Tag: New York Yankees

June 26 in baseball history – Kid named Gehrig offers glimpse into the future

JUNE 26, 1920 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – A 17-year old high school kid wowed fans and major league scouts on this date in 1920 by hitting a towering grand slam home run out of Cubs Park (now known as Wrigley Field). The blast sealed a victory for New York’s Commerce High School against Chicago’s Lane Tech 12 to 6. The Commerce HS kid’s name – Lou Gehrig. He offered a glimpse into the future.

Soon Gehrig would be terrorizing opposing American League teams while playing for the New York Yankees.

Gehrig was a force. He held the record for the most career grand slam home runs (23) for more than 50 years. He had a lifetime .340 average. He hit 493 home runs and drove in 1,995 hitting after Babe Ruth in the Yankee lineup.

Gehrig would hold the record for the most consecutive games played (2,130 – 14 years worth) until broken by Cal Ripken in 1995.

Sadly, the player known as the “Iron Horse” would succumb to the debilitating and deadly sickness that carries his name – Lou Gehrig’s disease. He played his last game on April 30, 1939. He was 35 years old.

But on this date in 1920, Gehrig was a wide-eyed high school kid offering a glimpse into the future.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
“Luckiest Man: The life and death of Lou Gehrig,” by Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post, April 3, 2005
Lou Gehrig stats
Career grand slams

MARCH 14: He Upstaged Joltin’ Joe

SOLVANG, CALIFORNIA | MARCH 14, 2003. Al Gionfriddo‘s major league career only lasted 4 years, a total of 228 games, but the 5-foot 6-inch, 165 lb outfielder ended his short career by taking the spotlight from one of the greatest of all-time, and guaranteed the Dysart, Pennsylvania native a place in baseball history.  Al Gionfriddo died on this date in 2003. He was 81.

Gionfriddo is remembered for what happened in sixth game of the 1947 World Series at Yankee Stadium. More than 74,000 fans were on hand, most hoping the Yankees would close out the Series. They had a 3 games to 2 lead.

It was the bottom of the 6th inning. The Brooklyn Dodgers had grabbed an 8-5 lead in the top of the 6th. There were two out, but the Yankees had two men on. Joe DiMaggio was up. He could tie the game.

DiMaggio hit the first pitch from Dodger reliever Joe Hatten.

It looked like it might be a new ballgame.

Gionfriddo raced toward the left field corner. He’d been put in left as a defensive replacement that inning.

He was running out of room.

Surrounded by Yankee fans.

His hat flew off.

At the last moment he reached out and grabbed DiMaggio’s shot – just feet before the 415 mark.

The inning was over.

The Yankees didn’t score.

DiMaggio kicked the dirt.

One of the rare times he showed emotion on the field.

The Dodgers went on to win that game 8-6, but the Yankees closed out the series in the next day. Al Gionfriddo didn’t get in the lineup. He would not play another game. After the 1947 season he retired, feeling pretty good about the day he upstaged DiMaggio.

Contributing sources:
MLB box scores etc.,
RetroSheet

JAN 9: “I DIDN’T KNOW THAT”

JANUARY 9, 1903 | NEW YORK, NEW YORK • Here’s an “I didn’t know that” story. On this day in baseball history the owners of the Baltimore Orioles sold the team to New Yorkers Frank Farrell and Bill Devery who moved the franchise to New York City.

The team was called the Highlanders because they played in one of the highest spots in upper Manhattan on, what is now, the Columbia University campus. The team didn’t become known as the Yankees until 1913. So, No, the New York Yankees, the most storied franchise in professional sports, was not an original member of the American League.

*  *  *

Here’s how it evolved, according to several sources including Leonard Koppett, author of, Koppett’s Concise History of Major League Baseball, a good read by the way. The National League (NL) had been in business for a quarter century when Ban Johnson began shaking things up in 1900. He ran a minor league called the Western League. He wanted it to be “major” and compete with the National League. Should the leagues be adversaries or work something out?

The National League was torn. It had a monopoly on professional baseball as the only “major” league. It also knew expanding the major leagues would spread the gospel of baseball. And A. G. Spaulding, a major player in the National League, would sell more sports equipment – his real passion.

Ban Johnson forced the action in 1900 by changing the Western League’s name to the American League (AL). He declared it a “major” league in 1901. The NL and AL worked things out by agreeing to a uniform set of rules, not stealing each other’s players, etc., and began the 1901 season as dual major leagues.

The National League’s New York Giants didn’t want competition from the upstart American League. For two years, it got its way. Instead of putting a team in New York City the American League put a team in Baltimore for its inaugural season and called it the Orioles. Upon the sale of the Orioles to Farrell and Devery (referenced above) the National League could keep the American League out of New York City no longer. A franchise that would become the most prominent in sports, the Yankees, was put in place.

Today’s Baltimore Orioles are a different franchise all together, though, also one of the league’s originals [I know, this is like trying to keep score in an extra-inning game]. It started out as the Milwaukee Brewers (no connection to the current Brewers), but moved to Missouri after one season (1902) and became the St. Louis Browns. The Browns left St. Louis for Maryland in 1954 and changed its name to the Orioles – the Orioles that call The Ballpark at Camden Yards home today.

More information:
The New York Times, January 10, 1903
Baseball-Almanac

NOVEMBER 5, 1998 IN BASEBALL HISTORY-Yankees 27 Astros 1

NOVEMBER 5, 1998 | NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Houston Astros fans are relishing in the team’s first-ever World Series championship. Compare that to what the New York Yankees accomplished on this date in 2009. They won their 27th World Series. Yankees 27 Astros 1.

That’s more than the next three World Series winning teams combined.

It’s more than double the 11 won by the team with the second-most – the St. Louis Cardinals.

But it’s a start – Yankees 27 Astros 1.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Number of World Series won by each team
Postseason results, BASEBALL-REFERENCE.com
Yankees post-season results