Exhibition Explosion

 
While I saw the Yankees (travel squads) four times, this year's Spring Training vacation didn't include a stop at Steinbrenner Field.  Since teams usually send just a few starters to away games, that meant I wasn’t able to watch the new and improved Giancarlo Stanton.   But anyone tuning in last night on YES got to witness it for themself -- albeit in a game that didn't count.  Three home runs, two of them monster shots: a first inning blast that hit off the top of the batter's eye in center field; and equally potent rocket that soared over the left field scoreboard for a second inning grand slam.  Tack on a third homer that traveled "just" 426 feet to center, and you've got well over 1300 feet of pure production.  The Yankees DH capped his night with a sacrifice fly for eight RBI's.  

(Not seeing Stanton or Steinbrenner Field in person, these images are from my archives -- both timestamped 2018, his first season in pinstripes.)

I didn't realize -- did you? -- that Stanton has never hit more than two home runs in a regular season game.  So maybe last night's explosion is a hint of a monster season that begins a week from today.  After all, this is the time of the baseball year one can bathe in optimism.







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If Your Birthday is January 3rd...

Image
...you share it with AJ Burnett .  The well traveled righthander, who after seven years with the Marlins. spent time with the Yankees, Pirates, Blue Jays and Phillies, won 164 big league games and struck out more than 2500, but inconsistent control kept him from becoming an ace: he twice led the American League in wild pitches and once in hit batters. The Arkansas native earned a pair of World Series rings -- with the 2003 Marlins (while recovering from Tommy John surgery) and 2009 Yankees (where he set a record for hitting five batters in a post-season series).   Also in the January 3rd birthday circle: longtime big league reliever Gary Lavelle , the late Phllies catcher Darren Daulton  and utilityman Luis Sojo , who between his time with the Mariners and Yankees, made the post-season six times in 13 seasons.  But among the 68 players born on this date who've played in MLB, Burnett was -- if you go by WAR -- the most productive of them.
Read more

Wayback: 70 Years Ago Today

Image
September 2nd, 1955 :  Whitey Ford takes a no-hitter into the 7th inning, while Yogi Berra adds two hits and Mickey Mantle crushes a three-run homer as the Yankees beat the Washington Senators 4-2 . It's also a big day for Billy Martin .  Back from a year and an half of active duty in the Army, the shortstop goes 2-for-4 as the Yanks stay a half-game back of the league-leading White Sox. (They would regain 1st place on the 16th and go on to their 21st American League pennant.   Martin would hit .300 over the final 22 games.) The Monument Park plaques are from a 2021 visit to Yankee Stadium.  The image of Whitey and Yogi up top is from the 2012 Old Timers Day at the Stadium.
Read more

If Your Birthday is September 5th...

Image
...you celebrate it with  Bill Mazeroski , the first player to end a World Series with a walk-off home run. 65 years ago next month, leading off the last of the 9th in game seven against the Yankees, he crushed Ralph Terry's second pitch over the left field wall, giving Pittsburgh perhaps its greatest baseball moment. A gifted defensive player with more modest offensive skills, Maz remains one of the more controversial inductees of the Hall of Fame. A statue, depicting his joyful scamper around the bases following that 1960 home run, is one of several outside PNC Park in Pittsburgh. And below,  Pablo Lopez  , who earlier this season, added his name to the nearly 170 who have played for both the Yankees and Mets. The utilityman got into 24 games for Bronx Bombers -- highlighted by driving in the go-ahead run against the Royals on June  12th,  His Mets tenure was microscopic -- he pinch ran for JD Martinez (and scored a run) in the September 1st, 2024 game against...
Read more