GAME 130: A strong outing from Detroit Tigers ace Rick Porcello snapped the Yankees win streak at five, and knocked them a game further out of Wild Card contention. Brandon McCarthy struggled to find consistency, and only Jacoby Ellsbury had an answer for Porcello — clubbing two no-doubter home runs off the righty. Here’s the box score and recap.
Today in Yankees Baseball History
photo from 1987 Fleet baseball card.
MEMORY LANE: Dennis Rasmussen has an interesting history with the Yankees, being involved in a few ‘household name’ trades. Chosen as the 17th overall pick in 1980 amateur draft by the California Angels, Rasmussen was the ‘player to be named later’ the Yankees received in the 1982 Tommy John to the Angels trade. On August 26th, 1983 the Yankees traded players to be named later and $200,000 to the San Diego Padres for John Montefusco. The Yankees sent Dennis Rasmussen and Edwin Rodriguez (on September 12, 1983) to Padres to complete the trade.
On March 30, 1984 the Yanks reacquired Rasmussen as player to be named later in the trade that sent Graig Nettles to the San Diego Padres. The Padres sent Darin Cloninger (minors) (April 26, 1984) to New York to complete the trade. In 1986, Rasmussen’s batting average against of .217 was 2nd best in the AL. Ironically on this same date in 1987, the Yankees traded Rasmussen to the Cincinnati Reds for Bill Gullickson.
In 1979, the Yankees signed George Scott as a free agent. Yankee fans of the era will remember Scott as the ‘Big Papi’ of the day during his stints with the Red Sox (1966-71, and 1977-79). A feared hitter who was a three-time All-Star, Scott was signed out of high school as an amateur free-agent by the same scout (Ed Scott, no relation) who signed Hank Aaron.
On August 26th, 1961, Roger Maris hit his 51st homer of the year against the Kansas City Athletics. The 51 homers were the most ever by a player at this point in the season.
(Sources: TodayInBaseballHistory.com and Baseball-Reference.com)
