's just me.

Also on this day in 1968 Mickey Mantle's career batting average dipped below the .300 mark. It took Mantle 7926 at bats and 2734 hits for his average to fall to .2995 and it would stay under .300 before he retired at the end of the season. Mantle finished his 18 year career with a .298 batting average and will often admit that his biggest regret in his baseball career was finishing below .300.