Bronx Bomber Ball

Yankees fans knew this day was inevitable, but that fact does not mean that we are not emotional over the fact that it's arrived.  Photo credit: Yahoo Sports

Yankees fans (and all baseball fans): June 2 is now a day to remember.  It’s #LouGehrigDay. 

Hideki Matsui joined the Yankees at the Major League level in 2003, and for three years, he didn’t stop playing -- picking up Rookie of the Year recognition in 2003, and was voted to the All-Star team in 2003 and 2004.  Photo Credit: New York Times

Alex Rodriguez's career will forever carry a dark cloud over it.  Despite winning 3 MVPs and carrying the 2009 Yankees to a World Series title, Yankees fans all know that A-Rod’s legacy is tarnished due to scandals and suspensions.  Some of his individual game career accomplishments often go forgotten as a result.  One such accomplishment came when A-Rod became the 11th MLB player to drive in more than ten runs over the course of one game.  The league record of 12, which still stands to this day, is shared by Jim Bottomley (set in 1924) and Mark Whiten (tied in 1993). Photo Credit' Julie Jacobson/AP Photo

Photo Credit: Newsday

Former Major League pitcher of 14 seasons, five of which were with the New York Yankees, Don Larsen has passed away on the first day of 2020, at the age of 90. Larsen was most widely known for pitching the first, and only, perfect game in World Series history for the Yankees in 1956.  Photo Credit: AP

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CC Sabathia became just the 17 th  pitcher in MLB history to record 3,000 career strikeouts tonight in the second inning of his start against the Diamondbacks.  Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

The New York Yankees have long been admired for their brilliant winning pedigree. They’ve won 27 World Series Championships, 40 American League Pennants and produced some of the greatest players the game of baseball has ever seen. They are truly the standard to which all teams in any sport are measured against. They’re the only team in baseball history to win four straight championships (1936-1939) and five straight (1949-1953). For 85 years, the original Yankee Stadium was the most hallowed ground in sports and home of some of the greatest games ever played. In 2009, that tradition continued as the Yankees won title number 27 in their first season at the new Yankee Stadium. Because of the team’s tremendous success, they’ve had players and coaches who have done a tremendous amount of winning (with apologies to Don Mattingly). Babe Ruth won four times, Joe DiMaggio nine, Mickey Mantle seven, and Lou Gehrig six. Then of course you had the man with the greatest sayings in baseball, the i...

The Yankees have a long list of Hall of Famers who have taken the field wearing the fabled pinstripes.  However, for each Ruth, Mantle and Gehrig, there are such names as Gaylord Perry, Randy Johnson and Ivan Rodriguez.  Each a Hall of Famer in their own right, but each with a completely different New York tale to tell. Of course, I cannot name Jose Canseco and his one glorious 2000 World Series at bat, resulting in a K looking, but PED's and the HOF is a different story.  Being a Yankee for even one game puts the player in a special club - I’m looking at you Dustin Fowler - but being a model of winning for the last century or so does result in some players being inflated by the stigma of the pinstripes. Some players just  sound or  look great in the pinstripes, but in many cases their contributions have been overrated.  Photo Credit: ESPN

Aaron Boone got the job of a lifetime this off season, not that he didn’t have great careers in the past as he was a professional baseball player for many years and then got to live out many sports fans dreams by working as a commentator on Sunday Night Baseball. Then this winter after a lengthy interview process Boone got the call from Yankees GM Brian Cashman, he was to become the next Yankees manager. Boone is off to a 4-2 start as the Yanks skipper, but the new head honcho has been a fan favorite for years, thanks to one memorable hit in October 2003.   Photo Credit: NJ.com

Growing up most young boys and girls think of Superman, Batman or Captain America as superheroes. For children in the 1920’s their superhero was Yankees' right fielder Babe Ruth. “The Great Bambino” played for the Yankees from 1920-1934 and cemented himself as arguably the greatest player of all time. He finished his career with 714 home runs good for third all-time behind only Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron; 659 of those home runs came as a member of the Yankees and that is still the franchise record. 

Let’s get this out of the way. Unlike the actual Boston Massacre during Revolutionary War times, no one died in these two massacres (except the hopes and dreams of the people of New England). These two separate events happened 28 years apart but will forever be intertwined. Anytime you can sweep an opponent it is exciting, but when that team happens to be your most bitter rival who you’re fighting for the pennant with, it makes it even better. The Yankees and Red Sox have long had baseball and sports greatest rivalry (I don’t want to hear it; your rivalries don’t compare. Looking at you Giants and Dodgers fans).  Ever since Babe Ruth was sold to New York for $125,000, the two teams have been at each other’s throats, with the Yankees coming out on top a large majority of the time. In recent years, yes, the Red Sox have been more successful championship wise, but they still sit far away from the mighty Yankees. Two series in particular show the dominance New York has had over Bost...

There are a few things about the Yankees that I’m very stubborn about, things that no matter how hard you debate with me I’ll just never change my mind on. For instance, Joe DiMaggio is the greatest baseball player the world has ever seen, if I ever have a son, I want him to grow up to be the man Lou Gehrig was, and the 1927 team is the greatest that baseball will ever see. However, while I am of the mindset the ’27 team is the greatest, there will never be a season more impressive than 1998. The team won 114 games in the regular season while losing only 48. They won the AL East by a mind boggling 22 games and went 11-2 in the playoffs sweeping the San Diego Padres in the World Series for the club’s 24th overall championship. Their win total regular season and postseason combined was 125 which is still a major league record to this day.   Photo Credit: Mlb.com

The Yankees have been blessed throughout their history with magnificent players. They went from the fearsome duo of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, to the heroic and incomparable Joe DiMaggio, and remarkably in DiMaggio’s final season, up came his heir apparent, Mickey Mantle. The Oklahoma kid would go on to slug 536 home runs passing both Gehrig and DiMaggio in that area. He played during a time when the Giants and Dodgers had impressive center fielders of their own in Willie Mays and Duke Snider. It was an amazing time to be a baseball fan in New York City, and was immortalized in the song “Talkin Baseball” with the famous line referring to the three stars as “Willie, Mickey and the Duke.” Photo Credit: NBC

One of the single greatest performances a pitcher can have is throwing a no-hitter. Aside from a perfect game a no-hitter the crown jewel for a pitcher. It’s something they will always be remembered for and something that connects them to this history of baseball forever. Throwing one in a season is incredible, throwing two is downright amazing, well that’s what Allie Reynolds was able to accomplish in the summer of 1951.   Photo Credit: :  gators-hall.blogspot.com

BBB Writer Fave Ruggiero will be looking back at some of the greatest moments in Yankees history leading us to opening day in Toronto. On August 2, 1979, the baseball world and the Yankees suffered a horrific tragedy. Thurman Munson, the Yankees captain and leader on an off the field, was involved in a fatal plane crash. Thurman was the 1970 AL Rookie of the Year and the league MVP in 1976. He was a vital part of the team’s back to back championships in 1977 and 1978. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment was being named the first team captain since the legendary Lou Gehrig. Munson was beloved by many, he worked hard on the field and no one could ever complain about his effort on a nightly basis. Aside from being a terrific player the seven-time All-Star was an even better husband and father.   Photo Credit: Complex.com

Joseph Paul DiMaggio was born on November 25, 1914 in Martinez, California a city east of San Francisco. He had nine siblings including his brothers Vince and Dom who would join him as making a career in baseball. DiMaggio recalled his youth saying “I began playing baseball on a vacant lot in San Francisco when I was about 10 years old. In those days, I preferred almost anything to working on my fathers (Giuseppe DiMaggio a fisherman) fishing boat or cleaning it up when the fishing day was over. I hated the smell. My father looked on baseball in much the same way as I did fishing.” Needless to say, a career in baseball wasn’t what Joe’s parents were pinning their hopes on for their boy.   Photo Credit: Viralscape

There ’s so much excitement surrounding the 2018 regular season with it being right around the corner. Because of the potential of the 2018 squad, fans are a little bit more giddy than usual this time of year. The reason being, this team could be one of the best Yankees teams we have seen in a very long time, which raises the question, which one is the best ever?    Photo Credit: SI.com

No team in baseball history has a story quite like the Yankees. 27 times they’ve found baseball Nirvana which is 16 more than the next closest team (Cardinals). 40 times have the Yankees won the American League, and that is also a major league record. The franchise won four straight championships from 1936-1939 and five straight from 1949-1953, a task no other team has ever accomplished. With all this sustained success, the team has seen some of the greatest players in league history proudly call the Bronx home. Together the Yankees could field multiple All-Star teams with their collective legends, but in this article, I’m going to try and put together a team of legends that I think would be absolutely unbeatable.   Photo Credit: Creative Commons