Recalling Mr. 10,000
A blast from the past via the New York Times on April 30, 1990:
When the season turns to September, Claudell Washington will turn 36 years old. But the newest Yankee, who is actually an old face returning to the Bronx, is still regarded as a capable hitter and outfielder.
Washington, acquired yesterday from the California Angels for Luis Polonia, is currently in his 17th season, with his seventh team. He began his career with the Oakland Athletics in 1974 but has also played for the Texas Rangers, the Chicago White Sox, the Mets, the Atlanta Braves, the Yankees and the Angels.
The Yankees, looking for a left-handed batter with punch, needed him now for his defense and his potential power. They have lost six of nine games in decisions against right-handed pitchers.
”Physically, the things he does will help us,” said Don Mattingly, the Yankee first baseman. ”He’s an excellent outfielder; he runs well; he has pop in his bat, and he’s a positive influence in the clubhouse. He’s a good guy to have around.”
Washington also owns a piece of Yankee history. On April 20, 1988, he hit the 10,000th home run in franchise history, a shot off the Minnesota Twins in the Metrodome.
”This is a different kind of homecoming,” he said yesterday after the trade was announced. ”A lot of the guys I played with are gone, so maybe this is not as big.”
Only a few former teammates remain: Mattingly, Dave Winfield, Dave Righetti, Lee Guetterman and Wayne Tolleson.
Washington is a .279 career hitter with 164 home runs, but he has been mired in a seasonlong slump with California. He went hitless in his first 12 times at bat but is 6 for 22 since. After yesterday’s game, he was batting .176.
The Yankees first picked up Washington in a trade with the Braves in June 1986, sending Ken Griffey to Atlanta. Washington batted .237 in 54 games with the Yankees that season, then hit .279 with 9 home runs in 1987 and .308 with 11 homers in 1988. Last year’s figures with the Angels were .273 with 13 home runs.
I’m sure to many fans of the team, Claudell Washington was a nondescript Yankee. But, personally, he was one of my favorite journeymen to have a stop in the Bronx. Who were some of your favorite ships to pass through Yankeeland in the night?
Ruben Sierra… Justice….
Chili Davis…Mike Stanley…Fran Healy…Jerry Mumphrey was OK…Oscar Gamble…Cliff Johnson…Rudy May (twice)…Dave Weathers…Aaron Small…Ron Hassey…Dick Tidrow…Elliott Maddox…Sandy Alomar, Sr.
That’s about all off the top of my head. Ed Figueroa doesn’t really count, as he was the Yanks #2 starter for a couple of titles, yet hardly anyone remembers him clearly.
Who were some of your favorite ships to pass through Yankeeland in the night?
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Coincidentally enough, Claudell Washington is my favorite Yankee non-star ever. The only reason for this is that he was sitting on the top of my first pack of baseball cards that I bought with my own money! I took it as a good omen that a Yankee would be on the top of the pack…
Steve, I don’t know if you remember this but we talked about Claudell back when you and I first met in 2007 at a Yanks/Red Sox game.
Some of the rest of my faves are a healthy mix of the ‘86-’93 Yanks of my middle school and high school days: Mike Stanley, Omar Moreno, Dennis Rasmussen, Melido Perez, Pat Kelly, Joe Niekro, Alvaro Espinoza and Mike Pagliarulo…
when i was growing up, i was a big, big mike and little mike fan (Mike Stanly and Mike Gallego)
I think most Yankee fans liked Mike Stanley. I was definitely sorry they let him go and was worried about Girardi replacing him in 1996. Little did I know how great things would turn out…
Jose Canseco
@ clintfsu813:
Seriously? Were you a Canseco fan before or did you just like him on the Yanks?
My old college roommate had a huge man-crush on Canseco. I always hated the guy (Canseco, not my old roommate).
@ MJ:
Totally kidding MJ, should have put it in italics, lol. I was trying to think of one of the most absurd recent ones. See: Fielder, Cecil also
@ clintfsu813:
At least Cecil hit .300 with 3 HR and 14 RBI in 52 AB’s for the Yanks in ‘96. He pulled his (considerable) weight that year in the playoffs. I never liked Cecil personally but I remember how valuable he was in the ‘96 playoffs.
MJ wrote:
*Playoffs, not regular season.
He pulled his (considerable) weight that year in the playoffs.
LOL
MJ wrote:
You sure you told me that? Or, maybe you mentioned it to the three drunk ‘tards who were sitting to the left of us?
I still do remember you saying something like “Oh, I really enjoy being touched by people I don’t know” when the drunks were being pulled away and the kids sitting to our right were razzing them…and the drunks tried to get past us and at the kids. I thought your sense of timing on that one was right on!
IIRC, a thumb injury scotched Caludell’s season in 1990… Yet something else that went wrong that year.
I lean towards guys like Melido Perez, Scott Sanderson, Frank Tanana, Lee Smith, Joe Niekro, Joe Ausanio, Jeff Reardon
@ Raf:
ah…Melido Perez…ya know, in ‘92 when i first started watching baseball as a tot, he was my first favorite pitcher.
@ Corey:
@ Raf:
We all share a love of Melido Perez. Kinda funny to me for some reason.
Melido rocked in 92: http://waswatching.com/2005/11/01/melido-perez-1992/
i honestly don’t remember all that much from ‘92. 1993 was the first season I can recall from memory with any accuracy. I was really young at in 1992 (6) and it was when I first started watching baseball…I just remember loving melido perez, hating pat kelly…and attending my first baseball game, which was unfortunately a met game. (My cousin who took me was a met fan…i say was cause she broke up with the boyfriend who was a met fan and she stopped watching) I did manage to get Howard Johnson’s personalized autograph on a photo of him, which back in the day for me was quite the thrill (would have been no matter who’s autograph it was).
Evan3457 wrote:
Good list, mate. Oscar Gamble’s fro was something else. And he also was on the Yanks two separate times as well. Also Mike Torrez is on my list.He won two games in the 77 World Series. I also thank him for his great job on the 78 Red Sox as well! Bucky Dent also thanks ‘im as well.
Funny about ED F, I feel Brian Doyle is in a similar category as well. He was on the team for three years, yet is almost never remembered.
[...] up on the conversation stemming from yesterday’s post on Claudell Washington, I thought I would share some of my [...]