New York Yankees Flashback: The Captain Reaches 3,000

New York Yankees, Derek Jeter
Jul 21, 2014; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter (2) takes the field against the Texas Rangers during the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

A hit for the New York Yankees history books:

Hit No. 2,999, a single to left, led off the bottom of the first, and history came two innings later as New York Yankees‘ Derek Jeter powered David Price‘s seventh pitch over the wall in left center for a 2-2 tie in the game, and history, the Yankee Captain’s 3000th career hit.

Amazingly, once he scored after his fifth-inning double (No. 3,001), he tied the score again. Although it was followed by a double steal, hit No. 3,002, a sixth-inning single, went for naught, but when he went 5-for-5 on this record-setting day with a single (No. 3,003) in the eighth, he drove in the winning run in a 5-4 Yankee victory over Tampa Bay on July 9, 2011.

When Brett Gardner homered in the first inning of a 6-2 Yankee win over Oakland in the Stadium on July 9, 2015, it came about two hours before the announcement that the pinstriped left fielder had made the AL All Star squad as a replacement for the injured Alex Gordon.

Infielder Cole Figueroa, added to the roster that day and playing third base, doubled twice and scored twice in this, his first Yankee game. (He would play in just one more.) While getting 23 outs, Masahiro Tanaka allowed just two hits, both unfortunately grouped with a second inning error and leading to the A’s two runs.

With Thurgood Marshall, Jr., in attendance, the Yanks celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education decision that spelled the death knell of segregation, on July 9, 2004. Javier Vazquez prevailed over John Halama of the Devil Rays 5-4, and center fielder Kenny Lofton reached four times, scored twice, and knocked in one.

The Yanks swept a double dip from the Tigers on July 9, 1932, 7-6 and 14-9. In the latter, Ben Chapman tied a record, not because he hit three home runs, but because two of them were of the inside-the-park variety.