In a great trade that helped set up their fabulous run in the late seventies, the New York Yankees sent catcher Johnny Ellis, infielder Jerry Kenney, and outfielders Charlie Spikes and Rusty Torres to the Indians for third baseman Graig Nettles and catcher Gerry Moses on November 27, 1972.
Consider that along with his superb glove work on the “hot corner†in a 22-year career, the lefty power hitting Nettles compiled a lifetime total of 390 home runs, 250 of them with the Yanks, and would contribute 834 rbi’s during his 1973-1983 stint in the Bronx. His Yankee teams appeared in four World Series, and won two of them.
On the basis of the plain numbers (11-10) posted in 2007, it would seem the Yanks did just OK when they re-signed righty starter Mike Mussina to a two-year contract on November 27, 2006. But Moose turned it all around with his first 20-win season in 2008.
Joe DiMaggio rode his 56-game hitting streak to a win of the American League Most Valuable Player Award, his second of three all told, over Boston’s .406-hitting slugger Ted Williams on November 27, 1941.
Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspended Yankee owner George Steinbrenner for two years on November 27, 1974, as a result of his conviction for making illegal campaign contributions to the Richard Nixon campaign.
Bullet Joe Bush, born November 27, 1892, deserves mention on this day based on his excellent 62-38 mark with four saves in New York from 1922-1924, but he is also noteworthy because he was involved in a trade for a player with one of the great old-time baseball names. Joe was packaged with two others to the St. Louis Browns for righty Urban Shocker in December 1924. Lefthander Johnny Schmitz, born this day in 1920, only went 1-1 in eight games with the ’52-’53 Yanks, but he, too, would be dealt for another of those “names,” as he and three others were sent to Cincinnati for right-hander Ewell Blackwell late in the 1952 season.