Nope, not the effects of a heavy night…

[It]happened in the fourth inning, when Babe made a valiant effort for a long foul from Joe Judge’s bat, which just sailed over the wall into the crowded seats. The Babe ran into the pavilion parapet with the full force of his body, and dropped unconscious to the grass. Uniformed policemen ran to his assistance and kept back the crowd that seemed disposed to leave the chairs and get a close-up of the injured warrior. Several photographers happened to be on the spot and snapped the Babe as Trainer Doc Woods ran up with the water bucket and the little black bag of first aid preparations.

At first it was thought that Ruth had been knocked out by a blow from the concrete on his chin, but it was soon discovered that he had been knocked out by a jolt in the solar plexus. His left leg was also hurt at the hip.

[Yankee manager Miller] Huggins wanted Ruth to quit, but he insisted upon staying in, and got a double in the sixth… From page 23 of the July 6th, 1924 New York Times

The Yankees beat the Senator 2-1.

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Number 42, the greatest of all time, Mariano Rivera, is bowing out at the end of the 2013 season…

Mariano Rivera

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Life won’t be the same after Mo…

ICYMI, 12 men have walked on the Moon. 11 have scored on earned runs against Mariano Rivera in the postseason. #Yankees

— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 10, 2013

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Yesterday former Yankee Hideki Matsui announced his retirement from Major League Baseball, aged 38, after a decade long career in the States which followed a decade playing in his native Japan.

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As I think I’ve posted before, probably when his consecutive games streak ended back in ’06 – 518 games in the majors, which remains the longest streak of consecutive games played to start a career in Major League Baseball, & 1768 including his time with the Yomiuri Giants – that Hideki Matsui was one of my favourite players of the 2000s even before that magical autumn of 2009 in his last six games in pinstripes.

It was a combination of everything, from being the best slugging import from Japan into the majors – first Yankee to hit a grand slam in his first game at Yankee Stadium – to simple things like the uncomplicated manner at the plate. Plant feet, raise bat, ready.

Surely a favourite of all after the MVP winning World Series performance in 2009, hitting .615 (8 for 13) with 3 home runs and 8 RBI and tying the record for most RBIs in a single World Series game as he went 3-for-4 in the final championship clinching game, his final as a Yankee.

So Godzilla can ride off into the sunset with the picture of his wife and that stash of some 55,000 porn tapes.

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Well that’s 50% of the Core Four gone as Jorge Posada officially joins Andy Pettitte in retirement.

Of the four the catcher probably ranked fourth in everyone’s affections. Probably didn’t help himself with his mid-season strop last year, after being demoted to ninth in the batting order. Might of had a case if his numbers at the time hadn’t been so bad that he was lucky to be ninth. I also seem to remember readings somewhere that the week chin might not have helped.

So while he ranks below Mariano, Derek and Andy in both fan love and maybe thoughts of that much overused word in sport greatness – scoring against a second division (in old money) side does not equal greatness – there’s some interesting facts included in the Yankees e-mail announcing Posada’s retirement.

Posada, 40, finishes his 17-year Major League career with a .273 batting average (1,664-for-6,092) with 900 runs, 379 doubles, 275 home runs and 1,065 RBI in 1,829 games-all with the Yankees. Of the 13 former Major League catchers in the Hall of Fame (Johnny Bench, Yogi Berra, Roger Bresnahan, Roy Campanella, Gary Carter, Mickey Cochrane, Bill Dickey, Buck Ewing, Rick Ferrell, Carlton Fisk, Gabby Hartnett, Ernie Lombardi and Ray Schalk), only Berra has better numbers in batting average, home runs and RBI (.285, 358 and 1,430, respectively).

As a player on five World Series championship teams (1996, ’98, ’99, 2000, ’09), Posada finished his career among Baseball’s all-time postseason leaders in games played (second, 125), doubles (third, 23), hits (fourth, 103) and RBI (tied for ninth, 42). His 119 postseason contests at catcher are the most all time, ahead of Berra (second, 63). In his career, he caught at least one game in six different World Series, tied with Elston Howard and Wally Schang for third-most all time, trailing Berra (12) and Bill Dickey (eight). In 2011, he batted a team-best .429 (6-for-14) in the Yankees’ five-game ALDS vs. Detroit.

Originally selected by the Yankees in the 24th round of the 1990 First-Year Player Draft, Posada holds the distinction of being one of just five players all time to record at least 1,500 hits, 350 doubles, 275 home runs and 1,000 RBI while playing at least 50.0% of his games at catcher, joining Ivan Rodriguez and Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Gary Carter and Carlton Fisk. He ranks eighth all time in home runs among players whose primary position was catcher.

He’s also the only Major League catcher to ever have hit .330 or better with 40 doubles, 20 home runs, and 90 RBIs in a single season.

Interesting stuff. Hall of Fame stuff? But in the end when the Yankees were winning in the last two decades Posada was right there in the middle of it all.

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The greatest relief pitcher of all time gets the regular season save record – 602.

As I’ve said before I don’t want to live in a world without Mo (though of course pre-1995 I did).

Enter sandman…

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At Yankee stadium, Five for five, a homer for the 3000th and batting in the winning run.

Who writes the scripts for Derek Jeter?

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Andrew Eugene Pettitte…

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…someone can switch the lights out in Yankee Stadium for the season now.

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Another step to wiping the name of Barry Bonds off the top of the pile. Cleaning up the list that Bonds sullied when he took the record from Aaron.

…he’s just going to be another one with an asterisk to his name.

Sad really, had his chance but those three seasons in Texas means it ain’t going to be as big a celebration if he does get to the magic 763 than it should be – three seasons at 52, 57 and 47 homers that are making it only 444 he’s hit according to some.

And that’s if he does make it. 163 to go, took him exactly three years to get this last 100, factor in natural slowing down, seems to pick up more injuries these days, his game numbers have been down the last three years, will he need 6 or more years to get the remaining bombs? Even being the youngest, at 35 years and 8 days, to reach the 600 milestone does he have the time to top the chart?

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Three and a half months into the season and only one post about baseball – damn you all to hell channel 5 – and the second one is about the death of The Boss. And I’m a bit late on that.*

Not much to say really, what can I say that hasn’t already, whether good, bad or indifferent. All I know is the Yankees are a bit better off now than when he and his cohorts paid $8.7 million for them in ’73 – where can you go now in the wolrd and not see that famous NY logo on a blue cap?

And while some fans bitch and moan about the him and the Yankees, the players they bought and traded for he was paying the luxury tax to make the Yanks winners while other team owners were just making sure their pockets were well lined. Don’t blame George because your owners have produced crap teams.

Hey I know it’s not GMS III but Larry David but a fitting tribute?

Just wish he hadn’t fired Billy that fifth and final time before a certain trip to the new old Yankee stadium in ’88.

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*Also so late I never mentioned Bob Sheppard’s passing, happy I got to hear him at his job.

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