Let It Dive
- Ellis Island Series: Fort Gibson
- Yanks Week 13 Notes
- YouTube Rabbithole
Alright @YouTheReader,
Today’s tune is Let It Dive by …AYWKUBTTOD.
This is another song off the iconic MVP Baseball 2005 soundtrack.
The name of the band is actually ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead.
I don’t know what MVP Baseball 2005 was trying to sell us on, but don’t care, this song still rocks and sounds great.
Moving on to Stumblin’ Along…
Way before immigrants stepped foot on Ellis Island and before Europe colonized the Americas, what is today New York City was inhabited by the Lenape Tribe (which was translated to Delaware in English). When the Europeans first arrived, the Lenape Nation ruled southern portions of New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and northern Delaware. While the Native American tribe never used the island as a permanent village, the Lenape would use the land as a station to prepare food, make tools, and work on animal hides. Although the Lenape Nation was forced to move north and west, their ancestral remains and artifacts were discovered in the mid-1980s. The remains and artifacts were transferred to the Delaware Nation of today.
The island had plenty of names before Ellis. Native Americans referred to it as “Kioshk,” meaning Gull Island, because it was usually flocked with seagulls. In 1630, the Dutch bought the land during the formation of New Netherland. Today’s Ellis Island, Liberty Island, and Black Tom Island were then known as the Oyster Islands. Aside from seagulls, oysters were abundant in the area. Little Oyster Island would change its name to Gibbet Island in the 1760s. A “gibbet” was a device used for public displays of hangings. A pretty brutal name, Gibbet Island got its name because pirates would be hanged with chains from scrubby trees.
On January 20, 1775, Gibbet Island was purchased by a Welsh-American by the name of Samuel Ellis. It’s impossible to tell much about this Samuel Ellis, because there were two men of the same name who were both wealthy enough to own the land and were married to a Mary. One of them was a butcher who lived on Greenwich Street in the Lower East Side. The other was a merchant in Manhattan, who also owned a farm in New Jersey. Both of these men signed a petition of loyalty to Britain during the American Revolution, and whoever owned the island established a tavern for fishermen. Samuel Ellis would pass away in 1794 and leave Ellis Island to his unborn grandson, even though he had three daughters. Things got complicated in the will when the child sadly died in infancy around 1800. The complicated situation even threw off the US Navy, which was keen on purchasing Ellis Island to fortify its defenses against the English in the event of another war. Matt Housch, a historian for the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, told the BBC News, "A fee of $10,000 was agreed, but nobody seemed to be too sure who it should be paid to. Then as now, the ancestry is a bit of a mystery."
Between 1801 and 1811, a fort was constructed on Ellis Island. During the War of 1812, British soldiers were held captive on the site, but the fort was never attacked. In 1814, the fort was named after Colonel James Gibson, who was a 33-year-old officer killed in the war’s Battle of Fort Erie. Fort Gibson was armed with 13 cannons and could garrison nearly 200 soldiers. The exterior wall of Fort Gibson was about 5.5 feet thick and sixteen feet high. They also had a 2nd wall in the interior of the fort, which is still present today.
Fort Gibson was preemptively built a few years before the outbreak of the War of 1812 because the US was being bullied on its trade routes. The British Navy was seizing American merchant ships and then forcing the sailors into service on British vessels. Congress decided that the nation’s most crucial harbor needed to be defended in the case of war. Fort Gibson wasn’t the only island in the harbor geared up to battle, as the island where the Statue of Liberty now stands was also ready for smoke. Between Fort Gibson and Fort Wood (what Liberty Island was named), it became quite a gauntlet and deterred attacks on New York’s harbor. Colonel Jonathan Williams reported to the Common Council of the City of New York in 1807, “It would be difficult to go into either the North or East River, without passing within point-blank shot of one of them. It is not a very bold assertion to say that no ship that sails upon the ocean would engage in such terms.”
In the decades following the 2nd American-British War, Fort Gibson continued to be used for military purposes. Large supply chamber magazines were built to store black powder, which was too dangerously unstable to be kept at the Naval Shipyard in Brooklyn. During the American Civil War, the fort once again became very important in protecting New York’s harbor. Twelve new cannons were installed, as it housed approximately 120 army and navy personnel.
After the American Civil War, magazines and newspapers of the day wrote pieces about how Fort Gibson stored more than 10,000 pounds of explosives. This alarmed New York and New Jersey residents, who feared that an explosion would destroy parts of NYC or Jersey City. For the next 20 years after the Civil War, protests against the possible hazard erupted. This was right around the time when the United States needed a new immigration station, so the boatloads of ammunition were removed from the once Oyster Islands of New York’s harbor. By 1891, the first immigration building of Ellis Island was built.
More on Ellis Island next week.
Game 70 (6/15)
- The Yankees’ offense completely wastes a Max Fried 7-inning start of 2-run ball and 9 strikeouts. Aaron Judge strikes out 3 times and grounds into a double play. During one of their only scoring opportunities, Ben Rice got picked off standing on 2nd Base. For the first time since Babe Ruth was a Red Sox pitcher, the Yankees scored just 4 runs in a 3-game series in Fenway Park. They also got swept in a series for the first time all season. Absolutely pathetic effort.
Game 71 (6/16)
- Mike Stanton makes his return in the Bronx with Clarke Schmidt on the mound against the Angels. The Yanks’ offense wastes a 2nd inning Jazz Chisholm lead-off double. In a scoreless game in the 7th, Jazz again gets on base and gets bunted over to 2nd base by Anthony Volpe on a rare sacrifice bunt, but to no avail, as there’s nothing to show for it. In the 9th inning, still tied 0-0, Stanton leads off with a double. He gets stranded on 2nd base as the game enters extras. In the 11th inning, Johnny Lasagna finally allows an Angel run to score, and the Yankees lose as Volpe weakly chops out on the first pitch of a bases-loaded at-bat with the game on the line. This team can’t situationally hit for shit. Watching them try to manufacture runs without the long ball is like getting a root canal.
Game 72 (6/17)
- Will Warren strikes out 11 batters through 6 innings but unfortunately leaves the game down 3-0 because the Yankees’ bats are dead. This offense is dreadful without home runs. Aaron Judge strikes out 3 more times and is starting to chase pitches out of the zone. They are shut out for the 3rd straight game and haven’t scored in 29 innings.
Game 73 (6/18)
- The Yankees score their 1st run in 4 games with a Jazz Chisholm solo homer in the 2nd inning. It snaps a 30-scoreless innings streak. They finally take a lead with a Cody Bellinger solo home run in the 4th inning, only to give it back up in the 5th. Ryan Yarbrough gives the Yankees 5.1 innings of 2-run ball on just 69 pitches thrown, but Boone decides to go to the pen. After getting out of a 7th inning jam, Fernando Cruz absolutely loses the strike zone as he walks the bases loaded, which sets up Anthony Volpe butchering a double play ball to give LA the lead. Volpe then makes the last out of the game for the 2nd time in 3 days. Yanks lose 3-2.
Game 74 (6/19)
- Mike Trout mashes a 1st inning solo shot as the Yankees once again trail at the start of yet another game. As soon as the Yankees manufacture a run without a homer, it starts to thunder and pour. Carlos Rodon immediately gives up a run right back to the Angels in the 2nd. Trent Grisham and Paul Goldschmidt hit back-to-back home runs to give the Yankees a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the 2nd. Michael Kay shouts out Hoboken as the first baseball game ever played was at the Elysian Fields of Mile Square City on June 19, 1846. In the bottom of the 6th with runners on 1st and 2nd, Austin Wells gets picked off from 1st base, trying to get a jump on 3-2 pitch with two out. Can’t make this shit up, this team has the base running fundamentals of the Bad News Bears. Carlos Rodon gives the Yankees 6 solid innings of 3-run ball as the bats miraculously tack on a few extra runs in the 8th. Yanks win a game, wow!
Game 75 (6/20)
- Max Fried on the mound on a hot Friday night in the Bronx. He plunks two Orioles in the 1st inning and, as a result, gives up 2 early runs. The Yanks score 2 in the bottom half on a Jazz RBI-single and a Martian sac fly. Judge hits his 27th home run of the season in the 3rd inning to give the Yankees the lead. Entering the 8th inning of a 3-3 game, Boone gives the ball to Luke Weaver fresh off the IL. Weaver gives up the lead on a solo homer, and Tim Hill has to relieve him, resulting in another run given up. In the end, it doesn’t even matter, as the Yankee bats didn’t come through anyway. Yanks lose 5-3.
Game 76 (6/21)
- Trent Grisham hits a solo home run in the 1st inning. JC Escarra and Ben Rice each hit a solo home run in the 2nd inning. In the 3rd, the Yanks load the bases with 3 straight singles and score 3 runs on an Escarra sac fly, along with an Oswald Peraza bloop single. Anthony Volpe, who snapped his 0-25 streak with an infield single in the 3rd, lines one into the RF seats in the 5th. Up 9-0 in the 8th inning, Aaron Boone takes Clarke Schmidt out of the game after he’d thrown 103 pitches. In the very first at bat after Schmidt was relieved, Gary Sanchez gets a favorable check swing call and then gets the Orioles’ first hit of the game. Schmidt had been throwing a no-hitter after walking two batters in the 1st inning. Boone is going to hear it for taking him out, but no-hitters aren’t as cool as Perfect Games, which would’ve been a different story. Yanks get a much-needed blowout 9-0 win. At 44-32, they’ve given up some ground in the AL East standings, but still sit in 1st place.
Move to Make?
- This was a move that was already made, but might as well bullet point it. On Sunday morning, Ryan Yarbrough was placed on the IL with an oblique. The Yanks’ corresponding move was to call up Allan Winans from Triple-A. Winans will make his Yankee debut on Monday against the Reds while filling in for Yarbrough in the rotation. The 30-year-old right-hander has made 9 starts with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, throwing 50 innings with a 0.90 ERA and 1.04 WHIP. Initially drafted by the New York Mets in the 17th Round of the 2018 MLB Draft, Winans was selected by the Braves in the Rule 5 Draft of ‘21. He made his MLB Debut with Atlanta in ‘23. In 8 MLB starts, Winans has struggled with a 7.20 ERA, allowing 32 earned runs in 40 innings pitched. While he doesn’t have electric stuff, Winan has been very effective in the Yankees’ farm, so maybe they unlocked something. Oblique injuries typically take a while, so the Yanks will have Winans and the rehabbing Marcus Stroman compete for the 5th spot in the rotation, but it also opens up the door for their other prospects as well as a deadline deal.
