Welcome To Today In Yankees History
by Kenny Rogers
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This Day in Yankees History
September 30th
| 1904 | Doc White tosses his fifth shutout in eighteen days when he blanks the Yankees at Chicago's South Side Park, 4-0. The White Sox southpaw will pitch six of his season's total of seven shutouts in September. Guy Harris "Doc" White (April 9, 1879 – February 19, 1969) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for two teams, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago White Sox, during his career which lasted from 1901 to 1913. |
| 1927 | At Yankee Stadium on the next-to-last day of the season off of Senators' starter Tom Zachary, Babe Ruth breaks his own 1921 home run record by hitting number 60, which lands just in fair territory in the right-field stands. As a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning, future Hall of Fame hurler Walter Johnson makes his last major league appearance in this game. |
| 1934 | Babe Ruth plays his final game in pinstripes, going 0-for-3, including flying out to center field in his last at-bat in the Yankees 5-3 loss to the Senators at Griffith Stadium. The Braves will acquire the 'Sultan of Swat" in late February, announcing, in addition to playing, he would become a team vice president and serve as assistant manager to Boston skipper Bill McKechnie. George Herman "Babe" Ruth (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "The Bambino" and "The Sultan of Swat", he began his MLB career as a star left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but achieved his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees. Ruth established many MLB batting (and some pitching) records, including career home runs (714), runs batted in (RBIs) (2,213), bases on balls (2,062), slugging percentage (.690), and on-base plus slugging (OPS) (1.164); the last two still stand as of 2021.[1] Ruth is regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture and is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time. In 1936, Ruth was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of its "first five" inaugural members. At age seven, Ruth was sent to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory where he was mentored by Brother Matthias Boutlier of the Xaverian Brothers, the school's disciplinarian and a capable baseball player. In 1914, Ruth was signed to play minor-league baseball for the Baltimore Orioles but was soon sold to the Red Sox. By 1916, he had built a reputation as an outstanding pitcher who sometimes hit long home runs, a feat unusual for any player in the pre-1920 dead-ball era. Although Ruth twice won 23 games in a season as a pitcher and was a member of three World Series championship teams with the Red Sox, he wanted to play every day and was allowed to convert to an outfielder. With regular playing time, he broke the MLB single-season home run record in 1919. After that season, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Ruth to the Yankees amid controversy. The trade fueled Boston's subsequent 86-year championship drought and popularized the "Curse of the Bambino" superstition. In his 15 years with the Yankees, Ruth helped the team win seven American League (AL) pennants and four World Series championships. His big swing led to escalating home run totals that not only drew fans to the ballpark and boosted the sport's popularity but also helped usher in baseball's live-ball era, which evolved from a low-scoring game of strategy to a sport where the home run was a major factor. As part of the Yankees' vaunted "Murderers' Row" lineup of 1927, Ruth hit 60 home runs, which extended his MLB single-season record by a single home run. Ruth's last season with the Yankees was 1934; he retired from the game the following year, after a short stint with the Boston Braves. During his career, Ruth led the AL in home runs during a season 12 times. During Ruth's career, he was the target of intense press and public attention for his baseball exploits and off-field penchants for drinking and womanizing. After his retirement as a player, he was denied the opportunity to manage a major league club, most likely due to poor behavior during parts of his playing career. In his final years, Ruth made many public appearances, especially in support of American efforts in World War II. In 1946, he became ill with nasopharyngeal cancer and died from the disease two years later. Ruth remains a part of American culture, and in 2018 President Donald Trump posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. |
| 1947 | Ralph Branca becomes the youngest player to start a World Series opener. At Yankee Stadium, the 21-year, nine-month-old right-hander and the Dodgers lose to the Bronx Bombers, 5-1. Ralph Theodore Joseph "Hawk" Branca (January 6, 1926 – November 23, 2016) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1944 through 1956. Branca played for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1944–1953, 1956), Detroit Tigers (1953–1954), and New York Yankees (1954).[1] He was a three-time All-Star. In a 1951 playoff, Branca surrendered a walk-off home run to Bobby Thomson of the New York Giants; the game-winning hit was known as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World". |
| 1953 |   George Shuba, best known as the Montreal Royal teammate who shook Jackie Robinson's hand after the rookie homered, becomes the third major leaguer and the first in the National League to pinch-hit a home run in the World Series. With his round-tripper off Allie Reynolds in the Dodgers' 9-5 Game 1 loss at Yankee Stadium, 'Shotgun' joins Yogi Berra (1947) and Johnny Mize (1952), who both accomplished the feat playing for the Bronx Bombers. 1953 George Shuba Baseball Card (Topps # 34)George Thomas "Shotgun" Shuba (December 13, 1924 – September 29, 2014) was a utility outfielder and left-handed pinch hitter in Major League Baseball who played seven seasons for the Brooklyn Dodgers. His seven seasons included three World Series as well as a World Series championship in 1955. He was the first National League player to hit a pinch-hit home run in a World Series game.[1] Shuba is often remembered for his symbolic role in breaking down Major League Baseball's tenacious "color barrier".[2] While playing for the AAA Montreal Royals in 1946, Shuba offered a congratulatory handshake to teammate Jackie Robinson, who went on to become the first African American to play in a major league game since the late 19th century.[2] The moment was captured in a well-known photograph dubbed A Handshake for the Century for featuring the first interracial handshake in a professional baseball game.[2] In 1972 Shuba's major league career was featured in a chapter of Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer, a tribute to the 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers.[1] Kahn observed in his book that Shuba earned his nickname, "Shotgun", by "spraying line drives with a swing so compact that it appeared as natural as a smile".[3][4] |
| 1962 | At Yankee Stadium, Mickey Mantle blasts his 30th home run of the season, a fourth-inning solo shot off White Sox's 20-game winner Ray Herbert, to extend his streak of having 30 or more round-trippers to eight seasons. The 'Mick,' who missed a month of the campaign because of a leg injury, bats leadoff in the team's final series to collect more at-bats. Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed The Commerce Comet and The Mick,[1] was an American professional baseball player. Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York Yankees as a center fielder, right fielder, and first baseman. Mantle was one of the best players and sluggers and is regarded by many as the greatest switch hitter in baseball history.[2] Mantle was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974[3] and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. Mantle was one of the greatest offensive threats of any center fielder in baseball history. He has the second highest career OPS+ among center fielders, (behind Mike Trout) and he had the highest stolen base percentage in history at the time of his retirement. In addition, compared to the other four center fielders on the All-Century team, he had the lowest career rate of grounding into double plays, and he had the highest World Series on-base percentage and World Series slugging percentage. He also had an excellent .984 fielding percentage when playing center field. Mantle was able to hit for both average and power,[4] especially tape measure home runs,[5] a term that had its origin in a play-by-play caller reacting to one of Mantle's 1953 home runs.[6] He hit 536 MLB career home runs, batted .300 or more ten times, and is the career leader (tied with Jim Thome) in walk-off home runs, with 13—12 in the regular season and one in the postseason. He is the only player in history to hit 150 home runs from both sides of the plate. Mantle is 16th all-time in home runs per at bats. He is 17th in on-base percentage. He was safe three out of four times he attempted to steal a base. He won the MVP Award three times, came in second three times, and came within nine votes of winning five times. Mantle won the Triple Crown in 1956, when he led the major leagues in batting average (.353), home runs (52), and runs batted in (RBI) (130). He later wrote a book (My Favorite Summer 1956) about his best year in baseball.[7] He was an All-Star for 16 seasons, playing in 16 of the 20 All-Star Games that were played during his career.[a] He was an American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times and a Gold Glove winner once. Mantle appeared in 12 World Series including seven championships, and he holds World Series records for the most home runs (18), RBIs (40), extra-base hits (26), runs (42), walks (43), and total bases (123).[8] Despite his accolades on the field, Mantle's private life was plagued with tumult and tragedy, including a well-publicized bout with alcoholism that led to his death from liver cancer.[9] |
| 1964 | As a pinch-hitter in the top of the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium, Bill Roman hits his only big-league home run in his first major league at-bat. The 25-year-old rookie first baseman will accumulate only 37 career plate appearances during a brief two-year stint with the Tigers. |
| 1966 | At Comiskey Park in the top of the ninth inning, Roger Maris, in his last at-bat as a Yankee, slams a two-run home run as a pinch-hitter, putting the club ahead of the White Sox, 5-4. As the slugger contemplates retirement, the former two-time American League MVP is stunned and embarrassed when New York trades him to the Cardinals for utility player Charley Smith in the off-season. Roger Eugene Maris (September 10, 1934 – December 14, 1985) was an American professional baseball right fielder. He is best known for setting a new Major League Baseball (MLB) single-season home run record with 61 home runs in 1961; the record remained unbroken until 1998. Maris played in the minor leagues from 1953 to 1956, and in the major leagues from 1957 to 1968. He reached the major leagues in 1957 as a player for the Cleveland Indians. He was traded to the Kansas City Athletics during the 1958 season, and to the New York Yankees after the 1959 season. Maris finished his playing career as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1967 and 1968. Maris was an American League (AL) All-Star from 1959 through 1962,[a] an AL Most Valuable Player in 1960 and 1961, and an AL Gold Glove Award winner in 1960. Maris appeared in seven World Series; he played for Yankees teams that won the World Series in 1961 and 1962 and for a Cardinals team that won the World Series in 1967. Maris's home run record was controversial, as the previous single-season home run record (60, set by Babe Ruth in 1927) was set during a period when MLB teams played 154 games per season. Before Maris broke Ruth's record, the AL baseball season had been extended to 162 games. Maris hit his 61st home run in the last game of the season, which led to questions about the legitimacy of his record.[1] In 1998, Mark McGwire set a new MLB record with 70 home runs; in 2001, Barry Bonds surpassed that mark with 73, though both players have been suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs to do so. Maris continues to hold the American League record for most home runs in a season. |
| 1973 | In their final game at the 'old' Yankee Stadium, the fourth-place Bronx Bombers lose unceremoniously to the Tigers, 8-5. The team, which will play its home games for the next two seasons at Shea Stadium as the 50-year-old 'House that Ruth Built' undergoes extensive renovations, also loses their skipper, with Ralph Houk announcing his resignation. |
| 1984 | Yankees' first baseman Don Mattingly wins the American League batting title with a .343 average, finishing three points higher than teammate Dave Winfield. The accomplishment marks the first of six consecutive seasons that 'Donnie Baseball' hits over .300 but the only one resulting in a batting crown during a 14-year major league career. Donald Arthur Mattingly (born April 20, 1961)[1] is an American former professional baseball first baseman, coach, and current manager for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed "The Hit Man" and "Donnie Baseball", he spent his entire 14-year career playing with the New York Yankees and later managed the Los Angeles Dodgers for five years. Mattingly graduated from Reitz Memorial High School in Evansville, Indiana, and was selected by the Yankees in the 1979 amateur draft. Debuting with the Yankees in 1982 after four seasons in Minor League Baseball, he emerged as the Yankees' starting first baseman after a successful rookie season in 1983. Mattingly was named to the American League (AL) All-Star team six times. He won nine Gold Glove Awards (an AL record for a first baseman), three Silver Slugger Awards, the 1984 AL batting title, and was the 1985 AL Most Valuable Player. He served as captain of the Yankees from 1991 through 1995, when he retired as a player. The Yankees later retired Mattingly's uniform number (23), making him the only Yankee to have his number retired without having won a World Series with the team. Returning to the Yankees as a coach in 2004 for manager Joe Torre, he followed Torre to the Dodgers in 2008, and succeeded him as the Dodgers' manager in 2011. The Dodgers and Mattingly mutually parted ways after the 2015 season, and he became manager of the Miami Marlins in 2016. |
| 2004 | Thanks to Bernie Williams's ninth-inning two-run homer, the Yankees beat the Twins, 6-4, to clinch their seventh straight American League East Division title. The victory is their 100th, making the club the fourth team in history (Braves 1997-99; Orioles 1969-71; A's 1929-31) to have three consecutive 100-win seasons.  Bernabé Williams Figueroa Jr. (born September 13, 1968) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball player and musician. He played his entire 16-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the New York Yankees from 1991 through 2006. A center fielder, Williams was a member of four World Series championship teams with the Yankees. He ended his career with a .297 batting average, 287 home runs, 1,257 runs batted in (RBI), 1,366 runs scored, 449 doubles, and a .990 fielding percentage. He was a five-time All-Star and won four Gold Glove Awards, a Silver Slugger Award, the American League (AL) batting title in 1998, and the 1996 AL Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award. Known for his consistency and postseason heroics, Williams is one of the most beloved Yankees. The team honored him by retiring his uniform number 51 and dedicating a plaque to him in Monument Park in May 2015. Williams is widely regarded as one of the greatest switch-hitting center fielders in history. Williams is also a classically trained guitarist. Following his retirement from baseball, he has released two jazz albums. He was nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2009. |
| 2012 | The Braves win for the 23rd straight time in a game started by Kris Medlen when they beat New York in the regular-season home finale at Turner Field, 6-2. The 26 year-old right-hander's streak surpasses the major league mark shared by Carl Hubbell (Giants, 1936-37) and Whitey Ford (Yankees, 1950-53). |
Kristopher Allen Medlen (born October 7, 1985) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Royals and Arizona Diamondbacks.
