The Yankees will honor former ace and longtime pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre this season with a black armband on the left sleeves of their uniforms, beginning with Opening Day against the Orioles.
The widely respected Stottlemyre — a five-time All-Star hurler and a four-time World Series winner as Joe Torre’s pitching coach from 1996-2005 — died on Jan. 13 following a long battle with bone marrow cancer.
“I think it’s awesome,” manager Aaron Boone said before Thursday’s 2019 opener. “Just being in the clubhouse this morning at breakfast, we kind of had his accomplishments up on our board, so the guys were talking about it and looking at all his complete games and everyone’s like, ‘Woah.