New York Yankees

No Hit Loser - The Andy Hawkins Story

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Yankees pitcher Andy Hawkins pitches a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox and somehow still loses. With two outs in the bottom of the 8th inning of a hitless beauty, Hawkins and the Yanks suddenly found themselves down 4-0 . An error by third baseman Mike Blowers allowed Sammy Sosa to beat out the throw to first. Hawkins followed that up with a pair of walks to Ozzie Guillen & Lance Johnson to load em up. A misplay of a Robin Ventura fly ball by left fielder Jim Leyritz allowed all three runs to score. Add another error and run, and it’s done. White Sox win! Andy lost his place in the No Hit club as well after MLB changed their definition of NO-NO, to say a pitcher must pitch a full 9 innings of hitless ball to get credit for it. Not 8. Bummer Dude.

Pitcher Rick Rhoden Starts At Designated Hitter

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On June 11th 1988 Rick Rhoden became the first pitcher to start as the Designated Hitter in the lineup since the DH rule was implemented in 1973. Yanks skipper Billy Martin put Rhoden into the 7th spot in the lineup where he went 0-1 with a RBI on a Sacrifice Fly. The Boynton Beach, FL native was actually a pretty decent hitter for a pitcher. Over his 16 year career he hit .238 with 9 HR’s & 75 RBI’s. He even had an 11 game hitting streak while he was with the Pirates in 1984. Happy Birthday Rick Rhoden!

Some Random Facts About Don Mattingly

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Happy 4/20!! Born on this day #23 in your programs ‘The Hitman’ Don Mattingly. 1987 Topps were the first Baseball Cards I collected. When I got my first Beckett Price Guide some years later I can totally remember running out to my Dad’s workshop to tell him my ‘87 ‘Donnie Baseball’ was worth a whopping $2.25. 

Lots more fun facts about Don in Issue 6 of Blaze! My favorite is that he hit 6 grand slams in 1987, and those were the only grand slams of his 14 year career. 

Bo vs Deion

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It was back on July 17th, 1990 that the dynamic dual sport duo of Bo Jackson & Deion Sanders met for the fifth and final time on the baseball diamond. Bo started off the festivities with a homer to centerfield in the top of the 1st, just passed the outstretched glove of Deion as he scaled the wall. Bo would homer two more times in the 3rd & 5th innings. His shot to right center in the 3rd measured in at 464 ft.

‘Neon Deion’ got in on the homerun theme himself with one of the inside the park variety. In the bottom of the 6th, Bo made a diving attempt at Deion’s liner to center, just missing it, allowing Sanders to round the bases, ultimately leaping over the Royals Cather Mike MacFarlane at the plate to score. It was the first inside the park homer for the Yankees franchise since 1984. Unfortunately Jackson hurt his shoulder on the dive, and would miss the next month of baseball. Both teams went on to have pretty bummer years with the Royals finishing at 75-86 and the Yankees faring even worse with a 67-95 record.