When Yankees Open Season In Fenway Park
Posted by Steve Lombardi on April 4, 2010
Some fun via Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Pitching Game Finder - starting pitchers and game results from previous times (since 1920) when the Yankees opened the season against the Red Sox at Fenway Park...
Yankees Starters:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | Str | GSc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Niekro | 1985-04-08 | NYY | BOS | L 2-9 | GS-4 ,L | 4.0 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 30 | ||
| 2 | Mel Stottlemyre | 1973-04-06 | NYY | BOS | L 5-15 | GS-3 ,L | 2.2 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 15 | ||
| 3 | Stan Bahnsen | 1971-04-06 | NYY | BOS | L 1-3 | GS-7 ,L | 7.0 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 56 | ||
| 4 | Jim Coates | 1960-04-19 | NYY | BOS | W 8-4 | CG 9 ,W | 9.0 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 54 | ||
| 5 | Don Larsen | 1958-04-15 | NYY | BOS | W 3-0 | SHO9 ,W | 9.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 78 | ||
| 6 | Red Ruffing | 1938-04-18 | NYY | BOS | L 4-8 | 5.1 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 16 | |||
| 7 | Bob Shawkey | 1926-04-13 | NYY | BOS | W 12-11 | 5.1 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 33 | |||
| 8 | Bob Shawkey | 1924-04-15 | NYY | BOS | W 2-1 | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 67 |
.
Red Sox Starters:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | Str | GSc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oil Can Boyd | 1985-04-08 | BOS | NYY | W 9-2 | GS-7 ,W | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 60 | ||
| 2 | Luis Tiant | 1973-04-06 | BOS | NYY | W 15-5 | CG 9 ,W | 9.0 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 48 | ||
| 3 | Ray Culp | 1971-04-06 | BOS | NYY | W 3-1 | CG 9 ,W | 9.0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 80 | ||
| 4 | Jim Bagby | 1938-04-18 | BOS | NYY | W 8-4 | 6.0 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 47 | |||
| 5 | Howard Ehmke | 1926-04-13 | BOS | NYY | L 11-12 | 4.0 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 14 | |||
| 6 | Howard Ehmke | 1924-04-15 | BOS | NYY | L 1-2 | 9.0 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 72 |
.
So, what happened to those games from 1958 and 1960 that were on the Yankees list but not on the Red Sox list? Simple - in 1958 and 1960, those were the first games of the season for the Yankees, but, they were not the first games of the season for the Red Sox. Remember, this is about "Opening Day" for the teams in question. (Back in 1958 and 1960, the Red Sox had to "open" the season with a one-game series in Washington against the Senators.)
Seeing this, we now know that the Yankees have not won a Season Opener at Fenway Park since 1960. And, the Red Sox have not lost a Season Opener at Fenway Park against the Yankees since 1926. Makes you wonder if any of these streaks will end this evening?
Add-on: It's important to note that PI does not have games from 1940 through 1951. So, there could be some other games missed here. I'm looking into that now.
Correction: I found two other times the Yankees opened the season at Fenway Park - 1944 and 1950 - and both were Yankees victories and both times were "the first game of the season" for both teams. Seeing this, we now know that the Yankees have not won a Season Opener at Fenway Park since 1960. And, the Red Sox have not lost a Season Opener at Fenway Park against the Yankees since 1950.
April 4th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Jim Coates was an opening day starter for the Yankees? What was wrong with Whitey Ford?
April 5th, 2010 at 7:07 am
They tried to keep Whitey out of Fenway whenever possible as he rarely pitched well there. The lefty/righty splits between Fenway/Yankee used to be more extreme. Whitey pitched a shutout in the home opener in Yankee Stadium that year.