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MLB.com is digging back into its massive video vault to uncover classic plays that you have loved, forgotten about or, perhaps, are discovering for the very first time. Watch these moments and many, many more on the MLB Vault YouTube page.
Oct. 14, 1978: Nettles saves two runs in World Series Game 3
The Yankees were already down 2-0 to the Dodgers in the 1978 Fall Classic, and it was clear that ace Ron Guidry didn’t have his best stuff in a must-win Game 3. Enter third baseman Graig Nettles, who picked up Guidry by saving as many as four runs with a series of quick-twitch plays in New York’s 5-1 victory.
Shown above is one of those gems, as Nettles somehow came up with a clean pick of this screamer off the bat of Dodgers second baseman Davey Lopes, then completed a forceout at second base to end the sixth. This play saved two runs and got Guidry out of his second consecutive bases-loaded jam unscathed. The Yankees never looked back after Game 3, sweeping the last three contests to secure their second straight World Series title.
June 28, 2009: Mo gets his only career RBI
Mariano Rivera retired with just seven combined regular and postseason plate appearances, but Mo does have one career RBI to his credit. And, because it’s Mo, he made it look effortless.
With the Yankees already holding a 3-2 lead over the rival Mets on Sunday Night Baseball, the Bronx Bombers worked the bases loaded with two outs against Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez. Rivera borrowed a batting helmet from teammate Cody Ransom and worked a full-count walk that brought home Melky Cabrera, meaning he got his only career RBI with the bat on his shoulder. Rivera also happened to join Trevor Hoffman in the 500-save club that night, but he was more excited about that RBI.
July 7, 2014: Jeter fools Kipnis, turns fake DP into real one
Even in his 20th and final season in the big leagues, 40-year-old Derek Jeter still had a few tricks up his sleeve. Cleveland’s Jason Kipnis found that out the hard way in a July 2014 game at Progressive Field after his teammate, Asdrubal Cabrera, lofted a pop up by third base in foul territory. Instead of staying at first base, Kipnis took off for second because Jeter had faked as if he were receiving a throw to turn a basic ground-ball double play.
By faking one double play, Jeter had ingeniously created another. Kipnis was caught dead to rights in no man’s land, and New York turned a brilliant, inning-ending 5-6-3 DP.
Aug. 25, 2011: Yanks club record three grand slams
A 7-2 deficit in the fifth inning is no problem when you’re on the cusp of making history. Robinson Canó quickly cut into that Oakland lead with a grand slam to the bleachers in right field. An inning later, Russell Martin knocked a slam of his own to right-center that gave the Yankees their first lead of the afternoon.
That would have been a day’s work for most offenses, but the Bronx Bombers weren’t done. With New York holding a commanding 17-8 lead in the eighth, Curtis Granderson tacked on another grand slam to make the Yanks the first and — as of 2021 — the only team to belt three slams in one ballgame.
“You’re not going to see it again, probably,” said Derek Jeter, who himself came up four separate times with the bases loaded. “You can’t explain it.”
Sept. 15, 1988: Washington steals home off Clemens
How do you beat an all-world, in-his-prime ace like Roger Clemens in 1988? Well, a clean swipe of home plate certainly helps. That’s what Yankees center fielder Claudell Washington was able to do with Clemens on the mound in the fifth inning of a September New York-Boston matchup at Fenway Park, adding insult to an already atypical night for The Rocket in a 5-3 Yankees victory.
Washington later revealed that he had a tell: Clemens had a habit of ducking his head before going into his famous power windup, and that’s all the speedy Washington needed to take off.