Heathcott made his MLB debut pinch-running for Mark Teixeira late in Wednesday’s loss to the Nationals, but his first time at bat would have to wait until Friday night. He started in center and hit ninth against Rangers starter Colby Lewis. It only took him one at-bat to make an impact:

Heathcott later added an infield single in the seventh, giving him a 2-for-3 night overall. In the long history of the Yankees, only 22 players had ever registered a multi-hit game in his first career start. It might not seem like much, but keep in mind how much pressure a young prospect must feel on such a big stage. Future stars Derek Jeter, Don Mattingly, and Robinson Cano all went hitless in their first starts.

Some more nuggets about Heathcott’s exciting first start and Yankees debuts in general:

• Amusingly, two of those aforementioned 22 games occurred last year, when now-Rakuten Golden Eagle Zelous Wheeler singled and homered in his big league debut on July 3rd and Heathcott’s current teammate Jose Pirela smacked a triple and a single on September 22nd.
• A similarly low number of Yankees had ever notched an extra-base hit in his first career start–just 23 in total. None had doubled since outfielder Justin Christian on June 24, 2008.
• Future Hall of Famers with hits in their first career starts: Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Tony Lazzeri, and… two guys who made the Hall of Fame in another sport, George Halas and Deion Sanders.
• The most hits in a Yankees debut? That title belongs to none of those icons, but instead a random player from the 1930s named Russ Van Atta. On April 25, 1933 against the Washington Senators, Van Atta became one of just seven players in league history to kick off his career with a four-hit game thanks to four singles in a 16-0 blowout victory. In his seven-year career, Van Atta hit a dismal .228/.246/.306. The kicker? He was a pitcher.
• Speaking of pitchers, a tip of the cap to Chase Whitley, Brandon Claussen, Tyler Clippard, and the late Brad Halsey. None of these four players had swung a bat in years until forced into interleague action in National League parks for their first career starts. All got hits, and the future All-Star reliever Clippard even doubled!
• Someone please explain to me how lumbering first baseman Steve Balboni tripled in his debut. One can only assume that the outfielders all either fell down or peaced out on the game to go watch Wagner’s full Ring Cycle instead.

Sure, there’s certainly a chance that Heathcott joins the ranks of forgotten names like Johnny Johnson, Vito Tamulis, Truck Hannah (all real people, I promise), who had fun debuts only to fizzle out shortly thereafter. Nonetheless, Heathcott remains a fascinating prospect who will certainly be worth watching as he tries to build on his strong start going forward. It’s not every day that the Yankees get to infuse youth into their lineup, and until Ellsbury recovers, we will probably be seeing a decent amount of #SladeRunner. Best of luck to him.

…

…what?

…

…OKAY FINE, HERE’S YOUR MARCUS THAMES GIF:

Still glorious.

(Photo: Reinhold Matay-USA Today Sports)

It was officially the first time there had ever been a Major League Baseball game with a listed attendance of zero (or “not given.”) However, Yankees fans should be well aware of another time in recent memory when the Orioles played before an essentially vacant crowd. By the official records, the Yankees and Orioles played before 29,093 people on September 18, 2003, but this is what it actually looked like:

AP Photo/Gail Burton

There were reportedly only a couple thousand people in the stands at best during this game, which was notoriously played immediately before a tropical storm hit the Charm City. Entering the day’s action, the Yankees were a solid 5 1/2 games ahead of the Red Sox, en route to their sixth consecutive AL East title with only 10 games left to play. The city of Baltimore was almost entirely shut down with Hurricane Isabel mere hours away from wreaking havoc.

The sole reason for the teams playing in such bizarre conditions? A money grab. The Orioles were in the middle of their disastrous stretch of 14 consecutive losing seasons and owner Peter Angelos was pretty much determined to reap as much profit possible from their 81-game home schedule. Baltimore was a nightmarish 68-83 entering that chaotic Thursday, and any profits from that game would only be redeemed by the O’s if they were at Camden Yards. The start time was moved up from 7:05 to 12:35 to try to beat the storm, and throughout it all, the Yankees were understandably furious that they had to play baseball while a friggin’ hurricane prepared to hit Baltimore.

Mariano Rivera
“I was like, ‘What are we doing?’ They didn’t care about you; that’s what they showed me. They really didn’t care about us. They just wanted to play the game even though there were like 20 or 30 people here.”
Derek Jeter
They’re canceling everything around here—schools are canceled, the government left, the Navy’s pulling out, and the Orioles and Yankees are playing baseball.
George Steinbrenner
Steinbrenner issued a statement that said the commissioner’s office showed “terrible judgment and overall stupidity” in proceeding with the game. “Schools, businesses, athletic events—virtually everything—was called off. And for them to proceed was stupidity at its worst.”

Even the players’ association was a little confused as to why there was a game played. Gene Ozra, the second-ranked official, chimed in that “the state government and the city government had concluded it was not business as usual,” and that they should have cancelled the game while working out “some monetary compensation” for the Orioles.

Nonetheless, the weirdness commenced in front of a scant number of desperate fans for just one hour and 27 minutes. Borderline Hall of Fame pitcher Mike Mussina, both a Yankees and Orioles great who had dubbed it a “foolish decision” to play that afternoon went for his 200th win that afternoon against an Orioles lineup that looked like just the quintessential mid-2000s Orioles lineup:

Brian Roberts – 2B
Luis Matos – CF
Larry Bigbie – RF
Tony Batista – 3B
Jay Gibbons – DH
B.J. Surhoff – 1B
Deivi Cruz – SS
Pedro Swann – LF
Robert Machado – C
Pat Hentgen – SP

Goodness. I’m certain that the Cespedes Family Barbecue guys could write an entire post on that lineup alone. Any time Larry Bigbie bats third, you know a team is in dire straits.

The Yankees wasted a chance to put some runs on the board quickly in the first, as Alfonso Soriano led off the game with a double to left and Nick Johnson was drilled. The former Cy Young Award winner Hentgen didn’t have many starts left in his career, but he found a couple strikeouts in his bag of tricks, whiffing a couple MVP caliber hitters in Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi before inducing a comebacker from Bernie Williams to end the frame. He wouldn’t be as lucky two innings later, when Giambi belted an RBI double to left, bringing home the OBP machine Johnson (who had walked) with the first run of the game. Give credit to Hentgen though; he struck out Bernie and induced a pop-up from future ALCS hero Aaron Boone to limit the damage.

“The whole city shuts down. The government shuts down. And we’re playing. Figure that out.” – David Wells

Mussina held his former team hitless the first time through the lineup, but amid the building 35 mph winds and rain, Roberts and Matos smacked back-to-back doubles, with Matos’ coming on a bloop down the left field line. In the bottom of the fifth, Mike Hargrove’s group had one last shot to get on top and win the game with it about to become official for the home team. Swann, a no-name outfielder who played 17 years in the minors but only managed four hits in 30 career plate appearances in the pros, notched the only double of his career with a smash down the right field line.

Regrettably for the dedicated O’s fans who braved the conditions. Swann didn’t have much support behind him. The third-string catcher Machado, a far cry from Manny, fanned out quickly on a two-strike foul bunt. However, Roberts was up next, and he was one of the few bright spots in a very dark era in Baltimore. He lined a base hit down the left field line, a huge opportunity for the Orioles to take a 2-1 lead. Then, the 2000s Orioles… well… 2000s Oriole’d:
Roberts then singled to left, and Orioles third base coach Tom Trebelhorn initially waved Swann home. Trebelhorn then put up the stop sign – too late for Swann to make it back to third. He was tagged out in a rundown, and Matos followed with a groundout.
That was all she wrote for the actual game. By this point, the rain was clearly causing a mess and home plate umpire Rob Drake told the grounds crew to go ahead and put the tarp on the field. The Yankees bolted to the buses to skip town, and that was that. To date, it remains the last tie in franchise history.

Although the game counted in the standings, the two teams made it up anyway in doubleheader on September 26th, one of the final days of the regular season. Thus, this strange tie did lead to one quirk. Hideki Matsui holds the record for most games played in a season in Yankees history with 163 since he was in the middle of his consecutive games played streak that dated back to his days in Japan.

So on behalf of “Godzilla,” thanks for that I guess, Peter Angelos. May uncomfortable games like this hurricane-shortened tie and the eerily empty Orioles/White Sox affair the other day never happen again.

Photo credit: Bob DiChiara-USA Today Sports

The biggest news to this point in the week is Masahiro Tanaka’s injury. He’s back on the disabled list for an injury to his throwing arm and the Tommy John chorus is louder than ever. I wrote about Tanaka at length during the first week of the season and stand by everything I said. It’s possible he ends up on the operating table by the end of May, but that doesn’t mean the team made a mistake avoiding surgery last year. #TanakaWatch2015 is in full swing and Nick Ashbourne kicked off our extensive coverage here this week.

The other main story this week is the countdown to 661. It’s unofficially “A-Rod Week” here at BP Bronx but given his penchant for dragging out these home run milestones, it might turn into “A-Rod Month” if he gets stuck at 659 or 660 for a while. Your newsfeed is already flooded with A-Rod this, A-Rod that, but please be patient as I give you my two cents on the impending milestone.

I am among a select 79,762 people to ever live. I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and despite my father’s childhood ties to the Yankees, I grew up a Giants fan. In recent years this allegiance resulted in a superstitious belief in even year magic, a constant stench of garlic on my breath, and a growing collection of rings. During childhood though, my memories of baseball boil down to an affliction for rally monkeys and a montage of milestone home runs from Barry Bonds. On September 17, 2004, that 39-year old behemoth launched a ball into the bleachers becoming the third player to ever hit 700 home runs. And with that swing of the bat, I became one of 79,762 to ever witness such an event in person.

Over the past eleven or so years, Alex Rodriguez has done a pretty good job as the Yankees very own Barry Bonds. Ever since he first donned a Yankees jersey in 2004, he’s slowly worked his way up the career home run leaderboards, crossing off record after record, toppling hall of famer after hall of famer. His one-two steps to catch and overtake significant home run milestones play an integral role in recent Yankees history, just as Barry’s influenced my early life. As Rodriguez approaches Willie Mays’ record of 660 home runs, the parallels between him and Bonds run deep.

Both started their careers elsewhere — Bonds in Pittsburgh, Rodriguez in Seattle and then Texas. Both piled up MVP trophies — Bonds got five in San Francisco, Rodriguez got two in New York. Each career was tarnished by steroid use and despite being the best hitter ever at each of their positions, Bonds and Rodriguez face uphill battles to get a plaques in Cooperstown.

At a franchise level, the comparisons again hold. Throughout Bonds’ prime in San Francisco he was surrounded with veteran talent in an effort to constantly compete for a World Series. For Rodriguez and the Yankees of the last ten plus years the same has been true. In both cases, the teams feel like they underachieved, only able to parlay consistent contention into one World Series appearance during the players’ careers (Giants lost in 2002, Yankees won in 2009). The dynasty for the Yankees came, and for the Giants is currently coming, during the early part of a more humble, fan-friendly player’s career – Jeter and Posey. The final key home run milestones were and will be toppled during a period of franchise mediocrity – the Giants won 70-something games during the last three years with Bonds, the Yankees likely 80-something with Rodriguez’s final few.

As for the records themselves, Rodriguez topping Willie Mays’ 660 could be construed as poetic justice for Bonds surpassing Babe Ruth’s 714. For Giants fans, Willie Mays, is the greatest baseball player of all time. He patrolled center field better than anyone, he hit for both power and average, and the team continues to celebrate him to this day. Babe Ruth on the other hand was the greatest player of the greatest franchise of all time. He holds the top spot on the list of all-time Yankees, and according to career offensive WAR is the best hitter of all time (Bonds second, Mays third, Rodriguez twelfth).  Mays is Ruth for the Giants, and Ruth is Mays for the Yankees. When admitted steroid-user Alex Rodriguez hits 661 and passes the Say Hey Kid, it will be a sad day for me, but might serve as retribution for when a juiced up Barry Bonds passed Babe Ruth’s 714.

The one key difference between Barry and Alex is their local perception. At the time Bonds hit his final four milestones, home runs 661, 700, 715, and 753, his steroid use was alleged, but not confirmed (the Mitchell Report was released the winter after he retired). Due to the rumors and his general arrogance, the general public might have hated him. But in the confines of San Francisco, out of either unconditional love or general naïveté about his PED use, Barry Bonds was still a beloved figure and celebrated appropriately.

For A-Rod, these last few years have been rough in New York. Since admitting in 2009 that he used steroids during his Texas years, his relationship with the city and the team was strained. In the years since, his steep decline, involvement in the Biogenesis scandal, and the resulting record-setting suspension turned him into a pariah amongst fans, media members, and even his own general manager. Hot start to this season aside, his status as such is etched in stone.

Right now Rodriguez is only slightly older than Bonds when he hit 661, but Bonds continued to put up OPS’s over 1.000 until he was 42. For Alex, this will likely be his last significant home run record (700 is a ways away) and as fans, we should embrace the chance to see him break it. Up until he hit his final home run, stadiums were packed to see Barry Bonds break home run records. As the picture below from Monday details, Alex Rodriguez is not getting the same treatment, even in his home ballpark. For the next day, week, or however long it takes him to hit two more big flies, I urge fans everywhere to celebrate the history Alex is about to re-write. Take some time out of your day to appreciate Al from Miami for being one of the greatest hitters in the history of baseball.

Two first place teams in the Bronx. I’ve seen bigger crowds at The Trop. pic.twitter.com/nfQDUh74dV

— Sweeny Murti (@YankeesWFAN) April 27, 2015

Photo Credit: Kim Klement/USA Today Sports

So down went Friday night relief hero Chasen Shreve and in came Kyle Davies, a non-roster invitee to spring training who hadn’t pitched in the majors since 2011. He appeared in one game, pitched 2 1/3 innings, and was immediately designated for assignment to acquire another fresh arm. Next up was Matt Tracy, a 24th round draft choice from 2011 who defied expectations by actually reaching Triple-A within a few years, but wasn’t really considered a legitimate prospect. Like Davies, he made one appearance, threw two innings, and then was gone. His Yankees tenure might have lasted 24 hours. In fact, finally making The Show was his last act with the organization, as the Marlins claimed him off waivers on April 18th.

Although it might have been disappointing for Tracy that he only played one game with the team that drafted him, he did meet a better fate than several Yankees who were called up but made nary an appearance. The next day’s call-up, Joel De La Cruz, could end up like that, as he was on the roster for two days in Baltimore and did nothing other than bond with Esmil Rogers before getting demoted. These kinds of players are called “phantom players,” or “ghost players.” (No, they aren’t the invisible Molina-esque runners who could only move base-to-base in the games you played in your backyard.)

It had to have been extremely exciting for these players to have the opportunity to dress in the same locker rooms as guys like Mickey Mantle and Derek Jeter and sit in the dugout during a game with the team, sometimes at Yankee Stadium, ready to be used in an actual game at any time. Regrettably, none of them made it for one reason or another, and none ever played a major league game for any team at all. These are the Phantom Yankees:

Dave Parrish, 2004

The Yanks have just had an awful run of first-round picks pretty much since that sixth overall choice they made in 1992, when they acquired some Michigan-area shortstop. In the 22 years since then, it’s been a string of disappointments, whether it was awesome picks who didn’t sign (Mark Prior/Gerrit Cole), exciting minor leaguers who never seemed to truly put it together for them in pros (Phil Hughes/Ian Kennedy/Joba Chamberlain), or, the majority of the case, players who just weren’t great picks at all. Now they seem to have done a better job the past couple years adding talents like Aaron Judge into the system, but for many years, it was just a whole lot of nothing.

Parrish, their 2000 first round choice, was selected around the nadir of selections between 1996 (Eric Milton, traded to the Twins in the Chuck Knoblauch deal) and 2004 (Hughes). Although a Michigan product like Jeter and the son of eight-time All-Star Lance Parrish, Dave was even considered an overdraft at the time. Sure enough, the younger Parrish never hit much above A-ball, as evidenced by his .664 career Double-A OPS and .644 career Triple-A OPS between 2002-08, the heart of an offense-heavy era. However, Parrish did spend May 13-16, 2004 on the Yankees’ roster when Jorge Posada got his nose broken thanks to an errant throw while he was on the basepaths. Parrish wore number 57 and backed up John Flaherty, but Joe Torre did not use Parrish at all, even using Flaherty in a day game after a night game. Maybe the saddest part of Parrish’s tenure was that I remember closely following the team that season. I can remember Alex Graman, but I have absolutely no memory of Parrish even being in a TV shot on the bench.

The team and Parrish parted ways early in the 2006 season. While Parrish bounced around the Pirates, Rockies, and Padres’ organizations, he never returned to the majors, finally retiring at the end of 2008.

Eddie Mooers, 1919

Parrish will be the Phantom Yankee who has the most information available about him since he was a notable recent bust. Others simply don’t have much known about them at all. Such is the case with Mooers, a shortstop born at the end of the 19th century. According to the amazing resource of Baseball-Reference Bullpen, we know that Mooers was once described as “Richmond’s Mr. Baseball,” although that was mostly because the Richmond native later owned their minor league club for over 20 years.

As a player, Mooers was not as remarkable. He did however hit .280 with a .415 OBP in 22 documented games for the Richmond Colts in the Class C Virginia League in 1918. That impressed future Hall of Fame manager Miller Huggins enough to invite the 20-year-old Mooers to spring training in 1919. Unfortunately, he had a sore arm, so while he made the club, he rode the bench for about a month before being sold to the Pittsfield Hillies of the Eastern League. He played six more seasons in the minors scattered between 1920 and 1932 without ever coming particularly close to the majors again.

As Richmond’s owner, he reportedly refused to have his team take the field in a 1946 exhibition game against Jackie Robinson’s Montreal Royals, so you know what? He didn’t deserve to be on the major league roll call. Screw him.

Rudy Serrett, 1957

Rudy Serrett, 1957 Phantom Yankee

Occasionally, a Phantom Yankee gets into the right place at the right time. That was definitely the case for 17-year old Rudy Serrett. He was a lefty pitcher signed right out of Flushing High School who pitched well in brief work for the Peoria Chiefs of the so-called Three-I League and wily Casey Stengel called him up to a team that would go on to win their third straight American League pennant. The Yankees fought off the White Sox to clinch another World Series berth, but Serrett was never used. That’s hardly surprising considering he was a teenager who had never even pitched above the now-defunct B level. Four more minor league seasons led nowhere, but hey, at least Serrett managed to make his way into team photos!

Chet Trail, 1964

There’s never appearing in a major league game despite being on a regular season roster, and then there’s never appearing in a major league game despite being available for a World Series roster. That was the case for second baseman Chester Trail in 1964, when the Yankees came from behind to surprisingly win the 1964 AL pennant under Yogi Berra. A strange rule allowing teams to have a 25th man available in case of an emergency despite not being on the roster was in play that year, and Trail was the Yankees’ 25th man. He was steady with a .257/.349/.400 triple slash for Greensboro, but the Yankees were hardly pushed to use him. Trail and the Oakland A’s Mark Kiger (another second baseman) remain the only players to ever be on a postseason roster without ever appearing in a regular season game, but Kiger made it into a couple 2006 ALCS games! Too bad for Trail.

Ed Ricks, 1977

Another product of unusual circumstance, the righty pitcher Ricks was at one time an intriguing prospect. A sixth round pick in the 1972 Draft, Ricks worked his way through the system and was on the doorstep of the majors at Triple-A Syracuse from late 1974 through 1976. He was steady but unremarkable there with a 4.27 ERA despite some very shaky control (5.3 BB/9). The only time Billy Martin ever even made him available though was near the start of the ’77 season when starter Catfish Hunter went on the disabled list.

Ricks spent a little time on the roster, narrowly missing a start when Martin (rightfully) tabbed future ace Ron Guidry over him to make a start when the newly-acquired Mike Torrez was unavailable. Ricks returned in September and again did not pitch. Shortly thereafter, he suffered arm problems and was gone from the game by the end of the decade.

Jamie Werly, 1982

Werly is just amusing. He played generations after Mooers and Serrett, but there is somehow less baseball information on him. A righthanded starter, he was selected in the ninth round of the 1977 MLB Draft and persevered through injury which kept him out of action for the entire ’79 campaign to catch the Yankees’ eyes with a 2.59 ERA and 193 strikeouts in 222 innings (18 complete games) with Stump Merrill’s Nashville Sounds of the Double-A Southern League in 1981. He was named the top player in his league, and Bob Lemon put him on the ’82 Opening Day roster.

Nothing ever came of Werly’s time in the pros though, and soon he was off to Triple-A Columbus when their season started. He got clobbered. Injuries continued to dog him over the next couple years, perhaps in part due to the exhausting complete game total in ’81, and he left baseball after 1984. He did have a Harvard education though, so he maybe he did wel–Oh. You’re so creepy, LinkedIn.

Luke Wilcox, 2000

The Yankees don’t seem to have much luck with non-Jeter Michigan picks. Wilcox was a 1995 third round pick out of Western Michigan right in Jeter’s backyard of Kalamazoo. He could never quite shake the label of just being an “okay” prospect though, even as he moved on from the Yankees to the Mariners’ and Devil Rays’ systems after ’97. Brian Cashman brought him back into the fold in 2000, and in mid-July, he was called up to the team that would “three-peat” that October.

Wilcox only got his shot because popular reserve Shane Spencer tore his ACL on July 9th and was gone for the season. Both Wilcox and veteran Ryan Thompson when the team started back up again on July 13th after the All-Star Break. Although Wilcox was a lefty with a possible platoon advantage, Thompson started over him for two days, and Wilcox went back to Columbus once the Yankees were permitted to activate super-sub Clay Bellinger again. Wilcox only had one more season and a half in him before he retired. He is now an orthopedic surgeon and is apparently still advertised as a “former major leaguer.” Just let him have this, guys. Who cares about Ryan Thompson anyway?

The game itself sometimes becomes a bit of an afterthought after all the pregame fun. Seventeen years ago, that wasn’t the case. It was the 75^th anniversary of the opening of the original Yankee Stadium, and the eventually iconic 1998 Yankees celebrated the occasion with a game unlike any previously seen at the historic venue. It had general chaos, blown leads, Matt Stairs, and excitement that fans of the current Yankees can only hope they match this afternoon.

It wasn’t Opening Day proper, as the ’98 campaign was already underway. The Yankees were off to a shaky beginning, as they had started the season 1-4 and needed back-to-back victories at the Kingdome to even start their first homestand at a game under .500. For most other fan bases, it would be an annoying start, yet tolerable. In crazy Yankee-land under George Steinbrenner though, that meant manager Joe Torre was already dealing with rumors about his job security being in question since his ’96 champions had flopped out of the playoffs in the first round the year prior.

Fortunately for Torre, this iteration of Steinbrenner was not quite as insane as the one who dumped Berra just a couple weeks into the 1985 season, and his team would go on to make such talk look even more ludicrous that year. It might have all begun with this rocking opener against the Oakland A’s. Then-Yankees beat writer Buster Olney had the best line about it when he said:

Joe DiMaggio threw out the first ball at the Yankees’ home opener yesterday, and the 10 pitchers who followed him on the mound labored to match his effort. DiMaggio worked fast and threw a strike. Most of the other pitchers did neither.

It all started so quietly, as starters David Cone and Jimmy Haynes threw scoreless first innings. April 10, 1998 just wasn’t going to be the near-Hall of Famer Cone’s day, though. Oakland kicked off the mayhem by batting around in a five-run second with two walks and four hits, the latter coming on a line drive two-run double to right by the slugging Stairs. Haynes promptly rewarded his offense with a leadoff walk in the bottom half of the frame that came back to bite him; two runs would score to make it 5-2.

In the fourth, Haynes just lost it, as he walked Paul O’Neill and Bernie Williams, then allowed a booming three-run homer to Tino Martinez that tied it at five apiece. One more walk and Haynes was gone, to be replaced amusingly enough by future Yankee folk hero, Aaron Small. At age 25, Small was well on his way to becoming a journeyman with his third different franchise already, and this outing was about as good for his resume as anyone associated with Tank Girl.

Small yielded three straight hits to give the Yankees a 7-5 lead, and in the next inning, Darryl Strawberry crushed a three-run double that basically drove him from the ballgame. Jim Dougherty was next up to provide his manager Art Howe with his own unique styling on the word “relief,” granted with no help from his defense. By the end of the fourth, it was a blowout already at 12-5, Yankees.

Howe’s team went on to lose 88 games that year, but credit is deserved where it’s due—they were undeterred by this seven-run deficit with a former Cy Young Award winner on the mound in Cone. Four of the first five hitters in the fifth inning registered hits to make it 12-7, and Torre could no longer stick with Cone. Little-known reliever Darren Holmes entered for a three-batter cameo that resulted in no outs and some post-game Steinbrenner grumbling about “that young man from Colorado.”

In came 27-year-old rookie Mike Buddie, on the roster only because Mariano Rivera was recovering from a groin strain. In his third career game, the A’s showed no mercy, as Stairs reached on an error by former Oakland third baseman Scott Brosius, and future Yankee Jason Giambi and Dave Magadan followed with back-to-back singles. Improbably, Oakland had erased the entire seven-run deficit in one inning and now led, 13-12. The boos rained down from the fans on the collapse they were forced to witness.

For as shaky as the Yankees’ bullpen was in the fifth however, Dougherty was still in the game for the bottom half. Three batters later, the brief Oakland lead was gone already by virtue of another blow from Tino, a two-run double that scored O’Neill and Williams. Howe tried to keep Dougherty in despite another run crossing the plate, but he couldn’t even hold light-hitting catcher Joe Girardi at bay, and a single from the future skipper ended his afternoon. Chuck Knoblauch greeted new reliever T.J. Mathews with an RBI single. The inning ended with the score 16-13 and four more innings still to go.

The two teams finally had some normal pitching come through after the fifth, as only one more run was scored in the game with Mathews and Buddy Groom covering the last three innings for Oakland and bullpen weapons Graeme Lloyd and Jeff Nelson combining for 3 ½ scoreless frames. When the carnage settled at the end of the game, the final score was 17-13, Yankees in a tidy four hours and six minutes.

No game in the history of Yankee Stadium had ever seen as much scoring in one contest, and luckily for the 56,717 in attendance, they were also part of a record crowd—it was the largest one at Yankee Stadium since it was remodeled in 1976. Those crazy first five innings were what people couldn’t stop talking about the next day though. They took two hours and 51 minutes to play, longer than eight of the other fourteen MLB games on the schedule. (Curt Schilling also tossed a 1-0, two-hit shutout over the Braves in exactly two hours, because of course he did.) The A’s and Yankees scored 29 runs on 28 hits and 14 walks.

After the game, Buster Olney heard from first base coach Jose Cardenal, who remarked, “This has got to be the most brutal game I’ve ever seen in my life.” Although it was exhausting for the players on the field, Yankees fans will never forget the thrill and excitement from it.

Here’s hoping for another fun affair at Yankee Stadium across the street 17 years later.
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