Sunday, March 20, 2016

Daunting, Daring, Definitive New York Yankees Quiz 7 ​​By Harvey Frommer

Daunting, Daring, Definitive New York Yankees Quiz 7
By Harvey Frommer

With spring training underway, with thoughts of the national pastime in the air, with so many of you asking for the next QUIZ—here it is. Fifty percent correct score gets you into the Yankee expert zone. Suggest your own questions and answers.

81.  Who had the idea to create the Yankee Stadium “Stadium Club”? 
A.     Casey Stengel    B. Larry MacPhail    C. Dan Topping    D. Jake Ruppert

82.   After Lou Gehrig, who became the next captain?
A. Phil Rizzuto   B. Lefty Gomez   C. Mickey Mantle   D.  Thurman Munson


83. Which of the longest standing Yankee managers has the highest winning percentage?
A. Joe Torre    B. Joe McCarthy C. Casey Stengel   D. Buck Showalter

84.  The Yankees have the distinction of being the first to train outside of the USA. Where did the training take place?
      A. Bermuda   B.  Jamaica   C. Cuba     D. Dominican Republic

85.   All played for Yankees and Mets, aside from one. Who is he?
A. Lee Mazzilli      B. Gene Woodling C. Phil Linz    D. Rusty Staub
    
86.   What Yankee recorded the most steals of home? 
A. Mickey Mantle   B. Willie Randolph   C. Lou Gehrig   D. Ricky Henderson
  
87.  Easy one – Babe Ruth’s uniform number? How did the Babe get the number?



88. Who hit the first home run in the new Yankee Stadium?
89.  Another easy one? Who owned Yankees before the Steinbrenners?

Answers
80.   D. Reggie Jackson
81.   B. Larry MacPhail
82.  D.  Thurman Munson
83.  B. Joe McCarthy, .627
84.   A. Bermuda, 1913
85.    D. Rusty Staub
86. C. Lou Gehrig, 15
87.  Three. He batted third in the batting order. 
88.  Babe Ruth   
89.  CBS
Dr. Harvey Frommer, a professor at Dartmouth College in the MALS program, is in his 40th year of writing books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, he is the author of 42 sports books including the classics: best-selling “New York City Baseball, 1947-1957″ and best-selling Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball,as well as his acclaimed Remembering Yankee Stadium and best-selling Remembering Fenway Park. His highly praised When It Was Just a Game: Remembering the First Super Bowl was published last fall.
His Frommer Baseball Classic – Remembering Yankee Stadium (Second Edition) is his newest sports effort. Autographed copies at the ready of this and his other books..https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781630761554/Remembering-Yankee-Stadium-Second-Edition
The prolific author is at work on THE ULTIMATE YANKEE BOOK (2017)

Thursday, March 17, 2016

New York Yankees by the Numbers: 6-10 By Harvey Frommer

New York Yankees by the Numbers: 6-10By Harvey Frommer



Reactions to Numbers 1-5 were wonderful.

So new edition here.

All kinds of incredible “numbers” have been put up by those who have worn pinstripes through the many decades the team from the Bronx has been playing baseball. Some of these numbers spark memories, controversy, wonder. Enjoy. Send along your own suggestions.

6
Playing field for franchise: Hilltop Park 1903-1912, Polo Grounds 1913-1922, Yankee Stadium 1923-1973, Shea Stadium 1974-1975, Yankee Stadium 1976-2008, New Yankee Stadium 2009 -
On June 6, 1934 - Yankee outfielder Myril Hoag tied an American League record with six singles in six at-bats.
Second baseman Joe Gordon, who played mostly in the 1940s, wore No. 6. He was inducted posthumously into Cooperstown in 2009.
Number of Yankee starters: Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio, Joe Gordon, Red Rolfe, Red Ruffing, and George Selkirk in the 1939 All-Star game at Yankee Stadium.
Mickey Mantle's rookie uniform number, changed by equipment manager Pete Sheehy to #7 after Mantle was recalled from Kansas City.
Number of times Billy Martin had a tour of duty as manager.
Don Mattingly hits a grand slam off Boston's Bruce Hurst at Yankee Stadium on September 29, 1987, setting a Major-League record with six grand slams in a season.
Joe Torre's Number


6.4
The 1939 Yankees led by 24-year-old Joe DiMaggio averaged an amazing 6.4 runs per game as a team.

7
Hall of Fame manager Leo Durocher, an infielder in 1929, was the first Yankee to wear No. 7.
Bob Costas was seven years old when he went to the Stadium for the first time. He saw Yankees play the Orioles. He visited the monuments to Ruth and Gehrig in centerfield. He claimed he cried, thinking old Yankee greats were buried there.
Mickey Mantle's number, retired June 8, 1969. He wore it from 1951 on.
Mel Allen was the first announcer to broadcast Major League Baseball games over seven decades. His tenure ran from Lou Gehrig to Don Mattingly.
In 1982, Graig Nettles became seventh Captain in Yankee history.


8
Record held by Lou Gehrig, most seasons leading league games played.
Only number to be retired twice by the same team is Number 8 of the Yankees. It was retired in 1972 for catchers Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra. Berra took number 8 in 1948 after Dickey retired but before he was a coach.
Dwight Gooden's no-hitter on May 14, 1996, the eighth in Stadium history.


9
Joe DiMaggio's rookie number.
Roger Maris' number, retired, July 13, 1985.
The 1990 Yankees had but one starting pitcher who won more than seven games, nine-game winner Tim Leary; he also lost 19.
Most hits in an inning given up by Roger Clemens, August 2, 2007
The most .300 hitters in the 1930 season.
The most shutouts in a season: Ron Guidry, 1978.
Graig Nettles was the last Yankee to wear No. 9 before it was retired.
Shutouts in one season, Ron Guildry, 1978



10
Of Babe Ruth's 714 career home runs, 10 were inside-the-parkers. Ruth hit 10 career home runs off the great Walter Johnson. No other player hit more than 5 the star hurler in his 21-year career. With the Yankees from 1920 to 1934, the “Colussus of Clout” won 10 home run titles.
The record number of pinch hitters on September 6, 1954 Yankees used in doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox.
Casey Stengel managed in a record 10 World Seriesm winning 7 of them
The Yanks used a record 10 pinch hitters on September 6, 1954 in a doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox. They won the opener 6-5, and the BoSox took the second game, 8-7.
Wins by Whitey Ford in World Series.
Phil Rizzuto's number 10 retired August 4, 1985.
Yogi Berra leads all with 10 World Series rings. Joe DiMaggio was second with 9.
Alex Rodriguez in 2007 became the first player in major league history with 10 straight seasons of at least 35 homers, 100 RBIs and 100 runs scored.



Dr. Harvey Frommer, a professor at Dartmouth College in the MALS program, is in his 40th year of writing books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, he is the author of 42 sports books including the classics: best-selling “New York City Baseball, 1947-1957″ and best-selling Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball, as well as his acclaimed Remembering Yankee Stadium and best-selling Remembering Fenway Park. His highly praised When It Was Just a Game: Remembering the First Super Bowl was published last fall.
His Frommer Baseball Classic – Remembering Yankee Stadium (Second Edition) is his newest sports effort. Autographed copies at the ready of this and his other books. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781630761554/Remembering-Yankee-Stadium-Second-Edition
The prolific Frommer is a work on THE ULTIMATE YANKEE BOOK (2017)

Monday, March 7, 2016

New York Yankees by the Numbers -1-5 By Harvey Frommer

New York Yankees by the Numbers -1-5
By Harvey Frommer


All kinds of incredible “numbers” have been put up by those who have worn pinstripes through the many decades the team from the Bronx has been playing baseball. Some of these number spark memories, controversy, wonder. Herewith, just a starter list, enjoy. Send along your own suggestions


Zero
Fewest passed balls in a season, 1931 team
Number of days Dave Winfield spent in minor-league baseball before reaching the majors.

0002
After Allie Reynolds pitched his second no-hitter for the Yankees in 1951, the Hotel Edison where he along with some teammates lived, changed his room number from 2019 to 0002.

.00009
Difference between the batting average of George "Snuffy" Stirnweiss: .30854 and White Sox Tony Cuccinello: .30845 in the closest batting race in major league history, 1945.

1
Number of times Babe Ruth was pinch hit for. (Bobby Veach on August 9, 1925.)
Joe DiMaggio was the only player to get at least one hit in All-Star Games at Yankee Stadium, the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field.
During Joe DiMaggio's record 56-game hit streak, he had just one hit in 34 of those games. Mickey Mantle hit for the cycle only 1 time in his career. He did it against Chicago at Yankee Stadium in 1957.
Billy Martin number retired August 10, 1986
The Yankees have had only one mascot "Dandy" (as in, Yankee Doodle Dandy), and he existed 1979 through 1981.

1.10
The major league rule banning a sticky substance such as pine tar on a bat beyond 18 inches from the bottom. That rule led to the "pine tar affair," Yankees against Royals in 1983.

1 1/2
Uniform number worn by opera star Robert Merrill, the man who for many years sang the national anthem at Yankee Stadium.

1.95
Career earned-run average of Herb Pennock in World Series competition.

2
Babe Ruth on two straight days slammed grand slam homers.
Alex Rodriguez homered twice in the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium on September 5, 2007 against the Mariners giving him 48 home runs for the season.
The number of Yankee managerial tours of duty of Dick Howser, Bob Lemon, Gene Michael and Lou Piniella. Fewest shutouts by a Yankee pitching staff in a season, 1994. Fewest times in a season grounded into a double play: Mickey Mantle, 1961, Mickey Rivers, 1977. Most grand slams in a game, Tony Lazzeri, May 24, 1936 at Philadelphia.


2.57
Lowest earned run average by a Yankee pitching staff, 1904.

3
All three perfect games in Yankee Stadium history were seen by Joe Torre: Larsen's beauty as a 16-year-old fan, and the gems spun by David Wells and David Cone from the dugout as Yankee manager. Don Zimmer was Torre's bench coach for the last two and he played in the first one as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956. The Yankees have the most perfect games pitched by one club, all at Yankee Stadium.
Babe Ruth's uniform number, retired June 13, 1948, second Yankee number. While the great Yankee was the first to wear it, he was far from the last. Seven other Yankees wore No. 3. Outfielder Cliif Mapes wore it in 1948 when it was retired. Mapes switched to No. 7 the next year. After he was traded to the Browns in mid-1951, No. 7 went to a rookie named Mickey Mantle.
Shortstop Joe Sewell struck out only three times in 503 at-bats in 1932.
Babe Ruth and Bob Meusel are the only players in history to hit for the cycle three times.
The Yankee Clipper is the only player to win a ring for winning the World Series in each of his first four seasons, 1936-1939.
Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra each won three MVP awards.
Top number of perfect games by a franchise: Don Larsen, David Wells, David Cone.

4
In 1923, Babe Ruth hit for his highest single-season average: .393. He came within four hits of batting .400.
Lou Gehrig's number, retired on July 4, 1939, the first athlete in any sport to have that distinction. He is the only Yankee to have worn number 4.
Most straight losing seasons in franchise history 1912-1915 and 1989-1992.

4.02
Lou Gehrig’s career RBIs for at bats, second to only Babe Ruth.

5
Lefty Gomez was a starter in five All-Star Games he won 3 of them)
Number of times Mickey Mantle hit a ball into the gothic iron facade that hung from the old stadium's roof. Joe DiMaggio's uniform number, retired in 1952
Yanks won the World Series a record five straight seasons – 1949-53
October 16th, 2003 - Aaron Boone was the fifth player -- and second Yankee -- to end a post-season series with a walk-off home run. His solo shot in the bottom of the 11th inning capped a 6-5, Game 7 victory over Boston, giving the Yankees their 39th American League Pennant.

Dr. Harvey Frommer, a professor at Dartmouth College, MALS program, is in his 40th year of writing books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, he is the author of 42 sports books including the classics: best-selling “New York City Baseball, 1947-1957″ and best-selling Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball,as well as his acclaimed Remembering Yankee Stadium and best-selling Remembering Fenway Park. His highly praised When It Was Just a Game: Remembering the First Super Bowl was published last fall.

His Frommer Baseball Classic – Remembering Yankee Stadium (Second Edition) is his newest sports effort - https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781630761554/Remembering-Yankee-Stadium-Second-Edition Frommer’s ULTIMATE YANKEE BOOK will be published in 2017. Autographed copies of all books are available from the author.