The Quest For Donny Baseball 1987 Yankees Franchise Year 4 MLB The Show 20

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We will begin play on MLB 16 starting this evening. The Yankees are facing the dreaded Red Sox.

I look forward to resuming write-ups and broadcasting games and monthly wrap up shows live on twitch!!

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The Yankees are in a bad way here in May. The Boston Red Sox went into the Bronx and swept the Bronx Bombers in 4 games. This allowed them to extend their lead in the AL East to a full 6 games.

The Yankees then hopped on a plane and went to KC to face Brett Saberhagan, George Brett and Bo Jackson. They would fall 6-4.

So The Yanks have now chalked up 5 straight losses. They have 2 more in KC and look to salvage the road trip with Bob Tewksberry and Ben McDonald on the bump in games 2 and 3.

As we motor through May we will continue to stream games and I will post a end of the month wrap up show here.

The Quest For Donny Baseball a 1987 Yankees Franchise in year two is in full force on MLB 16 The Show!

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Your Year 2 1987 Depth Chart For Your New York Yankees Thru May 1988

New York Yankees Depth Chart - 1988

• Catcher
• Rick Cerone
• Greg Olson

• First Base
• Don Mattingly
• Ron Kittle

• Second Base
• Wille Randolph
• Bobby Meecham

• Third Base
• Ken Caminiti
• Wayne Tolleson

• Shortstop
• Julio Franco
• Bobby Meacham

• Left Field
• Dan Pasqua
• Claudell Washington

• Center Field
• Rickey Henderson
• Roberto Kelly

• Right Field
• Dave Winfield
• Claudell Washington

• Starting Pitcher
• Rick Rhoden
• Ron Guidry
• Bob Tewksberry
• Ben McDonald
• Eric Hanson

• Relief Pitcher
• Charles Hudson
• Rich Bordi
• Cecilio Guante
• Ron Romanick
• Steve Rosenberg
• Rod Nichols

• Closer
• Dave Righetti

• Designated Hitter
• Ron Kittle

• Disabled List
• Wayne Tolleson
• Pete Filson
• Al Leiter

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Player Spotlight Pitcher Eric Hanson (Rule 5 Draft pick for NYY off-season after Year 1).

Erik Brian Hanson (born May 18, 1965) - During an 11-year baseball career, he pitched for the Seattle Mariners (1988–1993), Cincinnati Reds (1994), Boston Red Sox (1995), and Toronto Blue Jays (1996–1998). He attended Wake Forest University and was known for possessing an excellent curveball.

Raised in Kinnelon, New Jersey, Hanson played high school baseball at the Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey, where he played for coach Lew Watts.

Hanson won a career high 18 games for the Mariners in 1990 and was a 1995 American League All-Star selection for the Red Sox compiling a 15–5 record that year. Hanson pitched 8 innings in game 2 of the 1995 ALDS Game 2, receiving the loss in a 4–0 decision.




The Yankees had Eric Hanson fall into their laps when the Seattle Mariners left him unprotected and off their 40 man roster in the off-season of Year 1. The Yankees desperate for young arms took a shot on this B potential right handed pitcher. The Bronx Bombers hope to change the course of history for Hanson who had 89 wins against 84 losses in his 11 year career. Eric compiled a career ERA of 4.15 in 238 career starts. He racked up 1175 career K's and had a career WHIP of 1.355

Hanson thus far has been stellar in his first full season in the Majors. Currently Eric is 4-1 with a sub 3 ERA. He has shown great command of his filthy curve-ball and has been doing a great job of keeping hitters off-balance. The Yankees believe they have found a solid 2nd or 3rd rotational starter to pair up with "Big" Ben McDonald (future profile coming soon).

Eric's next start is coming up as the Yankees look to take 2 of 3 from the Royals on the road. Catch it on Todem23 (link in the signature) the official Twitch station for your 1987 NY Yankees (currently in year 2).

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Player Spotlight SS Julio Franco (acquired via trade from the NY Mets winter meetings).

Julio César Robles Franco (born August 23, 1958) is currently a player-manager for the semi-professional Ishikawa Million Stars of the Baseball Challenge League of Japan as of 2015. He spent most of his playing career in Major League Baseball (MLB), entering the major leagues in 1982 and last appearing in 2007, when he was the oldest active MLB player. During that stretch, he also spent two seasons playing professional baseball in Japan and one season playing in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).

While Franco was an All-Star and posted above-average hitting statistics throughout his career, he is best known for being the oldest regular position player in MLB history. Franco was the all-time hits leader among Dominican-born players until surpassed in 2011 by Vladimir Guerrero. He made his MLB debut as a shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies. During his long career, Franco saw significant time as a shortstop, second baseman, first baseman, and designated hitter.

Julio is best known for his unusual but signature batting stance. A fantastic gap contact hitter, Julio has been a valuable addition to the Yankees. It was a shocking acquisition coming in the winter meetings of 1987 (following Year 1 of this franchise). The Yankees sent SP's Brad Arsnberg, Dave Eiland and RP Pat Clements to the Indians in exchange for SS Jay Bell and SP Rod Nichols both 21 year old "B" prospects and expected them to make impacts as starters. The Yankees proclaimed Jay the SS of the future. At the same time the Mets made a deal with the Indians for Julio Franco. However Franco was disgruntled with Met's management and the Metropolitans were looking at Kevin Elster as their future at SS along with Gregg Jefferies at 2B. That left Franco to play at 3B and some OF. He was not happy about it at all and not receptive to the idea of playing the hot corner at this point in his young career. During the winter meetings the Mets approached the Yankees about getting Jay Bell and maybe a prospect for Julio. The Yankees jumped on it. They view Julio as their starting SS for years to come as well as a possible replacement for aging veteran Willie Randolph at 2B. Julio has not disappointed in his first full season with the Bronx Bombers. He is firmly hitting in the second hole and he looks to have his best season yet as a pro.

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Yankees take 2 out of 3 at Kansas City as Rickey Henderson Stars

May 1988 - The Yankees flew into Kaufman Stadium looking to snap a 4 game losing streak after being swept at home by division leading Boston. Things did not get off to a great start as Brett Saberhagan shut them down sending the Yankees reeling to their 5th straight loss. But Bob Tewksberry and Ben McDonald pitched back to back gems and allowed the Yankees to reel off 2 much needed wins as they head to Philly for 3 vs the Phillies and Mike Schmidt. Rickey Henderson hit a triple and a solo HR as well as swiping his league leading 19th SB. Manager Lou Pinella had to hold his breath as Rags was shaky picking up the save yielding two runs to make a 4-1 game closer than it should have. Don Mattingly again picked up another RBI with a gap double to continue his great start at the dish in terms of HR's and RBI numbers.

New York Yankees at Kansas City Royals
May 15, 1988	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York ()	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	4	8	0
Kansas City ()	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	7	0
W: Ben McDonald L: Bud Black S: Dave Righetti

Scoring Summary
SCORING DETAILS			NYY	KAN

New York Yankees
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Ricky Henderson	3	3	2	1	0	0	1	.281
Julio Franco	4	1	1	0	0	2	0	.294
Don Mattingly	3	0	2	2	0	0	0	.270
Dave Winfield	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	.272
Ron Kittle	4	0	1	0	0	2	0	.234
Claudel Washington	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.247
Ken Caminiti	4	0	1	0	0	1	0	.255
Rick Cerone	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.268
Willie Randolph	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.275
Kelly PR
BATTING: 2B: D. Winfield (7) D. Mattingly (7) 3B: R. Henderson (2) HR: R. Henderson (5) RBI: R. henderson (17), D. Winfield (26), D. Mattingly (34) HBP: R. Henderson SF: D. Mattingly
BASERUNNING: SB: R. Henderson (19), R. Kelly (5)

Kansas City Royals
HITTERS	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	HR	AVG
Wilson	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	.254
Eisenreich	3	0	0	1	0	1	0	.227
Tartabull	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.301
Jackson	3	1	0	0	1	0	0	.252
Seitzer	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	.206
Macfarlane	4	1	1	1	0	1	0	.384
White	4	0	1	1	0	1	0	.190
Pecota	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.211
Burleson	3	1	1	0	0	1	0	.308
BATTING: 2B: M. Macfarlane (6) RBI: F. White (14), M. Macfarlane (16), J. Eisenreich (26) SF: J. Eisenreich
BASERUNNING: SB: Wilson

New York Yankees
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
B. McDonald (W, 5-1)	7.1	6	1	1	0	4	0	3.20
S. Rosenberg (H, 3)	0.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	3.00
R. Romanick (H, 6)	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.77
D. Righetti (S, 7)	1.0	1	2	2	1	0	0	5.63

Kansas City Royals
PITCHERS	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
B. Black	6.2	6	4	4	0	5	1	4.23
PITCHING: WP: B. Black

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Yankees Sweep Red Sox In Critical 3 Game Series In September Sit 1.5 Games Out Of First In A.L East.

It has been quite sometime since I gave any updates here. I know many people are following this dynasty on my Twitch channel as we broadcast all the games, but I felt like doing a write up here and getting this going again as we are approaching the post season and soon second full off-season as we prepare to transfer this franchise to MLB The Show 17 for Year 3.

Some big trades also took place for the Yankees as we were able to land Harold Baines from the White Sox (and said goodbye to Ron Guidry and Dave Winfield sadly) and also amazingly re-acquire power hitting prospect Jay Buhner!

I will have a roster depth chart update posted up soon as well as give many write ups of games in September as the pennant race has really heated up in the AL East between our hated rival The Boston Red Sox.

If you recall....in year one we lost a one game playoff for the AL East title and then were knocked out of the wild card game by the Astros.

Year 2 has been awesome. We have Ben McDonald in the Cy Young Race, and Ken Caminiti leading the race for Rookie of The Year in the AL (an incredible Rule 5 draft pick for us) Also Rule 5 draft pick Eric Hanson has proved to be well worth the risk as he has compiled a 15-7 record thus far in our Year 2 campaign.

The Quest For Donny Baseball is alive and well in year 2 and also join me for live streams on Todem23 (link below) of this classic 80's franchise as well as The Matheny Manifesto (A Fantasy Draft Cardinals Franchise) which is now in year 2.

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Ron Kittle and Harold Baines Power Yankees to within 2 games of 1st Place Boston with 6-2 Win Over The Red Sox In Game 1 of Final 3 Game Series of The Season

Ron Kittle Is Making Yankees Look Smart After Signing Extension With Another Huge Year

(.274 33 HR's 99 RBI's)

September 1988 - The Yankees made a big move in the summer by trading for OF/1B/DH Harold Baines shipping Dave Winfield and Ron Guidry (along with a A rated Prospect) to the Chi Sox in exchange for the steady Baines as well as veteran pitcher Floyd Bannister. The White Sox were looking to shake things up and were dangling Baines and the Yankees jumped. Ron Kittle who was signed as a Free Agent in 1986 and then extended this past off-season is having a career year in terms of total output. Hitting in the 5 hole behind Don Mattingly (.294 31 HR's 112 RBI's) and Harold Baines (.316 28 HR's 81 RBI's) has proven deadly. Imagine you are an opposing pitcher and you are staring down at:

Rickey Henderson
Julio Franco
Don Mattingly
Harold Baines
Ron Kittle
Ken Caminiti (Front runner for Rookie of the Year)

The Yankees have an incredible lineup this season and are battling once again the dreaded Boston Red Sox for the A.L. East Crown. They started their final 3 game series last night and broke a 2-2 tie in the 8th on an RBI single by Don Mattingly. Earlier Ron Kittle went yard with a 2 run shot that was 415 feet into LC. Then in the bottom of the 8th after taking a 3-2 lead on Mattingly's RBI single (which brought in pinch runner Deion Sanders) Baines stepped into the dish and delivered the knockout punch of a majestic 3 run shot into RC (421 feet). The Yankees would go on to win 6-2 as Bob Tewksberry earned his 12th on the season. The Yankees with a sweep could tie the Red Sox for the AL East with 12 games left.