3/05 & 3/06 in Yankee History

On the 5th of March over the years…

2009: It is a day that Joba Chamberlain would just as soon forget as the Yankees get their second [bad] 2009 taste of World Baseball Classic play in a loss to Team Canada. Joba allows a four-pitch walk, single, walk, walk, and walk before Jonathan Albaladejo crowns the six-run top of the first by allowing a two-run Matt Stairs double, a sac fly and a single. The scoring, and just about all of the offense, is over, and the Yanks fall 6-0.

1973: Yankee teammates Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich arrive at spring training and announce that they have swapped wives and families, including household pets.

1966: Kevin Brown is born. Happy 47th to everyone’s favourite wall-punching pitcher!

1942: The Yankee Clipper comes in for criticism as the weekly entertainment newspaper Variety weighs in on ‘droopy drawers’ in baseball: «Joe DiMaggio and Carl Hubbell are the silliest looking pair we’ve seen. Way back in the days when the speed boys were stealing 40 to 90 bases a year‚ you’ll remember they used to roll their pants just below the knee. Now they’ve got ‘em almost to their shoes. The theory here is that the constriction inherent in the new style can slow a player a full stride getting to first».

…and on the 6th…

2005: Suzyn Waldman becomes the first woman to be a full-time color commentator in major league history, making her debut with John Sterling on WCBS-AM 880, the radio flagship of the New York Yankees. The former radio-talk host on WFAN, the first all-sports radio station in United States, was also the first female to broadcast on a national baseball telecast, as well as the first to provide local TV (Yankees) major league play-by-play.

1992: Yankee pitcher Pascual Perez is suspended for one year for violation of baseball’s drug policy.

1986: Francisco Cervelli is born. Happy birthday to the Italian Stallion!

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cervefr01.shtml

1985: Enos Slaughter is elected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee. Though remembered primarily for his year with the St. Louis Cardinals, Slaughter spent much of the latter part of his career with the Yankees, and was in left field when Don Larsen pitched his World Series perfect game.

1977: Marcus Thames is born. Happy 36th to ‘Tiny Thames’!

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/thamema01.shtml

1969: In seven spring training games, the designated hitter rule is used as an experiment for the first time. The Yankees’ John Orsino (a recent acquisition from the Senators who will not make the trip north with the club) is the first DPH (designated pinch hitter, as the position is referred to) to get a hit, a single in a contest with his former teammates at Washington’s camp in Pompano Beach, Florida. Orsino bats 6th and goes 1 for 4.

John Orsino (f).jpg