The New York Yankees hold their 78th Old-Timers’ Day on Saturday. Nobody else in baseball has done this 78 times, and no other club has kept it going without interruption.
How to watch Yankees Old-Timers’ Day
- Date: Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026
- Gates open: 12:00 p.m. ET
- Be seated by: 12:45 p.m. ET
- Introductions: Approximately 1:00 p.m. ET, read by Michael Kay
- Alumni game: Immediately following introductions
- Yankees vs. Braves: 3:05 p.m. ET
- TV: YES Network, exclusively
- Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Former New York Yankees Mariano Rivera throws during the Yankees Old-Timers’ Day before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
If you are out of market, read this
The ceremonies are a YES Network exclusive. MLB.TV has historically carried only the regular season game that follows, not the introductions or the alumni game.
Fans outside New York found that out the hard way last August. One in North Carolina signed up for a Fubo trial and hit a geographic restriction. Another in Washington ended up watching a fan’s phone stream from the Yankee Stadium outfield on YouTube.
Realistic options: a provider that carries YES, a streaming package that includes it, or waiting for the full ceremony to post to YouTube afterward, as it has in past years.
Former New York Yankees Hideki Matsui speaks with the members of media during the Yankees Old-Timers’ Day before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
The 2026 roster
Nine Monument Park inductees are scheduled, seven with retired numbers.
Hall of Famers: Mariano Rivera (42), Joe Torre (6)
Retired numbers: Ron Guidry (49), Andy Pettitte (46), Jorge Posada (20), Bernie Williams (51), Paul O’Neill (21)
Monument Park: Willie Randolph, Tino Martinez
First-time Old-Timers: Dellin Betances, Todd Frazier, Adam Ottavino — all three current YES Network studio analysts — and David Weathers
Former New York Yankees Todd Frazier attends batting practice during the Yankees Old-Timers’ Day before a baseball game against the, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Full scheduled roster, subject to change: Clay Bellinger, Dellin Betances, Ron Blomberg, Aaron Boone, Homer Bush, Rick Cerone, Chris Chambliss, David Cone, Johnny Damon, Bucky Dent, Brian Doyle, John Flaherty, Todd Frazier, Dwight Gooden, Ron Guidry, Orlando Hernández, Jill Martin, Tino Martinez, Hideki Matsui, Lee Mazzilli, Ramiro Mendoza, José Molina, Diana Munson, Kay Murcer, Jeff Nelson, Paul O’Neill, Adam Ottavino, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Willie Randolph, Mariano Rivera, Mickey Rivers, Luis Sojo, Alfonso Soriano, Shane Spencer, Mike Stanton, Nick Swisher, Joe Torre, David Weathers, Roy White, Bernie Williams.
Three widows of Yankees legends are on the roster: Diana Munson, widow of Thurman Munson; Kay Murcer, widow of Bobby Murcer; and Jill Martin, widow of Billy Martin. Two fathers of current Yankees are attending — Clay Bellinger, father of Cody, and David Weathers, father of Ryan.
Derek Jeter is not on the list.
Seventy-eight years of the same afternoon
The photographic record is the argument for why this survives in the Bronx and nowhere else.
Former New York Yankee slugger Joe DiMaggio attempts to twist out of the way of a pitched ball but he’s too late. The Yankee Clipper was nipped by the pitch thrown by Detroit Tiger oldster Alvin Crowder during first inning of Tiger-Yankee Old Timers game at Yankee Stadium in New York, July 27, 1957. Catcher shown reaching for ball is Clyde Manion. Yankees won the Old Timers game when DiMaggio scored after hitting safely in second inning substitution. (AP Photo/Harry Harris)
That is a Hall of Famer taking a pitch off the body in an exhibition game 69 years ago. He stayed in, singled and scored.
Hall of Famer catcher Yogi Berra, left, and pitcher Whitey Ford ride in the shade of a golf cart during the New York Yankees 67th annual Old Timers Day event, Sunday, June 23, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez, right, and former player Rickey Henderson, second from right, join other former players as they watch Willie Randolph speak opening ceremonies for the Old-Timers’ Day baseball game Saturday, June 20, 2015, at Yankee Stadium in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Former New York Yankees Tim Raines and his family participate in Old-Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium, Sunday, June 25, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Why almost nobody else kept it going
Twenty-nine other clubs have history and alumni. Almost none of them hold an annual event under that name, and the ones that hold anything have mostly changed the format.
The injury problem. Putting retired athletes in a live baseball game is an insurance question before it is a marketing one. Modern players, many still working in broadcasting or coaching, are reluctant to risk a hamstring or a highlight of themselves looking finished. The Yankees themselves paused the game portion for several years, holding introductions and a question-and-answer session instead. The alumni game returned this season.
The money problem. When the Mets studied bringing the event back to Citi Field, the conclusion was that a standalone alumni day did not move enough tickets or attract enough sponsorship to justify housing, flying and hosting dozens of former players for one afternoon.
Former New York Mets’ John Franco reacts as he is introduced during an Old-Timers’ Day ceremony before a baseball game between the Colorado Rockies and the New York Mets on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
The targeting problem. Clubs found that anniversary weekends built around a specific team draw a more motivated buyer than a generic gathering of everyone who ever wore the uniform. The Phillies have run alumni days built that way.
FILE – Former Philadelphia Phillies player Pete Rose tips his hat to fans during an alumni day event before a baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals, Aug. 7, 2022, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
The roster problem. Fewer players spend a full career in one city now. A club that wants 40 former players in uniform has to fly them in from everywhere and hope enough of them still consider that town home. The Yankees are the exception because their pool is deeper and more multi-generational than anyone’s.
Every other sport figured this out
The strange part is that alumni events are not dying. They are thriving everywhere except baseball.
Former Pittsburgh Steelers players Ben Roethlisberger, left, and Jerome Bettis clap during at alumni celebration at halftime of an NFL football game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
The NFL does it at halftime, which costs nothing and risks nobody.
Dallas Cowboys alumni cheerleaders perform during a halftime performance during a NFL football game against the Washington Commanders on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Matt Patterson)
College basketball does it as a tunnel walk.
Nebraska’s Justin Bolis runs into the arena with teammates through a tunnel lined with basketball alumni before playing against Northwestern in an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026, in Lincoln, Neb. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz)
Hockey plays the full game and does it outdoors, in front of 40,000 people, at a baseball stadium.
FILE – In this Dec. 31, 2016, file photo, former St. Louis Blues’ Chris Pronger, left, laughs with former Chicago Blackhawks’ Kyle Calder after a check during the Winter Classic alumni outdoor hockey game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Billy Hurst, File)
Baseball may have just found its version
Two summers of evidence suggest the sport is circling back — under different names.
Former Milwaukee Brewers players walk off the field after being announced as members of the Milwaukee Brewers 25th Anniversary Alumni Game teams before a baseball game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Colorado Rockies Friday, July 24, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
The Brewers ran an alumni home run derby last season and followed with a full alumni game on July 24.
And on Friday night in Seattle, the Mariners held the first Alumni Home Run Derby in franchise history, part of their 50th anniversary season.
Formers Seattle Mariner Ichiro Suzuki, right, greets former teammate Mike Cameron before an ‘Alumni Homerun Derby’ after a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Seattle Mariners, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in Seattle. The competition was part the of the team’s 50th anniversary celebration. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Ichiro Suzuki, 52 years old, hit six home runs in the opening round and finished one point short of the final. His last swing caught the top of the right field wall and stayed in.
“When I hit it, I thought I got it, and so I was a little bit relieved,” he said through longtime interpreter Allen Turner. “And so I kind of let my guard down, and then it didn’t go, so it kind of hurt me there.”
Asked how a 52-year-old survives a stamina event, he was matter of fact.
“I’m doing this all year. There’s never a time where there’s an offseason. It’s pretty much an everyday thing where I’m doing baseball, so it’s kind of an all-year thing for me.”
Stefen Romero won it — a 12th-round pick who played 94 major league games and hit four career home runs, then hit 96 in five seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball. He lives outside Portland now and coaches his sons in youth baseball. The Mariners called him a month and a half ago. He hit 12 in the championship round.
Former Seattle Mariners pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith celebrates during an alumni homerun derby after a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Seattle Mariners, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
The derby solves everything the full game broke. Nobody runs the bases, so the insurance exposure collapses. It takes 45 minutes. It runs after a game rather than before one, so nobody has to arrive three hours early. And it produces the thing that travels — video of Ichiro at 52 putting balls in the seats passed 300,000 views on X overnight.
Milwaukee tried it first. Seattle got a national moment out of it. The Yankees are the only franchise that has run this every year for 78 years — but they are no longer the only one running something.
