8/25 in Yankee History

1996: The Yankees dedicate their first new monument in 47 years‚ to Mickey Mantle‚ in Monument Park in center field at the  Stadium. Miller Huggins, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig are also honored with monuments‚ while 15 men are honored on plaques.

1984: ’20s Yankee ace Waite Hoyt dies at the age of 84.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hoytwa01.shtml

1978: With 4 amateur umps officiating (ML umpires are staging a one-day walkout in defiance of their union contract – semipro and amateur umps are pressed into service until a restraining
order forces the strikers to return), Ron Guidry posts his 18th win‚ beating the A’s 7-1. Reggie Jackson’s home run is good for his 1‚001st career RBI. The win keeps the Yankees 7 1/2 games behind the Red Sox. 

1977: The Twins blow a 4-2 lead over the Yankees when Mickey Rivers (below) hits a 2-run single in the 7th inning and Reggie Jackson drives home a run in the next frame.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1977/B08250NYA1977.htm

1976: The Yankees edge the Twins 5-4 in a 19-inning marathon. Grant Jackson becomes the winner over Pete Redfern when Mickey Rivers delivers Oscar Gamble with a walkoff single.

1968: The Tigers‚ ahead 5-0 in the first game of a doubleheader in the Bronx‚ fail to score with two on in the 4th inning when the Yanks bring in Rocky Colavito to pitch. The 35-year-old slugger retires Al Kaline and Willie Horton and tosses 2 2/3
innings of scoreless relief to earn the win. In Rocky’s only other
appearance on the mound‚ in 1958‚ he also faced Kaline – the victory by a
position player will be the last this century. Bill Robinson and Bobby Cox crash
successive homers to tie the score and‚ after a walk‚ Rocky comes around
to score the winning run. In the 8th‚ Yankee reliever Lindy McDaniel ties the AL record for consecutive batters retired by setting down the
first Tiger he faces‚ giving him 32 straight batters retired over 4
appearances. New York sweep‚ winning 6-5 and then topping Mickey Lolich in the nitecap‚ 5-4.
The four losses in New York leave the Tigers just 5 lengths ahead of the
Orioles.

1966: With a record of 2-5, Whitey Ford is finished for the year, as he undergoes surgery for a circulatory problem in his left shoulder.

1964: Whitey Ford  (13-5) wins his first game in 6 weeks. Ford throws 100 pitches in 8 innings and Al Downing strikes out 3 in the 9th as the 3rd-place Yankees beat Washington 4-1.

1957:  A baseball game is played at the Little America research station in Antarctica using equipment donated by the Yankees to the United Nations. A team of Seabees tops a team of civilians‚ 11-6‚ in 2
innings. The temperature at game time is a cool -40 degrees.

1956: On Old Timer’s Day at the Stadium‚ the Yankees make room for new acquisition Enos Slaughter by giving Phil Rizzuto his unconditional release. The Scooter will be 38 next month‚ though years later he’ll reveal he fudged his birth certificate and was really born in 1917. Through the intervention of Ballantine
Beer‚ Rizzuto will get a job in the announcing booth next season‚ replacing Jim
Woods. The White Sox top the Yanks‚ 4-2. Mickey Mantle has a homer‚ but his
throwing error allows the go-ahead run to score.

1952: In a 1-0 win over the Yankees in at the Stadium‚ Virgil Trucks of the Detroit Tigers pitches his second no-hitter of the season. The no-hitter is in doubt for 3 innings when a play made by shortstop Johnny Pesky in the 3rd inning is under debate. The official scorer‚ John Drebinger‚
records it as an error when Pesky has trouble getting a ball hit by Phil Rizzuto out of his glove. Dan Daniel of the New York World Telegram convinces
Drebinger that it cannot be ruled an error because the ball was stuck in
the fielder’s glove‚ and Rizzuto is awarded a hit. In the 6th inning‚
with Trucks not having given up another hit‚ Drebinger calls Pesky in
the dugout from the press box‚ and the shortstop says that he should be given
the error rather than Rizzuto the hit. The call is changed again‚ and
Trucks’ achievement – the last time the Yankees will be no-hit in the 20th century – is preserved. Trucks’ record is now 5-15: he’ll
finish the season at 5-19.

1951: Before 66‚110 at Cleveland‚ Mickey Mantle powers an opposite field 2-run homer off Mike Garcia to help the Yankees to a 7-3 win. New York (77-46) move to within a game in back of the Tribe. 

1939: At St. Louis‚ the Yankees sweep the Browns‚ 11-0 and 8-2. Red Rolfe scores for the Yankees in both games, giving him 18 straight in which
he’s tallied a run. In those 18 games he has scored a total of 30 times. The
Browns will end the season with a dismal home record of 18-59 – the .234
winning percentage is the worst home record in the  20th century. 

Off the field, Dooley Womack, the Yankee pitcher to date to steal a base (in 1968!) is born. Happy 69th to one of the most interestingly named of all Yankee players.

1935:The Yankees split a doubleheader with the White Sox, falling 6-3 in the opener and then bouncing back to take the nitecap 6-1. During the first game, Earle Combs (below), playing out of position in left field, suffers a serious shoulder injury in a
collision with third baseman Red Rolfe. The Combs injury will help to precipitate the future Hall of Famer’s retirement of
the season.

1931: At Chicago‚ the Yankees record their first shutout of the season when Herb Pennock blanks the White Sox 6-0. Ben Chapman has a good day with a triple‚ a single‚ 2 runs scored and his 50th and
51st stolen bases of the year. In addition‚ he beats Carl Reynolds of the Pale Hose in a pre-game 100-yard dash.

1921: With the Indians on their way to a 15-1 win over the Yankees‚ New York pitcher Harry Harper, on the mound in the 8th‚ hits three consecutive Cleveland batters, plunking Charlie Jamieson in the ribs‚ Larry Gardner in the arm‚ and Steve O’Neill in the back. O’Neill takes several steps towards the mound and throws the ball back
at Harper, precipitating a bench- clearing brawl. Bob Meusel contributes 4 errors in the game. The Tribe take over 1st place from the Yanks.

1906: The Highlanders sweep a doubleheader from Cleveland at Hilltop Park by identical 2-0 scores. ‘Slow Joe’ Doyle (below) gets in the win in the opener in his Major League debut.