It’s official — the Yankees are bringing again the standard Previous-Timers’ Day alumni baseball recreation for the primary time since 2019.
This yr’s occasion on Aug. 9 encompasses a visitor checklist of 38 and is about to honor the twenty fifth anniversary of the 2000 staff that received the World Sequence over the crosstown Mets.
Previous-Timers’ Day regulars together with Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Joe Torre are anticipated to attend, however Derek Jeter, the 2000 World Sequence MVP, just isn’t.
Jeter, who attended the previous two Previous-Timers’ Days, lately instructed the Yankees he wasn’t planning on going this yr, in keeping with NJ.com, which reported the previous captain would as a substitute be celebrating one among his daughters’ birthdays.
Finally yr’s Previous-Timers’ Day, Jeter mentioned he wouldn’t be concerned with enjoying in a recreation.
“They’re not going to see me hit again,” Jeter mentioned on the time. “No, I would be afraid I would hurt myself, but that’s not saying the reason there’s no game is because I’m not playing. … I don’t make those decisions when it comes to whether there’s a game or not.”
Others from the 2000 staff, together with Paul O’Neill, David Cone, Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez, Orlando Hernandez, Dwight Gooden and Clay Bellinger, are on the visitor checklist.
Similar goes for Roger Clemens, Alfonso Soriano, David Justice and José Vizcaíno, who’re every planning to attend Previous-Timers’ Day for the primary time.
That is the 77th version of Previous-Timers’ Day, which was canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Within the years that adopted, the occasion featured on-field ceremonies and Q&A periods, however followers continued to clamor for the baseball recreation to return.
Earlier this yr, reviews urged a softball recreation was within the works, however a YES Community report final week made clear that the plan was for a standard baseball recreation of two or three innings.
Whereas the 2000 staff would be the focus of subsequent month’s ceremony, different eras of Yankees baseball can be represented. Lou Piniella, Johnny Damon, Willie Randolph, Graig Nettles, Ron Guidry and Aaron Boone are additionally on the roster.
One other notable absence, in the meantime, is that of Alex Rodriguez, who attended Previous-Timers’ Day for the primary time final yr for a celebration of the World Sequence-winning 2009 staff.
