The Plaques

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The Home Run

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End of Days

Robinson Cano singled to snap a scoreless tie in the bottom of the ninth and the Yankees won for the seventh time in nine games, 1-0. Mariano Rivera picked up the win after entering, dare we say it, a tie game. Disturbing isn't the word for it, but the Yankees celebrated like they had just won the pennant. More disturbing was the ninth inning pitch Derek Jeter took off his left hand/wrist, the same area that Daniel Cabrera plunked back in May. X-Rays were negative and you can bet your ass he'll be in the lineup tonight though.

But enough about that.

This is it, the final day of the Stadium. In case you haven't realized it by now, it's perfectly acceptable to refer to Yankee Stadium as merely "the Stadium". Every Yankee fan knows what you mean. It's like saying "the Garden" for Madison Square Garden.

It's an emotional day for many. It's a place where so many of us spent our youth. Where so many great moments took place. Among those we witnessed in person - Game 2 of the 1981 World Series, David Cone's 20th win in 1998, Bobby Murcer's opening day grand slam in 1981, the first Sunday game in the renovated Stadium in 1976, Derek Jeter tying Lou Gehrig's home hit record last Sunday, El Duque's return to Pinstripes, Phil Rizzuto Day, combined with Tom Seaver's 300th win in 1985, Bobby Murcer Day in 1983. Countless home runs by Reggie Jackson and Bobby Murcer, the return to glory in '76-'78', and again from '96-'01.

Our first game on August 30, 1970, a 5-2 win over the Twins. Seeing Mickey Mantle, Joe D., Tommy Henrich, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Bill Dickey, Casey Stengel, and more on Old Timers Day in the early '70s. Being at the Old Timer's Day when number 8 was retired for the two Hall of Fame catchers, Berra and Dickey. Bat Day, 1971, and getting our Bobby Murcer bat. And so many more. We have countless programs and yearbooks from those days, some of them with autographs. On and on it goes, so many memories, remembered with joy much more than with tears.

As watch today's coverage on ESPN and ESPN Classic (we've seen Boomer's perfecto, Coney's perfecto, and now Game 5 of the 2001 Series), and YES, and listen to the local ESPN radio, here's some more great stuff to read about the Stadium.

Reggie reflects on the 2001 World Series.

"Writer" George Steinbrenner talks about the finale.

Steve Serby does a Q & A with Bob Sheppard. The Daily News with a profile as well.

Rudy Guiliani reflects on the '96 WS.

Mike Vaccaro's 100 classic Stadium moments.

About the, gulp, dismantling of the HTRB.

Pettitte reflects on his final start. Another take here.

Kevin Kernan talks to some of the real veterans, the vendors.

A look from Boston's Bob Ryan.

Steve Politi looks at the House the Fans Built.

Retired beat writer Moss Klein (this is the guy we grew up reading) looks back.

Stadium magic bridges generations.

Peter Abraham's fondest memories. And he takes a look back.
"Writer" Billy Crystal looks back.

Henry Kissinger, yes, Henry Kissinger looks back.

Tyler Kepner looks back.

A very cool virtual tour of the Stadium from Newsday.

You can even take a vintage subway to today's game.

You can go home again when home is the Stadium.

Buster Olney gets opponents views.

Bob Klapisch looks back.



Goodbye old friend.

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The Daily Yankeeland - 9/20

ESPN Television and it's "tributaries" (ESPN Classic, etc.) have Yankees programming all day Sunday and next week as well. The Biz of Baseball has the full slate. ESPN.com also has a page dedicated to the farewell.

A Yankees fan spread his brother's ashes in another goodbye.

More on Bobby Murcer's addition to the Yankees Hall of Fame mural.

Brett Gardner wants to be the Yankees starting center fielder next year.

ABC News made Yankee Stadium it's "Person of the Week".

On this date 40 years ago, September 20, 1968, Mickey Mantle hit his final home run. Number 536 came against the Red Sox Jim Lonborg.

George Vecsey with a wonderful piece on Bob Sheppard.

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The Pennant Race - 9/1

Labor Day is here, which means there's a month of baseball season left and Jerry Lewis is on the tube. With the exception of the AL West, and maybe the NL Central, all the divisional and wildcard races are up for grabs.

AL East

The Rays pounded the Orioles 10-4 on Sunday, to finish off a three game sweep in which they scored 34 runs. The victory moved them 5.5 games ahead of the Red Sox, who lost the finale of their three game series with the White Sox, 4-2.

AL Central

The White Sox win kept them a half-game ahead of the Twins in the central standings. Gavin Floyd picked up his 15th win and Jim Thome hit career home run number 536 to tie him with Mickey Mantle for 14th place on the all-time list.

In addition to being within striking distance of Chicago, the Twins moved to 2.5 back of the Red Sox in the wildcard race, with a 12-4 thumping of the A's. Justin Morneau homered and knocked in four runs, giving him 108 RBI entering September.

NL East

The Mets maintained their one game lead on the Phillies, by beating the Marlins 6-2 on Sunday. Carlos Beltran, who hit the game winning grand slam on Friday, David Wright, and Nick Evans each homered to help Pedro Martinez to pick up career win number 214.

The Phillies beat the Cubs 5-3 to gain a split of the four game series, after losing the first two. Jayson Werth homered for the third time in two games and Jamie Moyer won his 12th game. It was the 242nd win of Moyer's 22-year career. Remarkably, he only won 72 games in his first nine seasons.

NL Central

The Cubs lead in the division was reduced to 4.5 games due to the continuing heroics of the Brewers' CC Sabathia. The big man tossed a controversial 1-hit complete game shutout over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The play in question was the lone hit of the game. The Pirates' Andy LaRoche hit a tapper to the side of the mound that Sabathia bare handed and dropped. Had he picked the ball cleanly, he would have gotten LaRoche easily at first. But the official scorer ruled it an error. It would turn out to be the lone Pittsburgh hit. After the game, manager Ned Yost and Sabathia's teammates were clearly upset, and there was a plan (naive at best) to appeal to the league to have the call overruled.

The Brewers maintained a 4.5 game lead over the Phillies in the wildcard, while the Cardinals dropped to 6.5 back with a 3-0 loss to the Astros.


NL West

The Dodgers took two of three from the Diamondbacks to get back within 2.5 of Arizona in the west. LA dominated both wins, 6-2 on Saturday, and 8-1 on Sunday, with plenty of hitting and pitching. Derek Lowe threw six scoreless innings on Sunday night baseball, to beat Brandon Webb, who was walloped for the second straight time out in his attempt to win his 20th game.


Other News

The Indians, feel good about themselves, 10-game winning streak came to an abrupt end as they were swept by the Mariners in three straight.

The Padres Jake Peavy tossed a gem on Sunday (8 IP 5 H 0 R 13 K) only to see Trevor Hoffman blow the lead in the ninth. Hoffman then got the win when Luis Rodriguez drove in the game winner in the bottom of the ninth.

The Dodgers' Jeff Kent could be done for the season after it was announced he will undergo knee surgery to repair torn cartilage.

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The Pennant Race - 8/25

Walk-off home runs affected a couple of pennant races yesterday. With the Dodgers having already lost to the Phillies, 5-0, the Diamondbacks had a chance to increase their lead in the NL West. But Padres' outfielder Jody Gerut had something else in mind: a 2-out, 2-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to give San Diego a 4-2 win. The game featured a good duel between starters Jake Peavy and Dan Haren.

Meanwhile, over in the AL, the Twins led the Mariners 2-1 in the ninth inning, but faced with a first and third and no-out situation, they elected to play for the double play. They got it when Jeff Clement bounced into a 6-4-3 twin killing. That sent the game into extra innings where Adrian Beltre decided it in the eleventh inning with a 2-run home run off of Jesse Crain.

While the Diamondbacks remained three games ahead of LA, the Twins fell into second place in the AL Central, one game behind Chicago. That's because the White Sox split a pair of 4-3 games. The first was the completion of a game suspended nearly four months ago in Chicago. The Orioles and White Sox were tied 3-3 when the game was stopped on April 28 in the 11th inning. It would take three more innings yesterday before the Orioles' Luis Montanez knocked in the go-ahead run.

In the regularly scheduled game, Jim Thome's sixth inning home run snapped a 3-3 tie and the White Sox held on to the 4-3 lead. Thome's home run was number 535, putting him one behind Mickey Mantle on the all-time HR list.

The Mets maintained their half-game advantage over the Phillies behind another dominant performance from Mike Pelfrey. The right-hander became the first Mets pitcher to throw consecutive complete games since 1995. Pelfrey is 10-2, 2.90 since the managerial change at Shea. He got plenty of offensive support in the 9-1 Mets win last night as Carlos Delgado hit a pair of 3-run home runs. Since July 1st, Delgado has 14 home runs and 45 RBI in 49 games.

Brett Myers tossed seven shutout innings in the Phillies' 5-0 win over the Dodgers. Myers is 4-1, 1.24 over his last six starts. Last year's NL MVP, Jimmy Rollins, is trying to get his game back in gear and last night helped his cause. A double, triple, walk, two RBI, and a run scored. Manny Ramirez has hit his first LA mud slide- he's in a 5-24 skid.

The Cubs blasted the Pirates 12-3 behind a 3-run blast from Aramis Ramirez and four RBI by Kosuke Fukudome. Ramirez has three home runs and 10 RBI in his last three games. Ted Lilly won his 13th game, beating Jeff Karstens, who looked more like his real self (3 IP, 5 ER). The Brewers were idle, so the Cubs' lead was increased to 5 games.


Other News

The Indians have been out of the race for a long time, but kudos to them for not giving up their season. Their 4-3, 10 inning win over Detroit last night was their eighth straight. Grady Sizmore homered twice in the game, making him only the second Indians player, along with Joe Carter, to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season. He has an excellent chance to join Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, and Alfonso Soriano as the only members of the 40-40 club.

The Twins got some bullpen help yesterday, acquiring lefty reliever Eddie Guardado from the Rangers for minor leaguer Mike Hamburger. There was no side of fries.

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The Daily Yankeeland - 8/22

We woke up this morning and it was still true: Carl Pavano is pitching tomorrow. The Yankees should just run Phil Hughes out there and stop treating him with kid gloves.

"I'm not asking him to make amends," Manager Joe Girardi said. "I'm just asking him to come and compete. I tell every player when they come here, it's a clean slate. I'm just expecting him to do his thing."

That was what Joe Girardi told Tyler Kepner about Pavano's comeback.

Joba Chamberlain is expected to throw 35 pitches in his Saturday bullpen session.

Phil Mushnick takes a dig at some of Michael Kay's hypocrisy.

The Steinbrenner boys are reportedly in negotiations with Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney for a farewell concert at Yankee Stadium. Can't be outdone by the Wilpons, ya know?

Hal Steinbrenner used Derek Jeter as a conduit last week. As several beat writers have pointed out, Hal- and not Hank- is the Steinbrenner son who is really running the show. Hank may be making the headlines, but he never goes to games, wasn't at Bobby Murcer's Memorial service, etc..

Mike Ashmore reports on the Trenton Thunder's playoff-clinching win last night.

The Staten Island Yankees have won 8 straight.

What a difference a year makes. One year ago today, 8/22/07, the Orioles got lambasted by the Rangers, 30-3. The Yankees can't score 30 runs in a month.

Forgot to mention this the other day: Craig Biggio joined Mickey Mantle as the only MLB player to have number 7 retired.

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Breaking News: A-Rod Passes the Mick

Alex Rodriguez hit a line drive off the left field foul pole in Toronto's Rogers Centre to pass Mickey Mantle on the all-time home run list. Home run #537 came off of left-hander Brian Tallet in the top of the 4th of today's game.

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A-Rod Puts New Ball on a Mantle

Alex Rodriguez needed only one at-bat tonight to tie Mickey Mantle for 13th place on the all-time home run list. A-Rod hit Tim Wakefield's first pitch into the left field seats for home run number 536.

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A-Rod Catches a Foxx

Alex Rodriguez climbed another rung in baseball imortality tonight when he tied Jimmie Foxx for 14th place on the all-time home run list with 534 blasts. A-Rod hit a Scott Feldman pitch into the Yankee Stadium monuments sections, nearly clipping the Bambino. Next up is The Mick with 536.

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Houston, We Have Lift Off

Sounds a lot better than, "Houston, we have a problem". The Yankees player their first ever regular season series in Houston when they start a 3-game series tonight. The Yankees haven't played the Astros since June 10-12, 2003. The Yankees took two of three in the series, but in the one game they lost they were no-hit.

The Houston Astrodome was a tough place to hit home runs, but that is not the case in Minute Maid Park, which opened in 2000 and, at the time, unfortunately had its naming rights owned by Enron. The Brewers and Astros combined for 15 home runs in the latter two games of their series on Wednesday and Thursday.

The park includes a retractable roof, and an annoying replica train filled with replica oranges. The craziest part of MMP is the uphill slope in center field, which can trip up the best defender. MMP holds just under 41K and its dimensions, per mlb.com are as follows:

Distances from plate:
Left field - 315 feet
Left-center - 362 feet
Center field - 435 feet
Deepest point - 436 feet
Right-center - 373 feet
Right field - 326 feet

Height of wall:
Left field - 19 feet
Left-center - 25 feet
Center field - 10 feet
Deepest point - 10 feet
Right-center - 10 feet
Right field - 7 feet


The Yankees did play one game here, back on March 30, 1999. It was an exhibition game prior to the regular season, with the Astros winning it 6-5. Jason Grimsley took the loss, while Paul O'Neill and Ricky Ledee each homered in the first game in the park's history. The Yankees also played the first exhibition game in 1965 prior to the Astrodome opening. Mickey Mantle hit the first home run and the Yankees lost 2-1.

The Yankees have already made a roster move and it's a good one. They've sent little used Shelley Duncan down to Scranton and recalled infielder Alberto Gonzalez. The latter's defense and mobility will make him a much better fit in the NL parks.

Pitching Probables for the Series

Friday - Joba Chamberlain (1-2, 2.67) vs. Shawn Chacon (2-2, 4.96) 8:00 EDT
Saturday - Mike Mussina (9-4, 3.82) vs. Wandy Rodriguez (2-2, 1.99) 7:00 EDT
Sunday - Chien-Ming Wang (7-2, 4.30) vs. Roy Oswalt (5-6., 5.06) 2:00 EDT

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Stars Align for Moose

Right now we can't imagine how Mike Mussina will not be picked for this year's American League All-Star team. His last selection was in 1999. Mussina (9-4) continued his remarkable season last night by dazzling the Toronto Blue Jays for 6 innings in a 5-1 Yankees victory. The win snapped the Yankees 3-game losing streak and gave Mussina his 9th win of the season, tied with the Angels' Joe Saunders and Indians' Cliff Lee for tops in the American League.

Mussina allowed a pair of harmless singles through the first three innings and then the Yankees got on the board first. Jose Molina lead off the bottom of the 3rd with a single off Jays starter Jesse Litsch, and moved to 3rd Base on Johnny Damon's perfectly execute 1-out hit and run single. Derek Jeter then made history when he inside outed a ball to right field for an RBI single. It was hit number 2,416, moving him past Mickey Mantle into sole possession of 3rd place on the all-time Yankees hit list.

Mussina allowed a lead off double to Alex Rios in the 4th, but retired Scott Rolen on a line out and struck out Matt Stairs and Lyle Overbay. The Yankees then took advantage with 2 outs in their half of the inning. Wilson Betemit took Litsch deep to right for his 2nd home run of the season and a 2-0 lead. Robinson Cano followed with a double and after a walk to Molina, Melky Cabrera singled to right for a 3-0 advantage.

That would be all Mussina would need. He retired 8 men in a row before allowing a 2-out walk to Rios in the 6th. Home ump C.B. Bucknor seemed to tighten the strike zone in the at-bat. Moose was clearly frustrated on some 2-strike calls to Rolen as well and surrendered an RBI double before finally retiring Stairs on a ground out to Cano. The long pitch sequences to Rios and Rolen cost Mussina another inning as he left to a big ovation after 103 pitches.

The Yankees tacked on single runs in the 6th and 7th on RBI singles by Damon and Hideki Matsui. Ross Ohlendorf, Kyle Farnsworth, and Mariano Rivera finished up with 1 inning each. Rivera, in a non-save situation, struck out 2 of the 3 batters he faced.

News and Notes

Johnny Damon extended his hitting streak to 13 games.

Blue Jays outfielder Vernon Wells is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a broken wrist and could be back in 10 days. He's begun taking batting practice.


June 4, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Toronto	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0		1	6	0
NY Yankees	0	0	1	2	0	1	1	0	X		5	12	0

Toronto	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Stewart, LF	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.253
Scutaro, 2B	4	0	1	0	0	2	0	.269
Rios, CF	3	1	2	0	1	1	0	.266
Rolen, 3B	4	0	1	1	0	1	3	.304
Stairs, DH	4	0	0	0	0	2	2	.261
Overbay, 1B	4	0	2	0	0	1	1	.280
Barajas, C	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	.297
Thigpen, C	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Wilkerson, RF	3	0	0	0	0	1	2	.237
Eckstein, SS	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	.268
Totals	32	1	6	1	1	9	11
BATTING 2B: Rios (13, Mussina), Rolen (13, Mussina). TB: Scutaro; Rios 3; Rolen 2; Overbay 2. RBI: Rolen (15). 2-out RBI: Rolen. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Overbay; Stairs; Eckstein. GIDP: Rolen. Team LOB: 5. FIELDING DP: 3 (Overbay-Eckstein-Litsch, Eckstein-Scutaro-Overbay, Rolen-Scutaro-Overbay).

Toronto IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Litsch (L, 7-2) 5.1 10 4 4 2 1 1 3.45 Camp 1.0 1 1 1 1 0 0 4.11 Downs 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.88 Benitez 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.18

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	4	0	3	1	0	0	2	.310
Jeter, SS	4	0	1	1	0	1	2	.282
Abreu, RF	3	1	0	0	1	0	3	.281
Rodriguez, 3B	4	0	1	0	0	0	2	.293
Matsui, DH	3	0	2	1	1	0	0	.337
Betemit, 1B	4	1	1	1	0	0	4	.238
Cano, 2B	4	1	1	0	0	0	1	.217
Molina, C	3	2	2	0	1	0	0	.222
Cabrera, CF	4	0	1	1	0	1	2	.265
Totals	33	5	12	5	3	2	16
BATTING 2B: Cano (11, Litsch), Rodriguez (13, Litsch), Molina (12, Litsch). HR: Betemit (2, 4th inning off Litsch, 0 on, 2 out). TB: Damon 3; Jeter; Rodriguez 2; Matsui 2; Betemit 4; Cano 2; Molina 3; Cabrera. RBI: Jeter (27), Betemit (4), Cabrera (26), Damon (27), Matsui (28). 2-out RBI: Betemit; Cabrera; Damon. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Damon 2; Betemit. GIDP: Cano; Abreu; Betemit. Team LOB: 7. FIELDING DP: (Cano-Jeter-Betemit).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Mussina (W, 9-4)	6.0	5	1	1	1	6	0	4.01
Ohlendorf (H, 3)	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	5.79
Farnsworth	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4.28
Rivera	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0.35

WP: Ohlendorf.
IBB: Matsui (by Litsch).
Pitches-strikes: Litsch 99-59, Camp 16-8, Downs 8-6,
Benitez 10-7, Mussina 103-67, Ohlendorf 18-10,
Farnsworth 13-9, Rivera 14-10.
Ground outs-fly outs: Litsch 10-5, Camp 3-0, Downs 2-0,
Benitez 1-1, Mussina 6-6, Ohlendorf 2-1, Farnsworth 1-1, Rivera 1-0.
Batters faced: Litsch 26, Camp 5, Downs 2, Benitez 3,
Mussina 23, Ohlendorf 4, Farnsworth 3, Rivera 3.
Inherited runners-scored: Camp 1-1, Downs 1-1.
Umpires: HP: CB Bucknor. 1B: Joe West. 2B: Ed Rapuano.
3B: Ed Hickox.
Weather: 70 degrees, rain.
Wind: 6 mph, Out to LF.
T: 2:46.
Att: 51,151.

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2,416

Yankee Stadium fans just witnessed a piece of history as Derek Jeter passed Mickey Mantle for sole possession of 3rd place on the all-time team hit list. Hit #2416 was an RBI single to right off of Blue Jays starter Jesse Litsch. It also ended Litsch's 18 inning scoreless streak.

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It Almost Left the Ball Park

On this date, May 22, in 1963, Mickey Mantle hit a drive to right field that nearly left Yankee Stadium. The high soaring shot off of Kansas City's Bill Fischer went off of the light facade atop the Stadium or the ball would surely have sailed out.

mickeymantle.com has this audio of the home run, though Mel Allen's call sounds like a recreation rather than the original.

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One for the Mantle

41 years ago today, May 14, 1967, Mickey Mantle went deep for his 500th career home run. It was 2 days shy of the 16th anniversary of his first home run. Mickey took the Orioles Stu Miller deep in the 7th inning at Yankee Stadium.

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A 900-Ft Home Run

Okay, it only measured about 565-ft, but today is the 55th anniversary of the prodigious blast Mickey Mantle hit in Washington's Griffith Stadium. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports has a piece today on the legendary home and it's not so legendary length.

The Mick's blast off of the Senators' Chuck Stobbs traveled over the left field fence, hitting the "Natty Boh" sign at 460-ft, and ended up in a backyard.

The Yankees public relations head, Arthur "Red" Peterson, went looking for the baseball. He claims to have found it in the hands of little 10-year old Donald Dunaway. Peterson gave the young lad (why are we talking like this?) $1 for the ball.

Peterson claimed to have used a tape measure to get the 565 foot distance, but late in life admitted he had walked off the distance. But the feat still stands today.

Of course it's not the longest home run Mickey hit. His blast into the facade at Yankee Stadium was still rising when it clanked off the roof. It's estimate that the ball would have traveled over 700 feet.

It's unfortunate that the "Steroid ERA" has ruined this part of the game.

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Tonight's Lineups (6/5)

Clippard vs. Buehrle

Yankees

J. Damon dh
D. Jeter ss
B. Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
J. Posada c
H. Matsui lf
R. Cano 2b
M. Cabrera cf
M. Cairo 1b

White Sox

J. Owens cf
T. Iguchi 2b
J. Thome dh
J. Dye rf
A.J. Pierzynski c
P. Konerko 1b
R. Mackowiak lf
J. Uribe ss
A. Cintron 3b


And on this date in Yankees history, 1955 - Mickey Mantle homered off of the White Sox Billy Pierce. The ball traveled 550 ft. over the upper deck in left field of old Comiskey Park in Chicago.

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