4/17/2021 Mickey Mantle hits 565 foot homer!

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by Kenny Rogers

Yankees 5-8 play Tampa Bay today. Lost again 2-6, now 5-9

Lost 3 in row. What's wrong with those Yankees?

4/17/2021 Today In Yankees History

1912 In front of a larger than usual crowd at the Polo Grounds of over 14,000 patrons that includes Broadway legend George M. Cohan, the Giants beat the new-look Yankees, now sporting pinstripes, in an unscheduled exhibition game, 11-2, to raise money for the survivors of the HMS Titanic. The charity contest, the first Sunday game ever played between major league teams at the Coogan's Bluff ballpark, raises over $9,000 when each fan donates the price of an admission ticket to purchase a special program for the event. 1925 Babe Ruth undergoes an operation for an intestinal abscess at St. Vincent's Hospital, where he will remain for six weeks. The 30 year-old Yankee outfielder will miss the first forty games of the season due to his "bellyache heard 'round the world," a popular misconception that blamed the consumption of an abundance of hot dogs and soda for his illness. 1929 In a ceremony that takes place on Opening Day at five a.m. to avoid crowds, Claire Hodgson becomes the second Mrs. Babe Ruth. The Yankees' outfielder's first wife, Julia Woodford, died in a house fire in January. 1939 On the morning of Opening Day in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Yankees visit Abner Doubleday's grave at Arlington National Cemetery. A rainout this afternoon cancels FDR's ceremonial first pitch at Griffith Stadium, with Veep Garner doing the honors in the season opener against the same opponents four days later after the Bombers return from New York having played Boston to start their campaign. Library of Congress Library of Congress 1951 Mickey Mantle, batting third, grounds out to second base in his first major league at-bat. The 19 year-old right fielder will hit a sixth-inning run-scoring single, going 1-for-4 in the Yankees' Opening Day 5-0 victory over Boston in the Bronx. 1951 For the first time, in a career that will span more than half of a century, public address announcer Bob Sheppard announces the Yankees' lineup. The 'Voice of God's introduction of the team includes the memorable names of Mickey Mantle, playing his first game, Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, but the first player's name announced will be DiMaggio - Dom DiMaggio, the leading off for the visiting Red Sox. 1953 Mickey Mantle blasts a 'reported' 565-foot homer off southpaw Chuck Stobb in the Yankees' 7-3 victory over Washington at a windy Griffith Stadium. The distance of the historic round-tripper hit by the 21 year-old Yankee outfielder will become the subject of much debate, with later research debunking its original tape-measure status. 1976 At Yankee owner's George Steinbrenner's insistence, Thurman Munson is named the team captain. The reluctant backstop is the first player to assume the role since the Bronx Bombers honored Lou Gehrig with the position in 1935.  1976 Thurman Munson Card (Topps #650) 1977 Mike Pazik posts his first and last major league win when hurls eight innings in the Twins’ 10-2 victory over Oakland at Metropolitan Stadium. The 27 year-old former Yankees farmhand's career will come to a sudden end on April 25 when his van is hit head-on by a car driving the wrong way on a freeway entrance, resulting in the southpaw fracturing both legs. 2006 In the bottom ninth inning, Mark Loretta hits a two-out, two-run home run over the left-field wall, giving the Red Sox a dramatic 7-6 victory over the Mariners at Fenway Park on Patriots' Day. The only other player to end a game with a homer on Boston's special day of celebration is Frank Malzone, who gave the team a 5-4 walk-off victory over the Yankees in 1959, the year the New England baseball tradition began. (Ed. Note: Mark H., a leading denizen of Red Sox Nation, inspired this entry. - LP)