A case can be made that Dion James’ season with New York in 1993 was one of the Top 25 offensive performances (ever) by a Yankees semi-regular in team history.
Something magic was going on for Dion in 2003. Whether it was the influence of Rick Down or the benefit of (mostly) batting between Wade Boggs and Don Mattingly, I’m not sure. Maybe it was both of those things? Maybe it was neither?
I always liked Dion James when he was with the Yankees. Maybe it was his funky batting stance? Maybe it was because he was just about my age? Maybe it was because he was “found” from “nowhere”? I was sort of bummed, at the time, when he decided to go play for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan after 1993. But, the Dragons offered him about $2 million more than the Yankees – so, it’s easy to see why he did it.
It was fun to see him return to the Yankees in 1995. But, he was not close – at all – to the player he was in 1993. And, he was terrible in the 1995 ALDS.
August 29th was probably James’ best day in 1993. Down, 7-2, after three, the Yankees came back to win that day, 14-8. Now, that’s one that I would like to see someday on Yankees Classics.
5 Responses to “Dion James 1993”
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February 22nd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Steve
Another great semi regular performance was Glenallen Hill in 2000. I know there will always be the PED speculation but he was excellent when he was with us and he got a key RBI single in the 2000 ALDS against Oakland.
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Speaking of mid-nineties semi-regulars, Rock Raines wasn’t too shabby either.
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Looking at the numbers, it’s like James fell off a cliff. Wasn’t that good in Japan, wasn’t that good with the Yanks in 95/96. Didn’t do anything of note in the Brewers org (after his release from the Yanks) either.
Done @ 33 years.
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Now, that’s one that I would like to see someday on Yankees Classics.
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I have to say, the guys at YES have dropped the ball on the Yankee Classics series. This offseason, the Munson game and the 1977 World Series have gotten by far the most play.
Overall, the ‘77, ‘98, ‘01 WS, and the Munson game have been on heavy repeat, with only a few showings of the Matsui GS and the Giambi GS in the rain.
Why don’t the Yanks trot out more games from their archive? How many times do I have to watch a game played in 1979? Haven’t there been tons of great games over the past 30 years? Would it kill YES to show us something from the Boston Massacre II (2006) or maybe when ARod/Sheff smoked Schilling in 2005? How about some of the other thousands of games…
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:20 pm
I always liked Dion James, I kind of felt something went wrong with him, and could never figure out why he fell of the cliff, I loved his speed, and thought he had good hitting skills.
I honestly thought he was going to turn out to be a good starter.