Images | Wid

Conroy in 1903 (Baseball Fever)

In 1903, the inaugural year for the Highlanders, third baseman Wid Conroy batted .272 with just 1 home run and 45 RBIs, but struck out just 36 times in 548 plate appearances.  In his 6-year career in New York, Conroy batted .250 with 750 hits.

On This Day In History | 1915

Ruppert, Kenesaw Mountain Landis [Commissioner of Baseball], Harry Frazee [Red Sox owner] at the opening of Yankee Stadium in 1923 (Library of Congress)

On this day 98 years ago Colonel Jacob Ruppert and  Captain Tillinghast L’Hommedieu Huston purchased the New York Yankees for $480,000 (the equivalent of over $11 million in today’s money).  They bought the club from Frank Farrell and Bill Devery who had acquired the defunct Baltimore Orioles franchise in 1903 for $18,000.  A wedge had been driven between Farrell and Devery and, with both desperately in need of money, they let go of the team they had inaugurated as the New York Highlanders.  In 1922 Huston sold his share of the team to Ruppert for $1.5 million, vacating his share of the team on the cusp of their ascension to the heights of baseball glory.

During Ruppert’s 24-year ownership, the Yankees went from being a 69-83 team in 1915 to one of the most successful teams in professional sports history.  Under the Colonel’s leadership the Yanks acquired Babe Ruth, built Yankee Stadium, won 10 pennants, and were crowned World Champions 7 times.

Yogi Berra’s Top 10 (Hypothetical) Tweets

A lithograph including some of Yogi’s best quotes (Frank Galasso)

Today the Yes Network launched a campaign to bring Yogi Berra‘s wit and wisdom to Twitter, using the hashtag #EmbracetheBirdYogi.

That got me thinking, what if Yogi used Twitter to share some of his most iconic phrases?  Here are some of Yogi’s best-loved quotes, with a slight alteration.

*     *     *     *     *

#10 | “You should always tweet about other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t tweet about yours.”

#9 | “So I’m ugly.  I never saw anyone tweet with his face.”

#8 | “If people don’t want to join Twitter, how are you going to stop them?”

#7 | “How can you think and tweet at the same time?”

#6 | “All pitchers on Twitter are liars and crybabies.”

#5 | “Never answer an anonymous tweet.”

#4 | “It ain’t over ’til you’ve hit 140 characters.”

#3 | “I didn’t really tweet everything I tweeted.”

#2 | “90% of Twitter is mental and the other half is physical.”

#1 | “Every time someone retweets me it’s like deja vu all over again!”

Images | Commerce Comet

1957 | Mickey Mantle sets fire to the base path (Life)

On This Day In History | 1903

The 1903 New York Highlanders (Baseball Fever)

On this day 110 years ago the New York Yankees franchise came into existence, though they would not be known by that monicker for another nine years.  The story begins in Baltimore, the city that would eventually house one of the team’s rivals.  As the 1900 season came to a close, Ban Johnson, the president of the minor league’s Western League, saw the need for a league to rival the powerful National League.  Three east coast cities were initiated, forming the American League.  One of those teams was slated to be in New York, but the political connections of the New York Giants stymied any such plans to bring another team to a city they felt was theirs alone.  The team was instead placed in Baltimore, a city the National League had abandoned the year before.

Thus the Orioles began in 1901, skippered by John McGraw.  The newly minted team went an impressive 68-65 in 1901, good enough for 5th in the league; however, in the middle of the 1902 season McGraw left the team for the New York Giants after a spat with Johnson, gained controlling interest of the team, and began pilfering Baltimore’s players until the AL put a stop to it.

In January of 1903 a summit was held between the rival leagues in an attempt to coexist.  Johnson reaffiirmed his desire to put an AL team in the Big Apple, an idea ratified by 15 of the 16 Major League owners, with only the Giants’ John T. Bush dissenting.  Frank Farrell and Bill Devery purchased the defunct Baltimore franchise for $18,000 and moved the team to Manhattan.

The team would reside at Hilltop Park, between 165th and 168th Street, until becoming tenants of the Polo Grounds, just a few blocks away, in 1913.  Since their park resided on one of the island’s highest points, the team became known as the Highlanders until officially accepting the name “Yankees” in 1913.

Images | Blue Steel

2001 | Jorge Posada (Sports Illustrated)

Man, I miss this guy.

Images | It Ain’t Over ’til It’s Over

Yogi Berra laces up some skates (Uni Watch)

It was announced today that after a 113 day lockout, lasting nearly 4 months, the National Hockey League will begin their season on January 19th.

Images | The Boys

1941 | Johnny Sturm, Joe Gordon, Phil Rizzuto & Red Rolfe at Fenway Park (Boston Public Library)

On This Day In History | 2009

Tex takes the podium at the press conference (New York Times)

On this day 4 years ago Mark Teixeira was introduced as a New York Yankee.  It was the final major announcement of an offseason in which the Yankees spent $161 million on CC Sabathia, $82.5 million on A.J. Burnett, and traded for Nick Swisher.  Teixeira was a huge player to land not only because the Yanks needed a quality 1st baseman, but because Tex was being courted by Baltimore after announcing he wanted to be closer to his family in from Severna Park, Maryland.  Both Baltimore and Washington offered him deals that would be the longest and most lucrative in those organizations, but he spurned them in favor of the Yanks’ 8-years and $180 million dollars, making the price tag on Tex, CC, and Burnett an incredible $423.5 million.  The Yanks beat out other clubs that desperately wanted to sign him including Los Angeles and Boston.

Tex was formally introduced at one of the last press conferences held at the old Yankee Stadium.  He talked about coming to the Stadium as an 8 or 9-year-old d watching his idol, Don Mattingly, man the position that was now his.  He went on to say, “I look at myself as a leader.  First and foremost, I try to do things the right way on the field, and I think you can carry that over to the locker room and earn the respect of your teammates. I’ve always thought that a team has a few leaders that they look up to, and I’ve always wanted to be that guy.”  Teixeira would take the #25 since his favorite number, Mattingly’s #23, will forever reside in Monument Park.

With Tex and their other prized acquisitions, the Yankees would not only put the previous season’s 3rd place finish in the rear view mirror, they would win their first World Series since 2000.  Tex had no small part in the turnaround, batting .292 with 39 home runs and 122 RBIs, earning a runner-up finish in the MVP vote.  One of his biggest hits of the season ended Game 2 of the ALDS as his line drive to left field hit the top of the wall and bounced into the stands to give the Yanks a 2-0 series lead over Minnesota.

Images | Wish I Wasn’t Here

A postcard of the 1911 New York Highlanders (Vintage Ball)

The 1911 New York Highlanders were 76-76 and finished 6th in the American League, just 3 games out of 3rd place, which isn’t bad considering they had a run differential of -39.  Of all the heads on this postcard, Hippo Vaughn has the most unfortunate placement, residing in the netherlands of the high-stepping scotsman with the head of Hal Chase.  But when you bat .143 with 1 extra base hit and 3 RBIs in 1911 there is not a more deserving spot.