NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 01: A New York Yankees logo is shown in the on-deck circle before the start of the game against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on September 1, 2017 in New York City. The Red Sox won 4-1. (Photo by Corey Perrine/Getty Images)
Getty Images
As one of baseball’s oldest franchises, the New York Yankees have had many players wear their uniform over the decades, some for just short stints.
And now one former player who ended his career with the Yankees is back in the news after the latest development in a high-profile court case.
“Former … pitcher Scott Erickson, a co-defendant in a civil suit alleging his former girlfriend, Rebecca Grossman, ran over and killed two boys while driving about 80 mph on a Westlake Village street in 2020, testified Monday that he lied to authorities about how much he drank that night, but he denied the two were racing,” the Los Angeles Daily News’ City News Service reported. “By denying that he was racing Grossman, Erickson appeared to contradict the previous trial testimony of his former friend, ex-San Francisco Giants shortstop Royce Clayton, that Erickson told him that he and Grossman were ‘flying down’ the street.”
Former Pitcher Scott Erickson Ended Career With New York Yankees
Erickson, a California native, was a big-league pitcher for 15 years. He won a World Series championship with the Minnesota Twins in 1991, played for the Baltimore Orioles for seven years, played for the New York Mets and Texas Rangers for one year each and played for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2005 season. After that, he signed a contract with the Yankees and logged a 7.94 ERA in nine total games before he was released and officially retired.
In January 2021, a lawsuit alleged that Erickson and Grossman, who were dating, had cocktails before racing each other in Westlake Village, California, and then Grossman struck the two children at a crosswalk. Grossman was convicted of killing the boys, Mark and Jacob Iskander, and is now serving 15 years to life in prison.
Erickson told traffic investigators that he had only one drink prior to the crash, but conceded that he had one regular size drink and one “jumbo size drink,” the Los Angeles Daily News reported. The former pitcher added that he had been drinking alcohol on a daily basis for a decade and that his drinking on that night did not affect his judgement.
Former New York Yankees Pitcher Offers 5-Word Response On Lying To Police After Fatal Car Crash
Last week, Clayton said that he had margaritas with Erickson and Grossman before the crash.
“I knew it was wrong,” Erickson said in front of a court jury, per the Los Angeles Daily News.
In testimony on Monday, Erickson also admitted that he had deleted WhatsApp conversations with Grossman.
“He also admitted he learned the deaths of Mark and Jacob Isklander the day after the crash,” Helen Jeong reported for NBC Los Angeles. “But he said he did not come forward about his involvement until investigators reached out to him a few weeks later.”
The court proceedings are expected to go on for at least a few more weeks.