50 Years Ago Today

50 year years ago today, for a whopping $8.8 million dollar investment, George Steinbrenner bought my beloved Yankees. 3 years later he returned them to the World Series; a year later they notched the first of *SEVEN*World Series Championships under his watch (to go along with 2 Stanley Cup's as owner of the NJ Devils). I don't believe even a fraction of that success would have come without the chaotic mess that so often defined Steinbrenner's reign. 

Say what you want - the man knew how to win. 

Happy Purchase Day!

O Captain, My Captain

Today Aaron Judge was named the 16th captain in Yankees history.  It's an honor that's well deserved. 

Congratulations!

62

Tonight Yankees rightfielder Aaron Judge made history by launching his 62nd home run of the year, passing the AL record set by Roger Maris sixty years ago.  How fitting is it that all 3 AL players to have hit 60 or more homers did it wearing pinstripes?

Hitting 62 qualifies as one of the greatest seasons ever all by its lonesome, but in every aspect, at plate and at the field, he's having one of the most impressive seasons in history.  This graphic is a week or so old, but it gives you some idea of his greatness in 2022.

Gerrit Cole joins the Yankees

Great news. Now bring us that ring - you know, the one we should have had in 2017 except the Astros were dirty rotten lying cheats that should be banned from the post-season for the next decade.

Congrats to Mariano!

The first EVER unanimous selection for the Hall of Fame!  And congrats to former Yank Mike Mussina for being voted in too! #Yankees #mlb

Mel Stottlemyre

RIP to the recognizable Yankees pitcher and coach

 

Thurman Munson

Today would have been Thurman Munson's 70th birthday. RIP pinstripe great, RIP.

A Golden Anniversary

50 years ago today Yankees great Mickey Mantle hit the 500th homerun of his career.

Chris Carter to Sign with the Yankees

Yes!

When the Brewers parted ways with him I had hoped this would happen. He'll make a fine stopgap first baseman for the Yanks.

Welcome to a real club Chris!

nydailynews.com

Yankees reportedly ink NL home run champ Chris Carter to one-year, $3 million deal

Gehrig

80 years ago today Lou Gehrig hit his 400th home run, only the second player in history to do so (Babe Ruth being the first).

Yanks - Padres

Texeria just hit his 400th career home run, but of course I missed it because Lisa asked me to bring in groceries  #$@%

A-Rod gets his 3000th hit! I bow to thee!!

Congrats A-Rod!

I bow to thee! Congratulations Alex Rodriguez!! What an epic feat!

Number 660 Baby!

Congrats for tying the great Willie Mays, ARod! Here's looking forward to #763!

Billy Martin Revisited

RIP Billy Martin, gone 25 years today. You may not have been the greatest Yankee, but you were the proudest. #pinstripes

Good Job Jeter

I will interrupt my strike to say that it was one heckuva great way for Derek Jeter to close out his Yankee Stadium finale. He wouldn't have needed the dramatics if A-Rod had been there to do what he does best, but all the same, good job. I will now resume my strike.

Don Zimmer

RIP Yankees coaching great, and former Boston manager, Don Zimmer

24 Grand Slams!

It took me a full day to wipe the tears of joy from my eyes: Alex Rodriguez ripped a 92 mph fastball into the seats yesterday for a Grand Slam against the Giants. That's his *24TH* Grand Slam, passing Lou Gehrig for sole possession of the all-time record. Twenty four career grand slams. Wow. I hope you enjoyed watching such a cherished record fall Mr. Selig - I hope you see it over and over again in your  dreams. Say it with me folks - A-Rod, I bow to thee!

Disrespect

A summary of the media's disrespect for Alex Rodriguez (courtesy of BTF)

1996: 9.31 WAR, just behind Griffey (crazy credit for defense to Griffey that year) but 2nd in MVP to Juan Gonzalez despite a higher OPS, scoring 52 more runs, and playing SS instead of a poor RF.

1997: despite a 846 OPS and 5.6 WAR he didn't get even a 10th place vote while Tino Martinez came in 2nd with a 948 OPS at 1B and 5.08 WAR. Even a guy with negative WAR got 2 votes (Deivi Cruz for Detroit)

1998: 919 OPS, 8.50 WAR but Gonzalez gets his 2nd MVP while A-Rod comes in 9th. Yes, ninth! He even had a 40 HR, 40 SB season that year. He led in WAR for hitters by nearly a full win over Jeter (3rd place).

1999: 943 OPS, 4.76 WAR (injured) and 15th place, about right for that season

2000: 1.026 OPS, 10.29 WAR and 3rd place behind 2 1B who cannot field (Giambi and Thomas)

2001: 1.021 OPS, 8.36 WAR and 6th place, Ichiro's year.

2002: 1.015 OPS, 8.81 WAR 2nd place to another SS who had a 861 OPS and 5.6 WAR (Tejada) who got it due to his team having that amazing 20 game winning streak

2003: Voters give in and let him win at last - He is 2.2 WAR ahead of all other hitters (Pedro had a great year again, Loaiza also had more WAR than non-ARod hitters) but he gets just 6 first place votes while a guy with 3.12 WAR (Shannon Stewart) gets 3 first place votes (yes, voters can be pretty dumb).

2004: In NY now, 4th in WAR but 14th in voting

2005: Wins again, led in WAR by over 2 wins so hard to ignore but 16 first place votes while Ortiz who hit worse than A-Rod by almost any measure (Avg/OBP/Slg/HR/SB) gets 11 first place votes

2006: poor year ('just' 4.46 WAR)

2007: Wins again, led in WAR by nearly 2 wins again, gets all but 2 first place votes

2008: 6.8 WAR, 2nd among hitters but 8th in MVP voting

2009 to now: 4.2 is his best WAR since and hasn't finished higher than 10th in MVP voting.

The Yanks Return

I've been gaga for days after hearing that my beloved Yanks are returning to Miller Park next year (their last visit was in '05, when an infant Parker had the privilege of watching A-Rod hit his 399th and 400th home runs). I have already informed Team Slap that even if it means skipping the mortgage in May we WILL be there for the three game series, dressed in Yankees apparel and cheering them on to an easy sweep of the Brewers. 

This last point brought protests from Lisa & LuLu, both of whom said they wouldn't go if they had to root against the Crew. "Fine," I said. "You don't have to root for the Yankees . . . but if you don't, you don't eat or drink at the game. I don't feed the opposition." Lisa simply flipped me off and moved on, but Lu wisely caved and was embraced in the loving arms of the Evil Empire . . .