Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Peter O'Brien Named FSL Player of the Week

 Peter O'Brien Named FSL Player of the Week
Tampa, Fla. - The first Player and Pitcher of the Week for the 2014 FSL Season was named today by the Florida State League. This was for games played April 3-13, 2014.  
  
   The Player of the Week was Tampa Yankees Catcher Peter O'Brien. He played in 10 games, batting .333, with thirteen (13) hits in 39 plate appearances. His hits included four (4) homeruns and two (2) doubles. He had six (6) RBI's and scored (6) six times. His slugging average was .692 and his OBP was .366. This is Peter's third year in professional baseball and he resides in Miami Gardens, FL.

   The Pitcher of the Week was Dunedin Blue Jays Lefthander Matt Boyd. Matt started two (2) games and had two (2) wins. His ERA was 0.00. In (12) innings pitched he allowed eight (8) hits, issued one walk, and struck out nine (9) batters. This is Matt's second year of professional baseball and he was born in Mercer Island, WA.

   The Tampa Yankees are the Single-A Advanced Affiliate of the New York Yankees. For more information about the Tampa Yankees call (813) 673-3055 or visit www.tybaseball.com.

Being posted with permission from the Tampa Yankees organization. 

Scott Sizemore Called Up For Yankees


As expected the Yankees have called up Scott Sizemore to add some insurance and a warm body to the infield. Sizemore was leading the AAA Scranton RailRiders in hitting so the move makes sense for New York. Also as expected, by me anyway, Francisco Cervelli was added to the 60 day DL to make room on the 40 man and 25 man rosters for Sizemore. Sizemore is likely to get some work at second base, especially if Derek Jeter is as healthy as we have been led to believe, which should be interested since he will be wearing the #24 for the Yankees.

Yankees & Cubs Game Postponed Due To Rain


I am a little late to the party on the blog but I did send a tweet out while at work, the game between the New York Yankees and the Chicago Cubs has been postponed due to rain and will be made up as a day night double header tomorrow at Yankee Stadium.

Elston Howard, the right man for the New York Yankees

Elston Howard
Elston Howard
Catcher, Leftfielder and 1st Baseman
13 years with the New York Yankees
9 All-star games with one AS- MVP
BA--.279, OBP--.324, Slg%--.436 with 161 Home Runs

Breaking the color line with just anybody could have had very bad repercussions for both the individual and the team. But, like Robinson’s careful selection for the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Yankees needed to choose wisely and deliberately.

“. . . Elston Howard was both an exceptional baseball player and a gentleman,” baseball chronicler Peter Golenbock wrote. “He was quiet, pleasant, noncontroversial, the son of educated parents. Howard seemed the perfect Yankee — even if he was black. He didn’t make headlines. He kept his nose clean and he could hit a fastball a long way.”

 In 1946 Elli started his clime to the greatest team in the world when he was signed and played for the old Tandy League. He made an instant impression on the opposition by throwing out two runners and getting two hits, did they win the game you ask...No!
He soon found himself playing for the Kansas City Monarchs, one of, if not the most talented teams in the Negro Leagues.

Of course every story has a hitch in it, right?

1950 found Elli playing for the Yankees Class A Clippers, in Michigan. Returning home after the season he found himself drafted into the Army and sent to Japan (As was the case back then) baseball players, played baseball until they were discharged. One must remember, this was a few years after the Defeat of the Japanese People!

In 1953, as the story moves along....
Elli was playing the the Yankees AAA team, the Kansas City Blues along side of Vic Powers. Vic batted .349 but, was considered a loose cannon.

1954...Now comes the good stuff!
Ellie shared a locker room with Yogi, Rizzuto, Mickey and Billy Martin. He was being instructed by Bill Dickey on his catching skills. But sad to say, he didn't go North with the club that spring.

1955...he goes North!
In spring training, Casey Stengel (as the year before) had him working out as a catcher and batting cleanup. Now the pressure was on he and the Yankees, they had good and bad press for having Elli on the team with the "White Boys". Standout players like Phil Rizzuto, Moose Skowron, and Hank Bauer instantly liked him and made it a point to befriend Howard.

Teammate Bob Turley reflected that Howard never showed any anger. Tony Kubek recognized Howard’s “inner toughness and burning desire” but steady, controlled outward demeanor.

Howard’s calm, quiet manner helped him through that period. “I do not understand them,” Howard said, “but I can’t be the one that’s gonna do the breaking down.”

But Howard was more than a tremendously talented black ball player. He was a black man who was a model combination of athletic ability, quiet courage, and self-control.

Infielder Andy Carey assessed Howard’s performance — personally and internally as well as on the field. “He did his job under tremendous pressure. Elston knew what he had to do. He knew the world was watching. He did what Jackie Robinson did, and he did it for the Yankees. He worked hard, he hustled, he did everything he had to.”

The inner strength that sustained Howard through trying times, loneliness during the early days when he roomed alone on road trips, when confronted by some more outspoken bigot, reflected his true character. And it showed through to his teammates.

Author Dom Forker reported, “All of the players I’ve questioned about Elston Howard have been unanimous in the following endorsement. ‘He was one of the finest gentlemen I’ve ever met.’”

Norm Siebern remembered, “In retrospect, you’d have to say that they couldn’t have done better [than to pick Howard]. He had great morals, personality, and character. He was just an outstanding individual.”

Roommate Al Downing looked up to Howard and regarded him as “the finest human being I ever met.”

Hank Bauer spoke in similar, glowing terms, calling his friend “one of the nicest men I ever met.”

Bobby Richardson, a Southerner, had no quarrel with and, in fact, had a genial relationship with Howard. Richardson admired him: “Dignity is a word that comes to mind when I think about how Ellie handled the pressure. Ellie was a true gentleman.”

Richardson, an unapologetic but not pushy Christian, organized chapel services for the team for those players who wanted to participate. It was Elston Howard who helped him spread the word about when and where the services would be held.

Richardson also recalled one game when he got hit by a pitch and thought it was intentional. Ellie Howard was among the first teammates up the steps of the dugout to defend their diminutive second baseman. The pinstripe ethos displayed itself yet again.
Role Model

During those years, the young Howard boy, Elston, Jr., and the Richardson boy, Robby, played together, black and white, in the Yankee locker room. They took after the example set by their fathers.

In the stellar 1961 season, when Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris slammed home runs chasing Babe Ruth’s record, Ellie Howard, the unsung regular catcher, recorded a batting average of .348. He contributed 155 hits, 77 runs batted in, and 21 home runs. His day-in, day-out consistency in defensive play and guiding the pitchers made for a not at all insignificant chunk of the Yankees’ incredible success that year.

Howard, both as a catcher and a man, exhibited courage and winsome confidence. On Elston Howard Night in 1964 between games of a double header at Yankee Stadium, his remarks to the 37,362 in attendance were few, but gracious.

“This was Elston Howard,” the Amsterdam News said, “eloquent but not loquacious, gentle but strong. This is a man whose acts and whose very character is represented in actions and deeds rather than words.”

Elston Howard passed away in 1980 at age 51.

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Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?


In honor of Jackie Robinson Day we will leave you with this song, Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball? This was written way back in 1949 by Count Basie and the Count Basie Orchestra. Enjoy as we wait for the Yankees to honor Robinson, Nelson Mandela, and beat those Chicago Cubs.

Meet A Prospect: Jackie Robinson


Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was born on January 31st, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. Jackie was the youngest of five children born to Jerry and Mallie Robinson and had siblings Edgar, Frank, Matthew, and Willa Mae Robinson. Jackie's middle name was given to him in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt who dies 25 days before Jackie was born. Jackie's father would leave his family in 1920 and his mom moved him and his four siblings to Pasadena, California. Jackie would start his high school career at John Muir High School where he played football, basketball, track, and baseball where he would letter in each at the varsity level. He was a shortstop and a catcher for the baseball team and earned a place on the Pomona annual baseball tournament all-star team. This annual baseball tournament included future Hall of Famers like Ted Williams and Bob Lemon.Jackie was also the quarterback on the football team and played guard for the basketball team. Jackie would get some recognition by professional scouts after winning an award in the broad jump in track and field. Jackie was also a member of the tennis team in his high school years. In 1936 Jackie won the junior boys singles championship in the annual Pacific Coast Negro Tennis Tournament. In 1937 the Pasadena Star News newspaper reported that Robinson has been the most outstanding athlete at Muir for starring in five sports for the school.


Jackie would move on to Pasadena Junior College after graduating from Muir High School where he continued his athletic career by playing basketball, football, baseball, and track once again. On the football team Jackie played both sides of the ball this time playing quarterback and also playing some safety on the defense. He would be the lead off man for his baseball team while manning the short stop position. He would once again get recognition in track for his broad jumping ability after breaking school records in the competition previously held by his brother Matthew, whose nickname was Mack. While playing on the football team Jackie suffered a fractured ankle which would complicate his deployment status while he was in the military. Jackie would also be elected to the Lancers at his time in Pasadena Junior College which is a student run police organization responsible for patrolling the school grounds during various school activities. In 1938 Jackie was elected to the All Southland Junior College Baseball Team and was selected as the regions MVP in that league. Also in that season Jackie was one of ten students named to the school's Order of the Mast and Dagger which was awarded to students who performed outstanding service to the school and whose scholastic and citizenship record is worthy of recognition. In 1938 he was arrested after getting into a shouting match with the police and received a two year suspended sentence. This was the beginning of the reputation of being very combative when it came to racial antagonisms and such. Frank Robinson, Jackie's closest brother, dies in a motorcycle accident towards the end of his PJC career which prompted him to transfer to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to be closer to his family.


Jackie transfered to UCLA in the spring of 1939 where he became the school's first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports, which were baseball, basketball, football, and track. He was one of four black players in the 1939 UCLA Bruins football team and was one of three of the four backfield players on the football team. In 1940 Jackie won the NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship in the long jump when he jumped 24 ft 10 1/4 inches. Baseball was surprisingly considered his worst sport in his time spent at UCLA after hitting .097 in his only season there, although in his first game he did for 4-4 with two steals of home. In his senior year at UCLA Jackie would meet his future wife Rachel Isum who was a freshman and was familiar with his athletic career at Pasadena Junior College. In 1941 Jackie left college just shy of graduation and took a job as an assistant athletic director with the National Youth Administration in Atascadero, California. Later that year the government stopped the NYA and Jackie found himself in Honolulu to play football for the Honolulu Bears. Jackie would try and latch in later in that year with the Los Angeles Bulldogs of the Pacific Coast Football League but by that time the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had drawn the United States into World War II, thus ending Jackie's football career.


In 1942 Jackie was drafted into the military and assigned to an Army cavalry unit in Fort Riley, Kansas. After much protesting Jackie Robinson was admitted into the Officer Candidate School at Fort Riley which would bring Jackie and heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis closer as friends. Robinson was promoted to second lieutenant and was reassigned to Fort Hood, Texas where he joined the 761st Black Panthers Tank Battalion. On July 6th, 1944 Jackie's military career would take a turn for the worse as he was in the hospital awaiting test results on the ankle he injured in junior college. Jackie would board an unsegregated bus afterwards and was ordered to move to the back of the bus, although he refused and was taken into custody by the military police when he reached his destination. After confronting the investigating officer about being racist Jackie was recommended for a court martial. Robinson was not court martialed but transferred to the 758th Battalion where he was charged with multiple charges including public drunkenness, although Jackie was never known as a drinker. Jackie was acquitted of all charges by an all white panel of nine officers but Jackie still missed being deployed overseas and never saw any combat action. Jackie would receive an honorable discharge in 1944 but not before meeting a former player for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League who encouraged Jackie to try out for the Monarchs, which he did in 1945.


In early 1945 Jackie accepted a $400 per month contract to play for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro League. Robinson played 47 games at short stop for the Monarchs and hit .387 with 5 HR's, and 13 SB's while being in the 1945 Negro League All Star Game. In August of 1945 the club president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers had a meeting with Jackie Robinson with hopes of signing him for either their big league team or their farm club, the Montreal Royals. Rickey was more worried about whether Jackie could refrain from fighting back when faced with racism rather than fight like he had in the military and at Pasadena Junior College. After Rickey got the commitment to turn the other cheek to the racism after the famous quotes from Jackie and Rickey, "Are you looking for a negro who is afraid to fight back" from Robinson which was responded by saying that he needed a Negro player "with guys enough not to fight back." Jackie was signed that day to a $600 a month contract and would be assigned to the Montreal Royals in the 1946 season. This would cause a bit of a ruckus within the Negro Leagues because Jackie was not the best player in the Negro Leagues and people like Satchel Paige, Larry Doby, and Josh Gibson were not happy with him getting the chance before they did. The racism and segregation started right away as many places would not allow Jackie or Johnny Wright, another black player Branch Rickey signed, to be a part of any activities. Jackie could not stay in the hotel with his team and since the Dodgers did not have a spring training facility yet most teams would not hold games that involved these two men.The police chief in Sanford, Florida even went as far as to threaten to cancel games if either of these two men trained there. On April 18th, 1946 the Jersey City Giants and the Montreal Royals played a game and Jackie Robinson made his professional debut, thus officially breaking the color barrier for minor league teams. Robinson went 4-5 including a three run home run, 3 RBI's, scored four runs, and stole two bases in a 14-1 Royals victory. Jackie would be named the International League MVP that season after leading the league with a .349 average and a .985 fielding percentage while drawing over a million fans in 1946 to the ball park to see games that he was in.

Jackie would be called up to the majors six days before the start of the 1947 season. Jackie was a right handed batter that played first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers because Eddie Stanky was the Dodgers every day second baseman. Robinson would finish his first season by playing 151 games with a .297 average, a .383 OBP, .427 SLG %, 175 hits, 125 runs, 31 doubles, 5 triples, 12 home runs, and 48 RBI's. He also led the league in sacrifice hits, 28, and stolen bases with 29 SB's that season. He would earn the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award that season. Stanky was traded to the Boston Braves in the spring of 1948 and Jackie took over the second base job where he finished with a .980 fielding percentage that season. He would hit for the cycle in August of 1948 against the St. Louis Cardinals and led his team to a third place finish in the National League. Jackie, with the help of Hall of Famer George Sisler, would reinvent his swing and approach at the plate and would win the 1949 MVP award with a .342 average, 37 stolen bases, 124 RBI's, 122 runs scored, and would be the starting second basemen for the National League in the 1949 All Star Game, the first to include black players. The Dodgers would win the National League Championship that season but would lose to the New York Yankees in five games. Jackie would become the highest paid player in Dodgers history up to that point with a $35,000 contract and would have a movie about him, the Jackie Robinson Story, made where he played himself in the movie. Before the 1951 season the Dodgers new owner Walter O'Malley offered Jackie the managerial job for the Montreal Royals when he was done playing baseball. The 1951 season would bring some heart break for Jackie and the Dodgers though because that was the season that Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World" home run ended the 1951 World Series. They would win the NL pennant in 1952 but would once again lose in the World Series to the New York Yankees in seven games. They would once again win the NL pennant in 1953 but would once again lose the World Series to the New York Yankees, this time in six games. The Dodgers would get their revenge though in the 1955 World Series though as the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees to win Jackie's only World Series championship of his career. In 1956 Jackie Robinson was traded to the New York Giants but the deal was never completed because Jackie had agreed to quit baseball due to declining skills and his battle with diabetes. 


Jackie would finish his major league career with a .311 career batting average with 1,518 hits, 137 home runs, 734 RBI's, and 197 stolen bases among other accolades. He would only play in ten seasons, all for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and would play in six World Series and six All Star Games including one World Series ring and one MVP award. In 1962, after pleading with voters to only vote on his on the field play and not his historic impact to the game of baseball, Jackie was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first ballot. The Dodgers would retire his #42 on June 4th, 1972 along with teammates Roy Campanella, #39, and Sandy Koufax, #32. Jackie would make his final public appearance in October of 1972 where he threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 2 of the World Series. In 1999 Jackie was named to the Major League Baseball All Century Team.  Jackie Robinson would die on October 24th, 1972 in Stamford, Connecticut.


Jackie has been honored many times since his death of a heart attack at age 53. In 1987 both the American and National League Rookie of the Year Awards were renamed the Jackie Robinson Award. In 1997 Major League Baseball retired Jackie's #42 all across baseball with Mariano Rivera the only player left that was grandfathered in and still wearing it.  In 2006 the New York Mets modeled the main entrance of their new stadium, Citi Field,  after old Ebbets Field and named it the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. Also, starting in 2004, the Aflac National High School Baseball Player of the Year has been presented as the Jackie Robinson Award. In 2007 Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver announced that Jackie would be inducted into the California Hall of Fame. His former college baseball team, the UCLA Bruins, play all their baseball games in Jackie Robinson Stadium and even have a memorial state of Robinson inside the stadium. City Island Ballpark in Daytona Beach, Florida was renamed Jackie Robinson Ballpark in 1990 and has a statue of Jackie and his two children in front of the stadium. There are many other buildings, houses, fields, etc named after Jackie because of everything he did both on and off the baseball field.


Jackie Robinson will always be remembered for breaking the color barrier in baseball and leading the charge for black players in baseball. Jackie Robinson always did things the right way and fought for what he believed in and will always be remembered no matter how many years pass. Happy Jackie Robinson Day everybody and thank you Jackie for everything you have done both on and off the field.

Yankees To Honor Nelson Mandela In Monument Park


The New York Yankees, being the class act that they are, will honor recently deceased South African leader Nelson Mandela in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium tonight as a part of Jackie Robinson Day. The plaque will be unveiled tonight in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. The plaque will celebrate the life of Mandela, including his June, 21 1990 visit to Yankee Stadium. On that day Mandela addressed the fans donning a Yankees hat and jacket and was quoted as saying "You know who I am. I am a Yankee!"

On that day in June of 1990 Mandela was just four months removed from spending 27 years in a South African jail. If this event is anything like any other event the Yankees hold this will be one of those can't miss events.

Quick Hit: Jackie Robinson & The Yankees


Just a quick hit because we have a very busy Jackie Robinson Day scheduled for the blog today. Imagine what the Yankees would be this season if it were not for Jackie breaking the color barrier. This is not to say that someone else wouldn't have done it later, someone would have, but no one would have done it as well as Jackie. Jackie had the power not to fight but to not fight back, and that's what the first black player needed to have to succeed.

Think about it, we have no CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Dellin Betances, Ivan Nova, Vidal Nuno, Michael Pineda, Masahiro Tanaka, Derek Jeter, Yangervis Solarte, Carlos Beltran, Ichiro Suzuki, or Alfonso Soriano. That's 13 players on our 25 man roster and that is assuming that Francisco Cervelli, Dean Anna, and Jacoby Ellsbury would be allowed in the game since they aren't "white."

It is truly amazing how far we have come in the game and how much diversity is in the game today, all thanks to Jackie Robinson. The rest is history, Happy Jackie Robinson Day everybody.

Charleston Riverdogs Game Recap 4/14


O'Neill Does It All in Rout of Greenville
Charleston snaps five-game skid as Michael O'Neill makes diving catch, homers, drives in two

GREENVILLE, SC - Michael O'Neill hit his second home run of the season and did much more in an 11-3 victory for the Charleston RiverDogs against the Greenville Drive on Monday evening at Fluor Field at the West End in South Atlantic League action. All nine batters in the starting lineup for Charleston had at least one base hit in the contest.
The RiverDogs are 4-7 this season after winning the series opener in Greenville, snapping a five-game losing streak in the process. The Drive fall back to 7-4 as its five-game winning streak was ended.
Charleston's Rookie Davis and Greenville's Cody Kukuk kept the game scoreless and hitless through the first two innings. Kukuk struck out four in those opening frames while Davis retired all six batters that he faced. O'Neill had a diving catch in support of Davis in the second inning.
The RiverDogs opened the scoring in the top of the third before the Drive tied the game an inning later. Abiatal Avelino lined a two-out single into center field and scored from first on a double by Brandon Thomas for a 1-0 Charleston lead. The Drive answered in the fourth with a one-out triple from Jake Romanski, who scored the tying run on a Jantzen Witte sacrifice fly.
A two-run outburst in the top of the sixth put the RiverDogs back in front by a 3-1 margin. Aaron Judge walked with one out and reached third base after a throwing error on a pickoff attempt. Following a Mike Ford walk, Judge scored on a single by Miguel Andujar. Ford would come in following a groundout and a wild pitch to give Charleston a two-run advantage.
Greenville cut the lead in half in the bottom of the sixth. Zach Kapstein led off the inning and worked his way to third base on a pair of groundouts. A wild pitch brought Kapstein in, slicing the RiverDogs lead to 3-2. Andy Beresford replaced Rookie Davis with two on and two out, ending the frame with a groundout that held Charleston in front.
The RiverDogs responded immediately, expanding their lead in the seventh inning. Charleston loaded the bases for Judge, who scored Luis Torrens and Gosuke Katoh with a single for a 5-2 edge. Judge scored from second on a Mike Ford single to put the RiverDogs up 6-2.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Drive could only muster one run to try and stay with the RiverDogs. Charleston reliever Nick Rumbelow entered a one-out, bases-loaded jam and surrendered a sacrifice fly to Bo Greenwell to trim the RiverDogs lead to three. An inning-ending strikeout by Rumbelow prevented Greenville from committing any further damage.
Charleston added to the advantage with two solo home runs in the eighth and three more runs in the ninth to finish the scoring. O'Neill and Torrens hit homers to build an 8-3 advantage entering the final frame. In the ninth, Andujar tripled to score Judge and Ford before coming in himself after an O'Neill single.
Davis improved to 2-0 after the victory, pitching a career-high 5.2 innings for the RiverDogs. Greenville reliever Jacob Dahlstrand took the loss and fell to 1-1 this season.
COMING UP: Game two of this three-game series features RiverDogs RHP Luis Severino (0-1, 5.79 ERA) squaring off with Drive RHP Jamie Callahan (0-1, 5.19 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm. After the road series, Charleston will return to the Lowcountry and host a three-game set against the Rome Braves that starts on Thursday, April 17 at 7:05pm at The Joe. Thursday's homestand opener will be another Budweiser Thirsty Thursday presented by 95SX, complete with DJ Natty Heavy, $1 drafts, and a Wild Wing Café wing-eating contest in the Ashley View Pub. The Dunder Chiefs will perform a postgame concert adjacent to the Beer Garden thanks to Palmetto Brewery and Awendaw Green. Tickets may be purchased at the Riley Park Box Office, (843) 577-DOGS (3647) or on-line at www.riverdogs.com. If fans cannot make it to the ballpark, they are encouraged to tune in to all the action this year both home and away worldwide onwww.riverdogs.com and locally on 1250 WTMA, the new radio home for RiverDogs baseball.

Being posted with permission from the Charleston Riverdogs organization. The original article can be seen HERE

Trenton Thunder Game Recap 4/14


Mitchell's Fans 12 in 2-0 Thunder Win

AKRON, OH - Bryan Mitchell needed offense, but Tyler Austin's two-run single in the first inning was more than enough on a night where Mitchell blew away a dozen Akron RubberDucks hitters in a 2-0 win.

On a night where rain consumed the final five innings of play at Canal Park, pitching was the story for both teams. The two teams combined for just two runs on ten hits, including Bryan Mitchell's performance in which he established a new career-high with 12 strikeouts in 6.0 innings pitched. After allowing eight earned runs in 8.0 inning in his first two starts of the season, Mitchell came out to throw six shutout frames while scattering four hits and walking two.

The only runs of the game came in the top of the first inning thanks to a two-out rally. With the bases empty and two outs after a pair of flyouts by Mason Williams and Ben Gamel, Rob Segedin drew a walk and was followed by a double from Kyle Roller. Austin then laced a single to left-centerfield and neither team would score again the rest of the way.

Diego Moreno pitched a perfect 8th and 9th inning for his second save of the season, and secured the Thunder pitching staff their first shutout of the season.

Tuesday's game features Jeremy Bleich (1-1, 9.00) for Trenton against RHP Cody Anderson (1-1, 3.75). First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. with the Trenton Thunder pre-game show beginning at 6:20 p.m. on 91.3 FM WTSR or online at www.trentonthunder.com.

Being posted with permission from the Trenton Thunder organization. The original article can be seen HERE

This Day In New York Yankees History 4/15


On this day in 1976 the New York Yankees debuted the "new" Yankee Stadium in front of 52,613 fans. The Yankees would beat the Minnesota Twins 11-4 on this day as the day began with Bob Shawkey, the winner of the 1923 Yankee Stadium opener, throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.



On this day in 2007 players around the league including the Yankees Derek Jeter and the Braves Andruw Jones wore the #42 uniform to honor Jackie Robinson on the 60th anniversary of him breaking the color barrier. In the Cardinals and Brewers game in Busch Stadium every player and coach on both teams wore the #42 and Jackie Robinson Day was born.


Happy Jackie Robinson Day everybody!