March 6 – Happy Birthday Marcus Thames
I was a Marcus Thames fan after his first-ever at bat in pinstripes. That came in June of 2002, when the 25-year-old rookie came to the plate in the original Yankee Stadium in the third inning of an intra-league game against the Diamondbacks and smacked a two-run home run off of their then un-hittable ace, Randy Johnson. At that wonderful moment, I never thought it would be eight years before he’d hit another one for New York, but you can’t blame Marcus. After appearing in just 7 games that first season, the Yankees sent him back down to Columbus and then one year later, traded him to Texas for Ruben Sierra. The Rangers released him after the 2003 season and Thames finally found a more permanent big league home in MoTown. The Tigers signed him as a free agent and he became an important part of their team as a DH and fourth outfielder. He hit 99 home runs for Detroit during his five season there.
The Yankees entered the 2010 season with mostly young low-paid farm-system products and bargain-basement-type outfielders Randy Winn and Thames on the team’s bench. I’ve spent more money at Subway than it cost the Steinbrenner’s for that collection of subs. Thames turned out to be the best of the bunch and when DH Nick Johnson got hurt and was lost for the year, Thames became the team’s primary DH and one of New York’s best late-inning hitters. He carried the team in the dog-days of late August when he went on a tear at the plate that saw him hit six home runs and drive in 11 runs in one six game stretch. He then cooled down a bit in September. After playing well against the Twins in the 2010 ALDS, he along with most of the Yankees’ offense disappeared in the ALCS against Texas. It was probably Thames failure to hit in that Rangers series that convinced New York not to re-sign him and Marcus signed on with Don Mattingly’s Dodgers in 2011.
Marcus shares his birthday with this Yankee back-up catcher who has the best name in all of baseball.
| Year | Tm | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | NYY | 7 | 13 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .231 | .231 | .538 | .769 |
| 2010 | NYY | 82 | 237 | 212 | 22 | 61 | 7 | 0 | 12 | 33 | 0 | 19 | 61 | .288 | .350 | .491 | .841 |
| 10 Yrs | 640 | 2016 | 1827 | 256 | 450 | 83 | 4 | 115 | 301 | 3 | 159 | 510 | .246 | .309 | .485 | .794 | |
| DET (6 yrs) | 485 | 1612 | 1463 | 216 | 358 | 72 | 3 | 99 | 255 | 3 | 128 | 411 | .245 | .307 | .501 | .808 | |
| NYY (2 yrs) | 89 | 250 | 225 | 24 | 64 | 8 | 0 | 13 | 35 | 0 | 19 | 65 | .284 | .344 | .493 | .837 | |
| LAD (1 yr) | 36 | 70 | 66 | 4 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 16 | .197 | .243 | .333 | .576 | |
| TEX (1 yr) | 30 | 84 | 73 | 12 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 18 | .205 | .298 | .274 | .572 | |
Pinstripe Birthdays 