A look back at walk-off history

As Travis mentioned in a comment on the game recap, this is the first time since Aug. 27-29, 1972 the Yanks have had three straight walk-off victories.

Here is how those occurrences unfolded, and some data on the record for consecutive walk-off victories.

In 1972, the Yankees won both games of a doubleheader against the Royals on Aug. 27, with Johnny Callison stroking a single in the ninth inning of Game 1 off Kansas City's Ted Abernathy to post a 7-6 win. Horace Clarke's sacrifice fly off Bruce Dal Canton brought home Aurelio Sanchez, ending a 9-8 contest in the nightcap.

After a day off, the Yankees welcomed the Rangers to town and posted a win in familiar fashion. The 11th-inning hero that night was again Callison, who singled to right, sending home Ron Blomberg with New York's seventh and winning run.

But to find a sequence in which the Yankees have walked off three straight times against the same opponent, researchers needed to go back to 1931, when the Tigers were unwilling witnesses to history on three straight July dates at the classic Stadium.

New York posted a 7-6 victory in 13 innings on July 23 of that season, then put up three runs in the ninth inning to beat Detroit, 6-5, on July 24. The July 25 contest stretched into the 11th inning before the Yankees emerged as 10-7 victors.

But if the Yankees truly want to make some history, they'll need to accomplish this rare feat two more times to tie the Major League record. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that belongs to the Houston Astros, who victimized the New York Mets and Montreal Expos five times at the Astrodome from July 19-23 in 1986.

Any way you look at it, this sure has been an amazing weekend in the Bronx.

-- By the way, check out Baseball Almanac if you're curious about those 1972 box scores.