Tag Archives: yankees

05 Dec

on such a winter’s day

On a cold, wet December day — on a desktop in a cozy room somewhere in Mississippi — a team of stars from the Magnolia State took on the 1961 New York Yankees. The squad of Mississippians was a pretty formidable bunch, but the Yankees, world champs in ’61, won the game 7-4. Whitey Ford got the W, Boo Ferriss — the 1946 Boston Red Sox ace from Shaw — took the loss. Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle both doubled and homered for New York. For the Mississippi stars, Gee Walker, a Gulfport native who hit .353 with Detroit in 1936, went 2-for-5 with an RBI and also scored a run. The Yankees built an early 5-0 lead and held off a rally from the Mississippians as Luis Arroyo got the final six outs. All this took place on a desktop and took about 45 minutes. No replay reviews, no TV commercial breaks, no mound visits. The yucky weather outside was easily forgotten. Making such a seamhead fantasy possible is APBA Baseball, the venerable dice-and-board creation that assures the summer game is never out of season. It’s almost like having a time machine at your fingertips. You can replay games from seasons past, match great teams from different eras against each other — or create an all-time team of players from Mississippi and see how they fare as a unit. The individual player cards almost come to life; there is personality in their numbers. In this particular game, the Bronx Bombers were too good. Ford, a 25-game winner in ’61, scattered nine hits over seven frames and overcame a costly error. Elston Howard and Johnny Blanchard had big knocks in a 10-hit attack. George Scott, the 1975 Milwaukee version of the Boomer from Greenville, drove in Mississippi’s first run with a pinch single in the third inning, scoring Jackson native Chet Lemon (1979 Chicago White Sox), on with a leadoff triple. Byram’s Chad Bradford (2008 Tampa Bay) tossed two scoreless innings in relief for the Magnolia Staters, who pulled within 6-4 in the seventh on an RBI single by Ellisville native Buddy Myer (1926 Washington). Maybe a shakeup in the lineup would produce a better result for Mississippi: Harry Walker, Ellis Burks and Brian Dozier didn’t get off the bench. Put Claude Passeau on the bump and run it back. Maybe a best-of-5?

02 Dec

totally random

Today’s subject: Buddy Blair. Columbia native Blair, a decorated athlete in college, enjoyed a short but sweet big league career. As a 31-year-old rookie with the Philadelphia A’s in 1942, the lefty-hitting third baseman got a hit in his first game and another in his last game that same season. Blair (given name Louis) hit .279 for Connie Mack’s last-place A’s, with five homers, 66 RBIs, 26 doubles and 48 runs in 137 games. Over the next three years, he served in World War II in the Air Force. He returned to baseball in 1946 — but not to the big leagues. Blair was a player/manager from 1946-50 with Vicksburg in the Class B Southeastern League. In 1949 with the Billies, he won the only pro game he ever pitched. Blair, who died in 1996, was a three-sport star at LSU, lettering in basketball and track as well as baseball. He originally signed with the New York Yankees in 1936 and spent six years in their minor league system.

11 Nov

sudden impact

Drake Baldwin didn’t spend much time in Double-A Mississippi. He didn’t need much minor-league seasoning, as it turned out. In just his third full professional season, the Atlanta Braves catcher claimed the National League Rookie of the Year Award on Monday, getting 21 of the 30 first-place votes in the BBWAA balloting. Drafted in 2022 out of Missouri, Baldwin was a quick study in pro ball. He reached Double-A at the end of the 2023 season and returned briefly at the start of 2024. He hit .260 with five home runs and 38 RBIs over 66 games for the M-Braves. He made Atlanta’s opening day roster — as the system’s No. 1 prospect — this past spring and hit .274 with 19 homers and 80 RBIs while sharing catching duties with oft-injured Sean Murphy. “When (former M-Braves catcher Brian McCann) came up it was the same way,” Braves manager Brian Snitker told mlb.com, comparing the former All-Star to Baldwin. “(McCann was) above his years behind the plate and as an offensive player, and Drake’s right there with him.” Baldwin is the fourth M-Braves alum to win NL rookie of the year honors, joining Michael Harris II, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Craig Kimbrel. Former Biloxi Shuckers star Devin Williams and ex-Jackson Mets standout Darryl Strawberry also won that award. … A’s slugger Nick Kurtz won the AL rookie award; ex-Jackson Prep star Will Warren of the New York Yankees got one third-place and one fourth-place vote. P.S. Marcus Thames, former big league slugger from Louisville, has been named a hitting coach on the Kansas City Royals’ staff for 2026. Thames served as hitting coach for the Chicago White Sox the past two seasons and was with the New York Yankees, Miami and the Los Angeles Angels before that. … Madison Central High alum Braden Montgomery, the White Sox’s No. 1 prospect, went 0-for-1 with two walks and ex-Mississippi State standout Cade Smith, the Yankees’ No. 19, pitched a clean inning in Sunday’s Fall Stars Game in the Arizona Fall League. … Several players with Mississippi ties became minor league free agents last week: Billy Hamilton (who was in the Chicago Cubs’ system at the end of the 2025 campaign), Dakota Hudson (Angels), Spencer Turnbull (Royals) and Jacob Waguespack (Philadelphia). … Of note: MLB teams must set their reserve lists/40-man rosters for 2026 by 3 p.m. CST on Nov. 18. The Rule 5 draft for unprotected minor leaguers is on Dec. 10.

07 Nov

on this date

Jake Gibbs, the Ole Miss icon who played parts of 10 years in the big leagues, was born on this date in 1938. A two-sport All-America pick at UM, Gibbs chose to pursue baseball and shifted from third base to catcher in the New York Yankees’ minor league system. He reached the big leagues in 1962 and played until 1971, batting .233 with 25 home runs in 538 games, primarily as a backup. His best season was 1970, when he hit .301 with eight homers and 26 RBIs over 49 games behind Thurman Munson. Gibbs became Ole Miss’ baseball coach in 1972 and his first team won the SEC championship. He won 485 games over 19 seasons. P.S. Former Mississippi prep stars Braden Montgomery and Cade Smith have been chosen to play for the American League team in Sunday’s Fall Stars Game in the Arizona Fall League. Mississippi Braves alum Nacho Alvarez Jr. made the National League roster. … Ex-Southern Miss star Chuckie Robinson was outrighted to Triple-A by Atlanta. Robinson, a catcher who got one at-bat with the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, was claimed off waivers by the Braves in late September but was never activated to the 26-man roster. He has been in pro ball for 10 years, with 52 MLB games under his belt. … Justin Dean, former M-Braves standout who played for the champion Dodgers in the World Series, was claimed off waivers by San Francisco. He played parts of four seasons (2021-24) in Pearl.

15 Oct

impressive debut

In an Arizona Fall League replete with highly ranked prospects, Cade Smith certainly looked like he belonged in his first appearance. The former Mississippi State standout, pitching in relief for Mesa on Tuesday night, threw three hitless innings, walking one and fanning five. The 23-year-old right-hander is ranked No. 19 among New York Yankees’ prospects by MLB Pipeline. He started his 2025 minor league season on the injured list and worked through three levels over the summer, finishing at High-Class A Hudson Valley. For the year, Smith was 2-1 with a 2.50 ERA in 11 starts. He went 6-7, 3.65, in A-ball in 2024. Smith was drafted in the sixth round in 2023 after three solid seasons at State, where he pitched for the College World Series champs as a freshman in 2021. He has a championship pedigree, having won two Class 6A state titles at DeSoto Central High. The Yankees’ system is stacked with pitching prospects, including lefty Pico Kohn, a 2025 draftee from MSU who is already rated their No. 14. … In other Yankees news, ex-MSU infielder Travis Chapman will not be retained as the club’s first-base/infield coach, per various reports. He has been on the MLB staff since 2022. P.S. Several Mississippi products are on track to be MLB free agents after the World Series concludes, per a recent report from mlb.com, and among them is Drew Pomeranz, the Ole Miss product who pitched so well for the Chicago Cubs this season. The 37-year-old lefty, back in the big leagues in 2025 after four injury-prone years away, recorded a 2.17 ERA in 57 regular season games and a 1.50 in the postseason. “I just wanted to get out there and pitch one more time, and here I am, however many appearances later,” he recently told marqueesportsnetwork.com. “It just doesn’t feel real sometimes. But I don’t take one single second for granted here, not at all.” Some team is sure to sign him for 2026. Other free agents-to-be include Adam Frazier (Mississippi State), Hunter Renfroe (MSU), Chris Stratton (MSU), Kendall Graveman (MSU) and Tim Anderson (East Central CC). All but Frazier were released during the season. … Brandon Woodruff (MSU), who had a bounce-back year with Milwaukee, is a potential free agent, though his contract contains a mutual option, so he is likely to be back with the Brewers. The team is still alive — barely — in the National League Championship Series, and Woodruff has said he hopes to come off the IL should they make the Fall Classic.

13 Oct

it happened one october, take 1

On this date in 1960, Pittsburgh’s Bill Mazeroski hit his famous walk-off home run in Game 7 of the World Series, stunning the New York Yankees and much of the baseball world. Mississippi natives Joe Gibbon and Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell won rings — the only ones they would get in lengthy big league careers — thanks to Mazeroski’s blast at old Forbes Field. Gibbon, from Hickory via Ole Miss, yielded three runs in two appearances in that Series, and Leakesville’s Mizell took the loss as the starter in Game 3 and had a 15.43 ERA over two appearances. The Yankees, who had won six championships in the 1950s, outscored the Pirates 55-27, losing Game 7 10-9.

09 Oct

quick pitches

Drew Pomeranz, the veteran left-hander out of Ole Miss, has thrown four hitless innings for the Chicago Cubs in four postseason outings, including a stint in Wednesday’s win against Milwaukee at Wrigley Field. Pomeranz worked a 1-2-3 fifth and got the W as the Cubs stayed alive with a 4-3 victory in Game 3 of the National League Division Series. … Brookhaven native Lance Barksdale was the first-base umpire for that NLDS game and if the normal rotation holds, he’ll be behind the plate for tonight’s Game 4. … Colt Keith, coming back from an injury, has started each game at DH for Detroit in the American League Division Series, but the ex-Biloxi High star is just 1-for-10 with a walk. He went 0-for-4 in Wednesday’s 9-3 victory over Seattle, which forces a decisive Game 5 on Friday. … Devin Williams, the Biloxi Shuckers alum, yielded a crushing two-out hit — on a fastball, not his signature changeup — that scored two inherited runners in the seventh inning of the New York Yankees’ season-ending 5-2 loss to Toronto in their ALDS. Trent Grisham, another former Shuckers star and a big bat for the Yanks all season, went 0-for-5 in Wednesday’s Game 4 loss and finished 2-for-17 in the series. … Former Mississippi State righty Tyson Hardin, a second-year pro, was named Milwaukee’s pitching prospect of the year by MLB Pipeline. The Brewers’ No. 20 prospect, converted from reliever this year, Hardin went 6-5 with a 2.72 ERA in 21 starts between High-Class A Wisconsin and Double-A Biloxi this season. Ex-Jackson Prep star Konnor Griffin, the top prospect in the minors, was named Pittsburgh’s hitting prospect of the year. … Jalen Miller, a member of the Mississippi Braves’ 2021 league championship club, won another title this season with the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League. Miller was the MVP of the championship series, batting .474 in the four games, and also earned postseason All-Star recognition and All-Defensive Team honors at second base. He hit .297 with 19 homers and 80 RBIs on the year. Of note: Miller is among the handful of players to hit a homer over the batter’s eye in center field at Pearl’s Trustmark Park. … The Mississippi Mud Monsters will open their 2026 season on May 7 at Trustmark Park against the Gateway Grizzlies, first game of a three-game set. The indy club’s second season will feature 51 home games on the new artificial surface at Trustmark. The club went 49-47 in its inaugural season in the Frontier League.

08 Oct

what’s that sound?

The thunderous applause at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night went to Aaron Judge, of course, and Jazz Chisholm, whose home runs powered the New York Yankees’ historic 9-6 comeback, must-have win over Toronto. But Devin Williams, the much-maligned former Biloxi Shuckers closer, heard his share of cheers, too. Williams, the fourth of five relievers the Yankees used to shut down the Blue Jays after the third inning, worked 1 1/3 scoreless — the seventh into the eighth — and was credited with a hold as New York won Game 3 of this American League Division Series. When David Bednar replaced him, Williams got a standing ovation as he left the mound. “That’s awesome,” Williams told the New York Post. “It was definitely a lot better than what I’ve heard for much of the year.” Acquired in a December trade after a stellar run in Milwaukee, Williams (Shuckers 2019) posted a 4.79 ERA for the Yankees. He had 18 saves but blew four and suffered six losses in 67 appearances. By season’s end, he was largely relegated to mop-up work and was often greeted with jeers and boos from the home crowd. Williams had only three save opportunities the last two months. But Yankees fans, nothing if not fickle, loved him Tuesday night — and now they might get a chance to see him again in tonight’s Game 4. P.S. Old Jackson Mets fans surely remember Game 1 of the 1986 National League Championship Series, which took place on Oct. 8 at the Astrodome. Houston ace Mike Scott, a JaxMets alum, threw a brilliant 14-strikeout, five-hit shutout at his old team, beating Doc Gooden 1-0. A Glenn Davis homer was the game’s only run. The Mets’ starting lineup included former JaxMets Lenny Dykstra, Wally Backman, Darryl Strawberry and Mookie Wilson; Lee Mazzilli, Kevin Elster and Jesse Orosco also got in for New York. The Mets, en route to a World Series title, would win that NLCS in six dramatic games, with Scott — who also beat them in Game 4 — slated to go again had there been a Game 7.

06 Oct

into the frying pan

Will Warren’s postseason debut could not have started much worse. The Jackson Prep product came on for the New York Yankees in a tough spot Sunday, his team trailing by five runs with no outs and two runners on in the fourth inning. Warren walked the first batter he faced, gave up a grand slam to the third, a single to the fourth and a homer to the fifth. Ouch. Toronto was well on its way to a 13-7 win at Rogers Centre and a 2-0 lead in the American League Division Series. Yankees starter Max Fried was charged with seven of those runs and took the loss. Warren, to his everlasting credit, battled into the eighth inning, allowing two more homers and six runs all told. During the regular season, over 162 1/3 innings, Warren had a 4.44 ERA and allowed just 1.22 homers per nine innings. He made 33 appearances during the season, all as a starter. “I worked my best to treat it like a start,” he said in a postgame interview. “You get ready the same way. … I got to come in and get us out of that.” With the Yankees heading back to New York one loss from elimination, Warren may not get another opportunity in this series. He’d surely like one.

05 Oct

spotlight on …

Jackson Chourio was the center of attention for the first two innings of Saturday’s American League Division Series game at Milwaukee. The former Biloxi Shuckers star had three hits, three RBIs and a run as the Brewers cooked up nine runs en route to a 9-3 win against Chicago. Chourio was the center of attention again after the game, which he left in the second inning with a hamstring strain; a hamstring injury in the same leg sidelined him for a month earlier this season. His status for the rest of the best-of-5 series, which resumes Monday, is to be determined. Losing him would be a huge blow: “devastating” is how manager Pat Murphy described it. The 21-year-old outfielder belted 22 homers and stole 43 bases for Double-A Biloxi in 2023, then got an $82 million contract before making his MLB debut in 2024. He finished third in the NL rookie of the year voting and backed that up by hitting .270 with 21 homers, 78 RBIs and 21 bags this season.
Max Fried, the former Mississippi Braves standout and current New York Yankees ace, gets the start today in a critical Game 2 of the American League Division Series at Toronto. The Yankees were blown away by the Blue Jays’ power in Game 1, losing 10-1. Fried, 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA in 2025, has a wealth of postseason experience, though not all of it is good stuff. He delivered a quality start against Boston in the Wild Card Series but got a no-decision in a game the Yanks lost. Overall, the lefty is 2-5, 4.66, in 21 postseason games. He did get a gutsy win for Atlanta in the ’21 World Series. M-Braves fans might recall that Fried’s 2017 season in Pearl was a little ragged: 2-11, 5.92, in 19 starts. He was evolving, apparently, and two years later won 17 games for the big Braves. He is a fiery competitor, “a Yankee for this exact moment,” per the New York Post.
Colt Keith, former Biloxi High star, got the start at DH for Detroit in Game 1 of the ALDS vs. Seattle and figures to be in the lineup again today against right-hander Luis Castillo. The resurgent Tigers won the opener 3-2 in 11 innings at T-Mobile Park. Keith, a left-handed hitter, missed the Wild Card Series against Cleveland because of a rib cage injury. He went 1-for-2 Saturday (in the 5-hole) against George Kirby and is 3-for-20 in two postseasons. The second-year big leaguer hit .256 with 13 homers, 45 RBIs and 65 runs this season, typically as the leadoff batter.