The original Yankee Stadium would have turned 100 years old this season had it not been replaced in 2009 by the gargantuan, sterile replica that now bears its name.
The Chicago White Sox, who arrive in the Bronx on Tuesday for an important three-game series against their longtime rivals, have been part of some memorable moments in both the new and old stadium.
Here are a few of the best and worst from the Sox trips to New York over the last century:
Babe’s walk-off
Sept. 24, 1925
In an otherwise pedestrian season for Yankees great Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat still managed to kill the Sox. After the Sox scored three in the top of the 10th, Ruth smacked a walk-off grand slam for a 6-5 Yankees win, after which a crowd mobbed the field. “Ruth is stranger than fiction,” the New York Times wrote.
Pudge vs. Prime Time
May 22, 1990
Sox catcher Carlton Fisk and Yankees outfielder Deion Sanders got into a verbal altercation at the plate, causing both benches to clear. Sanders, the football star trying to become a two-sport athlete, ticked off Fisk by not running out a pop-up in his previous at-bat. Fisk said he told Sanders, “Run the (bleeping) ball out, you piece of (bleep),” and that Sanders allegedly replied, “The days of slavery are over.” Still steaming the next day, Fisk said of Sanders: “Yankee pinstripes, Yankee pride … some of those guys are rolling over in the graves looking at this. It offended me. I’m playing for the other team, and it offended me.”
The Yankee Flipper
July 18, 1995
Yankees starter Jack McDowell was removed in the fifth after giving up nine runs on 13 hits to his former team in an 11-4 loss in the second game of a doubleheader sweep by the Sox. Walking off the mound, McDowell gave booing fans the finger, earning the tabloid-ready moniker “The Yankee Flipper.” It earned him a $5,000 fine. “You’re supposed to be so stoic and walk off the mound and take your abuse and it’s tough sometimes, you know?” McDowell explained later. Sox slugger Frank Thomas went 7-for-10 in the twin bill, and the Sox collected 37 hits.
Streak starter
May 15, 1941
The Sox crushed the Yankees 13-1 in a game remembered for only one reason: Yankees center fielder Joe DiMaggio went 1-for-4 with a single. That hit began DiMaggio’s record 56-game hitting streak. The closest anyone has come since was Pete Rose, who had a 44-game streak with the Cincinnati Reds in 1978.
Big Hurt snaps
Aug. 8, 1996
Thomas and Robin Ventura tussled in the dugout during the seventh inning of an 8-4 loss to the Yankees. After Ventura told “The Big Hurt” to pipe down after an argument with the plate umpire, Thomas shoved his teammate in the chest before Dave Martinez and Lyle Mouton intervened. “(Ventura) was just speaking honestly in the dugout, and (Thomas) snapped,” Martinez said. “When a guy 275 pounds snaps, look out.” “Frank Flips, Sox Flop” read the Tribune headline. Thomas declined to speak to the media afterwards
Eloy’s coming
April 12, 2019
Top Sox prospect Eloy Jiménez hit his first two major-league homers in a rain-shortened 9-6 win over the Yankees, ending a five-game losing streak. Jiménez’s first homer, a go-ahead shot in the fifth, was celebrated in the dugout with a shower of sunflower seeds and gum. Another top Sox prospect, Lucas Giolito, pitched in a constant rain for the win. “It’s been a dream of mine to pitch in Yankee Stadium ever since I was a little kid,” Giolito said. “And I didn’t envision it happening in pouring rain like that.”
New York state of mind
Aug. 9, 2005
An 18-year-old Yankees fan decided to jump from the upper deck into the netting behind home plate during the eighth inning of a Sox win, just to see if the net would hold him. It did, barely, but he was taken to a hospital and arrested for trespassing, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief. “That was the only exciting thing that happened today,” Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said. Sox manager Ozzie Guillén wasn’t surprised by the incident. “That’s New York,” Guillén said. “You know, anything can happen.”
Seaver’s 300th win
Aug. 4, 1985
A 40-year-old Tom Seaver threw a complete game with 10 strikeouts, leading the Sox to a 4-1 victory over the Yankees and becoming the 17th pitcher with 300 major-league wins. Thousands of New York Mets fans cheered him on, much to the dismay of Steinbrenner. “It was like I was levitating on the mound,” Seaver said. “It was a constant emotional drain. The last time I’d felt like that was when I had a perfect game going against the Cubs in 1969. I never got it, but I won 4-0.”
Sale’s streak
May 13, 2016
Sox ace Chris Sale needed only 99 pitches in a complete game against the Yankees, retiring 15 straight hitters at one point in a 7-1 win. Sale improved to 8-0, becoming the fourth Sox pitcher to win his first eight starts. He was dealt to the Boston Red Sox after the season, starting the White Sox rebuild.
Nine is enough
June 18, 2000
The Sox scored nine first-inning runs for the first time since 1962 in a 17-4 rout of the Yankees, sweeping the four-game series and ending a road trip to Cleveland and New York with a 7-0 record. They moved 7½ games ahead of Cleveland in the American League Central en route to their first division title since 1993.
Eyewitnesses to history
Sept. 11, 2001
The Sox woke up in New York to news of a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center that would postpone the 2001 season and change life in America. “We all witnessed it together,” infielder Tony Graffanino said. “A lot of us were in the (hotel) lobby when they had a bomb scare and they evacuated the hotel. And we were all in the streets together kind of clinging together a little bit for support. It’s been a tough couple days. But we got through it and we’ll be a lot closer for it.”
‘What’s up, Jackie?’
May 22, 2022
A bench-clearing incident between the teams was sparked by Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson saying, “What’s up, Jackie?” to Sox shortstop Tim Anderson. The Sox considered the reference to Jackie Robinson disrespectful, and when catcher Yasmani Grandal informed Donaldson of that during an at-bat in the fifth inning, the dugouts and bullpens cleared. The remark earned Donaldson a one-game suspension and a fine from MLB for making “inappropriate comments.”