
2019: Brett Blasts Off
With the Yankees trailing the Red Sox, 3-1, at the Stadium, Brett Gardner turned the tide by hitting a grand slam off Ryan Brasier that put the Yanks in front, 5-3, the score by which they would win. It was the 100th home run of Gardner’s career, and the drive made him just the second player in Yankees history to have at least 100 homers and 250 stolen bases with the team.
The other? One of his old teammates, Hall of Famer Derek Jeter.
2015: Hello, Stephen
In a 5-4 Yankees win over the Rays in St. Petersburg, Stephen Drew hit a solo home run off Nate Karns for the 100th homer of his career. Drew would finish his career with 123 homers, 20 of which occurred with the Yankees over 177 games between the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
2014: Tripling Up Tampa
As part of a 10-2 victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field, the Yankees turned three behind CC Sabathia. With runners on first and second and nobody out in the bottom of the second inning, Sabathia got Sean Rodriguez to hit into a 5-4-3 triple play – 3B Yangervis Solarte, 2B Brian Roberts and 1B Scott Sizemore pulled it off. This was also the third straight triple play turned by the Yankees in which Sabathia was on the mound (also in 2010 and 2013).
2010: Hip Hip ...
In a 7-3 Yankees win over the Rangers in the Bronx, Jorge Posada recorded career hits No. 1,499 and 1,500. The first hit was a single off Scott Feldman in the bottom of the second inning, then he singled off Feldman again in the third. Posada became the fourth player in Yankees history to amass 1,500 hits with the club while playing catcher as their primary position, joining legends Yogi Berra, Bill Dickey and Thurman Munson. The lifelong Yankee would wind up with 1,664 career hits.
2007: ... Jorge!
In a 10-3 Yankees win over the Indians in the Bronx, Jorge Posada hit a two-run homer off former Yankee Jake Westbrook for the 200th home run of his career. Posada would end his career with 275 round-trippers.
1976: Captain Munson
Thurman Munson was named Captain of the Yankees, becoming the first player to hold that distinction since Lou Gehrig in his final season of 1939. Munson is recognized as the 10th official captain out of 15 in franchise history.
1969: Pep in Their Step
The Yankees walked off in Game 1 of a doubleheader against the Washington Senators at the Stadium. The Yanks led, 3-1, after eight innings, but in the top of the ninth, Mike Epstein connected for a game-tying two-run homer off Mel Stottlemyre that sent the game to extras. With the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the 10th, Joe Pepitone wrapped things up with a game-ending grand slam off Dennis Higgins, giving the Yanks a 7-3 win. Pepitone’s salami was the Yanks’ first walk-off grand slam since Charlie Keller hit one in 1942, and there would not be another until Ruppert Jones provided one in 1980.
1953: How Far Did It Go?!?
In a 7-3 win over the Senators in Washington, Mickey Mantle hit one of the most iconic home runs in baseball history, measured at 565 feet. As described on the official website of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, his drive off Chuck Stobbs in the top of the fifth inning “flew over the 391-foot mark on the fence, clearing 32 rows of bleachers in left-center field and bounced off an advertising sign 460-feet from home plate. The ball cleared Fifth Street directly behind the left-field wall and proceeded to roll until finally stopping 565 feet from home plate in the backyard of 434 Oakdale Street a few blocks down.” The blast is credited with giving birth to the term “tape-measure home run” -- the ball and the bat Mantle hit the homer with both reside in Cooperstown.
1951: Two Legends Debut
On Opening Day against the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, one of the greatest icons in American sports history made his MLB debut: Mickey Mantle. He went 1-for-4 with an RBI single off Bill Wight as the Yankees defeated the Red Sox, 5-0. The game was also the first for Bob Sheppard as the Yankees’ public-address announcer, a role he would hold for 57 years.