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Most ignominious moments in Yankees' history |
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By David Schoenfield ESPN.com Here they are. The 10 most ignominious moments in Yankees' history, those times you were most ashamed to be a Yankees fan. And we promise they won't all involve George Steinbrenner. Roger Clemens isn't the only headhunter in Yankee history. Only one major leaguer has ever been killed in the line of duty -- and a Yankee did it. Submariner Carl Mays was known as a nasty SOB and in 1920 he threw a high and tight pitch that Chapman apparently froze on. It beaned him in the skull, and he died a day later. 2. Babe Ruth's "stomach ache" Babe Ruth liked to eat, drink, smoke, have sex and play baseball -- all to excess. It all caught up to him at the end of spring training in 1925. Legend has it Ruth's stomach ache was brought on by eating a dozen hot dogs and drinking eight bottles of lemon soda. Others suggested he had acute indigestion or veneral disease. Whatever, he ended up in the hospital (best evidence indicates he had an intestinal abscess) and one paper even declared him dead. Ruth eventually returned in June, but he played miserably and the Yankees finished in seventh place. 3. The Copacabana brawl On the most base level, Billy Martin was a punk. A bunch of Yankees were celebrating his 29th birthday in 1957 at the Copacabana nightclub when a drunken brawl broke out, involving Martin, Hank Bauer, Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford. Bauer punched one patron. General manager George Weiss, who never liked Martin, traded him a month later, believing he was a bad example for Mantle and Ford (yeah, right). Of course, Billy would be back ... 4. Reggie fights Billy There was nothing quite like the soap opera between Reggie Jackson, Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner. In Reggie's first year with the Yankees in 1977 it reached a nasty confrontation in a nationally televised game in Boston in July. There was a fly ball to Jackson in right that he failed to catch. To quote Martin, "He jogged toward the ball, fielded it on about the fiftieth hop, took his sweet time throwing it in, and made a weak throw in the general direction of the pitcher's mound." Martin removed Reggie in the middle of the inning, infuriating Jackson. Reggie came in yelling and the two went at it in the dugout in full view of the TV cameras. 5. Yogi fired In spring training of 1985, Steinbrenner said about manager Yogi Berra: "Yogi will be the manager the entire season, win or lose. A bad start will not affect Yogi's status." The Yankees started 6-10. Berra was fired .. and Martin was brought in for a fourth term as manager. (And he would eventually come back for a fifth time.) Berra never stepped foot in Yankee Stadium after the firing again until last season. 6. Whitson brawls with Billy See a trend here? (Yeah, but they still retired his number and gave him a plaque.) Ed Whitson was a big free-agent signing for the Yankees in 1985. But he got off to a 1-6 start and became a prime target for the Yankee Stadium boo birds. Late in the season, he got in a barroom brawl with manager Billy Martin. They just don't make managers like that anymore. 7. Luis Polonia goes to jail When Rickey Henderson reported (late) to spring training in 1989, he blamed the failure on the team to win the pennant in 1988 on too much drinking and carousing. Apparently, things didn't change a whole lot in 1989. In August, outfielder Luis Polonia was arrested in Milwaukee for having sex with a minor. In October, he was sentenced to 60 days in prison. 8. Steinbrenner, Spira and Winfield Steinbrenner's constant managerial and front office changes in the '80s made the team a laughingstock and eventually helped run the team into the ground, as well. The Boss hit rock bottom in 1990, when it was revealed he had a three-year working relationship with known gambler Howard Spira. Steinbrenner had allegedly paid Spira $40,000 to dig up negative information about outfielder Dave Winfield. It got so bad, in one July game, Yankee fans started chanting, "No more George! No more George!" They got their wish -- sort of. He was banned from the game. Unlike Pete Rose, however, he was later reinstated. 9. Fisk takes Sanders to task Deion Sanders was never much of a baseball player, as best evidenced during a White Sox-Yankees game in May 1990. Sanders had allegedly drawn dollar signs in the dirt as he stepped in the batter's box. He then popped up and didn't run it out. The next time up, Carlton Fisk let him have it. Even though Fisk hated the Yankees, he believed Sanders was disgracing the game. "There's a right way to play and a wrong to play and you're doing it the wrong way," he said. "Get back in the box and hit or I'll kick your ass right here in Yankee Stadium." 10. Chuck Brain-lock The Yankees had rolled through one of the greatest regular seasons in history in 1998, winning 114 games. But in Game 2 of the ALCS against Cleveland, Chuck Knoblauch nearly brought the season to a ruin. On Travis Fryman's bunt, the throw got away from Knoblauch (who was covering first). Instead of chasing after the ball, Knoblauch argued with the umpire, letting two runs score. The Yankees lost the game but came back and won the series anyway.  Copyright ©2000 ESPN Internet Ventures. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information are applicable to this site. Click here for a list of employment opportunities at ESPN.com. |
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