Also on this day in 2001 when the Yankees and Red Sox rivalry was possibly at its highest and Pedro Martinez spoke up about the Curse of the Bambino? If you don't it was after Martinez ended a streak of five straight losses against New York and was making light of the curse. Martinez states that he wished someone would wake up Babe Ruth so he could drill him with a pitch. Long story short the Red Sox would not beat the Yankees again during the final seven meetings of the 2001 season. But there was no curse, the Red Sox just sucked for 86 years... right.
Also on this day in 1992 the Yankees Scott Sanderson beat the Milwaukee Brewers 8-1 to become the ninth pitcher to defeat all 26 teams in the major leagues at the time. Sanderson joins Nolan Ryan, Tommy John, Don Sutton, Mike Torrez, Rick Wise, Gaylord Perry, Doyle Alexander, and Goose Gossage with the feat.
Also on this day in 1956 Mickey Mantle came within 18 inches of becoming the first player to hit a home run out of Yankee Stadium. The blast came off the Washington Senators Pedro Ramos and the ball was still climbing when it hit the facade in the upper right field stands.
Also on this day in 1938 the Yankees set a new record for attendance at Yankee Stadium drawing 81,841 fans in a double header with the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees would win both games sweeping the Red Sox in the double bill.
Also on this day in 1935 Babe Ruth, a member of the Boston Braves, plays in his last major league game of his career. Ruth, at Baker Bowl, does not get in a hit in his first inning at bat against the Phillies. On June 2 of that year the former Yankee All Star and super star would call it a career officially.
Also on this day in 1934 the Yankees Ben Chapman broke up Earl Whitehill's no hitter in the bottom of the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium. This is significant because in the 1933 season Chapman, albeit provoked, hit Whitehill with a punch in the passageway causing a 20 minute brawl that needed the police to restore order. I guess he broke something up twice, huh?
Finally on this day in 1932 the New York Yankees honored former manager Miller Huggins in a pre-game ceremony. The former Yankees manager died near the end of last season and had received a plaque in his memory. The Yankees would sweep both games in the double header with the Boston Red Sox.
Guys...
ReplyDeleteOne could take many of the comedy baseball movies of the last few years and many of the players would fit the movies like a glove. They all had funny quirks and did funny things...like Jim Thorp holding a player out a hotel window (IF I remember right) by one leg because he was snoring. Or the time Sal "The Barber" was asked why he never threw a high hard one at Mickey Mantle, he said something like; "he can't get out of the way with those legs of his". Some thing many never knew about Mickey, he had a (normally debilitating) injury...a partial tear in his ACL from 1952 to the day he died. The doctors said he played in pain every time he just played baseball or even walked in later days...thus, the way he ran out his HRs, as though he were getting ready to take off and fly, with his elbows flapping in the wind and running on eggs! Talk about tough and playing through injuryies (making the team much better) and still being timed at 3.0 or 3.1 from the plate to 1st after a full swing. And yet the records and stats he set for others to break...if they can!
Yes, he was the King of New York in those days and nobody, nobody ever has had that crown sense he put it aside and retired!
You tell this story yet stuck up for Mark Teixeira in the other thread. I'm not nitpicking I just don't get it. A pain in the neck, literally, is nothing compared to a torn ACL. Especially for a center fielder.
DeleteVery simple Daniel...
DeleteI stuck up for him in this one case only. And the reason is, I have been there and done that...a stiff neck (if bad) is debilitating, sometimes it will make one dizzy and tight from the waist up. Besides that, it hurts like hell just to move around.