The Yankees learned early in their successful years that the key to continued success was retooling. So, after winning their second Championship in 1927, they recognized that need, and released righty Bob Shawkey and lefty Dutch Ruether on November 28, 1927. Shawkey had anchored the staff for 13 years, winning 168 games during his stay, and Ruether chipped in with another 15 wins since his arrival the previous season.
On November 28, 2001, the Yankees announced the retirement of third baseman Scott Brosius. Scott spent the last four years with the Yankees, during which seasons he stroked 65 home runs with 282 rbi’s. He played in Oakland from 1991 through 1997, with career numbers of 141/531. A good glove at the hot corner, Brosius was named Most Valuable Player of the 1998 World Series, a four-game Pinstriped sweep of San Diego. His retirement came just 27 days after the huge ninth-inning home run he hit to tie Game Five of the 2001 World Series. Scott made a return trip to the Bronx throwing out a ceremonial first pitch in the successful 2009 playoff run.
On November 28, 2018, the Yankees traded infielder Ronald Torreyes to the Cubs for a Player To Be Named Later or cash. A popular reserve infielder in the Bronx for three years, “Toe” (manager Joe Girardi’s nickname for him) hit four home runs with 55 rbi’s in pinstripes. He had a reputation for being able to produce key hits following prolonged idle stays on the bench.
Outfielder Bob Meusel (1977) easily outdistances three other Yankee players to have died on November 28 in terms of longevity, but not Gil McDougald (2010), who spent all of his time from 1951-1960 manning second and third base and shortstop in Pinstripes. The 119 games he played in his final season was the lowest total. Gil, the 1951 AL Rookie of the Year, hit 112 home runs good for 576 rbi’s while going 1,291-for-4,676 during that time. All but 10 of the 156 home runs and 62 of the 1,067 rbi’s Meusel gathered over 1920-1930 came with the Yanks until 1929; he played with the Reds in 1930. He earned the big offensive numbers with the Yanks while stroking 1,565 hits in 5,032 at bats playing 1,294 games. On July 26, 1928, Meusel became the first player in the modern era to hit for the cycle three times in his career.
Outfielder Elmer Miller (1944) reached 12 fences good for 132 rbi’s in two stints (1915-1918, 1921-1922) in New York. Brief stops with the Cardinals and the Red Sox brought those numbers up to 16 and 151. Righthander Earl Moore (1961) went 2-6-1 in 12 games (nine starts) with the 1907 Highlanders in a 1901-1914 career that netted a 162-154-7 mark, with long stops with the Phillies, the Blues, and the Indians. Finally, shortstop Blondy Ryan (1959) had 11 rbi’s (no homers) in 30 games for the 1935 Yankees. In a 1930-1935 career spent mostly with the Giants, he hit eight long balls and drove in 133 runs.
Dave Righetti (1958) is one of five Yankee players who were born on November 28. A Rookie of the Year winner, lefty Rags posted a 74-61 record and 224 saves in debuting in the Bronx from 1979 through 1990. He threw a no-hitter at the Red Sox in 1983 when he went 14-8, and had a glowing 12-7 record with 29 saves in 1985. He broke the (at the time) one-season save record with 46 in 1986. A first-round (10th pick) 1977 draft choice by the Rangers, Dave arrived in New York via a November 1978 trade with the principal player heading to Texas being Sparky Lyle. The sky seemed the limit for one of the newest Yankee players born November 28, and catcher/DH Jesus Montero (1989) caused quite a stir during his 18-game debut with the parent club in 2011. Playing just three of the games behind the dish, power-hitting Montero whacked four home runs and drove in 12 runs in just 61 at bats.
Shortstop Roxey Roach (1882) got his start with the Yanks too, where he knocked in 22 runs and stole 15 bases while playing 83 games for the 1910-1911 teams; the rest of his career consisted of the 1912 season with the Senators and a finale in 1915 with Buffalo of the Federal League. Outfielder Jim Jackson (1877) debuted with the 1901 Baltimore Orioles, the franchise that would relocate to New York as the Highlanders in 1903. He hit two home runs with 50 rbi’s in 94 games in Baltimore. Another player who debuted with the 1901 Orioles, righty Stan Yerkes (1874), ironically nicknamed “Yank” while playing with a team that would be known as the Yankees in future years, lost his only game in Baltimore.
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