2017: Chipping away against the Rays
The Rays’ blunder in the ninth inning sets up a dramatic walk-off win for the Yankees, who trail, 5-4, entering the final frame. Tampa reliever Alex Colome gives up a lead-off triple to Brett Gardner, then gets two quick outs. However, with Gary Sanchez -- who homered earlier in the game -- at the plate, second baseman Tim Beckham and shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria let the Yankees catcher’s grounder roll between them, allowing the tying single instead of what should have been the game-ending groundout. Gardner leads off the 11th with a walk-off home run, the third of his career. In the ensuing celebration at home plate, Gardner’s helmet bounces high enough to chip Aaron Judge’s tooth.
2015: A home run for the birthday boy
Alex Rodriguez joins a small club of players who have homered on their 40th birthday when he goes deep off the Rangers’ Matt Harrison in the Yankees’ 6-2 win over Texas. It’s A-Rod’s Major-League record sixth and final birthday homer, and his first since 2004. But A-Rod is not the only offensive star; shortstop Didi Gregorius contributes three hits, including a two-run home run and four RBI.
2014: Torre inducted into Cooperstown
Joe Torre is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Expansion Era committee along with fellow managers Bobby Cox and Tony LaRussa, while 300-game winners Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine and 500-home run slugger Frank Thomas are ushered in as BBWAA selections. Torre, a two-time Manager of the Year, essentially began the most recent Yankees dynasty by guiding the team to the playoffs in each of his 12 seasons at the helm, winning 10 division titles, six pennants, and four World Series championships.
2004: Sheffield reaches No. 400
Gary Sheffield belts his 400th career home run; a ninth-inning solo shot off Toronto’s Mike Nakamura at the SkyDome. Earlier in the game, Alex Rodriguez celebrates his 29th birthday with his team-leading 25th home run of the season to help the Yankees to a 7-4 victory over the Blue Jays.
1975: Gator’s debut
Ron Guidry makes his Major League debut, pitching mop-up duty in the eighth inning of a 6-0 loss to the Red Sox at Shea Stadium. Guidry pitches two innings of scoreless relief, allowing three hits and recording three strikeouts. His first strikeout victim is future Hall-of-Famer Jim Rice, who had four hits up to that point. However, the loss puts the Yankees’ record at 50-50, and manager Bill Virdon will be fired only a few days later.
1975: Alex Rodriguez is born
Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez is born in New York to immigrant parents, who move the family back to the Dominican Republic and then to Miami for A-Rod’s formative years. He is chosen as the first overall pick in the 1993 MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners and makes his debut at age 18 just over a year later in 1994. Ten years later, after seven All-Star appearances and on the heels of winning the AL MVP Award with the Rangers, A-Rod is traded to the Yankees, where he will win two more MVPs, be named to another seven All-Star games, win a World Series title and finish fourth on baseball’s all-time home run list with 696.
1951: Crafty Casey stalls for Yankees win
The White Sox and Yankees, separated by 3 1/2 games in the standings, open up a scheduled four-game series at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees hold a 3-1 lead through eight innings, but the White Sox jump ahead, 4-3, in the top of the ninth, despite a 26-minute rain delay. Chicago has the bases loaded with one out as Casey Stengel is poised to bring in Eddie Lopat, his fifth pitcher of the inning, before another deluge falls and the umpires call the game, reverting the final score back to 3-1 in the Yankees’ favor.
