May 1st, 1995! Welcome back me! And scab umpires!

May 1st, 1995 - Yankees host Red Sucks
Welcome back me (along with 17,411 others...and scab umpires)

And now, ladies and gentlemen...welcome to 1995! Lets get to it, shall we.

Back in business, strike over. The heading, aptly enough, read "welcome back me." So much for welcoming back the returning players. Both the Yankees and the Sux came into this game at 3-1, and it was time to get back to business. I noted the game started at 7:30, and added a "Thank God" cause that meant an extra 30 minutes to drink cheaper beer outside the Stadium before first pitch.

Time for milestones. The first "Boston sucks" chant rang through at 6:42. 1st Crapman the vendor sighting was logged at 7:10. First Horse's Ass ditty, dedicated to Jose Canseco, was belted out at 7:40. The first fan ejection was at 8:05. The first command to "lose that tie!" was at 8:57.

I bought along a friend of mine named Eric who was pretty much in awe. "Truly unbelievable" he enthused after Captain Bob sang a long, rousing version of "Gang Bang." "My God" he said after spending $22 on one order of beer and food downstairs.

There was a faux "John Candy" sighting, and I queried aloud, "hey, did you take a plane, train and an automobile to get here?" Other faux celebs who were at the game included "Shaft", "Roc" from the Fox sitcom of the same name, "BB King", "Fernando Valenzeula", and "Cornelius from the Planet of the Apes". We loved our lookalikes out there in Section 39.

Replacement umps were on hand! In other words, SCUM-pires. "These umps could not call...their Mom" someone said. Handling this game was not the likes of Rocky Roe, Jim Joyce, and the late Durwood Merrill, instead we saw the work of Jeff Henrichs, Joe Caraco, Darryl Mason, and Larry Bialorucko. LOL.

Some guy fell down right there in our section. "I didnt see it...I heard it" I subsequently logged. In another spot on the scorecard I wrote "that guy fell down again." So we know while the beer was pricey, apparently it was good!

Some old favorites that hung around for another decade plus were appearing on here, way back in 1995. "Ho-Mo Vaughn" is here. "Thats a home run in a silo" accompanied a Jose Valentin popup to second. There was also a sing-song of "Eat A Salad" at someone fatter than us back then (though im sure most of us passed that person in good time)

At one point over the PA we heard that annoying song "Pop Muzik" - "holy shit, I have not heard that song in 12 years" someone mused. "There's a reason for that." was Erics retort.

The only other note on here worth mentioning is "sit down, you fu*k!" There were 4 MOs (mytery outs), and only 1 with the Yankees at bat (Tartabull in the 8th) so at least I was on point for the good guys.

The Yankees won 4-3 over their storied rivals, to take sole possession of first place! As I wrote on this card, "God Bless the Yankees!" Jimmy Key got the start and even though he hurled 7 strong, it was the end of 1994 all over again as he could not tally the win. The win actually went to our coked out friend Steve Howe, with John Wetteland notching his 3rd save as a Yankee. Paul O'Neill smacked the first Yankee Stadium home run of 95, while going 3-4. Danny Tartabull and Don Mattingly added 2 hits each, and the Yankees had 11 on the night.

For the Sux, Aaron Sele started but it was Derek Lilliquist that was tagged with the L. "Hard Hittin'" Mark Whiten had 2 hits for Boston, and Mike MacFarlane, in his first and only season with the team, had a 3 run clout off of Key. 8 of the 9 Sox in the starting lineup had hits, with only Vaughn showing a donut. On the hill Sele was followed by one Joel Johnston, Lilliquist, and one Jeff Pierce.

The Sox had a lineup of 2B Alicea, SS Valentin, DH Canseco (who did not even have to play the field to get a Horses Ass sung at him), 1B Vaughn, RF Whiten, LF Greenwell, C MacFarlane, 3B Naehring, and CF Lee Tinsley. The Yankees countered with LF Polonia, 3B Boggs, RF O'Neill, DH Tartabull, 1B Mattingly, C Leyritz, CF BW, SS Tony Fernandez in his first and only Yankee campaign, and 2B Pat Kelly.

I was going to profile Mr. Pierce, but his major league tenure lasted from April 26th of 95 to May 24th of 95, so lets go with Mr. Johnston instead. More renowned for what little body of work he had with the Royals and the Pirates, he managed to pitch in 4 games for Boston, and this was one of them.

What there was for his career stretched from 91-95, where he saw action in 59 games (zero starts) and escaped with a 3-5 record, with a 4.31 ERA in 85 innings. In that time he only gave up 66 hits, walking 37 and whiffing 61. His main problem is all that good came in 1 year, 1993. In 3 other seasons he showed ERAs of 13.60, 29.70, and 11.25. Boston released him on July 22nd. But on May 1st he pitched one perfect inning, striking out Kelly. Born in 1967, only 1 year my elder, and a product of Penn State, the guy who sponsored his page on baseball-reference.com when I first tallied this said, and I quote, "real nice guy, played softball against him after his MLB career. Hits a softball as hard as anyone I've ever seen. His stats were deserving of a better look at the MLB level but it didn't happen." - I am happy I saw him!

There were only 17,412 on hand, so people were not exactly flocking back. The game went on for 2 hours and 30 minutes and I already mentioned your goofy umps, but its funny enough to go through it again - they were Jeff Henrichs, Joe Caraco, Darryl Mason, and Larry Bialorucko.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy 1995!