Yesterday was the home Opening Day at Yankee Stadium II, against the Miami Marlins. The ceremonial first balls were thrown out by U.S. Olympic hockey Gold Medalists Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils, and Aerin Frankel, a native of Briarcliff Manor, Westchester County, New York, a goaltender for the Boston Fleet of the Professional Women's Hockey League -- which, in the wake of the growth of the WNBA and the National Women's Soccer League, really should get more attention. Nikki M. James, a Tony Award winner from Summit, Union County, New Jersey, currently starring in an Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors, sang the National Anthem.
Will Warren was slated to start. This is one of the holes in the rotation caused by the injuries to Gerrit Cole, Clarke Schmidt and Carlos Rodón. I was not optimistic. And, sure enough, in the 1st inning, he gave up a home run to Xavier Edwards.
But, Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially
the leadoff variety. Trent Grisham led off the bottom of the 1st with a walk, and Aaron Judge hit a no-doubt-about-er, a no-short-porch-necessary blast. It was the 371st home run of his career, passing New York baseball legend Gil Hodges on the all-time list.
When Hodges, Brooklyn Dodger 1st baseman and Met manager, retired in 1963, he was 10th on the all-time list. He is now 84th, and among those he trails are current Yankees Judge, Paul Goldschmidt with 373, and Giancarlo Stanton with 454. In case you're wondering: Duke Snider hit the most home runs for what became the Los Angeles Baseball Team, with 389 of his 407 home runs for them. Hodges is 2nd, with 361 of of his 370. Shohei Ohtani? At the moment, 281.
Anyway, Judge's dinger gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Did I mention what leadoff walks can do? Marlin starter Eury Pérez did it again in the 2nd, walking Jazz Chisholm. He struck Austin Wells out, but Chisholm stole 2nd and 3rd.
Was that necessary? Maybe not, but it sure worked: Pérez was clearly unnerved, because he then also walked José Caballero. A would-be double steal put Caballero on 2nd, but there was no throw, so Chisholm stayed put. And Pérez walked Ryan McMahon to load the bases, then walked Grisham to force in a run, then hit Judge with a pitch to force in another. (Clearly, he didn't have the control to make it intentional, and that would have been dumb at any rate.) He managed to get the next 2 outs, but it was 4-1 Yankees.
Warren settled down after that, going through the 3rd and the 4th 1-2-3. But he allowed a home run to Owen Caissie in the 5th, and back-to-back 2-out singles in the 6th. Aaron Boone sent Tim Hill in to get out of the inning, and he did.
Tyler Phillips relieved Pérez in the 5th, and his control was no better. He led off the 6th by walking Wells. Caballero reached on an error. McMahon flew out, Caballero stole 2nd, and Grisham struck out. But Judge walked to load the bases, and with Cody Bellinger up, Phillips threw a wild pitch to bring Caballero home. It was 5-2 Yankees.
Ben Rice led off the bottom of the 7th, against Michael Petersen. Yankee Stadium organist Ed Alstrom played Elton John's 1974 chart-topper "Bennie and the Jets" for him. It seems to work better for the Yankees than for the New York Jets: After hitting a screaming liner that curved just foul, Rice hit another that just squeaked onto the short porch in right field. That made it 6-2.
Walks hurt the Marlins again in the 8th. Lake Bachar walked Grisham. Judge singled, but Grisham was thrown out at 3rd, a challenged call that went in the Marlins' favor. But Judge stole 2nd, Bellinger drew a walk, and Rice doubled them home.
Jake Bird pitched a perfect 7th, Brent Headrick pitched a perfect 8th, and Ryan Yarbrough pitched a hitless 9th, hitting a batter but then picking him off. Look, I understand that Boone wants to see what the relievers can do -- and so does Brian Cashman -- but I'm old enough to remember when this game would have featured, say, Jim Beattie as the starter, with Dick Tidrow bailing him out in the 6th and pitching the 7th, and Goose Gossage pitching the 8th and the 9th. You don't need 4 relievers to pitch 3 1/3rd innings. You don't need to test 3 guys in 1 game.
Anyway, the fine form continues: Yankees 8, Marlins 2, in front of a sellout crowd of 48,788. The Yankees are now 6-1, as they also started the Pennant season of 2024. The only better 7-game start? 7-0 in... 1933. The Yankees did not win the Pennant that year.
In those 7 games, the Yankees have allowed just 8 runs, on 37 hits and 12 walks -- an average of 1.14 runs, 5.29 hits and 1.71 walks per game. Their ERA is 1.16. Their WHIP is 0.786. Their strikeout-to-walk ratio is 5.42. These are 1968 "Year of the Pitcher"-style stats. And that's without Cole, without Schmidt, and without Rodón, with Warren starting 2 games and Ryan Weathers 1.
That's insane.
But, in the words of the immortal Captain Benjamin Sisko, I think I can live with it. I can live with it!
Tonight, at 7:05, Weathers starts against Max Meyer.
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Speaking of Yankee relievers, and in particular of "my era," Ken Clay died on March 26, in his hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia, from a long-term kidney ailment. He was 71. He made 21 appearances in 1977, and 28 in 1978, mostly in relief, and was key to winning the World Series both times.
But, Cliché Alert: He had a million-dollar arm and a five-cent head. Jim "Catfish" Hunter and Albert "Sparky" Lyle both said that Clay didn't take advice from veterans. Sparky said that Clay had a tendency to wear his arm out in practice, and thus would not be at full strength for the day's game. Team owner George Steinbrenner, who owned a stable for racehorses, backed this up, calling Clay a "morning glory," a term for a horse that performs best in the morning workouts prior to the actual race. Catfish, with his typical country blunt honesty, summarized Clay: "Great arm, great slider, bad brains." He was awful in 1979, was traded in 1980, and last pitched in Spring Training 1982.
Post-baseball work didn't suit him, either, and he got into a long string of legal trouble. He cut a deal to avoid prison time for grand larceny in 1986, having stolen $16,000 from his employer, the Jostens school ring company. He got a suspended sentence, 5 years of probation, and over $16,000 in fines.
In 1992, he was working for a Virginia car dealership, when he stole a car. Having also gotten 2 DUIs, he was sentenced to 4 years in a county jail. He moved to the Tampa Bay area, and went on a fraud spree, including forgeries, again cutting a deal, getting 15 years of probation and paying $40,000 in fines.
In 2005, he forged again, and this time, he turned down a plea deal, one that would have gotten him only 6 months in prison. He was convicted, and was sentenced to 5 years. After getting out, he went back to Lynchburg.
With his death, there are 25 surviving players from the 1977 World Champion New York Yankees: Reggie Jackson, Ron Guidry, Willie Randolph, Roy White, Graig Nettles, Chris Chambliss, Lou Piniella, Mickey Rivers, Bucky Dent, Ed Figueroa, Sparky Lyle, Cliff Johnson, Fred Stanley, Mike Torrez, Fran Healy, Carlos May, Dave Kingman, Dell Alston, Mickey Klutts, Gene Locklear, Larry McCall, Gil Patterson, Marty Perez, Stan Thomas and George Zeber. Coach Bobby Cox, better known as the later manager of the Atlanta Braves, is also still alive.
And there are 26 surviving players from the 1978 World Champion New York Yankees: Jackson, Guidry, Randolph, White, Nettles, Chambliss, Piniella, Rivers, Dent, Figueroa, Lyle, Johnson, Stanley, Klutts, McCall, Goose Gossage, Ron Davis, Andy Messersmith, Rawly Eastwick, Brian Doyle, Gary Thomasson, Mike Heath, Jim Beattie, Dave Rajsich, Doming Ramos and Dennis Sherill. Broadcaster Bill White is also still alive.
The next season, 1979, Thurman Munson was killed in a plane crash. The year after that, 1980, coach and catching legend Elston Howard died of a rare heart ailment. Dick Howser, the 3rd base coach, died of cancer in 1986. Billy Martin, manager in 1977 and the 1st half of 1978, was killed in a pickup truck crash on Christmas Day 1989. Cedric Tallis, the 1978 general manager, died from a heart attack in 1991. Gabe Paul, the 1977 general manager, died from a stroke in 1998. Catfish Hunter died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's Disease, in 1999.
Bob Lemon, former star pitcher in Cleveland who saved the Yankees as manager in the 2nd half of the 1978 season, died of a stroke in 2000. Broadcaster Frank Messer died of a hear attack in 2001. Jim Spencer (acquired in 1978) died of a heart attack in 2002. Bob Kammeyer (rookie call-up in 1978) died of a pulmonary embolism in 2003. Elrod Hendricks (on the 1977 team, but not '78) died of a heart attack in 2005. Paul Lindblad (acquired in 1978) died of early-onset Alzhheimer's disease in 2006. Pitching coach Art Fowler died of unknown causes in 2007. Broadcaster and legendary shortstop Phil Rizzuto died of a long-term illness in 2007. Dock Ellis (traded early in the 1977 season) died of long-term liver trouble in 2008.
Team owner George Steinbrenner died from a long-term illness in 2010. Clyde King, a 1978 coach, died of unknown causes in 2010. Paul Blair died of a heart attack in 2013. Dave Bergman (on the 1977 team, but not '78) died of cancer in 2015. Al Rosen, former star 3rd baseman in Cleveland who served as Yankees team president in 1978, died of unknown causes in 2015. Coach and catching legend Yogi Berra died of natural causes in 2015. Gene Michael, 1st base coach in 1978, and later manager and general manager, died of a heart attack in 2017.
Jimmy Wynn (acquired and released in 1977) died in 2020, of unknown causes, but apparently not COVID. Dámaso Garcia (rookie call-up in 1978) died of cancer in 2020. Jay Johnstone (acquired in 1978) died of COVID-aided dementia in 2020. Dick Tidrow and 1977 coach Cloyd Boyer both died of unknown causes in 2021. Don Gullett and Ken Holtzman (traded in 1978) both died from heart trouble in 2024. And, as just stated, Ken Clay died of kidney failure in 2026.
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