On May 11, 1990, future Hall of Famer Dave Winfield rejects a trade that would have sent him from the New York Yankees to the California Angels for pitcher Mike Witt. A no-trade clause in Winfield’s contract gives him the right to turn down the deal. Five days later, Winfield will reach an agreement with…
At New York, the A’s edge the Yankees, 2 – 1 in 11 innings. Rickey Henderson plates the first run, scoring from second base on a 6 – 3 ground out. Rick Honeycutt is the winning pitcher.
1990 – Gambler Howard Spira is arrested for extorting money from New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who paid Spira $40,000 in January. The Commissioner will suspend Steinbrenner because of his relationship with the unsavory caracter.
Herb Raybourn, the Yankee director of Latin American operations, signs amateur free-agent Mariano Rivera, an athletic 20 year-old who has an effortless pitching motion, but a less than average fastball, to a modest $3,000 contract. The future all-time major league saves leader has no formal training as a pitcher, having hurled for just the first time two weeks before being scouted at the team’s tryout camp in Panama City.
Billy Martin, an All-Star infielder and former manager of the Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics, dies in a car accident in Johnson City, NY, at the age of 61. Martin, a five-time Yankees manager under owner George Steinbrenner, was rumored to be a candidate to replace current Yankees skipper Lou Piniella. During an 18-year managerial career, Martin posted a record of 1253-1013, led his teams to five American League pennants and guided the Yankees to the 1977 World Championship. He will be buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Westchester, NY, in a plot near Babe Ruth. Steinbrenner, who fired Martin four times (he resigned the fifth time) purchases the plot.
Boston’s Wade Boggs goes 4 for 5 in a 7 – 4 win over the Yankees to become the first player in major league history to achieve both 200 hits and 100 walks in four consecutive seasons. It is Boggs’s 7th straight 200-hit season overall, extending his own modern major league record. Dwight Evans also puts his name in the record books by belting his 20th homer. He is the only current player with 20 or more homers in each of the last nine years. The Red Sox also announce the team will not exercise its option on Jim Rice next season while Bob Stanley, the club’s all-time save leader with 173, reports he will call it quits.
Dallas Green is fired as manager of the Yankees and replaced by former SS Bucky Dent. It is the 17th time the Yankees have changed managers since George Steinbrenner took over the club in 1973. The 1978 play-off hero loses his managerial debut to the Tigers in Detroit, 7 – 3.
Dave Stieb retires the first 26 batters he faces before giving up two hits in a 2 – 1 win over the Yankees. The previous September, the Toronto Blue Jays’ hard luck hurler lost back-to-back no-hit bids with two outs in the ninth inning.
On July 2, 1989, Robin Yount of the Milwaukee Brewers collects the 2,500th hit of his career in a 10 – 2 win over the Yankees.. Yount age 33 becomes the fifth-youngest player to reach the milestone, behind Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Hank Aaron, and Mel Ott. Yount will finish his career with 3,142 hits. …
On June 21, 1989, Carlton Fisk of the Chicago White Sox sets a record for most home runs by a catcher. Fisk hits his 307th home run as a receiver, breaking the record held by Yogi Berra. Fisk’s home run, part of a three-RBI day, helps the White Sox to a 7-3 win over the…
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