9/02 in Yankee History

2001: The Yankees defeat the Red Sox 1-0‚ as Mike Mussina comes within a strike of hurling a perfect game. Pinch hitter Carl Everett delivers a two-out‚ two-strike single in the 9th inning to ruin Mussina’s gem. It is
the 3rd time in his career that the righty has taken a perfect game
into the 8th inning. The Yankees score the only run of the contest in
the top of the 9th on Enrique Wilson’s double. Opposing hurler David Cone‚
who takes the loss‚ is the most recent hurler to toss a perfecto. The
Yankees sweep of the Red Sox was the first in baseball history by a team
that did not score in the first 7 innings of any of the games.

1996: In his first game back in action since undergoing surgery for an aneurysm in his pitching shoulder in May‚ David Cone hurls 7 hitless innings in New York’s 5-0 victory over the Athletics. Mariano Rivera gives up 1 hit in 2 innings as he finishes up for Cone. Cone’s remarkable return relegates Kenny Rogers to the bullpen.

1987: Catcher Dave Bresnahan of the Albany-Colonie Yankees ( AA Eastern League)   introduces a
new wrinkle to baseball’s panoply of deception – the hidden potato trick. With  Reading Phillies runner Rick
Rudblad on third, Bresnahan returns from a time out with a peeled potato pared down to the size of a baseball
hidden in his mitt. On the next pitch he throws the sphere wildly on an apparent pickoff attempt. When the runner trots home‚ Bresnahan tags him out with
the real ball. The umpire‚ unamused‚ rules the runner safe‚ charges the backstop with an error, and fines him $50. After the game, Bresnahan says, “I thought it would be a do-over.”

1969: Ralph Houk signs a new 3-year contract with the Yankees at $65‚000 a season‚ the highest managerial salary in either league‚ and Joe Pepitone is reinstated.

1967: Washington’s Bob Priddy loses his 1-0 lead to the Yankees when Mickey Mantle swats a 2-run pinch
homer in the 8th and New York win‚ 2-1. Mel Stottlemyre is the victor‚
allowing 6 hits and no walks. For Mantle‚ it is his 14th game-winning
hit of the year‚ 8 of them home runs.

1965: Mickey Mantle hits a 1st inning homer with 2 on as New York score 5 runs on their way to an 8-1 romp over the Angels. Whitey Ford is the winner.

1961: In action against Detroit’s Frank Lary, 
Roger Maris doubles and takes third on a misplay. Mickey Mantle‚ in pain from a pulled
muscle in his forearm‚ lays down a perfect drag bunt to score the other ‘M-boy.’ Maris then blasts homers on his next two trips to the plate‚ and Elston Howard adds a 3-run dinger for a 7-2 win.

1960: Milt Pappas stops New York on 3 hits – 2 by Tony Kubek – to give Baltimore a 5-0 lead in the first of a 3-game showdown. The Orioles now trail the Yankees by .003 in the standings.

1958: At the Stadium‚ the Yanks snap a scoreless tie with Boston when Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle launch back-to-back 6th inning homers off Dave Sisler. Mantle has hit three this year off the Beantown righty. New York win‚ 6-1. Mantle‚
with 38 homers‚ leads the AL. Mantle and Berra will hit back-to-back
homers 12 times together‚ and homer in the same game 50 times before
their partnership is through. 

1955: Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle celebrate Billy Martin’s return from the army; Ford throws 6 innings of no-hit ball against Washington before Carlos Paula spoils it in the 7th with Washington’s only hit. The Yanks win 4-2 as the Mick hits his 36th HR‚ a 3-run shot off Bob Porterfield. Mantle is 10 HRs ahead of rivals Al Kaline and Ted Williams. New York stay a half game behind the White Sox‚ winners over the third-place Indians. Martin will hit .300 in September‚ and New York
will go on a 17-6 tear to win the pennant by 3 games.

1954: Before 39‚494 at the Stadium, the Yankees snap Bob Lemon’s 11-game win streak to beat the Indians 3-2 in the rubber game of the
series and move to within 3 1/2 games lof first place. Mickey Mantle’s gargantuan blast
into the upper deck in right field in the 1st starts the Bombers’ scoring. Whitey Ford picks up his 16th win. 

1952: Yankee hurlers Tom Gorman (below) and Ewell Blackwell blank the Red Sox, 5-0 and 4-0 respectively, in a doubleheader in the Bronx.

1933: Marv Throneberry, who made his debut with the Yankees, and earned a World Series ring in 1958, before going on to greater fame (or infamy, depending on one’s point of view) with the ’62 Mets, is born.

1932: The Yankees keep their scoring streak alive by scoring in the bottom of the 9th to beat the Senators 1-0. Lou Gehrig triples off Fred ‘Firpo’ Marberry to score Babe Ruth.

1928: The Senators top the Yankees‚ 2-0‚ as Firpo Marberry (below) does it all‚ shutting down the Yanks and driving in both Nat runs. The New York lead over the A’s is down to 1 1/2 games, from 12 games at the end of July.

1927: For the second time this year‚ Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig blast back-to back homers in the 1st inning off the A’s Rube Walberg,
as the Yanks roll 12-2. The duo have connected in the same inning 5
times this year. Gehrig adds another in the 2nd off Rube for his 43rd of
the year to leave him one behind the Babe. Trade rumors fill the New York papers – speculation has Gehrig going to Detroit or Bob Meusel heading for Chicago in exchange for Willie Kamm and Bibb Falk. None of the players will change addresses.

1922: In a doubleheader at Shibe Park, Carl Mays wins his AL record 23rd straight game over the Athletics‚ although he fails to go the distance against the Mackmen for the first time in the streak.
He leaves with one out in the 6th and the Yankees winning‚ 7-2. New York
prevail 11-6‚ in game 1‚ but the A’s win the nitecap‚ 4-0‚ behind
Bob Hasty.

1912: In a rain-spattered doubleheader at the Polo Grounds‚ Red Sox ace Smokey Joe Wood tops
the Highlanders in the nitecap 1-0 for his 30th win and his 13th straight
victory. It is Wood’s 8th shutout and 2nd in a row. Boston take the
opening squeaker 2-1 to finish the year in New York with 10 wins in 10
tries. With 3 wins last year‚ and 5 wins in their first 5 road games
with New York in 1913‚ Boston will set the since-tied ML record for most
consecutive wins on the road against one team (18).