The loss to the Royals in the ALCS did him in, so even though Manager Dick Howser of the 1980 New York Yankees had led his charges to a 103-win season, he gracefully “resigned” on November 21, 1980, when he was replaced on the bench by Gene “Stick” Michael.
The Yankees purchased the contract of Joe DiMaggio from the San Francisco Seals on November 21, 1934.
The Bombers signed free agent catcher Joe Oliver to serve as the second fiddle to Jorge Posada on November 21, 2000. Oliver was one in a series of disappointing backup backstops the Yanks signed, a trend they halted when they signed John Flaherty, and improved upon in 2006 when they acquired Jose Molina.
On November 21, 2019, the Yankees signed free agent outfielder Zack Granite to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training. Zack spent time at the alternate site during the 2020 season.
First baseman Hal Chase had replaced Gene Stallings as manager of the second-place Highlanders with 11 games remaining in the 1910 season. But he didn’t enjoy the job as much after the club slid to sixth place in 1911. The team actually posted a respectable 76-76 record, but he resigned on November 21, 1911, though he did continue playing in New York for two more years. He would be replaced as skipper by Harry Wolverton and the team would plummet to 50-102 and seventh place in 1912.
Bob Scheffing was hired to manage the Detroit Tigers on November 21, 1960, but only after Casey Stengel, recently “retired” by the Yankees, had turned down the job.
Chuck Klein became the only player to ever be traded after a Triple Crown season when the Phillies sent him to the Cubs on November 21, 1933, for three guys with Pinstripes in their blood. Shortstop/third baseman Mark Koenig (1925-1930) and outfielder/first baseman Harvey Hendrick (1923-1924) had gotten their respective starts in the Bronx, and rookie pitcher Ted Kleinhans would later (1936) pitch one year for the Yanks.
Righthander Slow Joe Doyle (1947), whose 70 games pitched (50 starts) with the 1906-1910 Highlanders comprised almost his entire career, is the first of six Yankee players to have died on November 21. Doyle pitched to a 22-21-1 record in New York. Fellow righthander Norm Branch‘s (1971) only big league play was in 37 games (no starts) for the 1941-1942 Yankees, with whom he went 5-2-4. The least effective of the four righties to die this day was Fred Glade (1934), who lost four of the five games (all starts) he pitched at the end of his career with the 1908 Highlanders. Lefty-hitting outfielder Dusty Cooke (1987) played 122 games with the 1930-1932 Yankees to start his career, hitting seven home runs with 35 rbi’s in that time. Righty Ken Johnson (2015) went 1-2-0 in 12 games (no starts) with the 1969 Yanks in a 1958-1970 career spent mostly with the Braves, the A’s, and the Houston Colt 45s. Portsided outfielder Kerry Dineen (2015) debuted in the bigs by driving in two runs in 11 games for the 1975-76 Bombers, going 10-for-29 at the plate. He finished up getting two hits in eight at bats over four games with the 1978 Phillies, with no homers or rbi’s.
Until 2014, the only Yankee born on November 21 was Todd Erdos (1973), who notched a save in 20 games for the Yanks from 1998 through 2000. He was taken from San Diego in the 1997 expansion draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks. But in four months the Yanks traded Andy Fox to Arizona for Erdos and former Bombers prospect Marty Janzen. Erdos finished the 2000 season with the Padres and appeared with the Red Sox in 2001. During the 2014 season, Martin Prado’s emergency appendectomy caused an opening that second baseman Jose Pirela (1988) was called upon to fill. And eyes were on Pirela in the following year once he had accumulated eight hits in seven games, while knocking in three runs. Signed as a free agent in July 2006, Jose did not fare as well in 2015, hitting .230 with one home run and five rbi’s in 37 games, and he was traded to San Diego.
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