It’s official — the Yankees are bringing back the traditional Old-Timers’ Day alumni baseball game for the first time since 2019.
This year’s event on Aug. 9 features a guest list of 38 and is set to honor the 25th anniversary of the 2000 team that won the World Series over the crosstown Mets.
Old-Timers’ Day regulars including Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Joe Torre are expected to attend, but Derek Jeter, the 2000 World Series MVP, is not.
Jeter, who attended the past two Old-Timers’ Days, recently told the Yankees he wasn’t planning on going this year, according to NJ.com, which reported the former captain would instead be celebrating one of his daughters’ birthdays.
At last year’s Old-Timers’ Day, Jeter said he would not be interested in playing in a game.
“They’re not going to see me hit again,” Jeter said at 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 team, including Paul O’Neill, David Cone, Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez, Orlando Hernandez, Dwight Gooden and Clay Bellinger, are on the guest list.
Same goes for Roger Clemens, Alfonso Soriano, David Justice and José Vizcaíno, who are each planning to attend Old-Timers’ Day for the first time.
This is the 77th edition of Old-Timers’ Day, which was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the years that followed, the event featured on-field ceremonies and Q&A sessions, but fans continued to clamor for the baseball game to return.
Earlier this year, reports suggested a softball game was in the works, but a YES Network report last week made clear that the plan was for a traditional baseball game of two or three innings.
While the 2000 team will be the focus of next month’s ceremony, other eras of Yankees baseball will be represented. Lou Piniella, Johnny Damon, Willie Randolph, Graig Nettles, Ron Guidry and Aaron Boone are also on the roster.
Another notable absence, meanwhile, is that of Alex Rodriguez, who attended Old-Timers’ Day for the first time last year for a celebration of the World Series-winning 2009 team.
