GUESS WHO'S COMING TO OLD TIMERS' DAY?

I wanted to send put this out because it's always fun to see who shows up to Old Timers' Day and who was asked.  For instance, this year there are a few guys that were asked for the very first time.  Those new guys are:

Sterling Hitchcock

Stump Merrill

Gene Monahan

Matt Nokes

Tanyon Sturtze

Believe me, Old Timers' Day is one of the most exciting moments at Yankee Stadium all year.  This year will be the 66th Old Timers' Day and will take place on Sunday, July 1st at 11:15am.

Here the rest of the list in alphabetical order:

Luis Arroyo

Jesse Barfield

Yogi Berra

Ron Blomberg

Dr. Bobby Brown

Homer Bush

Jerry Coleman

David Cone

Bucky Dent

Al Downing

Brian Doyle

Cecil Fielder

Whitey Ford

Oscar Gamble

Jake Gibbs

Joe Girardi

Rich “Goose” Gossage

Ron Guidry

 

Charlie Hayes

Rickey Henderson

Arlene Howard

Helen Hunter

Reggie Jackson

Tommy John

Pat Kelly

Don Larsen

Graeme Lloyd

Hector Lopez

Jill Martin

Tino Martinez

Lee Mazzilli

Diana Munson

Kay Murcer

Paul O’Neill

Joe Pepitone

Lou Piniella

Willie Randolph

Bobby Richardson

Mickey Rivers

Aaron Small

Mel Stottlemyre

Darryl Strawberry

Ralph Terry

Joe Torre

Bob Turley

Roy White

Bernie Williams

There's 1 person missing from this list.  Chuck Knoblauch.  I'm not exactly sure why he wasn't, but Chuck should be asked. This guy's been apart of 3 World Championships and he gave those Yankee teams his blood and guts. Come on Yanks send the invite!

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TOP 10 YANKEE TRADES OF ALL TIME: 5 TO 1

#5. Tino Martinez

Traded by Seattle Mariners along with Jim Mecir to Yankees for Russ Davis and Sterling Hitchcock on December 7, 1995. Martinez was a Yankee from 1996-2001, 2005.

Regular season numbers: .279 Avg, 175 Hrs, 690 RBI, .837 OPS
Postseason numbers: 317 PA's, .247 Avg, 8 Hrs, 32 RBI, .715 OPS
Accolades: Four World Series rings ('96, '98-'00), 1997 All Star

After the retirement of Don Mattingly, the Yankees needed a first baseman, so they reached out to the Seattle Mariners and acquired Tino Martinez. Martinez was a rock at first base for the Yankees during their dynasty years, and overall he wasn't great in the postseason for the Yankees, but he had some pretty big hits, and was a team leader for a long time which can't be shown on a stat sheet.

Also included in the trade by the Mariners was setup man Jeff Nelson who played a huge role out of the bullpen during the Dynasty years.

#4. Alex Rodriguez

Traded by Texas Rangers to Yankees for Alfonso Soriano on February 16, 2004. Yankees sent Joaquin Arias on April 23, 2004 to Rangers to complete trade. Yankee from 2004-present.

Regular season numbers: .295 Avg, 284 Hrs, 903 RBI, .941 OPS
Postseason numbers: 242 PA's, 260 Avg, 10 Hrs, 33 RBI, .868 OPS
Accolades: One World Series ring ('09), Two MVP's ('05, '07), Three Silver Sluggers ('05, '07-'08), Seven time All Star ('04-'08, '10-'11).

I know a lot of Yankee fans want ARod out, but you can't deny the fact that trading for ARod has ended up being a win for the Yankees. Sure he's struggled in the postseason (outside of 2009), and that's why he's not higher on this list, but he's provided a ton of value along the way. And heck, the guy was willing enough to move to third base so Jeter could stay at shortstop. He's a team player and he tries to do his best to win, and that's all you can ask for.

#3. Sparky Lyle

Traded by Boston Red Sox with Danny Carter to Yankees on March 22, 1972 for Mario Guerrero on June, 30 1972 to complete trade. Lyle was Yankee from 1972-1978.

Regular season numbers: 57-40, 2.41 ERA, 141 saves, 1.94 K/BB
Postseason numbers: 10 games, 3-0, 1.89 ERA, 1 save, 8 K/BB
Accolades: Two World Series rings ('77-'78), 1977 Cy Young Winner, Three time All Star ('73, '76-'78).

The Red Sox trading Sparky Lyle is just another reason why they were deserving of their 86 year curse. What a stupid, stupid move to trade one of your better pitchers (2.85 ERA and 69 saves for the '67-'71 Red Sox) to your most hated rival. Oh well, there's nothing they can do about it and it's awesome. Lyle won the 1977 Cy Young as closer for the Yankees, and guess what? The Yankees signed Goose Gossage, thus Lyle wasn't full-time closer the next year. Tough league.

#2. Roger Maris

Traded by Kansas City Athletics to Yankees along with Joe DeMaestri and Kent Hadley for Hank Bauer, Don Larsen, Norm Siebern, and Marv Throneberry on December, 11, 1959. Maris was Yankee from 1960-1965.

Regular season numbers: .265 Avg, 203 Hrs, 547 RBI, .872 OPS
Postseason numbers: 119 PA's, 187 Avg, 5 Hrs, 10 RBI .624 OPS
Accolades: Two World Series rings ('61-'62), Two MVP's ('60-'61), One Gold Glove ('60), Three time All Star ('60-'62).

I know Maris didn't have the greatest numbers, but what puts him so high on this list is because of what he meant to the game of baseball. I mean, c'mon, the guy set the home run record in 1961 which was previously held by Babe Ruth for 34 seasons. His home run race between teammate Mickey Mantle in '61 was epic. I know I wasn't alive to see it, but I could just imagine it. Just imagine if that happened in today's game. The media would be all over it. Well, technically it did. I mean, if you count the race between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire in 1998 and 1999. But those guys cheated the game. Maris didn't, he played the game the right way. Barry Bonds currently holds the home run record at 73 set in 2001. But to me, Maris should have the record. Like Sosa and McGwire, Bonds is connected to the performance enhancing drugs situation, thus cheating the game. It's a shame that they did that while Maris played the game steriod free.

#1. Babe Ruth

Sold by Boston Red Sox to Yankees for $100,000 on January 3, 1920. Ruth was Yankee from 1920-1934.

Regular season numbers: .349 Avg, 659 Hrs, 1971 RBI, 1.195 OPS
Postseason numbers: 155 PA's, .347 Avg, 15 Hrs, 30 RBI, 1.282 OPS
Accolades: Four World Series rings ('23, '27-'28, '32), One MVP ('23), Two time All Star ('33-'34)

I know, I know, Babe Ruth wasn't technically traded, but this was Boston's worst move they've ever made in the history of their franchise. After all, this is a Yankee blog, so I'm sure all of you are willing to kick some more dirt on this Boston blunder. This move set the Red Sox back 86 years before their World Series in 2004, and it was in everyone's mind along the 86 year ride. Anyways, look at what Ruth did with the Yankees. Check out his Baseball Reference page HERE and see how many times he led the league in a particular category. It's pretty mind blowing. What's also mind blowing is that he only won one MVP award. Why is this? Was this the start of the supposed Anti-Yankee attitude across Major League Baseball? It very well could have been. He won the MVP in 1923 hitting .393 while leading the league in homers (43), RBI (131), and OPS (1.309), among many other categories. But remember, that wasn't his historic 1927 season in which he smashed 60 homers to set the then single season home run record. He didn't win the MVP that year, his teammate Lou Gehrig did. Gehrig had a great 1927 season, but Ruth was well, Ruthian. Ruth's line in '27 looked like this:

.356/.486/.772/1.256 Avg/OBP/Slug/OPS, 60 Hrs, 164 RBI

The only stats that he didn't lead the league in were average and RBI. But let's be honest, if someone in today's game did something like what Ruth did in '27 all of Twitter, Facebook, the message boards on all of the sports sites, and even BYB would explode if that player didn't in the MVP, and I mean it. Either way, Ruth was an incredible steal of all time and we'll never see anything like it again, you can count on that.

We hope you enjoyed this list and just so you get the whole list in 1 post, we will be re-posting the whole list over the weekend so it’s easier to eyeball.

--Jesse Schindler, BYB Staff Writer

WHY CONSTANTINO WAS CONSISTENT

One of the saddest days, (Thurman Munson’s death will always be the saddest), for me as a Yankee fan took place after the 1995 season. My childhood hero, Donald Arthur Mattingly decided that the back pain was never going to get better and his family was calling him to come home. When Mattingly retired I couldn’t imagine the Yankees without him.

I couldn’t imagine how they could ever replace his Gold Glove at 1^st base and his leadership both on and off the field. The man was a true hero to me and millions of Yankee fans around the world. In fact, I loved Donnie Baseball so much I remember actually being angry thinking that the Yankees were even going to try and replace him. I already had anger toward the guy taking over first and I didn’t even know who it was going to be!

And then it happened! In a trade with the Seattle Mariners after the 1995 season, the Yankees traded Russ Davis and Sterling Hitchcock for Jeff Nelson, Jim Mecir and, of course, Constantino “Tino” Martinez. Now, this was the same Mariners team who broke my heart just months before in the 1995 ALDS. The ALDS that ended Mattingly’s career. Man I was pissed! Why him? Anyone but him! No one could replace the great Yankee Captain!

But then something happened. Tino was cool! Tino was humble! And Tino could really hit and drive in runs! You could just tell he was a special player and was going to be a very special Yankee! Tino did not make me forget about Donnie Baseball by any means, but what he did do for Mattingly fans like myself is handle the transition with grace and humility. Tino knew he was filling big shoes but he didn’t try and duplicate Mattingly, he just played hard and let his numbers do the talking. He won my respect and I was rooting for him every step of the way.

So let’s take a look at Tino’s career in pinstripes. In the seven regular seasons that Tino played for the Yankees he had… .276 AVG. / 192 HR’s / 739 RBI’s. Those RBI numbers are amazing! Think about this…Tino played 16 season in MLB, 7 of those years with the Yankees. In his 7 years with the Yankees he had 739 RBI, in his 9 non-Yankee years he had a total of 532 RBI’s. And of his 339 care home runs, 192 were hit in those 7 seasons in pinstripes, meaning in 9 non-Yankee seasons he hit 147 HR’s. Talking about making the most of your time wearing the pinstripes!!!

Now postseason. Just another Yankee player who was part of that incredible run between 1996-2001. Tino’s postseason numbers don’t jump off the page when you look at them, but they certainly aren’t numbers he should be ashamed of. Here are his numbers in 99 postseason games: 9 HR’s and 38 RBI -- with only a .233 AVG. You know, I really don’t believe that low batting average fairly reflects the clutch hits he often got. Two of those, hits/hr’s/rbi’s are two of the most memorable in recent Yankee history, both of which were in the World Series:

#2 -- Game 1 of the 1998 World Series. Tino takes Mark Langston deep for an amazing grand slam! Remember, Mark Langston was one of the toughest lefties in all of MLB. Even though it was just the first game of the World Series against the Padres, I really think Tino’s grand slam took the heart out of the Padres and it was game, set match!

#1 -- Game 4 of the 2001 World Series -- Martinez HR in the 9th sets the stage for Jeter's "Mr. November" game-winner. With two outs in the 9th inning and the Yankees trailing by two runs, Martinez came to the plate with a runner on and hit one of the most dramatic World Series home runs. The stadium was ROCKING!!!

So Tino, thank you for all you did for the Yankees and their fans. It was so great seeing you again on Old Timer’s Day. It was even btter seeing that sweet home run stroke! You belong on that field. You are a true Yankee and deserve the ovation you got. Welcome home!

Some cool facts about Tino:

• Tino was a 2x All-Star selection (1995, 1997)

• Was part of all 4 of the Yankees WS Titles in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000

• He won the Silver Slugger Award in 1997

• Was the 1997 Home Run Derby champion

• Was a member of the 1988 U.S. Team that won the Gold in Seoul

--Mikey Blue, BYB Senior Writer
Twitter:@MikeyBlu23



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