If you look at the roster for the 2013 Yankees, it reads like a fever dream. Sure, there are the Yankees of that era that you remember, but other than Robinson Canó and Brett Gardner, most of them hardly played that season. There are also some names that you probably don’t remember playing in the big leagues at all, never mind as Yankees. Then, there’s the ones that you may remember as players, but completely forgot that they donned pinstripes.
I remember a lot of players from that roster, because
I am a sicko, but it would be completely understandable if you forgot about Brent Lillibridge — who celebrates his 43rd birthday day — and his Yankees’ run.
Brent Stuart Lillibridge
Born: September 18, 1983 (Everett, WA)
Yankees Tenure: 2013
Born in Washington state, Lillibridge was raised in the Everett, WA area and attended Henry M. Jackson High School. From there, he earned a baseball scholarship to the University of Washington, where he starred for the Huskies for three seasons. At UW, he made the All-Pac 10 team three-straight seasons, making him one to watch in the 2005 MLB Draft. The Pirates ended up taking Lillibridge in the fourth round.
After a couple years in Pittsburgh’s system, Lillibridge was part of a January 2007 trade that sent him and Mike Gonzalez to the Braves for Adam LaRoche and Jamie Romak. By that time, Lillibridge was cracking the top 100 prospect range according to some outlets.
As he reached the upper levels of the minors, Lillibridge’s hitting stats were tailing off just a tad. However, he still got the callup to the majors in 2008, as the Braves needed an infielder to fill in as they dealt with injuries. He ended up appearing in 29 big league games for Atlanta in ‘08, putting up a .576 OPS.
That offseason, Lillibridge was on the move again. The Braves traded him to the White Sox as part of a package that sent soon to be Yankees Javier Vázquez and Boone Logan to Atlanta. In Chicago, Lillibridge became especially known for his defense. Having spent much of his early career in the infield, Lillibridge became a utility man for the White Sox, and playing a good amount in the outfield. In one 2011 game, he made a pair of impressive game-saving catches against the Yankees, including this one to win the game.
However, Lillibridge’s hitting never quite matched up to the fielding, and he became a bit of a journeyman in the years after that. In June 2012, he was part of a package that went to Boston with Kevin Youkilis going to the White Sox. However, he spent only a month in Boston before being traded to Cleveland. They released him that offseason, and Lillibridge went back to Chicago, albeit on a minor league deal with the Cubs.
In 2013, Lillibridge spent some time on the Cubs’ major league roster, but the injury-ravaged Yankees purchased him from Chicago in June. A month later, after having to put Derek Jeter on the IL in a very stop-start penultimate year for the Captain, the Yankees called up Lillibridge.
Lillibridge had been hitting well enough in the minors, and in his first couple games with the Yankees, he picked up two hits, a walk, and a couple RBI.
However, like so many others in that doomed 2013 season, his hitting fell off after that. In 11 games as a Yankee, he hit .171/.194/.200. On August 5th, the Yankees activated Alex Rodriguez after an injury and DFA’ed Lillibridge.
After that, Lillibridge returned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for the rest of 2013. He opted to sign a minor league deal with the Rangers for 2014, but didn’t make it back to the majors. After that season, he retired from baseball. In the years since, Lillibridge has returned to his native Washington, where he is now one of the owners of a Baseball and Softball training center.
They somehow finished 2013 with a winning record, but that season was a cursed one for the Yankees. Brent Lillibridge was one of a number of players who tried their best in that cursed year.
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.
