December 7, 1995: The Tino & Nellie Trade

December 7, 1995: The New York Yankees send pitcher Sterling Hitchcock and 3rd baseman Russ Davis to the Seattle Mariners for 1st baseman Constantino "Tino" Martinez and pitchers Jeff Nelson and Jim Mecir.

Davis and Mecir were incidental. Hitchcock pitched well for the Mariners, and then pitched against the Yankees for the San Diego Padres in the 1998 World Series. Nelson turned out to be a key reliever for the Yankees over the next few years.

The key was Martinez. He had already become a star for the Mariners, and was a big reason why they beat the Yankees in the 1995 American League Division Series. And, with Don Mattingly retiring, the Yankees needed a new 1st baseman.

December 7, 1995 was Martinez's 28th birthday -- and his daughter, Victoria, was born the same day. He had started his career wearing Number 14, in honor of Lou Piniella, a former Yankee star and a friend of the family in their shared hometown of Tampa, Florida. But when Piniella became the Mariners' manager, Martinez knew he had to give the number up. He switched to 23. When he became a Yankee, that was the number worn by the outgoing Mattingly. He knew he didn't want the backlash that would have come from wearing 23. He saw that 24 was available, and that the next-lowest number was much higher, so he took 24.

Broadcaster John Sterling called the lefty slugger "The Bamtino." He did far more for the Yankees than Donnie Baseball. Blasphemy, you say? No, it's not, and I'll give you 4 reasons why: 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. In 1997 -- oddly, not one of the Yanks' Pennant years -- he had 141 RBIs, and his 44 homers were the most by a Yankee between Roger Maris (and Mickey Mantle) in 1961 and Alex Rodriguez in 2005.

The Tampa native hit 339 home runs in his career, 192 as a Yankee. And he hit 2 of the most dramatic homers in Yankee history, the grand slam that won Game 1 of the 1998 World Series, and the homer that sent Game 4 of the 2001 Series to extra innings.

Tino was the 1st player of the Joe Torre Dynasty to get a Monument Park Plaque, although his Number 24 remains in circulation. As much as anyone else, he was one of the player who got the Yankees over the hump in 1996, and kept them there into the dawn of the 21st Century.

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December 7, 1995 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Atlanta Hawks, 104-102 at The Omni in Atlanta. David Robinson had 31 points and 17 rebounds.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 112-103 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Vin Baker had 32 points and 15 rebounds.

* The Denver Nuggets beat their arch-rivals, the Utah Jazz, 124-119 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf scored 51 points.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the expansion Toronto Raptors, 96-88 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland, Oregon.

* And the Detroit Pistons beat the other expansion team, the Vancouver Grizzlies, 93-84 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver. The Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001.

And there were 8 games in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 7-3 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Florida Panthers and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim played to a tie, 3-3 at the Miami Arena.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Montreal Canadiens, 7-5 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Dallas Stars, 3-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Ottawa Senators beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-2 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Colorado Avalanche, 5-3 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-3 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

October 31, 2001: Derek Jeter Becomes Mr. November

October 31, 2001: Game 4 of the World Series. It's not just Halloween -- the 1st time a Major League Baseball game has been played on the day, due to the postponement of a week of games following the 9/11 attacks -- it's also a night of a Full Moon.

During batting practice at Yankee Stadium, Arizona Diamondbacks 1st baseman Mark Grace, who so long played for the Chicago Cubs without winning a Pennant and is enjoying his 1st World Series, could be seen on the official Series highlight film looking up, and saying, "Full Moon! You know what that means: Strange things happen!"

The Yankees trailed the Diamondbacks 3-1 in the bottom of the 9th, and were about to fall behind in the World Series by the same margin of games. This was due in large part to the fine pitching of Curt Schilling, who was asked about the "mystique" of Yankee Stadium. He said, "Mystique, Aura, those are dancers in a nightclub." Schilling had outpitched the Yankees' Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez. Grace had homered for the Snakes, Shane Spencer for the Yankees.

(Three years later, pitching for Boston, he would prove he was still not intimidated by Yankee Stadium, saying, "I can't think of anything better than making 55,000 Yankee fans shut up.") 

Byung-Hyun Kim, a "submarine" style pitcher from Korea, tried to close the Yankees out. But Paul O'Neill singled, and, after Bernie Williams struck out, Tino Martinez came to the plate as the Yankees' final hope. Tino electrified the crowd by slamming a drive toward the right-center-field Bleachers. The home run tied the game, and sent it into extra innings.

On the video, a fan in the front row of the Bleachers tried to catch the ball, but it bounced off his hand. Now, imagine you are that fan: Are you excited that the Yankees have come back in this World Series game, or are you mad that you were unable to catch this historic homer (and probably hurt your hand in the process)?

As the clock struck midnight, for the 1st time ever, a Major League Baseball game was played in the month of November. It was the bottom of the 10th, and Derek Jeter stepped to the plate against Kim. A fan held up a sign saying, "Mr. November."

Michael Kay, broadcasting this game for the Yankees on radio station WABC, later asked, "How did he know to hold up that sign for Jeter?" The answer is easy: He didn't hold it up specifically for Jeter. Jeter was just the batter when the clock struck 12, making him the first batter for whom it could be held up.

At 12:03 came a typical Jeter hit, an inside-out swing to right-center, and it just... barely... got over the fence for a game-winning home run. Kay yells out, "See ya! See ya! See ya!" Yankees 4, Diamondbacks 3. The Series was tied. The old ballyard was shaking. The "Yankee Mystique" had struck again. It was hits like this that got Jeter the nickname "Captain Clutch."

The next night, the 1st game to officially be played in the month of November, a fan made up a sign that said, "BASEBALL HISTORY MADE HERE" on what looked like an ancient scroll. Another fan made up a sign that said, "MYSTIQUE AND AURA APPEARING NIGHTLY." (Two years later, in what became known as the Aaron Boone Game, that same fan made up one that said, "MYSTIQUE DON’T FAIL ME NOW." It didn't.)

In 2022, Major League Baseball ranked its Top 20 Games of all time -- and by "all time," they meant games for which they had a complete record, so they could broadcast it in full. In other words, from about 1975 onward. This game ranked 12th.

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October 31, 2001 was a Wednesday. French skier Régine Cavagnoud died, 2 days after a training accident in Pitztal, Austria. Although she had competed in 3 Winter Olympics, she had never won a medal. However, just 7 months before her death, she won the World Championship in the women's super giant slalom, or Super-G, in St. Anton, Austria. She was 31.

Football was in midweek. There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Boston Celtics, 95-92 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston. Paul Pierce scored 36 in defeat for the Celtics.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 100-94 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

* The Miami Heat beat the Toronto Raptors, 97-92 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Chicago Bulls, 98-73 at the United Center in Chicago.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Golden State Warriors, 92-87 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

And there were 6 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Florida Panthers, 3-1 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat their cross-State rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-0 at the First Union Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Nashville Predators beat the Minnesota Wild, 6-4 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Dallas Stars, 4-3 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Brett Hull scored the winning goal, 48 seconds into overtime.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Colorado Avalanche, 1-0 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 4-2 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center) in Anaheim.

July 8, 2000: A Split-Stadium Doubleheader

Mets manager Bobby Valentine (left) and Yankees manager Joe Torre

July 7, 2000: An Interleague weekend series begins at Shea Stadium in New York. It was supposed to be 3 games there, but a rainout forced it into 4 games, with the teams playing a doubleheader the next day, one at each stadium.

In the Friday night game, the Yankees beat the Mets 2-1. Four straight singles – by Derek Jeter, Paul O’Neill, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada – off Al Leiter in the 1st inning get Orlando (El Duque) Hernández all the runs he needs.

July 8, 2000: The Saturday split-stadium doubleheader began at Shea at 1:15 PM, U.S. Eastern Time. Bobby Jones started for the Mets, while former Met star Dwight Gooden started for the Yankees. The Yankees staked "Doctor K" to a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning. The Mets pulled a run back in the bottom of the 2nd, and tied the game in the 5th.

But Tino Martinez hit a home run in the top of the 6th, and singled home another run in the 8th. The Yankees won, 4-2. It was the 191st win of Gooden's career, cut short by drug suspensions and injuries. He would only win 3 more, and a 194-112 record, 2,293 strikeouts, and 3 World Series rings have not been enough to gain him serious consideration for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The 2nd game got underway at Yankee Stadium at 8:05 PM. All the scoring came in the 5th inning. Back-to-back singles by Derek Bell and Edgardo Alfonzo off Roger Clemens gave the Mets a 2-0 lead. But the Yankees came right back against Glendon Rusch: A single by David Justice, a single by Shane Spencer, a sacrifice bunt by Chris Turner, an RBI single by Scott Brosius, and a 3-run home run by Chuck Knoblauch. Yankees 4, Mets 2.

June 9, 2000: Andy Pettitte did not have his best stuff. Mike Hampton had his, going 7 innings of 6-hit shutout ball. A Todd Zeile homer in the 4th and a Melvin Mora sacrifice fly in the 7th gave the Mets a 2-0 win.

So the Yankees took 2 out of 3 in the scheduled series, 3 out of 4 overall. The way the regular season worked out, the Mets won more games, 92 to the Yankees' 87; but the Yankees' total was enough to win the American League Eastern Division by 2 1/2 games over their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox; while the Mets' total put them 1 game behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League Eastern Division.

Luck was on the Mets' side: In the NL Division Series, they beat the San Francisco Giants, while the Braves lost to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets then beat the Cards for their 1st Pennant in 14 years. The Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics, then the Seattle Mariners, to win their 3rd straight Pennant, their 4th in the last 5 years, and their 37th overall.

That set up the 1st Subway Series since 1956, Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers. Since Interleague Play began in 1997, New York baseball fans, and the New York media, always refer to the regular-season games between the Yankees and the Mets as a "Subway Series." It's not. Nobody ever called regular-season games between the Dodgers and the New York edition of the Giants a "Subway Series." That term was reserved for a World Series between 2 New York teams. The Yankees beat the Mets in 5 games, clinching at Shea Stadium.

*

July 8, 2000 was a Saturday. These other Major League Baseball games were played, some of them arch-rivalries, some of them regional rivalries, some of them both, some of them neither, nearly all of them Interleague:

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the other Canadian team, the Montreal expos, 6-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

* The Atlanta Braves, who played in Boston from 1871 to 1952, beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-1 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Baltimore Orioles, 13-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Cal Ripken Jr. did not play. Despite the Phils' 13 runs, the only home run was hit by Will Clark, for the Orioles.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 6-5 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida. John Flaherty scored the winning run in the bottom of the 8th inning, on a wild pitch by Braden Looper with Russ Johnson at bat.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Cleveland Indians, 14-5 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati. Omar Vizquel, usually known for his defense, hit 2 home runs, and Kenny Lofton added 1. It made little difference as, for the Reds, Ken Griffey Jr. hit 2, and 1 each was hit by Pokey Reese and Chris Stynes.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Chicago White Sox, 9-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Sammy Sosa, Eric Young Sr. and Henry Rodriguez hit home runs for the North Siders. The South Side runs came on solo homers by Magglio Ordóñez and Herbert Perry.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Tony Clark singled Brad Ausmus and Bobby Higginson home with the winning runs in the top of the 15th inning.

* In the only intraleague game of the day, the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-6 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Mark McGwire did not play, and Barry Bonds only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and struck out.

* The Texas Rangers beat the San Diego Padres, 8-1 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Tony Gwynn did not play.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Houston Astros, 5-2 at Enron Field (soon to be renamed Minute Maid Park, and now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Anaheim Angels beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-2 at Edison International Field of Anaheim (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 8-7 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the Network Associates Coliseum). Jeremy Giambi singled Ryan Christenson home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 11-0 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle. Aaron Sele (3 hits over 7 innings) and Brett Tomko (2 over 2) combined on a 5-hit shutout. John Olerud hit a home run.