Welcome to the relaunched This Day in Yankees History. With the offseason well underway, the Pinstripe Alley team has decided to continue the revived program in its new format. These daily posts will highlight two or three key moments in Yankees history on a given date, as well as recognize players born on the day. We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane with us!
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40 Years Ago
On this day forty years ago, Dave Winfield became the highest-paid player in baseball after Yankees owner George Steinbrenner signed the 29-year-old slugger and Gold Glove outfielder to a 10-year, $23.3 million contract. It was the beginning of a bumpy and contentious relationship between the two men. Over the next decade, Steinbrenner launched a personal vendetta against Winfield and took extreme measures in a vengeful effort to tarnish Winfield’s reputation.
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MILWAUKEE In 1982, Ned Yost slugged the biggest home run by a backup in Brewers history. Ten days later, another backup, Mark Brouhard, started and delivered three hits to help the Brewers to their only World Series to date.
How did both players wind up in Milwaukee? Via the Rule 5 Draft.
The annual event, staged in recent years on the final day of baseball’s Winter Meetings, offers opportunity for Minor Leaguers on the cusp of the big leagues. If left unprotected by their clubs nowadays, a player must be added to the 40-man roster after four seasons if he signed at 19 or older, or after five seasons if he signed at 18 or younger such players can be selected for a $100,000 fee and essentially must stick in the Major Leagues for the entire following season or be offered back for half of the original fee.
The following article is part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2021 Hall of Fame ballot. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, and other candidates in the series, use the tool above; an introduction to JAWS can be found here. For a tentative schedule and a chance to fill out a Hall of Fame ballot for our crowdsourcing project, see here. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball-Reference version unless otherwise indicated.
Torii Hunter could go get it. Fluid and graceful while patrolling center field, he was renowned for his leaping, acrobatic catches and his willingness to sacrifice his body. He made a strong enough impression upon those who watched him that he won nine Gold Gloves during his 19-year career, more than all but three center fielders, namely Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., and Andruw Jones. Hunter earned the nickname “Spider-Man” for his ability to climb outfield walls to steal home runs something he did more than just about
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MILWAUKEE In 1982, Ned Yost slugged the biggest home run by a backup in Brewers history. Ten days later, another backup, Mark Brouhard, started and delivered three hits to help the Brewers to their only World Series to date.
How did both players wind up in Milwaukee? Via the Rule 5 Draft.
The annual event, staged in recent years on the final day of baseball’s Winter Meetings, offers opportunity for Minor Leaguers on the cusp of the big leagues. If left unprotected by their clubs nowadays, a player must be added to the 40-man roster after four seasons if he signed at 19 or older, or after five seasons if he signed at 18 or younger such players can be selected for a $100,000 fee and essentially must stick in the Major Leagues for the entire following season or be offered back for half of the original fee.
James Click discusses Astros offseason mlb.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mlb.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.