The History of the NYC Mayors 'Game
Jan 8, 2024 18:41:39 GMT -5
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The History of the New York City Mayor's Trophy Game
The Mayor's Trophy Game, a label given to an annual in-season exhibition game in New York City, was originally played between the New York Yankees and New York Giants. The Brooklyn Dodgers also participated. This series was discontinued after the Dodgers and Giants moved west following the 1957 MLB season. It was revived in 1963, and the New York Mets became the Yankees' new NL opponent. The games were played primarily to benefit sandlot baseball in New York City, with proceeds going to the city's Amateur Baseball Federation.
The series went on hiatus in 1980 and 1981, as attendance had dwindled. Although stars often played, frequently pitchers were brought up from AAA teams for the games in order to save the MLB pitching staffs. The game was revived in 1982, but discontinued once again following the 1983 MLB season.
Yankees vs. Giants and Dodgers (1946-1955; 1957)
There was an unusual 3-cornered exhibition game between these 3 clubs on June 26,1944, which benefited the war effort. This does not appear to have been part of the Mayor's Trophy series, which began in 1946. The New York Times first reported on June 9,1946 that the Giants and Yankees had agreed to play a best-of-3 exhibition, with the winner to receive the William O'Dwyer trophy. O'Dwyer was Mayor of New York City from 1946 to 1950.
Overall records:
• Yankees 10-3
• Giants 1-7
• Dodgers 2-3
1946:
Game 1 – Polo Grounds, July 1st. Final Score: Yankees 3, Giants 0. Tommy Henrich homered to back the combined 7-hit shutout by Yankee hurlers Bill Wight and Mel Queen. According to one Giants player, quoted in The Sporting News on August 14th "One of those American League umps called a phantom double play, though the pivot infielder was never near the bag. They were trying to hurry the game along, while we were hustling to win." LP: Hal Schumacher. Game Attendance: 27,486.
Game 2 – Yankee Stadium, August 5th. Final Score: Yankees 3, Giants 2. The Yankees scored the game-winner in the bottom of the 9th, and there was an altercation between Babe Young and Art Passarella on the final play. Young screamed that the AL umpire had robbed the NL by calling Joe DiMaggio safe at home on a sacrifice fly by Gus Niarhos. In the 1st inning, Joe Page had broke Johnny Mize's hand with a pitch. Mize was out until September 13th and then promptly broke a toe in his return. WP: Cuddles Marshall. The loser was Woody Abernathy, even though he held the Yankees hitless for 6 innings, allowed only 4 hits in total, and 2 of the runs he allowed were unearned. Game Attendance: 25,067.
Game 3 was not needed.
1947:
Game 1 – Polo Grounds, June 12th Final Score: Yankees 7, Giants 0. Joe DiMaggio had a 2-run double in the 3rd and Aaron Robinson had homered in the 4th. Game Attendance: 39,970. WP: Mel Queen. LP: Bill Ayers.
Game 2 – Yankee Stadium, August 18th, Final Score: Giants 4, Yankees 1. Giants sluggers Bobby Thomson and Johnny Mize did the hitting while Giants hurler Sheldon Jones went all the way for the win. LP: Butch Wensloff. Game Attendance: 22,184.
Although the series was tied, Game 3 was not played because of scheduling difficulties. It appears that the best-of-3 format was then discarded in favor of a single game.
1948: Polo Grounds, August 16th. Final Score: Yankees 4, Giants 2 (11 innings). The game was overshadowed by the announcement of Babe Ruth’s death. The crowd and players rose in tribute. Steve Souchock won it in the 11th inning with a 2-run HR off of Giants starter Monte Kennedy, who went all the way for the Giants. Joe Page, who had entered in the 8th, was the winner. Johnny Mize and Buddy Kerr had homered for the Giants. Game Attendance: 17,091.
1949: Yankee Stadium, June 27th. Final Score: Yankees 5, Giants 3. Joe DiMaggio tested his ailing right heel and pronounced himself ready to return to regular action, even though he popped out all 4 times at bat. Loser Kirby Higbe walked 2 men with the bases loaded in the 8th. Phil Rizzuto, who had 3 RBIs and fielded superbly, was the MVP. WP: Fred Sanford. Game Attendance: 37,547.
1950: Polo Grounds, June 26th. Final Score: Yankees 9, Giants 4. Yankees OF Cliff Mapes was the hitting star, with 2 HRs and 3 RBIs. Hank Bauer also homered. For the 2nd year in a row, Fred Sanford was the winner, while “phenom” Giants Clint Hartung, then a pitcher, was the loser. Both pitched had complete games. Game Attendance: 12,864.
1951: Yankee Stadium, June 25th Final Score: Yankees 4 Dodgers 3. Before a crowd of 71,289 fans, then a record for an exhibition game, the Yankees beat the Dodgers 4-3 in 10 innings. Gene Woodling hit a “grand single” off Phil Haugstad to win it. Although Woodling hit the ball into the RF seats, he had passed Hank Bauer on the bases, as Bauer was loafing after watching Phil Rizzuto score the winning run. Roy Campanella won a wristwatch as MVP with a HR, double, and 3 men caught stealing. WP: Jack Kramer.
1952: Yankee Stadium, July 21st. Final Score: Yankees 5, Dodgers 3. Mickey Mantle hit a 2-run HR in the 8th to snap a 3-3 tie, and the game was called after that inning because the Yankees had to catch a train west! WP: Joe Ostrowski. LP: Clyde King. Game Attendance: 48,263.
1953: Yankee Stadium, June 29th. Final Score: Dodgers 9, Yankees 0. Wayne Belardi was MVP, hitting 2 HRs and a double to drive in 6 runs. The winner was 20-year-old Dodger rookie Johnny Podres. LP: Ewell Blackwell. Attendance: 56,136 (the largest New York baseball crowd of the year to that point).
1954: Yankee Stadium, June 14th. Final Score Dodgers 2 Yankees 1 The Dodgers beat Yankees 2-1 despite getting just 2 base hits. Duke Snider's 4th-inning HR was the only hit that Yankees starter Harry Byrd allowed in 7 innings. Jim Gilliam's 8th-inning single drove Don Hoak in all the way from first. WP: Billy Loes. LP: Tom Gorman. Game Attendance: 28,084.
1955: Yankee Stadium, June 27th. Final Score: Yankees 4, Giants 1. The Giants had replaced Dodgers as relations grew strained between Brooklyn and the Yankees. Prelim: softball game between “Toots Shor’s Crumbums” and the “21 Club Gentlemen.” In the main event, Phil Rizzuto tripled home the tying run and scored the lead run in the 5th inning. Game Attendance: 19,193. WP: Bob Wiesler. LP: Ramón Monzant.
1956: Game wasn't played. In the July 4th edition of The Sporting News, Dan Daniel wrote, "The annual game for the Mayor's Trophy has not yet been scheduled for this season. August 13th seems to be the only open date. Perhaps the clubs plan to skip a year and whet the appetites of the customers." In the August 15th edition, Daniel's colleague Joe King confirmed that no suitable date could be found.
1957: Ebbets Field, May 23rd. Final Score: Yankees 10 Dodgers 7 The Yankees would beat the Dodgers by the score of 10-7, before an estimated crowd of 30,000. (The New York Times wrote, "Mayor Robert F. Wagner gave his enthusiastic support to the drive to get out a big crowd." A HR derby preceded the night game, in which Mickey Mantle homered and had 3 singles. WP: Al Cicotte. LP: Ken Lehman.
Interlude: In-season exhibition games at Yankee Stadium, 1958-1962
By 1958, the Dodgers and Giants were gone to the West Coast. That March 11th, a public relations representative for Mayor Robert Wagner named William Peer said, "The (Mayor's Trophy) game is a casualty right now. It will remain a casualty unless we get another team here to play the Yanks and split the take."
Meanwhile, until the series was revived in 1963, the Yankees played a few in-season exhibitions at home against big-league opponents, including 2 notable rematches against their erstwhile city rivals. (The sporadic series against the U.S. Army Cadets also continued during these years.) These were not billed as Mayor's Trophy Games. As before, though, the Bombers gave their half of the proceeds to benefit sandlot baseball in New York.
1958: Yankee Stadium May 12th, Final Score; Braves 4 Yankees 3. The World Champion Milwaukee Braves would beat Yankees, 4-3, before approximately 13,000 fans (15,000 tickets were sold). Before the game there was a HR derby. Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Moose Skowron represented the Yankees. Eddie Mathews, Joe Adcock, and Hank Aaron represented the Braves. Sal Maglie, making his season's debut at age 41, hurled 7 strong innings. Johnny Kucks took the loss, giving up 2 runs in the 8th. Braves Manager Fred Haney used 9 pitchers for 1 inning each; Bob Rush, who worked the 7th, got the win for the Braves.
1960: Yankee Stadium June 27th Final Score: Dodgers 4, Yankees 3. Frank Finch of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the teams played in front of "a highly vocal crowd with a heavy Brooklyn accent." The Dodgers devoted their part of the take ($58,000) to the continued support of injuried Catcher Roy Campanella. This was the 2nd half of a home-and-home series; the previous year's (1959) benefit for Campy player at the L.A. Coliseum is much better remembered. The crowd of 53,492 was the biggest of the year to that point at Yankee Stadium. Dodgers 1B Gil Hodges drove in the game-winning run with a 7th-inning triple. WP: Sandy Koufax. LP: Ryne Duren.
1961: Yankee Stadium July 24th Final Score: Giants 4, Yankees 1. On a muggy 90-degree evening, Joe King of The Sporting News wrote that Willie Mays "drew what amounted to a continuous ovation whenever he was on the field, and at times it thundered louder than the turbulent storms which had almost washed away the game." Mays hit a 2-run single that gave the Giants the lead, and they held on the rest of the way. Bobby Bolin pitched 6 innings for the win, giving up his only run on a HR to Mickey Mantle. Billy O'Dell finished up. Al Downing took the los for the Yankees. Game Attendance: 47,346.
Yankees vs. Mets (1963-1979; 1982-1983)
Series Overall record: Yankees 10, Mets 8, with 1 tie.
1963: Yankee Stadium, June 20th. Final Score: Mets 6 Yankees 2 The game was originally scheduled for June 3rd, but rain postponed it until June 20th. Jay Hook pitched 5 innings and Carl Willey pitched the last 4 as the Mets won, 6-2. Casey Stengel -- allegedly looking to get back at his old employer -- insisted on using Willey, his best pitcher, rather than Ken Mackenzie. Yankees starter Stan Williams was the loser. Game Attendance was 50,742. Most were the “New Breed” of Mets fans, who had their banners confiscated by Yankees Seccurity personnel upon entering The House That Ruth Built.
1964: Shea Stadium, August 24th Final Score: Yankees 6 Mets 4 Again the original date, June 15th, was postponed because of rain. A crowd of 55,396 saw the Yankees beat the Mets, 6-4, with 2 unearned runs in the 9th. Yogi Berra, then Yankees manager, hit into a double play as a pinch-hitter in the 7h. WP: Pete Mikkelsen. LP: Willard Hunter.
1965: Yankee Stadium, May 3rd. Final Score: Mets 2 Yankees 1 The Mets would beat the Yankees on run in 10th inning, 2-1; A crowd of 22,881 fans saw a wide throw on a 2-out squeeze bunt by Cleon Jones decide the game as Chris Cannizzaro scored. Warren Spahn got the win, while 1964’s winner, Pete Mikkelsen, took the loss.
1966: Shea Stadium, June 27th.Final Score: Yankees 5 Mets 2 The Yankees beat Mets 5-2 behind HRs by Ray Barker, Billy Bryan, and Joe Pepitone. Ralph Kiner would later remember Pepitone's blast as one of the longest ever hit at Shea. Whitey Ford was the winner, pitching 3 perfect innings. Larry Bearnarth took the loss. The crowd of 56,367 booed NYC Mayor John Lindsay.
1967: Yankee Stadium, July 12th. FinalScore: Mets 4 Yankees 0 The Mets would beat Yankees 4-0 before a crowd of 31,852 fans. Mets hurlers Don Cardwell, Dennis Bennett, Bob Shaw, and Jack Lamabe combined for a 5-hitter. Cecil Perkins started and lost for the Yankees.
1968: Shea Stadium, May 27th. Final Score: Mets 4 Yankees 3 The Mets would beat Yankees 4-3 as Don Bosch hit a ball that turned into a triple as it bounced over Bill Robinson’s head in the 8th inning. The crowd was 35,198 fans. WP: Bill Short. LP: Dooley Womack.
1969: Shea Stadium, September 29th. Final score; Mets 7, Yankees 6 The game was originally scheduled for July 7th but it was rained out. The Mets had less than a week before opening the playoffs against Atlanta, but still played their regulars. The Amazin's beat the Yanks, 7-6, for their 3rd straight victory in the series. A livelier ball was used for 5 innings, and all runs but 1 were scored with it. Game Attendance: 32,720. Art Shamsky was the hitting star. WP: Jim McAndrew. LP: Ron Klimkowski.
1970: Yankee Stadium, August 17th Final Score Yankees 9 Mets 4 The Yankees would trounced Mets, 9-4, before a crowd of 43,987. Danny Cater and Pete Ward homered. Steve Kline, helped by 2 4-run innings, went the distance for the win. Loser Rich Folkers and Nolan Ryan were shelled.
1971: Shea Stadium, September 8th Final Score: Yankees 2 Mets 1 The Yankees won the game by the score of 2-1 before 48,872 fans. Jim McAndrew and Nolan Ryan had a combined no-hitter for 7 2/3 innings, but the Yankees broke through in the 9th against loser Ron Taylor. John Ellis tied it with a sacrifice fly and Ron Hansen singled for the go-ahead run. Dave Marshall made 2 outstanding catches. WP: Al Closter.
1972: Yankee Stadium, August 24th. Final Score: Yankees 2 Mets 1 A crowd of 52,308 saw Yankees rookie starter Doc Medich, up from AA West Haven in the Eastern League, beat the Mets 2-1. John Ellis hit the game-winning homer off of Bob Rauch in the 6th. WP: Doc Medich LP: Bob Rauch
1973: Shea Stadium, May 10. Final Score: Mets 8 Yankees 4 The Mets won 8-4, thanks to 5 runs in the 2nd inning, sparked by Felix Millan. Mets starter George Stone held the Yankees scoreless for 7 innings but he eventually gave up a Grand Slam HR to Graig Nettles in the 8th. WP: George Stone, LP: Mike Pazik.
1974-1975 Games were played at Shea Stadium, while Yankee Stadium was being remodeled
1974: Shea Stadium, May 30th Final Score: Yankees 9 Mets 4 The Yankees won, 9-4, behind a 3rd-inning Grand Slam HR by Fernando Gonzalez off Mike Wegener. Dave Pagan got the win. Attendance: 35,894.
1975: Shea Stadium, May 15th. Final Score: Yankees 9 Mets 4. Before the game, Dave Kingman and Ed Kranepool received complimentary “Perfect Man Permanent” hair treatments. It didn’t help – the Yankees won, again by a 9-4 score. Bob Johnson, called up from AAA Syracuse to pitch in the game, was the winner. George Stone, trying to come back from arm problems, pitched reasonably well (4 hits and 3 runs in 6 innings) but lost. The Yankees broke it open in the 7th, sending 10 men to the plate against Mets hurler Randy Tate.
1976: Yankee Stadium, June 14th. Final Score: Yankees 8 Mets 4 The Yankees won, the game by the score of 8-4, before 36,361 fans. 6 of their runs were unearned, thanks to 3 Mets errors. Jim Beattie won and Rick Baldwin lost. Mets catcher Jay Kleven, who would go 1 for 5 in the MLB, made the impression that earned him his cup of coffee with 2 hits.
1977: Shea Stadium, June 23rd Final Score: Mets 6 Yankees 4 The game was rescheduled from May 9th. The crowd of 15,510 was by far the smallest since the series resumed. The Mets won 6-4 behind HRs from Joel Youngblood and Ron Hodges. The pitchers of record were both AAA farmhands: Tom Makowski for the Mets and Roger Slagle for the Yankees.
1978: Yankee Stadium, April 27th. Final Score: Yankees 4 Mets 3 Fran Healy’s squeeze bunt drove home Jim Spencer with the game-winning run in the 13th inning. The final was 4-3 before 9,792 fans – at least at the beginning. This year’s edition featured Graig Nettles’ infamous attempt to throw the game (as alleged in Sparky Lyle’s book The Bronx Zoo, though Nettles later denied it). Ron Hodges opened the 11th inning with a bouncer to 3rd, which Nettles heaved 10 feet over the head of Chris Chambliss at first. However, the Mets could not bring Hodges in from 2nd. It might not have gone that long if Brian Doyle (in his 1st game at Yankee Stadium) hadn't made 2 diving stops with the bases loaded that turned into inning-ending double plays -- the last thing his teammates wanted! WP: Ken Clay. LP: Mardie Cornejo.
1979: Shea Stadium, April 16th. Final Score: Yankees 1 Mets 1 The game was called on account of rain in the 5h inning with the score tied at 1-1. Reggie Jackson had singled in Mickey Rivers in the 3rd inning, and that was where it ended The Game Attendance was 13,719 for the 2 PM start.
1980-1981:The Games were not played. Instead, the Mets and Yankees made cash contributions to the city’s Amateur Baseball Federation. The previous 17 games had raised a total of $1,776,141.56.
1982: Yankee Stadium, May 27th. Final Score : Mets 4 Yankees 1 The Mets won the game by the score of 4-1, before a healthy crowd of 41,614 – the best the Yankees had drawn at that point in the season. In early April, the revival was announced at City Hall. Mayor Ed Koch presented “crying towels” to representatives of both teams, saying “one of you will need these.” Winning pitcher Steve Ratzer, who never got into a regular-season game for the Mets, arrived from Tidewater just 6 hours before the game. His name was sewn on his uniform so hurriedly that the “A” fell off! In the 8th inning, John Stearns doubled off loser Roger Erickson and Joel Youngblood drove him in with a tie-breaking single. After the game, Mets Owner Nelson Doubleday lifted the trophy high and toured the clubhouse to congratulate his players.
1983: Shea Stadium, Final score: Yankees 4 Mets 1. The April 21st the integrity of NL crews in spring training. (The Boss was fined $50,000.) Four college umpires worked the game before a crowd of 20,471 fans. The Yankees won the game by the score of 4-1, behind a 3rd-inning HR by Willie Randolph off of Mets starter and loser Rick Ownbey. Yankees farmhand Ben Callahan got the win.
The Mayor's Trophy Game, a label given to an annual in-season exhibition game in New York City, was originally played between the New York Yankees and New York Giants. The Brooklyn Dodgers also participated. This series was discontinued after the Dodgers and Giants moved west following the 1957 MLB season. It was revived in 1963, and the New York Mets became the Yankees' new NL opponent. The games were played primarily to benefit sandlot baseball in New York City, with proceeds going to the city's Amateur Baseball Federation.
The series went on hiatus in 1980 and 1981, as attendance had dwindled. Although stars often played, frequently pitchers were brought up from AAA teams for the games in order to save the MLB pitching staffs. The game was revived in 1982, but discontinued once again following the 1983 MLB season.
Yankees vs. Giants and Dodgers (1946-1955; 1957)
There was an unusual 3-cornered exhibition game between these 3 clubs on June 26,1944, which benefited the war effort. This does not appear to have been part of the Mayor's Trophy series, which began in 1946. The New York Times first reported on June 9,1946 that the Giants and Yankees had agreed to play a best-of-3 exhibition, with the winner to receive the William O'Dwyer trophy. O'Dwyer was Mayor of New York City from 1946 to 1950.
Overall records:
• Yankees 10-3
• Giants 1-7
• Dodgers 2-3
1946:
Game 1 – Polo Grounds, July 1st. Final Score: Yankees 3, Giants 0. Tommy Henrich homered to back the combined 7-hit shutout by Yankee hurlers Bill Wight and Mel Queen. According to one Giants player, quoted in The Sporting News on August 14th "One of those American League umps called a phantom double play, though the pivot infielder was never near the bag. They were trying to hurry the game along, while we were hustling to win." LP: Hal Schumacher. Game Attendance: 27,486.
Game 2 – Yankee Stadium, August 5th. Final Score: Yankees 3, Giants 2. The Yankees scored the game-winner in the bottom of the 9th, and there was an altercation between Babe Young and Art Passarella on the final play. Young screamed that the AL umpire had robbed the NL by calling Joe DiMaggio safe at home on a sacrifice fly by Gus Niarhos. In the 1st inning, Joe Page had broke Johnny Mize's hand with a pitch. Mize was out until September 13th and then promptly broke a toe in his return. WP: Cuddles Marshall. The loser was Woody Abernathy, even though he held the Yankees hitless for 6 innings, allowed only 4 hits in total, and 2 of the runs he allowed were unearned. Game Attendance: 25,067.
Game 3 was not needed.
1947:
Game 1 – Polo Grounds, June 12th Final Score: Yankees 7, Giants 0. Joe DiMaggio had a 2-run double in the 3rd and Aaron Robinson had homered in the 4th. Game Attendance: 39,970. WP: Mel Queen. LP: Bill Ayers.
Game 2 – Yankee Stadium, August 18th, Final Score: Giants 4, Yankees 1. Giants sluggers Bobby Thomson and Johnny Mize did the hitting while Giants hurler Sheldon Jones went all the way for the win. LP: Butch Wensloff. Game Attendance: 22,184.
Although the series was tied, Game 3 was not played because of scheduling difficulties. It appears that the best-of-3 format was then discarded in favor of a single game.
1948: Polo Grounds, August 16th. Final Score: Yankees 4, Giants 2 (11 innings). The game was overshadowed by the announcement of Babe Ruth’s death. The crowd and players rose in tribute. Steve Souchock won it in the 11th inning with a 2-run HR off of Giants starter Monte Kennedy, who went all the way for the Giants. Joe Page, who had entered in the 8th, was the winner. Johnny Mize and Buddy Kerr had homered for the Giants. Game Attendance: 17,091.
1949: Yankee Stadium, June 27th. Final Score: Yankees 5, Giants 3. Joe DiMaggio tested his ailing right heel and pronounced himself ready to return to regular action, even though he popped out all 4 times at bat. Loser Kirby Higbe walked 2 men with the bases loaded in the 8th. Phil Rizzuto, who had 3 RBIs and fielded superbly, was the MVP. WP: Fred Sanford. Game Attendance: 37,547.
1950: Polo Grounds, June 26th. Final Score: Yankees 9, Giants 4. Yankees OF Cliff Mapes was the hitting star, with 2 HRs and 3 RBIs. Hank Bauer also homered. For the 2nd year in a row, Fred Sanford was the winner, while “phenom” Giants Clint Hartung, then a pitcher, was the loser. Both pitched had complete games. Game Attendance: 12,864.
1951: Yankee Stadium, June 25th Final Score: Yankees 4 Dodgers 3. Before a crowd of 71,289 fans, then a record for an exhibition game, the Yankees beat the Dodgers 4-3 in 10 innings. Gene Woodling hit a “grand single” off Phil Haugstad to win it. Although Woodling hit the ball into the RF seats, he had passed Hank Bauer on the bases, as Bauer was loafing after watching Phil Rizzuto score the winning run. Roy Campanella won a wristwatch as MVP with a HR, double, and 3 men caught stealing. WP: Jack Kramer.
1952: Yankee Stadium, July 21st. Final Score: Yankees 5, Dodgers 3. Mickey Mantle hit a 2-run HR in the 8th to snap a 3-3 tie, and the game was called after that inning because the Yankees had to catch a train west! WP: Joe Ostrowski. LP: Clyde King. Game Attendance: 48,263.
1953: Yankee Stadium, June 29th. Final Score: Dodgers 9, Yankees 0. Wayne Belardi was MVP, hitting 2 HRs and a double to drive in 6 runs. The winner was 20-year-old Dodger rookie Johnny Podres. LP: Ewell Blackwell. Attendance: 56,136 (the largest New York baseball crowd of the year to that point).
1954: Yankee Stadium, June 14th. Final Score Dodgers 2 Yankees 1 The Dodgers beat Yankees 2-1 despite getting just 2 base hits. Duke Snider's 4th-inning HR was the only hit that Yankees starter Harry Byrd allowed in 7 innings. Jim Gilliam's 8th-inning single drove Don Hoak in all the way from first. WP: Billy Loes. LP: Tom Gorman. Game Attendance: 28,084.
1955: Yankee Stadium, June 27th. Final Score: Yankees 4, Giants 1. The Giants had replaced Dodgers as relations grew strained between Brooklyn and the Yankees. Prelim: softball game between “Toots Shor’s Crumbums” and the “21 Club Gentlemen.” In the main event, Phil Rizzuto tripled home the tying run and scored the lead run in the 5th inning. Game Attendance: 19,193. WP: Bob Wiesler. LP: Ramón Monzant.
1956: Game wasn't played. In the July 4th edition of The Sporting News, Dan Daniel wrote, "The annual game for the Mayor's Trophy has not yet been scheduled for this season. August 13th seems to be the only open date. Perhaps the clubs plan to skip a year and whet the appetites of the customers." In the August 15th edition, Daniel's colleague Joe King confirmed that no suitable date could be found.
1957: Ebbets Field, May 23rd. Final Score: Yankees 10 Dodgers 7 The Yankees would beat the Dodgers by the score of 10-7, before an estimated crowd of 30,000. (The New York Times wrote, "Mayor Robert F. Wagner gave his enthusiastic support to the drive to get out a big crowd." A HR derby preceded the night game, in which Mickey Mantle homered and had 3 singles. WP: Al Cicotte. LP: Ken Lehman.
Interlude: In-season exhibition games at Yankee Stadium, 1958-1962
By 1958, the Dodgers and Giants were gone to the West Coast. That March 11th, a public relations representative for Mayor Robert Wagner named William Peer said, "The (Mayor's Trophy) game is a casualty right now. It will remain a casualty unless we get another team here to play the Yanks and split the take."
Meanwhile, until the series was revived in 1963, the Yankees played a few in-season exhibitions at home against big-league opponents, including 2 notable rematches against their erstwhile city rivals. (The sporadic series against the U.S. Army Cadets also continued during these years.) These were not billed as Mayor's Trophy Games. As before, though, the Bombers gave their half of the proceeds to benefit sandlot baseball in New York.
1958: Yankee Stadium May 12th, Final Score; Braves 4 Yankees 3. The World Champion Milwaukee Braves would beat Yankees, 4-3, before approximately 13,000 fans (15,000 tickets were sold). Before the game there was a HR derby. Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Moose Skowron represented the Yankees. Eddie Mathews, Joe Adcock, and Hank Aaron represented the Braves. Sal Maglie, making his season's debut at age 41, hurled 7 strong innings. Johnny Kucks took the loss, giving up 2 runs in the 8th. Braves Manager Fred Haney used 9 pitchers for 1 inning each; Bob Rush, who worked the 7th, got the win for the Braves.
1960: Yankee Stadium June 27th Final Score: Dodgers 4, Yankees 3. Frank Finch of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the teams played in front of "a highly vocal crowd with a heavy Brooklyn accent." The Dodgers devoted their part of the take ($58,000) to the continued support of injuried Catcher Roy Campanella. This was the 2nd half of a home-and-home series; the previous year's (1959) benefit for Campy player at the L.A. Coliseum is much better remembered. The crowd of 53,492 was the biggest of the year to that point at Yankee Stadium. Dodgers 1B Gil Hodges drove in the game-winning run with a 7th-inning triple. WP: Sandy Koufax. LP: Ryne Duren.
1961: Yankee Stadium July 24th Final Score: Giants 4, Yankees 1. On a muggy 90-degree evening, Joe King of The Sporting News wrote that Willie Mays "drew what amounted to a continuous ovation whenever he was on the field, and at times it thundered louder than the turbulent storms which had almost washed away the game." Mays hit a 2-run single that gave the Giants the lead, and they held on the rest of the way. Bobby Bolin pitched 6 innings for the win, giving up his only run on a HR to Mickey Mantle. Billy O'Dell finished up. Al Downing took the los for the Yankees. Game Attendance: 47,346.
Yankees vs. Mets (1963-1979; 1982-1983)
Series Overall record: Yankees 10, Mets 8, with 1 tie.
1963: Yankee Stadium, June 20th. Final Score: Mets 6 Yankees 2 The game was originally scheduled for June 3rd, but rain postponed it until June 20th. Jay Hook pitched 5 innings and Carl Willey pitched the last 4 as the Mets won, 6-2. Casey Stengel -- allegedly looking to get back at his old employer -- insisted on using Willey, his best pitcher, rather than Ken Mackenzie. Yankees starter Stan Williams was the loser. Game Attendance was 50,742. Most were the “New Breed” of Mets fans, who had their banners confiscated by Yankees Seccurity personnel upon entering The House That Ruth Built.
1964: Shea Stadium, August 24th Final Score: Yankees 6 Mets 4 Again the original date, June 15th, was postponed because of rain. A crowd of 55,396 saw the Yankees beat the Mets, 6-4, with 2 unearned runs in the 9th. Yogi Berra, then Yankees manager, hit into a double play as a pinch-hitter in the 7h. WP: Pete Mikkelsen. LP: Willard Hunter.
1965: Yankee Stadium, May 3rd. Final Score: Mets 2 Yankees 1 The Mets would beat the Yankees on run in 10th inning, 2-1; A crowd of 22,881 fans saw a wide throw on a 2-out squeeze bunt by Cleon Jones decide the game as Chris Cannizzaro scored. Warren Spahn got the win, while 1964’s winner, Pete Mikkelsen, took the loss.
1966: Shea Stadium, June 27th.Final Score: Yankees 5 Mets 2 The Yankees beat Mets 5-2 behind HRs by Ray Barker, Billy Bryan, and Joe Pepitone. Ralph Kiner would later remember Pepitone's blast as one of the longest ever hit at Shea. Whitey Ford was the winner, pitching 3 perfect innings. Larry Bearnarth took the loss. The crowd of 56,367 booed NYC Mayor John Lindsay.
1967: Yankee Stadium, July 12th. FinalScore: Mets 4 Yankees 0 The Mets would beat Yankees 4-0 before a crowd of 31,852 fans. Mets hurlers Don Cardwell, Dennis Bennett, Bob Shaw, and Jack Lamabe combined for a 5-hitter. Cecil Perkins started and lost for the Yankees.
1968: Shea Stadium, May 27th. Final Score: Mets 4 Yankees 3 The Mets would beat Yankees 4-3 as Don Bosch hit a ball that turned into a triple as it bounced over Bill Robinson’s head in the 8th inning. The crowd was 35,198 fans. WP: Bill Short. LP: Dooley Womack.
1969: Shea Stadium, September 29th. Final score; Mets 7, Yankees 6 The game was originally scheduled for July 7th but it was rained out. The Mets had less than a week before opening the playoffs against Atlanta, but still played their regulars. The Amazin's beat the Yanks, 7-6, for their 3rd straight victory in the series. A livelier ball was used for 5 innings, and all runs but 1 were scored with it. Game Attendance: 32,720. Art Shamsky was the hitting star. WP: Jim McAndrew. LP: Ron Klimkowski.
1970: Yankee Stadium, August 17th Final Score Yankees 9 Mets 4 The Yankees would trounced Mets, 9-4, before a crowd of 43,987. Danny Cater and Pete Ward homered. Steve Kline, helped by 2 4-run innings, went the distance for the win. Loser Rich Folkers and Nolan Ryan were shelled.
1971: Shea Stadium, September 8th Final Score: Yankees 2 Mets 1 The Yankees won the game by the score of 2-1 before 48,872 fans. Jim McAndrew and Nolan Ryan had a combined no-hitter for 7 2/3 innings, but the Yankees broke through in the 9th against loser Ron Taylor. John Ellis tied it with a sacrifice fly and Ron Hansen singled for the go-ahead run. Dave Marshall made 2 outstanding catches. WP: Al Closter.
1972: Yankee Stadium, August 24th. Final Score: Yankees 2 Mets 1 A crowd of 52,308 saw Yankees rookie starter Doc Medich, up from AA West Haven in the Eastern League, beat the Mets 2-1. John Ellis hit the game-winning homer off of Bob Rauch in the 6th. WP: Doc Medich LP: Bob Rauch
1973: Shea Stadium, May 10. Final Score: Mets 8 Yankees 4 The Mets won 8-4, thanks to 5 runs in the 2nd inning, sparked by Felix Millan. Mets starter George Stone held the Yankees scoreless for 7 innings but he eventually gave up a Grand Slam HR to Graig Nettles in the 8th. WP: George Stone, LP: Mike Pazik.
1974-1975 Games were played at Shea Stadium, while Yankee Stadium was being remodeled
1974: Shea Stadium, May 30th Final Score: Yankees 9 Mets 4 The Yankees won, 9-4, behind a 3rd-inning Grand Slam HR by Fernando Gonzalez off Mike Wegener. Dave Pagan got the win. Attendance: 35,894.
1975: Shea Stadium, May 15th. Final Score: Yankees 9 Mets 4. Before the game, Dave Kingman and Ed Kranepool received complimentary “Perfect Man Permanent” hair treatments. It didn’t help – the Yankees won, again by a 9-4 score. Bob Johnson, called up from AAA Syracuse to pitch in the game, was the winner. George Stone, trying to come back from arm problems, pitched reasonably well (4 hits and 3 runs in 6 innings) but lost. The Yankees broke it open in the 7th, sending 10 men to the plate against Mets hurler Randy Tate.
1976: Yankee Stadium, June 14th. Final Score: Yankees 8 Mets 4 The Yankees won, the game by the score of 8-4, before 36,361 fans. 6 of their runs were unearned, thanks to 3 Mets errors. Jim Beattie won and Rick Baldwin lost. Mets catcher Jay Kleven, who would go 1 for 5 in the MLB, made the impression that earned him his cup of coffee with 2 hits.
1977: Shea Stadium, June 23rd Final Score: Mets 6 Yankees 4 The game was rescheduled from May 9th. The crowd of 15,510 was by far the smallest since the series resumed. The Mets won 6-4 behind HRs from Joel Youngblood and Ron Hodges. The pitchers of record were both AAA farmhands: Tom Makowski for the Mets and Roger Slagle for the Yankees.
1978: Yankee Stadium, April 27th. Final Score: Yankees 4 Mets 3 Fran Healy’s squeeze bunt drove home Jim Spencer with the game-winning run in the 13th inning. The final was 4-3 before 9,792 fans – at least at the beginning. This year’s edition featured Graig Nettles’ infamous attempt to throw the game (as alleged in Sparky Lyle’s book The Bronx Zoo, though Nettles later denied it). Ron Hodges opened the 11th inning with a bouncer to 3rd, which Nettles heaved 10 feet over the head of Chris Chambliss at first. However, the Mets could not bring Hodges in from 2nd. It might not have gone that long if Brian Doyle (in his 1st game at Yankee Stadium) hadn't made 2 diving stops with the bases loaded that turned into inning-ending double plays -- the last thing his teammates wanted! WP: Ken Clay. LP: Mardie Cornejo.
1979: Shea Stadium, April 16th. Final Score: Yankees 1 Mets 1 The game was called on account of rain in the 5h inning with the score tied at 1-1. Reggie Jackson had singled in Mickey Rivers in the 3rd inning, and that was where it ended The Game Attendance was 13,719 for the 2 PM start.
1980-1981:The Games were not played. Instead, the Mets and Yankees made cash contributions to the city’s Amateur Baseball Federation. The previous 17 games had raised a total of $1,776,141.56.
1982: Yankee Stadium, May 27th. Final Score : Mets 4 Yankees 1 The Mets won the game by the score of 4-1, before a healthy crowd of 41,614 – the best the Yankees had drawn at that point in the season. In early April, the revival was announced at City Hall. Mayor Ed Koch presented “crying towels” to representatives of both teams, saying “one of you will need these.” Winning pitcher Steve Ratzer, who never got into a regular-season game for the Mets, arrived from Tidewater just 6 hours before the game. His name was sewn on his uniform so hurriedly that the “A” fell off! In the 8th inning, John Stearns doubled off loser Roger Erickson and Joel Youngblood drove him in with a tie-breaking single. After the game, Mets Owner Nelson Doubleday lifted the trophy high and toured the clubhouse to congratulate his players.
1983: Shea Stadium, Final score: Yankees 4 Mets 1. The April 21st the integrity of NL crews in spring training. (The Boss was fined $50,000.) Four college umpires worked the game before a crowd of 20,471 fans. The Yankees won the game by the score of 4-1, behind a 3rd-inning HR by Willie Randolph off of Mets starter and loser Rick Ownbey. Yankees farmhand Ben Callahan got the win.