Gators assistant coach Jack Rhine and Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles during New York's visit to Perry Field in 1981. (File photo, UAA archives)
Carter's Corner: Bronx Bombers Part of Perry Field Lore
Friday, May 11, 2018 | Baseball, Scott Carter
The New York Yankees visited UF three times over an 11-year span for exhibition games against the Gators, the first in 1977.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – They came to town so they could officially christen the lights that made night baseball possible at Perry Field.
If not for a ninth-inning rally, the New York Yankees might have never come back. Losses often enraged Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, so who knows what The Boss would have done had his Bronx Bombers not scored six runs in the ninth to defeat the Gators, 10-9, in an exhibition game on March 23, 1977.
While the late Steinbrenner's firing of managers was legendary, many in his adopted home state called him Generous George for his philanthropic contributions to many of the region's college athletic programs. Steinbrenner donated the lights that lit the field when Yankees third baseman Craig Nettles hit a three-run homer to cap New York's comeback from an 8-4 deficit.
"We have lights now and without the lights people didn't have the opportunity to see a game,'' Gators coach Jay Bergman told the Tampa Tribune that season.
The Yankees traveled to UF from their spring training camp in Fort Lauderdale to face the Gators as part of a fundraiser for the program. Florida lefty Ross Baumgarten, who would make his major-league debut the next year for the White Sox, started against a Yankees lineup that featured Nettles, Mickey Rivers, Chris Chambliss, Roy White and Reggie Jackson.
The Gators appeared on the way to a monumental upset in front of an announced crowd of 3,820 -- and Yankee legend Mickey Mantle among the spectators -- when seldom-used relief pitcher Craig Pippin, who had been a third baseman in high school, was called on to pinch-hit in the eighth inning against Yankees minor-leaguer Doug Heinold, the organization' first-round pick in 1973.
Pippin couldn't believe what happened next. He sent a drive into left field as Yankees outfielder White barely moved.
"He just stood there. I figured, 'This is a pop up.' Then he looked over his shoulder. The ball sailed over the fence," Pippin told the St. Petersburg Times a month later. "I was in shock until I hit second base. I can't remember a thing until then."
Pippin later played several seasons in the minors and called his home run against the defending American League champion Yankees "the biggest thrill of my life."
Meanwhile, the Yankees came back again on March 9, 1981, a few months after former Gators football coach and athletic director Ray Graves took a job with Steinbrenner Enterprises in Tampa as vice president of public relations.
Steinbrenner once again made the trip, this time to watch newly signed outfielder Dave Winfield make his first appearance in a Yankees uniform. Winfield signed a 10-year, $23 million contract in December 1980 that was the richest contract in sports history at the time.
Winfield, Lou Piniella, Bucky Dent and Jackson were among the regulars who made the trip. Yankees great Roger Maris, who had settled in Gainesville after his playing career, also attended the game.
The Yankees won 6-1, but the record crowd at Perry Field and financial boost to the program made it all worth it.
"Good day for us,'' then-athletic director Bill Carr told the Tampa Tribune. "The people came and saw the Gators and the Yankees and we hope they'll come back to see more of the Gator baseball team."
After another exhibition game scheduled between the Gators and Yankees was rained out in 1986, the Bronx Bombers visited Perry Field for the third time in 11 years on March 18, 1987.
By then, Piniella had gone from player to manager and Joe Arnold was in his fourth season as UF head coach. The Yankees clubbed the Gators 14-2 in front of an announced crowd of 2,449 on a Wednesday night.
Rickey Henderson blasted a long home run that landed in the parking lot beyond the left-field wall to give the Yankees an early lead and then pranced around the bases as he did sometimes.
Gators starter Jamie McAndrew, who struck out Dan Pasqua and Winfield in the first inning, let it slide since, well, it was the Yankees and a future Hall of Famer.
"If a guy from some team in the Southeastern Conference had done that, I would have decked him the next time he was up,'' McAndrew told The Gainesville Sun. "But this was Rickey Henderson."
The offense provided ample support for Yankees starter Tommy John and reliever Joe Niekro. Willie Randolph, Don Mattingly and Claudell Washington were among the New York regulars in the lineup with Henderson and Winfield.
"To be on the field with the Yankees is a great honor,'' Arnold told The Sun. "We don't even look at the scoreboard."
The most notable event from the '87 game happened when young boy grabbed one of Henderson's cleats and took off running while Henderson was signing autographs.
Henderson, the reigning seven-time American League stolen base champion, was not amused.
"I need it back because it's one of my game shoes,'' Henderson said afterward. "I'd be glad to give him a practice shoe and sign it, just as long as I get it back."
No word on whether Henderson ever got that cleat back.
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