Yankee Stadium Will Host 2 NHL Games In January

The NHL has announced that they will host two outdoor games at Yankees Stadium in January 2014. The New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils will play on January 26th and the New York Rangers and the New York Islanders will play on January 29th.

Hall of Fame Profile: Herb Pennock

The fourth player inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Yankee was Herb Pennock.

Full Name: Herbert Jefferis Pennock

Born: February 10, 1894  Died: January 30, 1948

Nickname(s): The Squire, Knight of Kennett Square

Hall of Fame Induction: 1948 (by BBWAA with 77.7% in 8th year on ballot)

Teams Played for: Philadelphia Athletics (1912-1915), Boston Red Sox (1916-1922, 1934), and New York Yankees (1923-1933)

Career Statistics (courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com):

Wins: 241 (55th)

Losses: 162

Winning Pct: 59.8% (124th)

Strikouts: 1227
ERA: 3.60
CG: 247 (83rd)
Shutouts: 35 (71st)
Saves: 33
IP: 3571.2

ERA+: 106
WHIP: 1.348
WAR: 44.1 (129th)
20-win Seasons: 2
World Series Titles: (4: 1923, 1927, 1928, and 1932)

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While Herb Pennock didn't amass monster single-season numbers like fellow Yankee Hall-of-famer Jack Chesbro, he grinded out his wins eventually ending with 241, enough to be voted into the HOF on the 8th ballot by the Baseball Writer's Association of America.  On his first ballot, he only received 7.5% of the vote, narrowly staying on the docket for the 2nd vote.  He had less strikeouts than Chesbro but played twice as long: 22 seasons with the Philadelphia A's, Boston Red Sox, and New York Yankees.  But he only gave up 917 free bases and slightly under 6 home runs per season, which would suggest he was a consistent "contact pitcher," think Mike Mussina.  He only had two 20-win seasons and his 162-game average was 16-11 in the W/L column.

Herb Pennock debuted in the major leagues in May of 1912 for Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's and was the youngest ballplayer that season in the bigs.  He started the year playing under a pseudonym for Mack's collegiate team to protect his collegiate eligibility.  After throwing a no-hitter against a negro league team, he was called up for the Athletics.  Over the first 4 years of his career he only started 27 games amassing a 17-11 record.  In  1914 he was 11-4 with a 2.79 ERA and would pitch in the World Series against the Boston Braves, which Philadelphia lost.  He would start the opener in 1915 against the Boston Red Sox in which he threw a complete game shutout.  Later that year Mack would sell Pennock's contract to those same Red Sox due to his "lackadaisical style of play."   Mack would later call it his "greatest mistake."

Most of the 1915 and 1916 seasons were spent in the minor leagues by Pennock and he didn't get to partake in either of the World Series Championships for the Sox.  1917 passed without him being used much and in 1918 he enlisted in the Navy during World War I.  1919 would prove to be his best season in a Sox uniform as he went 16-8 with a 2.71 ERA, 16 complete games, and 5 shutouts.  He would never see a World Series with Boston and ended with a record there of 62-59.  A 10-17 season in 1922 along with a league-leading 7 wild pitches would see him get traded to the Yankees in the offseason.

His greatest successes would be seen in the Pinstripes as he debuted as a Yankee in 1923 just in time to take advantage of some major run support in the form of a one-man wrecking crew known as Babe Ruth.  His very first year he had a 19-6 record, a respectable 3.13 ERA, with 21 complete games and 93 strikeouts.  He would see the World Series for the first time since 1914 going 2-0 with a save against the cross-town New York Giants to help secure the Yankees first title.  1924 was an even better year individually for Pennock as he went 21-9 posting a 2.83 ERA with 25 complete games and 4 shutouts.  He would eventually have 3 more outstanding years with the Yankees going 23-11 in 1926, 19-8 in 1927, and 17-6 in 1928.  The 1926 and 1927 campaigns ended at the World Series with 1927 and 1928 being WS victories for the Yanks.  1924 and 1926 saw Pennock get voted in the top-4 for MVP, which he had no shot of actually winning with the likes of Ruth on his own team.

Pennock would get one more World Series ring in 1932 as the Yankees defeated the Chicago Cubs in 4 games straight, but Herb's talents were obviously on the decline as he only recorded 47 more wins for the Yankees from 1929-1933, an average of less than 10 wins per season.  Pennock was released by the Yankees after the 1933 season in which he served primarily as a relief pitcher.  He would spend one more season in MLB playing for the Red Sox in 1934 before retiring.  Although looking at his numbers he doesn't stand out immediately as a Hall of Famer to many reading this, he was part of a dominant Yankee team that won 4 championships in a span of 10 years with a record of 162-90 or 64.3%.

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Sources: 

1. Baseball-Reference.com: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pennohe01.shtml

2. Wikipedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Pennock

3. Pictures sourced from bleacherreport.com and sportsillustrated.com

This Day In Yankees History 4/18

The Yankees new $2.5 million ballpark was opened in style as Babe Ruth hit the first home run of the parks history on this day in 1923. This is where the term "The House That Ruth Built" first started when referring to the original Yankees Stadium. This was the first ballpark to have three decks which sold over 72,000 Yankees tickets on this day. The Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1 beating the Sox hurler Howard Ehmke.

Rapada, Cabral, & Pineda Injury Updates

Michael Pineda is still rehabbing his shoulder surgery and threw 35 pitches in his third live batting practice session this year. Cesar Cabral is still rehabbing a fractured elbow and threw a scoreless inning in an extended spring training game today. Clay Rapada is still rehabbing shoulder bursitis and threw 25 pitches today in a simulated game down in Tampa, Florida. Cesar Cabral is probably the closest to getting into games that matter soon as he is expected to start his 30 day rehab assignment window pretty soon. Clay Rapada is expected to join the AAA Scranton team soon and Michael Pineda still looks to be on track for a June return.

Mark Teixeira & Andy Pettitte Injury Updates

Mark Teixeira got news today as he was cleared to begin swinging a bat today, albeit dry swings, so that is a pretty big step. Mark expects himself to take 20 steps from both sides of the plate before he can take swings off of a tee. Mark still has to take soft toss batting practice and actual batting practice before even thinking about coming back, making May 1st less and less of a reality, but he is getting there and the Yankees aren't missing him as much as we thought they would.

Andy Pettitte also got some good news after having his last two starts pushed back due to back spasms. Andy threw a bullpen for the second straight day and has been pronounced healed from the spasms. He is scheduled to make his next start on Friday night against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Game Thread: ARI @ NYY 4/17

The Yankees will host game two of this three game set with the Diamondbacks tonight on MY9. Feel free to use the comment section of this post to talk with us about the game or follow us on twitter @GreedyStripes and talk with us there.

1. Gardner CF
2. Wells LF
3. Cano 2B
4. Youkilis 1B
5. Francisco DH
6. Cervelli C
7. Boesch RF
8. Nunez SS
9. Nix 3B

P CC Sabathia 

Arizona Diamondbacks @ New York Yankees 4/17

The Yankees and the Diamondbacks will continue their three game series tonight with the second game tonight at Yankees Stadium. The Yankees will send their big man and their ace CC Sabathia to the mound to face off with Wade Miley. The game will be televised at 7:05 pm ET on MY9. Buy your Yankees tickets for tonight's game here.

Game 15 Lineup: Diamondbacks vs. Yankees

Lineup vs. D-Backs:

Brett Gardner CF
Vernon Wells LF
Robinson Cano 2B
Kevin Youkilis 1B
Ben Francisco DH
Francisco Cervelli C
Brennan Boesch RF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Jayson Nix 3B

CC Sabathia LHP

Cano Carrying Yankees

On a night where his idol Jackie Robinson was honored Robinson Cano proved yet again why players will eventually be looking up to him.  Cano hit a three- run home run in the fourth inning off Brandon McCarthy that gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead that they would never relinquish.

That at-bat proved that not only does Cano have all the physical tools in the world, but he has it mentally as well. With Cano on-deck, McCarthy struck out Brett Gardner on a 3-2 changeup and the same situation arose with Cano. He was looking changeup, McCarthy threw a terrible one that got the middle of the plate, and Cano hit an absolute rocket deep into the right-center bleachers. The 3-2 changeup that Cano hit out was the fourth consecutive changeup of the at-bat and he knew from Gardner's at-bat to look for it again on 3-2.

With the injuries to Mark Texeira, Curtis Granderson, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, Cano was going to have to lead the Yankees through April and so far he has. Obviously, he has had help in the lineup from Kevin Youkilis, Vernon Wells and Travis Hafner among others, but the Yankees did not start winning until Cano got going. Youkilis, Wells and Hafner hit well when the Yankees were losing, but they are not capable of carrying a team like Cano is.

“When Robbie got going, we got it going as a team, manager Joe Girardi told George A. King III. “When he got hot our offense took off.”

Cano is now hitting .327 with 4 home runs, 9 RBI and a 1.042 OPS. His wOBA (.438) and his wRC+ (181) are also outstanding. The Yankees are 6-1 since Cano turned his season around in April and it is no coincidence. He has overcome his struggles from last postseason and early in the season to become the player we know him to be.

Why was he struggling? Well, ESPN’s Mark Simon wrote about how teams were pitching him. It was written back on April 5th,  but it is still relevant today.  At that point in the season Cano was 2-for-15, and teams were having success pitching him away. Of the 59 pitches he had seen to that point, 43 of them were either on the outer-third of the plate or off the plate away. That is a total of 73 percen,t and in the playoffs last season, Cano saw those pitches 66 percent of the time. Cano was 3-for-40 in the playoffs and 28 of those outs came off of pitches to that area.

Cano was getting to anxious trying to pull these outside pitches. The Red Sox even shifted him like they would for Mark Teixeira during the opening series off the season, which we had never seen before with Cano. He turned it around on April 8^th in Cleveland, as he hit an opposite field homer and double and he has not looked back ever since. I cannot upload it here, but his heat map on ESPN shows that he is now handling the outside pitch better.  Also, Cano’s spray chart for this season clearly shows that he has hit the ball to all fields and he is going the other way at least just as much as he is pulling the ball.



The double edged sword of all of this is of course Cano is an impending free agent and the more he continues to hit like this the more his cost goes up. Hopefully with Cano leaving Scott Boras for Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports the Yankees can work out an extension before the year is over. With Mariano Rivera retiring and Derek Jeter’s time dwindling down the Yankees will need a new face of the franchise and it appears Cano will be headed that way if he stays.

This Day In Yankees History 4/17

On this day in 1951 Mickey Mantle took his first at bat of his Major League career as he grounded out to second base. He would go 1 for 4 in a 5-0 shut out of the Boston Red Sox.

On the same day in 1951 Bob Shepard would announce the lineup for the first time for the New York Yankees. The first player he ever announced was Dom DiMaggio who was the brother of Yankees star Joe DiMaggio and the Red Sox lead off hitter.

On this day in 1976 George Steinbrenner named Thurmon Munson the Yankees captain. Thurmon would be the first Yankees captain since Lou Gehrig in 1935.