Nokes Rekindles The Past On Yanks' Old-Timers' Day

-- NEW YORK - On a day when the New York Yankees celebrated their past, the future looked pretty good, too.

Matt Nokes hit two home runs in a game for the third time this month as the Yankees beat the California Angels 12-10 on old-timers' day.

Before the game, New York commemorated the 50th anniversary of Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak by giving the Hall of Famer a white Mercedes-Benz.

Joining DiMaggio for the Yankees' annual old-timers' day were 1941 teammates Phil Rizzuto, Tommy Henrich, Johnny Sturm and Frenchy Bordagaray.

"You'll always be in my Hall of Fame," DiMaggio told Rizzuto during a brief speech to a near-capacity crowd at Yankee Stadium.

Also on hand were former Yankee greats Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford and Reggie Jackson.

The Yankees also honored Don Larsen's 1956 World Series perfect game against Brooklyn and the 1961 World Series champions.

Then the Yankees went out and looked like the Bronx Bombers of old.

"A thrill a minute," Yankee Manager Stump Merrill said as his club almost blew an eight-run lead. "You lose that one, you just crawl under the turf. You don't like to see that tying run come to the plate in the late innings when you had an eight-run lead."

Nokes hit his 16th and 17th homers - both with a runner on base - to make a winner of Greg Cadaret (3-4), who gave up four runs in 5 1/3 innings. Nokes hit his first homer in the fifth and another in the Yankees' five-run sixth.

"It's just a matter of getting my swing straight," Nokes said. "I was really seeing the ball well today."

Steve Farr, the fifth Yankee pitcher, earned his 16th save with 1 2/3 innings of one-hit relief after the Angels scored six runs in the eighth.

New York, a game under .500, chased California starter Mike Fetters (0-1) with a three-run fifth.