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Wins

Sorry for the quiet times here. We had some big sales at work and then the creeping crud illness is making its rounds at work and I am working OT to cover those who can;t make it in.  Things should get back to normal here soon.  Thank you for your patience and for reading The Bronx Daily!

Today we will cover the five winningest pitchers in Yankees history.   The pitcher with the most career wins for the Bombers pitched for them from 1950-1967, with two years off for fighting in Korea.  He was on 6 World Championship teams.  A big lefthander who won the Cy Young Award in 1961 he went 243 straight innings without a stolen base against him as he had a great move to first.  He was elected to the hall in 1974.  If you haven;t figured out who it is yet, just check out below....
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WINS
1. W. Ford          236
2. R. Ruffing       231
3. A. Pettitte      192
4. L. Gomez       189
5. R. Guidry        170

Whitey Ford

The Babe Ruth Era, Pt. 8

We last left off with the Babe Ruth era in 1927.  Well, 1928 dawned with Yankee fans drooling for the "Greatest Team Ever" in the opinion of many was sure to repeat the fans thought. They couldn;t wait for the season to start. But, would it be a cake walk like they expected?  We shall see.

The season started out with a 8-3 win over the Philadelphia A's.  On April 24th they started a 7 game winning streak that put the on top of the AL by April 30th.  From May 8th thru May 20th they put together a 8 game winning streak that by the time it had finished had the Yankees up 4.5 games over the A's. 

By June 12th the Bombers were 40-10 up 9.5 games over the A's who were playing .612 baseball!  The route was on but how bad would it get for the rest of the AL before it was over?  Well, by July 4th the Yankees had slowed down a bit in winning but were a 54-18 .750 up 12 games over the A's!

However, by August 6th the Bombers were up only 3.5 games with a record of 72-35 .673 over the A's who were blowing out the AL with a 68-38 .642 record.  The A's were a tough bunch and probably the two best teams in baseball in 1928 at this point of time.  Could the Yankees hold them off? 

On Sept. 7, 1928 the baseball world was abuzz for there was a tie for first place in the AL!!!  The up and coming A's had caught the mighty Bombers and both teams had a record of 87-47 .649!!!  There was going to be a pennant race after all.  The A's and Yankees were blowing apart the AL in a race between two titans and the rest of the AL was going to pay the price it looked like for only the Browns at .545 were above .500.  All the rest of the AL was under .500 and sinking.

The next day the Yanks beat Washington to go up a half game over the Athletics who were now coming to Yankee Stadium for a four game set.  This was it, the show down of the two mightiest teams in the AL if not in all of baseball and the baseball worl was watching!  Well, it turned out to be anti-climatic actually for the first three games went 5-0, 7-3, 5-3 to the Bombers before the A's could salvage a 4-3 win.  So, the Bombers came out with a 2.5 game lead. 

But, the A's were not done yet.  They pulled to within a half game of the Yanks after the Browns won 6-5 over the Bombers. But, then the Yankees got down to business.  7-5, 12-2, 14-11 as the Bronx Bombers pounded the Browns int he next three games to go up 2 games over the A's.  However, on Sept 20 the A's pulled back to within a game as the White Sox won 4-3.  The Yankees however rebounded the next day and went back up 2 games over the A's with a 5-2 pounding of the Sox.  They held onto the 2 game lead as both the Yankees and A's were hit by their opposition with everything they had as each team wanted to be the spoiler. 

On September 27th the Yankees took a DH from the Tigers to go up 2.5 games with 3 games left.  Could the Yankees put it away the next day or would it go to the final game?  The next day in Detroit the Yankees got the bats out and won their 100th game of the season crushing the Tigers 11-6 to win their third straight AL pennant. 

Here are the final AL Standings for 1928

NY	101	53	.656	--
PHI	98	55	.641	2.5
SL	82	72	.532	19.0
WSH	75	79	.487	26.0
CHI	72	82	.468	29.0
DET	68	86	.442	33.0
CLE	62	92	.403	39.0
BOS	57	96	.373

I won't point out who finished in last that season (grins). The Yankees and A's both had great seasons.
Wonder what would've happened in a playoff scenario that season. Makes on think doesn't it?  Here is how the Bombers fared against the rest of the AL in 1928.

BOS	16	6
CHW	13	9
CLE	16	6
DET	15	7
PHA	16	6
SLB	12	10
WSH	13	9

I find it interesting that their three best records were against Boston (last place), Cleveland (7th place) and then they took it out on the A's who were their main challengers.  The only thing that kept the A's from passing the Yankees was the Yankees themselves!  One thing that really stands out to me is that the Browns gave the Yankees their most fits.  In 1927 the Bombers beat the Browns 21 times with only 1 loss.  What a difference a year can make. 

Team leaders for the Year were as follows;
Babe Ruth  163 Runs, 54 HR, 142 RBI (tied), 137 BB, .709 SLG, 380 TB, 1.172 OPS  and 208 OPS+,154 G
Lou Gehrig  210 H, 47 2B, 142 RBI (tied), .374 BA, .467 OBP, 154 G
Earle Combs 626 AB, 21 3B,
Tony Lazzeri 15 SB

On the mound the Yanks were led by;
George Pipgras 24 W, 46 G, 42 GS, 22 CG, 300.2 IP, 139 K
Herb Pennock  2.56 ERA, 5 SHO,
Waite Hoyt .767 Winng Pct. (23-7)

As a team the Yankees stacked up statistically like this against the rest of the AL;
5.81 Runs per game-1st, 894 Runs-1st, 1576 Hits-1st, 133 HR-1st, 817 RBI-1st, .294 BA-1st, .365 OBP-1st, .450 SLG-1st, 267 2B-6th, 79 3B-3rd, 50 SB-7th.

The Staff was as follows;
ERA 3.74-2nd, 82 CG-2nd, 13 SHO-3rd, 685 Runs-2nd, 1466 hits-3rd, 487 Ks-2nd, 452 BB-2nd,

The Yankees fielding pct. was .967-6th.

In the World Series the Yankees got their revenge for the 1926 Series loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. They took the Redbirds in 4 straight games 41-, 9-3, 7-3 and 7-3 to repeat as World Champions.  The Babe hit 3 homers in this Series but Lou Gehrig hit 4!!!  Gehrig also led the team with 9 RBIs but the Babe scored 9 Runs and hit .625 to lead the Yankees in those categories. 

What would 1929 bring?  The Yankees were surely the best team in baseball.  However, those A's were still up and coming.  1929 would prove to be interesting!  Come back for that post!

1928 World Champion New York Yankees

The Top 5

Here are the top five winningest  managers in the history of the Yankees:

1. Joe Torre       1173-767
2. Casey Stengel  1149-696
3. Miller Huggins  1067-719
4. Ralph Houk       944-806
5. Billy Martin       556-385

The Managers with the best world series records are:

1. Joe McCarthy    7-1
2. Casey Stengel    7-3                                                                                         

3. Joe Torre         4-2
4. Miller Huggins   3-3                                                                                           

5. Ralph Houk      2-1

Most games won in Series as Manager

1. Casey Stengel         37-26                                                                                  

2. Joe McCarthy         29-9                                                                                    

3. Joe Torre              21-11                                                                                   

4. Miller Huggins         18-15                                                                                  

5. Ralph Houk               8-8

19 straight!

It was June 29, 1947 and the 1st place Yankees were 3.5 games up on the Red Sox with a record of 39-25 .609.  The Yankees had captured and held first place since June 15th and it was shaping up to be a classic Yankee/Red Sox fight for the pennant. 

However, little did anyone know that starting on this day the Yankees would begin the streak that still stands in their record books to this day.  The day didn't begin that well for the Bombers as they lost the first  game of a DH to Washington 5-1.  But, they took the second game 3-1 to stay up 4.5 games over the Red Sox.

Next came a stop in Boston for one game where they beat the Red Sox 3-1 to up their lead to 5.5 games and win their second straight game.   Then the first of July came and the Yanks had the day off as they prepared to host the Washington Senators for a three game set at home.  The Yankees took the July 2nd game 8-1 and then with no game on the third they went into a DH on the 4th of July and swept the Series taking a 7-3 and 4-2 decisions to make it 5 straight wins and expanded their lead over the Tigers who now were in second place to 7.5 games.

On the 5th of July the Philadelphia A's came into Yankee Stadium and were promptly beaten 5-1 to make the Yankees lead over the Tigers and Red Sox 8 games. It was the Bombers 6th straight win.
The next day was a DH and the Yankees pounded the A's 8-2 and 9-2 to make it 8 wins in a row which kept their lead over Detroit/Boston at 8 games.

The next game wasn't until July 10th when the Yankees went into Sportsman's Field in St. Louis to play the Browns.  The Browns were game but fell 4-3 as the Yankees moved their lead up to 8.5 games with their 9th straight win.  July 11th  saw the Yanks take a 3-1 decision for their 10th straight win.  Their lead increased to 9 games over Detroit and Boston. 

Saturday July 12th was a DH and the Yankees were smelling blood in the water as they crushed the Browns 12-2 and 8-5 to push their lead up to 9.5 games and increase their winning streak to 12 games.

July 13th had the Yanks visiting the White Sox for a DH where they promptly crushed the White Sox 10-3 and 6-4.  With 14 straight wins the Yanks lead now was up to 10.5 games over Detroit and Boston.

Then the Yankees went to Cleveland for a 5 game set in 3 days with a DH on the first day and a DH on the third day.  Cleveland at the time was roughly a .500 club in 4th place.  So, the Yankees were facing a decent team that could give them a fight at home.  Well, it didn't turn out that way.  The Bombers took all five games sweeping the DH on July 15th 9-4 and 2-1 to push their lead up to 11 games over second place Detroit.  The 16th saw them beat the Indians 8-2 to push their lead up to 11.5 games over the Tigers.  The DH on the 17th saw the Bombers beat Cleveland 3-1 and 7-2 to make it 19 straight wins!!!  Their lead was 11.5 games over the Tigers whom on the next day they finally lost to ending their streak at 19 straight wins. 

But, this winning streak broke the race for the AL pennant in 1947 wide open.  As you can see by the standings below the 19 game winning streak dramatically changed the dramatics of this race.

Standings before 19 game winning streak;

NY   40	26	.606	--	323	241
Bos  34	29	.540	4.5	294	276
Det  32	30	.516	6.0	246	246
Phi  33	31	.516	6.0	248	238
Cle  28	28	.500	7.0	235	191
Was 29	32	.475	8.5	188	242
CWS 31	35	.470	9.0	218	270
SL   23	39	.371	15.0	241	289

Standing after 19 game winning streak:

NY	58	26	.690	--	439	281
Det	44	35	.557	11.5	344	334
Bos	44	37	.543	12.5	368	346
Phi	41	42	.494	16.5	336	322
Cle	36	40	.474	18.0	321	271
CWS	37	47	.440	21.0	273	363
Was	35	45	.438	21.0	274	353
SL	28	51	.354	27.5	308	393

If you look at the streak the Yankees not only went 19-0, but they out scored their opposition 116-40!!!
The Yankees didn't keep up this pace but their lead stayed about the same and by the end of the Season the Yankees won the AL Pennant and went on to the World Series to win it all against the Brooklyn Dodgers.  The turning point of the season was this 19 game winning streak, a record that still stands in the Yankees record book.  Below is the final 1947 AL Standings.

NY	97	57	.630	--	794	568
Det	85	69	.552	12.0	714	642
Bos	83	71	.539	14.0	720	669
Cle	80	74	.519	17.0	687	588
Phi	78	76	.506	19.0	633	614
CWS	70	84	.455	27.0	553	661
WSH	64	90	.416	33.0	496	675
SL	59	95	.383	38.0	564	744

The ten highest

We all know about Maris catching Ruth in 1961 to pass him to hit 61 in a season for the top home run season in Yankees history.  But, what about the top ten season numbers?  How many times is Babe Ruth in the top ten seasons in Yankees history?  Who are you surprised to see or not to see on the list?
Here are the top ten Home Run Seasons in Yankees history.

TOP 10 HR SEASONS

1. Roger Maris      61       1961
2. Babe Ruth         60       1927
3. Babe Ruth         59       1921
4. Alex Rodriguez  54       2007
    Mickey Mantle   54       1961
    Babe Ruth         54       1928
    Babe Ruth         54       1928
8. Mickey Mantle   52       1956
9. Lou Gehrig        49       1934
    Lou Gehrig        49       1936
    Babe Ruth         49       1930

Babe Ruth-Has 5 of the 10 highest single season homer totals.

Spring Training Schedule and comments.

As I sit here looking out the window at the snow and battling some form of winter illness I call the creeping crud I find it hard to believe that in a couple of weeks the ballplayers will be returning to get ready for spring training.  Unbelievable!!!

I am ready for baseball.  Ready to celebrate seeing the WORLD CHAMPION NEW YORK YANKEES take the field, to celebrate them being World Champions and to see what the slightly changed Yanks will look like.  It should be a lot of fun seeing them get ready to defend their title.

Below is the schedule and I see they play the Phillies 5 times.  Won't that be a riot to see these two great teams take the field against each other again.  Both will have slightly different looks. Could this be a foretaste of what is to come in October?  Its too early to tell, but those thoughts do cross one's mind if are a Bombers or Phillies fan.

Wednesday, March 3	PIRATES	TAMPA	1:05
Thursday, March 4	Phillies	Clearwater	1:05
Friday, March 5	RAYS	TAMPA	1:05
Saturday, March 6	BLUE JAYS	TAMPA	1:05
Sunday, March 7	Twins	Lee County	1:05
Monday, March 8	PHILIIES (ss)	TAMPA	1:05
Monday, March 8	Pirates (ss)	Bradenton	1:05
Tuesday, March 9	PIRATES	TAMPA	1:05
Wednesday, March 10	Tigers	Lakeland	1:05
Thursday, March 11	BRAVES	TAMPA	7:05
Friday, March 12	Nationals	Viera	1:05
Saturday, March 13	ORIOLES (ss)	TAMPA	1:05
Saturday, March 13	Tigers (ss)	Lakeland	1:05
Sunday, March 14	Pirates	Bradenton	1:05
Monday, March 15	No Game
Tuesday, March 16	ASTROS	TAMPA	7:05
Wednesday, March 17	Phillies	Clearwater	1:05
Thursday, March 18	RAYS	TAMPA	7:05
Friday, March 19	TIGERS (ss)	TAMPA	1:05
Friday, March 19	Rays (ss)	Port Charlotte	TBD
Saturday, March 20	Astros	Kissimmee	1:05
Sunday, March 21	TIGERS	TAMPA	1:05
Monday, March 22	Phillies	Clearwater	1:05
Tuesday, March 23	Day Off
Wednesday, March 24	NATIONALS	TAMPA	7:05
Thursday, March 25	Orioles	Sarasota	1:05
Friday, March 26	PHILLIES	TAMPA	7:05
Saturday, March 27	Tigers	Lakeland	1:05
Sunday, March 28	TIGERS	TAMPA	1:05
Monday, March 29	Orioles	Sarasota	7:05
Tuesday, March 30	BLUE JAYS (ss)	TAMPA	7:05
Tuesday, March 30	Braves (ss)	DWWS	1:05
Wednesday, March 31	TWINS	TAMPA	1:05
Thursday, April 1	Blue Jays	Dunedin	1:05
Friday, April 2	ORIOLES	TAMPA	7:05
Saturday, April 3	YANKEES FUTURE STARS	TAMPA	1:05

So, in about a month and a half the Grapefruit League begins.  For what it means, the Yankees are defending Grapefruit League Champions also. LOL....   That is the first title they will be out to defend. 

Spring training is a lot of fun and I am looking forward to it immensely.  It will be great to hear the crack of the bat, the fans yelling, the vendors hollering, the announcers, the umpires yelling play ball and to look out the window and not see snow and not have the creeping crud.  Hurry up and get here!!!! :)

Are you ready for some baseball?  I know I am....

His greatest season....

For several years they had been talking about Mickey Mantle and how good he was going to be. Well, he had been very good so far, but had not reached the potential that everyone thought he could reach. There was some rumbling about that, but he was still better than average so far. 

Well, that changed in 1956.  The Mick came to life this year and turned it on.  His bat was hot and he had a year that most players can only dream of.  Playing in 150 games Mickey came to the plate 533 times.  With a team leading 188 hits his batting average was .353 led the league as did his 52 Homers, 130 RBIs and 132 Runs.  His 10 SB also led the Bombers for 1956.  Winning the Triple Crown and the AL Pennant wasn't enough though.

In the Series Mick hit only .250.  However, he hit 3 HR and scored 6 runs as the Bombers won the Series over the Dodger 4 games to 3 and the Mick hit a upper deck shot in Don Larsen's perfect game!  The Mick had finally reached his potential and his 1956 season is one of the greatest in AL history.

Yankee Players in Hall

Below is a list of the Yankee players who are in the Hall of Fame and the years they played with the Yankees.  Are there any surprises on this list for you?  Surprised by the ones you find here, or surprised by the ones who are not on the list?

Hope this is interesting and informative..... :)

Player	Years with Yankees
Frank "Home Run" Baker	1916-1919, 1921-1922
Wade Boggs	1993-1997
Yogi Berra*	1946-1963
Frank Chance	1913-1914
Jack Chesbro*	1903-1909
Earle Combs*	1924-1935
Stan Coveleski	1928
Bill Dickey*	1928-1943, 1946
Joe Dimaggio*	1936-1942, 1946-1951
Leo Durocher**	1925, 1928-1929
Whitey Ford*	1950, 1953-1967
Lou Gehrig*	1923-1939
Lefty Gomez*	1930-1942
Clark Griffith**	1903-1907
Burleigh Grimes	1934
Waite Hoyt*	1921-1930
Jim "Catfish" Hunter	1975-1979
Reggie Jackson	1977-1981
Willie Keeler*	1903-1909
Tony Lazzeri*	1926-1937
Mickey Mantle	1951-1968
Bill McKechnie**	1913
Johnny Mize	1949-1953
Phil Niekro	1984-1985
Herb Pennock*	1923-1933
Gaylord Perry	1980
Phil Rizzuto*	1941-1942, 1946-1956
Red Ruffing*	1930-1942, 1945-1946
Babe Ruth*	1920-1934
Joe Sewell	1931-1933
Enos Slaughter	1954-1959
Dazzy Vance	1915, 1918
Paul Waner	1944-1945
Dave Winfield*	1981-88, 1990

* Played more games with Yankees than any other team
** Elected as manager or executive



Mickey mantle was my first favorite player and a Hall of Famer.

Hitting for the Cycle

Yeah, the first name that will pop out of your mouth will be Babe Ruth did it the most times.  Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!  Wrong answer.  The Babe never hit for the Cycle with the Yankees.  Lou Gehrig?  Yeah, he did it twice but thats not the most times.  The Mick?  He did it once. 

In their long and great history Hitting for the Cycle has been done 14 times by a palyer in a Yankees uniform. Well,  how about Joe DiMaggio?  He did it twice but he isn't the Bomber with the most times hitting for the cycle either.  Yeah, its not Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio or Mantle who has done it the most times. 

It was first done in 1912 by Burt Daniels.  Yeah, thats my response too.. WHO?!!!!!  Tony Lazzeri did it once too.  So did Joe "Flash" Gordon.  In 1940 Buddy Rosar the Catcher did it.  Ahem.. yes I went "Who????!!!!!"  also at that one too!

Bobby Murcer did it once as well as Tony Fernandez.  That leaves us with one player who did it three times!  Nope, not Billy Martin or Derek Jeter.  No its not A-Rod or Matsui.  Give up? 

Well it was done three times by one heck of a player who played during the Ruth era.  In fact on most teams this guy would've been the star of the show, but being with Ruth and Gehrig he is mostly overshadowed.  He was one heck a a hitter, led the AL in Homers one season and hit .309 lifetime.  Guess yet?  Well, below is the list of those who hit for the cycle with the Yankees and below that is his picture.  Give it one more try before you look... no cheatin! 

Now, no cheating!  Give it one more guess! 

Name	Opponent	Date
Tony Fernandez (SS)	Oakland	9/3/1995
Bobby Murcer (OF)	Texas (Game 1)	8/29/1972
Mickey Mantle (OF)	Chicago	7/23/1957
Joe DiMaggio (OF)	@ Chicago	5/20/1948
Joe Gordan (2B)	@ Boston	9/8/1940
Buddy Rosar (C)	Cleveland	7/19/1940
Lou Gehrig (1B)	St. Louis	8/1/1937
Joe DiMaggio (OF)	Washington	7/9/1937
Lou Gehrig (1B)	Chicago	6/25/1934
Tony Lazzeri (2B)	Chicago	6/3/1932
Bob Meusel (OF)	@ Detroit	7/26/1928
Bob Meusel (OF)	@ Philadelphia	7/3/1922
Bob Meusel (OF)	@ Washington	5/7/1921
Bert Daniels (OF)	Chicago	7/25/1912

Bob Meusel the only Yankee to hit for the Cycle 3 times in his career.

Bomber Hot Stove News

I don't like to post all the daily rumors during the Hot Stove time.  I like to report what actually happens although sometimes I do post a rumor if it is intriguing enough.  But, enough of my shortcomings. :)

Here is the actual Hot Stove News for the Yankees and my reaction to it;

First, they sign Nick Johnson. He didn't really blossom till after he left the Yanks and played in the NL. I didn't care for his lack of production and his failures in the clutch situations then and I really am not sure I like the signing now. I hope he hits for the Bombers like he did for everyone else.  But, this one leave me with a sinking feeling.. but lets hope I am wrong.

Javier Vasquez?  Yeah, they signed him too.  Everyone remembers him.... my thoughts..  Hoo boy... enough said. Cabrera went for him.... well, he can be replaced.  Never impressed me all that much but definitely the Yanks got the short end of this deal.

Matsui signs with Angels.......  Sorry to see him go.  Too bad he is going to a playoff rival for the Yanks. 

What about Johnny Damon?  Interesting rumors abound here.  The most interesting to me is he could be staying.  Even though I hate spreading unfounded rumors this one has my attention. 

Through the years I've supported the Yankees and usually found a lot to be happy about in even questionable deals.  Vasquez and Johnson I find no firm positives in for I saw them play for the Bombers before and was glad to see both of them go.  Now they are back... sigh... Cashman you got us back to the Series and the Top with your moves. Now your seeming to undo all of it with some moves I really hate. But, who am I? I call some of them right some of them wrong.  I hope I am wrong, but Cashman, this really stinks.