This Day in Yankees History: 2001 World Series comeback, day one

Welcome to This Day in Yankees History. The 2020 baseball season has come to an end, so let’s dig into the history books. These daily posts will highlight two or three key moments in Yankees history on a given date, as well as recognize players born on the day. Hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane with us!

★ ★ ★

63 Years Ago

Yogi Berra says that the Yankees returned to him and his teammates money they were fined following the Copacabana Incident. Earlier that year, a group of Yankees, including Berra, Mickey Mantle, and Whitey Ford had been out celebrating Billy Martin’s birthday and were involved in an incident at the nightclub that led to a fight. In addition to the fines, Martin was likely traded away because of the incident. A lawsuit was brought against the players, although it was eventually dismissed.

19 Years Ago

Down 2-1 in the 2001 World Series and down to their last two outs, the Yankees rally to send Game Four against the Diamondbacks to extra innings. Tino Martinez’s two-run shot off Byung-Hyun Kim tied the game, setting the stage for Derek Jeter in extra innings. Considering what time of night that happened and the nickname Jeter got after that moment, you may hear more about this game tomorrow.

11 Years Ago

For the first time in World Series history, instant replay is used to make a call. With the Yankees trailing 3-0, Alex Rodriguez stepped to the plate with a runner on. With an 0-1 count, he hit one down the line in right. The ball appeared to hit off a camera on top of the wall and drop in for a double, moving Mark Teixeira to third.

Rodriguez was immediately confused upon reached second base, thinking it was actually a home run. On closer look, the ball hit a spot on a camera that was over the fence and then bounced back into play. Replay was used to overturn the call and turn it into a two-run home run. The Yankees would take the lead the following inning and go on to win, taking a 2-1 lead in the series.

★ ★ ★

Today is Matt Nokes’ 57th birthday. He played with the Yankees from 1990-94, after they acquired in a trade with the Tigers for Lance McCullers and Clay Parker. He was a pretty solid hitting catcher in his years in New York, putting up a 103 OPS+. He is also an inside joke in my family as on June 25th, 1991, two days before my birth, he hit a three-run home run off Roger Clemens in a 6-4 win over the Red Sox, leading to jokes that I was named after him, even if that’s not exactly accurate.

Other Yankees born today include Bert Daniels, David Dellucci, Mike Gallego, and Paul Zuvella. Should’ve been Yankee Fred McGriff was also born on this day.

★ ★ ★

We thank Baseball-Reference and Nationalpastime.com for providing background information for these posts.