Brian Mitchell and Boston’s Clay Buccholz put up zeroes through seven innings in a September 28, 2016, battle in Yankee Stadium, but things looked bleak when the Red Sox plated three in the eighth on an error and Dustin Pedroia and Mookie Betts doubles. Closer Craig Kimbrell came on in the ninth to not only finish the win, but also give the visitors the opportunity to celebrate clinching the AL East title on the Stadium field. But Brett Gardner reached on a single, and Kimbrell walked the next three to force in a run. Once he was replaced by Joe Kelly, things looked bad again when the hard thrower got two quick outs on six pitches. But then in the defining moment of his final year, the retiring Mark Teixeira sent what was left of 35,000 fans dancing and cheering like we had just won the World Series with a grand slam home run to right field, 5-3 Yankees!
In Game One of a September 28 doubleheader sweep over the rival Red Sox in 1951, Allie Reynolds immortalized himself by becoming the only American League hurler to ever throw two no-hitters in the same season, as he bested the Boston club, 8-0, in his seventh shutout of the year. In the follower, the Bombers clinched their 18th pennant and Vic Raschi won, 11-3. Mickey Mantle knocked in three with a couple of two-base hits, and Joe DiMaggio hit a three-run homer, the final one of his career.
On September 28, 2009, the Yanks turned a 3-2 lead over the K.C. Royals into a laugher in the seventh with a five spot. Robbie Cano’s grand slam home run not only gave the home team the 8-2 margin by which they finally prevailed, but set a Yankee record as Robbie became the fifth player on the team with 25 home runs.
The Yanks have played and won first games of the World Series on September 28 on two occasions. In 1932, the Yankees beat the Cubbies in Game One, 12-6, behind Lou Gehrig‘s home run. In the latter in 1955, Whitey Ford topped Don Newcombe of the Dodgers, 6-5. In a controversial play, Jackie Robinson closed the gap to one run in the eighth with a steal of home, though Yankee catcher Yogi Berra always claimed to have tagged him out. The point is moot, as Brooklyn failed to plate a sixth run.
In Yankee Stadium on September 28, 1976, Muhammad Ali retained his heavyweight boxing championship in a close 15-round decision over Ken Norton.
In honor of his having been in the initial lineup in the Yankee Stadium opener in 1923, we’ll mention the birthday of outfielder Whitey Witt (1895), who hit 11 homers with 177 rbi’s in New York in 1922 through 1925 after being purchased from the Philadelphia Athletics in April 1922.
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