New York Yankees

The New York Yankees are a Major League Baseball team based in the borough of The Bronx, in New York City, New York. The Yankees are one of two major league franchises to operate in the City of New York; the other team is the New York Mets of the National League, who are based in the borough of Queens.

Since the 1969 division realignment, the Yankees have played in the Eastern Division of the American League. The Yankees have been Major League Baseball's dominant franchise. No team has won more pennants or World Series, and many of the game's biggest stars have been Yankees. The Yankees also have more championships than any other top league professional team in North America.

One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Yankees have been among the most storied teams in North America over its 100+ year history. Along with franchises like the Boston Celtics, Dallas Cowboys and Montreal Canadiens, the Yankees have helped exemplify the term "dynasty" in professional athletics.

The Boston Red Sox are the Yankees' rivals, with the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry often the most heated rivalry in all of American professional sports.

Distinctions

The Yankees have won 26 World Series in 39 appearances (which, since the first World Series in 1903, currently amounts to an average appearance every 2.6 seasons and a championship every 3.9 seasons); the St. Louis Cardinals and the Athletics are tied for second with nine World Series victories each, and the Dodgers are second in World Series appearances with eighteen. Eleven of those eighteen appearances have been against the Yankees, where the Dodgers have only managed to win three times while losing eight times. Among the North American major sports, the Yankees' success is only approached by the 24 Stanley Cup championships of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League. The Yankees are also the only team that is represented at every position in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

History

Origins

At the end of the 1900 season the American League (AL) re-organized and, with its president Ban Johnson as the driving force, decided to assert itself as a new major league. Previously known as the Western League until 1899, the AL carried over five of its previous locations and added three more on the East Coast, including one in Baltimore, Maryland, which had lost its National League team when that league contracted the year before. The intention of Johnson and the American League had been to place a team in New York City, but their efforts had been stymied by the political connections that owners of the National League New York Giants had with Tammany Hall.

When the team began play as the Baltimore Orioles in 1901, it was managed by John McGraw. As a result of a feud with league president Ban Johnson, who rigidly enforced rules about rowdiness on the field of play, McGraw jumped leagues to manage the New York Giants in the middle of the 1902 season. A week later the owner of the Giants also gained controlling interest of the Orioles and raided the team for players, after which the league declared the team forfeit and took control, still intending to move the franchise to New York when and if possible.

In January 1903, the American and National Leagues held a "peace conference" to settle conflicts over player contract disputes and to agree on future cooperation. The NL also agreed that the "junior circuit" could establish a franchise in New York. The AL's Baltimore franchise became the New York franchise when its new owners, Frank Farrell and William Devery, were able to find a ballpark location not blocked by the Giants. Farrell and Devery both had deep ties into city politics and gambling. Farrell owned a casino and several pool halls, while Devery had served as a blatantly corrupt chief of the New York City police and had only been forced out of the department at the start of 1902.

The Highlanders

The original Highlanders logo

The franchise's first park in New York was located at 165th St. and Broadway in Manhattan, near the highest point on the island. Consequently the field was known as Hilltop Park and the team quickly became known as the New York Highlanders. The name was also a reference to the noted British military unit The Gordon Highlanders, as the team president from 1903 to 1906 was named Joseph Gordon. Today the site of the original Hilltop Park is occupied by buildings of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.

As the Highlanders, the team enjoyed success only twice, finishing in second place in 1904 and 1910; but otherwise, much of its first fifteen years in New York was spent in the cellar. Its somewhat tainted ownership, along with the questionable activities of some players, notably first baseman Hal Chase, raised suspicions of game-fixing, but little of that was ever proven.

Hilltop Park, home of the Highlanders

The Highlanders' best chance came on the last day of the 1904 season, at the Hilltop. New York pitcher Jack Chesbro threw a wild pitch in the ninth inning which allowed the eventual pennant-winning run to score for the Boston Americans. This event had historical significance in several ways. First, the presence of the Highlanders in the race had led the Giants to announce the team would not participate in the World Series against a "minor league" team. Although Boston had won the pennant, the Giants still refused to participate. The resulting tongue-lashing of the Giants by the media stung its owner, John T. Brush, who then led a committee that formalized the rules governing the World Series. 1904 was the last year a Series was not played, until the strike-truncated year of 1994. For fans of the team formally named the Red Sox in 1908, the 1904 season-ender would prove to be the last time Boston would defeat the Yankees in a pennant-deciding game for a century.

The Polo Grounds

From 1913 to 1922 the team would play in the Polo Grounds, a park owned by its National League rivals, the Giants. Relations between the clubs had warmed when the Giants were allowed to lease Hilltop Park while the Polo Grounds was being rebuilt in 1911 following a disastrous fire. During the early 1900s, the nickname "Yankees" was occasionally applied to the club, as a variant on "Americans." Publisher William Randolph Hearst's New York Evening Journal called the team the "Invaders" in 1903, but switched to "Highlanders" in the spring of 1904. On April 7, 1904, a spring training story from Richmond, Virginia carried the headline: "Yankees Will Start Home From South To-Day." The April 14, 1904 opening day headline on page one of the New York Evening Journal screamed: "YANKEES BEAT BOSTON."[1] The name grew in popularity over the team's first decade. With the change of parks in 1913, the "Highlanders" reference became obsolete, and the team nickname became exclusively "Yankees". Before very long, New York Yankees had become the official nickname of the club.

By the mid 1910s, owners Farrell and Devery had become estranged and both were in need of money. At the start of 1915, they sold the team to Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Captain Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston brewery fortune and had also been tied to the Tammany Hall machine, serving as a U.S. Congressman for eight years. Ruppert later said, "For $450,000 we got an orphan ball club, without a home of its own, without players of outstanding ability, without prestige." But now with an owner possessing deep pockets, and a willingness to dig into them to produce a winning team.

The Ruth and Gehrig era

Perhaps one of the greatest ironies of the Yankees dominance comes from its roots. The Yankees detente with the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox circa 1920 (all three collectively known as the "Insurrectos") paid off well. Over the next few years the new owners would begin to enlarge the payroll. Many of the newly acquired players who would later contribute to the team's success came from the Boston Red Sox, whose owner, theater impresario Harry Frazee, had bought his team on credit and needed money to pay off his loans and purchase Fenway Park from the Fenway Park Trust. Further, as Frazee owned the strongest of the "Insurrectos" franchises, which antagonized A.L. President Ban Johnson, Frazee faced most of the legal battles which proved costly[2]. From 1919 to 1922, the Yankees acquired pitchers Waite Hoyt, Carl Mays and Herb Pennock, catcher Wally Schang, shortstop Everett Scott and third baseman Joe Dugan, all from the Red Sox. However, pitcher-turned-outfielder Babe Ruth was the biggest of them all. Frazee traded Ruth in January of 1920, citing Ruth's demand for a raise after being paid the highest salary in baseball, and despite owning the single season home run record at the time of the trade (hitting 29 home runs in 1919[3]). Frazee also wished to aid the Yankees, as giving the Yankees a box office draw would strengthen a legal ally, and reduce the pressure he faced[4]. Ruth was also regarded as a problem, a carouser. That would continue during his Yankees years, but the ownership was more tolerant, provided he brought fans and championships to the ballpark. Two of the four Boston newspapers agreed with the deal at the time. The Red Sox did not win a World Series from 1919 until 2004 (see Curse of the Bambino), often finding themselves out of the World Series hunt as a result of the success of the Yankees. Harry Frazee finally found success on Broadway in 1927 with the musical comedy No No Nanette.

Babe Ruth

Other critical newcomers in this period were manager Miller Huggins and general manager Ed Barrow. Huggins was hired in 1919 by Ruppert while Huston was serving in Europe with the army (this would lead to a break between the two owners, with Ruppert eventually buying Huston out in 1923). Barrow came on board after the 1920 season, and like many of the new Yankee players had previously been a part of the Red Sox organization, having managed the team since 1918. Barrow would act as general manager or president of the Yankees for the next 25 years and may deserve the bulk of the credit for the team's success during that period. He was especially noted for development of the Yankees' farm system.

The home run hitting exploits of Ruth proved popular with the public, to the extent that the Yankees were soon outdrawing their landlords, the Giants. In 1921 the Yankees were told to move out of the Polo Grounds after the 1922 season. At that time, John McGraw was said to have commented that the Yankees should "move to some out-of-the-way place, like Queens". Instead, to McGraw's chagrin, the Yankees broke ground for a new ballpark just across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds. The construction crew moved with remarkable speed and finished the big new ballpark in less than a year. In 1923 the Yankees moved into Yankee Stadium at 161st St. and River Avenue in the Bronx. The site for the stadium was chosen because the IRT Jerome Avenue subway line, now the MTA's#4 train, went right by there, practically on top of Yankee Stadium's right-field wall. The Stadium was the first triple-deck venue in baseball and seated an astounding 58,000. It was truly "the House that Ruth Built",

Lou Gehrig

From 1921 to 1928, the Yankees went through their first period of great success, winning six American League pennants and three World Series. In 1921 through 1923 they faced the Giants in the World Series, losing the first two match-ups but turning the tables in 1923 after the Big Stadium opened. Giants outfielder Casey Stengel, who even then was being called "Old Case", hit two homers to win the two games the Giants came away with. Stengel would later become a "giant" for the Yankees as a manager.

The 1927 team was so potent that it became known as "Murderers' Row" and is sometimes considered to have been the best team in the history of baseball (though similar claims have been made for other Yankee squads, notably those of 1939, 1961 and 1998). The Yankees won an A.L. record 110 games against only 44 losses and swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1927 World Series. Ruth's home run total of 60 in 1927 set a single-season record which would stand for 34 years. Ruth also batted .356 and drove in 164 runs. Meanwhile, first baseman Lou Gehrig had his first big season, batting .373 with 47 round-trippers. He also broke Ruth's single season RBI mark (171 in 1921) with 175. Ruth hit third in the order and Gehrig fourth. However, right behind them were two more sluggers: Bob "The Rifle" Meusel, who played either of the corner outfield positions, and Tony Lazzeri, who played second base. Lazzeri actually ranked third in the league in home runs in 1927 with 18, and he hit .309 with 102 RBI. Meusel hit .337 with 103 RBI. Speed was another weapon used by both and Meusel's 24 stolen bases were second best in the league after George Sisler's (27), while Lazzeri swiped 22. All of these gaudy numbers were due in part to the leadoff man Earle Combs who played center field. Combs hit .356 and lead the AL with 231 hits that year (a team record until Don Mattingly broke it with 238 in 1986), and had a .414 on base percentage. The 1927 Yankees' team batting average was .307.

The Yankees would repeat as American League champions in 1928, fighting off the resurgent Philadelphia Athletics, and sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. Babe Ruth hit .625 with 3 home runs in that series, while Lou Gehrig hit .545 and belted 4 round-trippers. After three also-ran seasons to the Philadelphia Athletics, the Yankees returned to the American League top perch under new manager Joe McCarthy in 1932 and swept the Chicago Cubs in the World Series, running the team's streak of consecutive World Series game wins to 12, a mark which would stand until the Yankees bested it in the 2000 World Series. Babe Ruth hit his famous "Called Shot" home run in Wrigley Field in Game 3 of that Series, a fitting "Swan Song" to his illustrious post-season career.

The DiMaggio era

The Yankees run during the 1930s could also be called the "McCarthy era", as manager Joe McCarthy (no relation to the infamous Senator of the same name) would guide the Yankees to new heights. Just as Gehrig stepped out of Ruth's considerable shadow, a new titan appeared on the horizon, in the person of Joe DiMaggio. The young center fielder from San Francisco was an immediate impact player, batting .323, hitting 29 homers and driving in 125 runs in his rookie season of 1936.

Behind the thundering Yankees bats of DiMaggio, Gehrig and Frank Crosetti, and a superb pitching staff led by Red Ruffing and Lefty Gomez and anchored by catcher Bill Dickey, the Yankees reeled off an unprecedented four consecutive World Series wins during 1936-1939. They did it without Gehrig for most of 1939, as the superstar's retirement due to ALS saddened the baseball world.

Joe Dimaggio

The strongest competition for the Yankees during that stretch was the Detroit Tigers, who won two pennants before that Yankees four-year stretch, and one after. When the Yankees did get into the Series, they had little trouble. During Game 2 of the 1936 Series, they pounded the Giants 18-4, still the World Series record (through 2005) for most runs by a team in one game. They took the Giants 4 games to 2 in that Series, and 4 games to 1 the next year. The Yankees also swept the Chicago Cubs in 1938, and the Cincinnati Reds in 1939.

After an off season came the Summer of 1941, a much-celebrated year, often described by sportswriters as the last great year of the "Golden Era", before World War II and other realities intervened. Ted Williams of the Red Sox was in the hunt for the elusive .400 batting average, which he achieved on the last day of the season. Meanwhile, DiMaggio, who had once hit in 61 straight games as a minor leaguer with the San Francisco Seals, began a hitting streak on May 15 which stretched to an astonishing 56 games.

A popular song by Les Brown celebrated this event, as Betty Bonney and the band members sang it: "He tied the mark at 44 / July the First, you know / Since then he's hit a good 12 more / Joltin' Joe DiMaggio / Joe, Joe DiMaggio, we want you on our side." The last game of the streak came on July 16 at Cleveland's League Park. The streak was finally snapped in a game at Cleveland Stadium the next night before a huge crowd at the lakefront. A crucial factor in ending the streak was the fielding of Cleveland third baseman Ken Keltner, who stopped two balls that DiMaggio hit hard to the left.

Modern baseball historians regard it as unlikely that anyone will ever hit .400 again, barring a change to the way the game is played; and as virtually impossible that anyone will approach DiMaggio's 56-game streak, which is so far beyond second place (44) as to be almost a statistical anomaly.

The Yankees made short work of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1941 Series. Two months and one day after the final game of the Yanks' 4 to 1 win, the Pearl Harbor attacks occurred, and many of the best ballplayers went off to World War II. The war-thinned ranks of the major leagues nonetheless found the Yanks in the post-season again, as the team traded World Series wins with the St. Louis Cardinals during 1942 and 1943.

The Yanks then went into a bit of a slump, and manager McCarthy was let go early in the 1946 season. After a couple of interim managers had come and gone, Bucky Harris was brought in and the Yankees righted the ship again, winning the 1947 pennant and facing a much-tougher Dodgers team than their 1941 counterparts, in a Series that took the Yankees seven games to win, and was a harbinger of things to come for much of the next decade.

Despite finishing only 3 games back of the pennant-winning Cleveland Indians in 1948, Harris was released, and the Yankees brought in Casey Stengel as the team's manager. Casey had a reputation for being somewhat of a clown and had been associated with managing excruciatingly bad teams such as the mid-1930s Boston Braves, so his selection was met with no little skepticism. His tenure would prove to the most successful in the Yankees' history up to that point. The 1949 season is another that has been written about poetically, as a Yankees team that was seen as "underdogs" came from behind to catch and surpass the powerful Red Sox on the last two days of the season, in a faceoff that could be said to be the real beginning of the modern intense rivalry between these teams. The post-season proved to be a bit easier, as the Yankees knocked off their cross-town Flatbush rivals 4 games to 1.

By this time, the Great DiMaggio's career was winding down. It has often been reported that he said he wanted to retire before he became an "ordinary" player. He was also hampered by bone spurs in his heel, which hastened the final docking of the "Yankee Clipper". As if on cue, new superstars began arriving, including the "Oklahoma Kid", Mickey Mantle, whose first year (1951) was DiMaggio's curtain call.

The 1950s

Bettering the McCarthy-era clubs, Stengel's squad won the World Series in his first five years as manager, 1949 through 1953. The Yankees won over 100 games in 1954, but finished second to the Indians who won an AL record 111 games, which stood for 44 years until the 1998 Yankees surpassed it. The five consecutive championships won by the Yankees during this period remains the major league record. Led by players like center fielder Mickey Mantle, pitcher Whitey Ford, and catcher Yogi Berra, Stengel's teams won 10 pennants and seven World Series titles in his twelve seasons as Yankee manager.

Casey Stengel and Mickey Mantle

The 1950's was also a decade of significant individual achievement for Yankee players. In 1956, Mantle won the major league triple crown, leading both leagues in batting average (.353), home runs (52), and RBIs (130).

In 1955, the Dodgers finally beat the Yankees in the World Series, after five Series losses to the Yankees in '41, '47, '49, '52 and '53. But on October 8, 1956, in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Dodgers, pitcher Don Larsen threw the only perfect game in World Series history. Not only was it the only perfect game to be pitched in World Series play, it also remains the only no-hitter of any kind to be pitched in postseason play. The Yankees went on to win yet another World Series that season, and Larsen earned World Series MVP honors.

Yankee players also dominated the American League MVP award, with a Yankee claiming ownership six times in the decade (1950 Rizzuto, 1951 Berra, 1954 Berra, 1955 Berra, 1956 Mantle, 1957 Mantle). Pitcher Bob Turley also won the Cy Young Award in 1958, the award's third year of existence.

The Yankees lost the 1957 World Series to the Milwakee Braves. Following the Series, the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers left New York City for California, leaving the Yankees as New York's only team. In the 1958 World Series, the Yankees obtained revenge against the Braves, and became the second team to win the Series after being down three games to one.

For the decade, the Yankees won six World Series championships ('50, 51, '52, '53, '56, '58) and eight American League pennants (those six plus '55 and '57). Led by Mantle, Ford, Berra, Elston Howard, and the newly acquired Roger Maris, the Yankees burst into the new decade seeking to replicate the remarkable success of the 1950s.

The 1960s

The Yankees lost the 1960 World Series in heartbreaking fashion when Bill Mazeroski hit a game-winning, series-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 off Ralph Terry. It remains the only Game 7, walk-off home run in World Series history. Stengel was blamed for the World Series loss for failing to start his ace, Ford, three times in the Series, and was replaced as manager with Ralph Houk prior to the 1961 season. Stengel himself, who had reached his seventh decade in July of that year, clearly thought the issue was age discrimination, remarking, "I'll never make the mistake of turning 70 again." Yogi Berra's assessment of the loss was the equally famous comment, "We made too many wrong mistakes."

During the 1960-61 offseason, a seemingly innocuous development may have marked the beginning of the end for this Yankees dynasty. In December of 1960, Chicago insurance executive Charlie Finley purchased the Kansas City Athletics from the estate of Arnold Johnson, who had died that March.

The M&M Boys, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris

Johnson had acquired the then-Philadelphia Athletics from the family of Connie Mack in 1954. He was the owner of Yankee Stadium at the time, but was forced to sell the stadium by American League owners as a condition of purchasing the Athletics. Johnson was also a longtime business associate of then-Yankees owners Del Webb and Dan Topping. During Johnson's ownership, the Athletics traded many young players to the Yankees for cash and aging veterans. Roger Maris had been acquired by the Yankees in one such trade, going to New York in a seven-player trade in December 1959. Many fans, and even other teams, frequently accused the Athletics of being operated as an effective farm team for the Yankees. Once Finley purchased the Athletics, he immediately terminated the team's "special relationship" with the Yankees. Nonetheless in 1960, Maris led the league in slugging percentage, RBI, and extra base hits and finished second in home runs (one behind Mickey Mantle) and total bases, won a gold glove, and won the American League Most Valuable Player award. All of this was a prelude to the remarkable year that would follow.

1961 was one of the most memorable years in Yankee history. Throughout the summer, Mantle and reigning-MVP Roger Maris hit home runs at a record pace as both chased Babe Ruth's single season home run record of 60. The duo's home run prowess led the media and fans to christen them 'The M & M Boys.' Ultimately, Mantle was forced to bow out in mid-September with 54 home runs when a severe hip infection forced him from the lineup. On October 1, 1961, on the final day of the season, Maris broke the record when he sent a pitch from Boston's Tracy Stallard into the right field stands at Yankee Stadium for his 61st home run. However, by decree of Commissioner Ford Frick, separate single-season home run records were maintained to reflect the fact that Ruth hit his 60 home runs during a 154-game season, while Maris hit his 61 in the first year of the new 162-game season. Some 30 years later, on September 4, 1991, an 8-member Committee for Historical Accuracy appointed by Major League Baseball did away with the dual records, giving Maris sole possession of the single-season home run record until it was broken by Mark McGwire on September 8, 1998. (McGwire's record was later broken by Barry Bonds, whose 73 home runs in 2001 remains the major league record. Maris still holds the American League record.)

The Yankees won the pennant with a 109-53 record and went on to defeat the Cincinnati Reds in five games to win the 1961 World Series. The 109 regular season wins posted by the '61 club remains the third highest single-season total in franchise history, behind only the 1998 team's 114 regular season wins and 1927 team's 110 wins. The 1961 Yankees also clubbed a then-major league record for most home runs by a team with 240, a total not surpassed until the 1996 Baltimore Orioles hit 257 with the aid of the designated hitter. Maris won his second consecutive MVP Award while Whitey Ford captured the Cy Young.

Whitey Ford

Because of the excellence of Maris, Mantle, and World Series-MVP Ford, a fine pitching staff, stellar team defense, the team's amazing depth and power, and its overall dominance, the 1961 Yankees are universally considered to be one of the greatest teams in the history of baseball, compared often to their pinstriped-brethren, the 1927 Yankees, the 1939 Yankees, and the 1998 Yankees.

In 1962, the Yankees once again had an intra-city rival, as the New York Mets came into existence. The Mets would go on to lose a record 120 games while the Yankees would win the 1962 World Series, their tenth in the past sixteen years, defeating the San Francisco Giants in seven games.

The Yankees would again reach the Fall Classic in 1963, but were swept in four games by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Behind World Series-MVP Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Johnny Podres, the Dodgers starting pitchers threw four complete games and combined to give up just four runs all Series. This was the first time the Yankees were swept in a World Series.

Feeling burnt out after the season, Houk left the manager's chair to become the team's general manager and Berra, who himself had just retired from playing, was named the new manager of the Yankees.

The aging Yankees returned for a fifth straight World Series in 1964 to face the St. Louis Cardinals in a Series immortalized by David Halberstam's book, October 1964. Despite a valiant performance by Mantle, including a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth of Game 3 off Cardinals' reliever Barney Schultz, the Yankees fell to the Cardinals in seven games. It was to be the last World Series appearance by the Yankees for 12 years.

After the 1964 season, CBS purchased the Yankees from Topping and Webb for $11.2 million. Jokesters at the time wondered if Walter Cronkite would become the manager, perhaps with Yogi Berra doing the newscasts. Topping and Webb had owned the Yankees for 20 years, missing the World Series only 5 times, and going 10-5 in the World Series.

By contrast, the CBS-owned teams never went to the World Series, and in the first year of the new ownership - 1965 - the Yankees finished in the second division for the first time in 40 years; the introduction of the major league amateur draft in 1965 also meant that the Yankees could no longer sign any player they wanted. In 1966 the team finished last in the AL for the first time since 1912, and next-to-last the following year. After that the team's fortunes improved somewhat, but they would not become serious contenders again until 1974.

Various reasons have been given for the decline, but the single biggest one was the Yankees' inability to replace their aging superstars with new ones, as they had done consistently in the previous five decades. The Yankees' "special relationship" with the Athletics may have been a way to mask this problem. By the mid-1960s, the Yankees had little to offer in the way of trades, and Finley had taken the Athletics' in a new direction. Some have suggested the Yankees paid the price for bringing black players into the organization later than other teams, though this theory is controversial.

Steinbrenner takes over

George Steinbrenner purchased the club for $10 million on January 3, 1973 from CBS. He proceeded to renovate Yankee Stadium, and hired and fired manager Billy Martin a number of times. After the 1974 season, Steinbrenner began the modern era of free agency by signing star pitcher Catfish Hunter from the Oakland Athletics. The Yankees reached the 1976 World Series, but were swept by the Cincinnati Reds. Steinbrenner then signed star outfielder Reggie Jackson from the Oakland Athletics, and then proceeded to feud with him throughout his five year contract. However, Jackson presided over the resurgence of the Yankees in the late '70s. Jackson's three home runs in the sixth and final game of the 1977 World Series against three different Dodger pitchers earned him the nickname "Mr. October" and also got a candy bar, the "Reggie Bar", named after him. Jackson defined the period as much as Martin and Steinbrenner.

The Boss, George Steinbrenner

The race for the pennant often came to a close competition between the Yankees and the Red Sox, and for fans of both clubs, a game between the two teams (whether in the regular season or post-season championship games) was cause for a rivalry that was often bitter and ruthless, with brawls frequently erupting between both players and fans from the two clubs. The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry came to a head in the 1978 season. On July 14, 1978, the Yankees were 14.5 games behind the Red Sox. The team then went on a tear and by the time they met up with the Red Sox for a four-game series at Fenway in early September, the Yankees were only four games out. In what would become known as the "Boston Massacre", the Yankees swept the Red Sox, winning the games 15-3, 13-2, 7-0 and 7-4. The third game was a shutout by Ron Guidry, who would lead the majors with nine shutouts, 25 wins (against only three losses) and a 1.74 ERA. Guidry also finished with 248 strikeouts, but Nolan Ryan's 260 Ks deprived Guidry of the triple crown.

On the last day of the season, the two clubs finished the regular season in a tie for first place in the AL East. A playoff game between the two teams was held to decide who would go on to the pennant, with the game being held at Boston's Fenway Park. The Yankees won the day, driving a stake through the hearts of their rivals' fans when Bucky Dent drove a three-run home run over the "Green Monster" late in the game with the Red Sox up 2-0. It was one of several emotional moments in the Red Sox's history that had their fans wondering if the Red Sox were under some kind of a curse. Reggie Jackson's home run would seal the eventual 5-4 win that gave the Yankees their 100th win of the season and their third straight A.L. East title; it also gave Guidry his 25th win. After beating the Kansas City Royals for the third consecutive year in the ALCS, the Yankees reached the 1978 World Series where they lost the first two games to the Dodgers in L.A., but then came home to win all three games at Yankee Stadium before wrapping up their 22nd World Championship in Game 6 in L.A.

The 1970's would end on a tragic note, however. On August 2, 1979, Yankees catcher and team captain, Thurman Munson was killed in a plane crash. Four days later, the entire team flew to Canton, Ohio for his funeral, only to return to New York later that day to play the Baltimore Orioles. The emotional game was highlighted by Bobby Murcer driving in all 5 of the team's runs in a dramatic 5-4 victory. Munson's number 15 was retired.

Postseason drought: 1982 - 1994

Following the team's appearance in the 1981 World Series, the Yankees would go into their longest absence from the playoffs since 1921. From 1989 to 1992 they had a losing record, having spent large amounts of money on free-agent players and draft picks that did not perform up to expectations. During the 1980s the Yankees, led by their All-Star first baseman Don Mattingly, had the most total wins out of any major league team, but failed to win a World Series (the first such decade since the 1910s). The Yankees consistently fielded excellent offensive teams- besides Mattingly, its rosters included, at one time or another, Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson, Steve Sax and Jesse Barfield -- but their starting pitching rarely matched the team's performance at the plate. After posting a 22-6 record in 1985, arm problems caught up to Ron Guidry, and his career went into steep decline in the next three years. Dennis Rasmussen, who won 18 games the following year, never matched his 1986 performance. Rick Rhoden, acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1987, won 16 games that year but only went 14-14 in 1988. The Yankees came close to winning the AL East in 1985 and 1986, finishing second behind the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox, respectively, but fell to fourth place in 1987 and fifth in 1988.

By the end of the decade, Yankee bats were starting to sputter. Back problems caught up to Mattingly in 1988 and severely reduced his power at the plate, while Henderson and Winfield had departed by the middle of 1989. The Bombers would finish at or near the bottom of the division until 1993. In 1990, Yankee pitcher Andy Hawkins became the first Yankees pitcher ever to lose a no-hitter, when the third baseman (Mike Blowers) committed an error, followed by 2 walks and an error by the left fielder (Jim Leyritz) with the bases loaded, scoring all 3 runners as well as the batter. The 4-0 loss (to the White Sox) was the largest margin of any no-hitter loss in the 20th century. To add to the oddity, the Yankees (and Hawkins) were no-hit by the White Sox 11 days later.

A new dynasty

The bad judgment and bad luck of the '80s and early '90s started to change when, while owner Steinbrenner was under suspension, management was able to implement a coherent program without interference from above. Under general managers Gene Michael and Bob Watson and manager Buck Showalter, the club shifted its emphasis from buying talent to developing talent through its farm system and then holding onto it. The first significant sign of success came in 1994, when the Yankees had the best record in the AL when the season was cut short by the players' strike. A year later, the team reached the playoffs as the wild card and was eliminated only after a memorable series against the Seattle Mariners where the Yankees won the first two games at home and dropped the next three in Seattle.

Joe Torre

Showalter was fired after the 1995 season due to the playoff collapse and personality clashes with Steinbrenner. He and his staff were replaced by Joe Torre. Initially derided as a retread choice ("Clueless Joe" ran the headline on one of the city's tabloid newspapers), Torre's smooth manner proved out as he led the Yankees to a 1996 World Series victory, defeating the Atlanta Braves in six games, rebounding from losing their first two games at home by a combined score of 16-1 to win the next four games, closing out the Series in New York. The Yankees went 8-0 on the road in the three playoff series that year. Dwight Gooden, who had pitched a no-hitter for the Yankees in April, did not even start a World Series game. General manager Bob Watson was dismissed when the Yankees failed to repeat in 1997 and was replaced by Brian Cashman, a former Yankees intern. However, the foundation laid by Michael and Watson of players like Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Bernie Williams was a significant factor in the Yankees' return to prominence. Other prominent members of the late 1990s championships teams acquired through trades included Paul O'Neill, David Cone, Tino Martinez, John Wetteland, and Chuck Knoblauch, while Jimmy Key, Wade Boggs, David Wells, Mike Stanton, and Orlando "El Duque" Hernández were signed as free agents.

John Wetteland celebrates the 1996 World Series victory

On May 17, 1998, David Wells, who would later claim to have been hung over that day, pitched a perfect game. A year later, on July 18, 1999, which was Yogi Berra Day at the Stadium, David Cone pitched a perfect game for the Yankees. The original players of the 1956 World Series perfect game were in attendance. Don Larsen, the pitcher of the 1956 game, threw out the first pitch to Berra, who had been his catcher during the Series.

The 1998 Yankees are widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest teams in baseball history, having compiled a then-AL record of 114 regular season wins against just 48 losses en route to a World Series sweep of the Padres. The '98 Yankees went 11-2 during the playoffs and finished with a combined record of 125-50, a major league record. However, their regular season record was surpassed by the 2001 Seattle Mariners, who went 116-46 before losing to the Yankees in the ALCS.

Derek Jeter, 2000 World Series MVP

After the 1998 season, fan favorite David Wells was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for Roger Clemens. Clemens would finally win his first World Series in 1999. The Yankees swept the Atlanta Braves in the 1999 World Series, while losing only one game in all three playoff series. This gave the 1998-1999 Yankees four sweeps and a 22-3 mark in six consecutive postseason series.

In 2000, the Yankees met up with the cross-town New York Mets for the first Subway Series since the 1956 World Series and won four games to one. By winning the first two games, the Yankees won a total of fourteen straight World Series games from 1996 to 2000. When the Mets scored a run against Mariano Rivera, they snapped his string of postseason consecutive scoreless innings at 34 1/3. Prior to Rivera's streak, the record had been held by Whitey Ford, who had broken Babe Ruth's record scoreless postseason streak. The win ran the Yankees' postseason series winning streak to nine and gave them a 33-8 record during that run. The Yankees are the most recent major league team to repeat as World Series champions and after the 2000 season they joined the 1936-1939 Yankees, the 1949-1953 Yankees, and the 1972-1974 Oakland Athletics as the only teams to win at least three consecutive World Series.

The 21st century

In the emotional October 2001, following the September 11 attack on New York City's World Trade Center, the Yankees defeated the Oakland Athletics 3 games to 2 in the Division Series, and then the Seattle Mariners, who had won 116 games, in the ALCS. After losing the first two games to the Yankees at home, Seattle's manager, former Yankee player and manager "Sweet" Lou Piniella, guaranteed that the Mariners would win at least 2 of 3 in Yankee Stadium to return the ALCS to Seattle. But that didn't happen and the Yankees closed out the ALCS at home 4 games to 1. By reaching the World Series for a fourth straight year, the 1998-2001 Yankees joined the 1921-1924 Giants, and the Yankee teams of 1936-1939, 1949-1953, 1955-1958 and 1960-1964 as the only dynasties to reach at least four straight World Series. The Yankees had now won eleven consecutive postseason series in consectutive years. However, the usually unhittable Mariano Rivera uncharacteristically lost the lead - and World Series - to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 7.

Paul O'Neill says goodbye to the Bronx

After the 2001 season, fan favorite players Paul O'Neill and Scott Brosius retired. Tino Martinez and Chuck Knoblauch left for free agency. The Yankees had huge holes to fill. They signed slugger Jason Giambi and outfielder Rondell White. The Yankees also managed to bring back David Wells. The Yankees finished the 2002 season with an AL best record of 103-58. In the 2002 Division Series, the Yankees lost to the Anaheim Angels in 4 games. The Angels went on to win their only World Series title.

Aaron Boone hits the game winning home run off Tim Wakefield in the 2003 ALCS

In 2003, the Yankees defeated their long-time rival the Boston Red Sox in a tough seven-game ALCS, which featured a near-brawl in Game 3 and a series-ending walk-off home run by Aaron Boone in the bottom of the 11th inning of the final game, only to be defeated by the Florida Marlins - a team with a payroll a quarter of the size of the Yankees' - in the World Series, 4 games to 2.

After the 2003 season, the Yankees signed/traded for sluggers Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield to add more power to their lineup that was shut down in the 2003 World Series. Throughout 2004, the Yankees' weakness was their starting pitching. But despite this, they managed to reach into the playoffs and win over 100 games with the power lineup.

In the 2004 American League Championship Series against the Red Sox, the Yankees became the first team in professional baseball history, and only the third team in North American pro sports history (it happened in the NHL twice), to lose a best-of-7 series after taking a 3-0 series lead. After the 2004 World Series, the Yankees needed to improve their pitching, which faltered in the devastating collapse to the Red Sox. The Yankees signed pitchers Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright and acquired dominant lefty Randy Johnson from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The $252 million man, Alex Rodriguez is still searching for his first World Series title

The 2005 season began with something the fans in the Bronx were not used to. The Yankees were in last place in the American League East Division.

Pavano, Wright, and Johnson struggled. As the season continued, the Yankees improved and slugger Jason Giambi, who missed most of 2004 with a variety of injuries (including a benign tumor) started to hit again. Tino Martinez also returned to New York, and began a streak of home runs and big time hits, the center of a Yankees winning streak that would bring them close to the lead in the AL East. Most of the season, the Yankees were chasing the Boston Red Sox for the division title. This was all made more important with the Cleveland Indians holding the lead for the Wild Card. The Yankees, however, won the division (albeit with the same record), clinching it in the second-to-last game of the season against the Red Sox, as the Indians got devastated in a three-game series with the AL Central leading Chicago White Sox. Alex Rodriguez won the American League MVP award, becoming the first Yankee to win the award since Don Mattingly in 1985. Giambi was named Comeback Player of the Year, as voted by fans, and Robinson Canó was runner-up in Rookie of the Year voting. Another highlight of the season was the record-setting pitching by journeyman Aaron Small. Small was called up after the All-Star break to help fill some holes in the Yankees' rotation and became just the fourth pitcher in history to win at least 10 games without a loss, joining Tom Zachary, Dennis Lamp, and Howie Krist.

In the 2005 American League Division Series, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim defeated the Yankees in five games in the first round of the postseason, marking the second time in four years that the Angels gave the Yankees a first-round playoff exit.

In the 2005-2006 offseason, general manager Brian Cashman was given more control of the direction of the Yankees, and on December 23, 2005, the Yankees stunned the baseball world by signing center fielder Johnny Damon from their archrival Red Sox.

In the 2006 season, the Yankees had a slow start, like in previous years. Throughout the first half, the Red Sox had a significant lead over the Yankees, and the suprise Toronto Blue Jays also put pressure on the Yanks. However, after the All Star break the Yankees madea comeback to regain the AL East lead. On July 30, 2006 the Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies made a deal sending shortstop C.J. Henry, left-handed pitcher Matt Smith, catcher Jesus Sanchez and right-hander Carlos Monasterios to Philadelphia for Cory Lidle and Bobby Abreu. The team also sent pitcher Shawn Chacon to the Pittsburgh Pirates for infielder/outfielder Craig Wilson.

Team uniform

Appearance

The team colors are navy blue, gray, and white. Under George Steinbrenner, long hair and facial hair below the lip are prohibited.

Design

Home uniform is white with distinctive pinstripes and a navy blue interlocking "NY" at the chest. Away uniform is gray with "New York" written in capitals across the chest. The player number is on the back of the uniform jersey and is not accompanied by the player name. (The interlocking NY was used by the New York Knicks on their warmup jackets, and later shorts from the 1960s to 1990 and remains on the Knicks' throwback uniforms.) In 1929, the New York Yankees became the first team to make numbers a permanent part of the uniform. Numbers were handed out based on the order in the lineup. In 1929, Earle Combs wore #1, Mark Koenig #2, Babe Ruth #3, Lou Gehrig #4, Bob Meusel #5, Tony Lazzeri #6, Leo Durocher #7, Johnny Grabowski #8, Benny Bengough #9, and Bill Dickey #10 (Grabowski, Bengough and Dickey all spent time catching). While other teams began putting names on the backs of jerseys in the 1960s, the Yankees did not follow the trend. Many companies create jerseys with names sewn on the back for fans to purchase, even though no Yankee has ever had their name on the back of a Yankee jersey in a game.

Logo

An interlocking "NY" (based on an element of the original Tiffany design of the New York Police Department's Medal of Honor, although the concept of the interlocking NY was first used by the New York Giants in 1901).[5] Another team logo is "Yankees" written in red script across the seams of a baseball, which is outlined in red. A baseball bat forms the straight edge of the "k" in "Yankees" and an "Uncle Sam" style top hat covers the barrel of the bat. The inside lip of the top hat, originally blue, has mostly been reproduced in white since the mid-1970s.

Popularity

Fan support

With the recurring success of the franchise since the 1920's and its rejuvenated dynasty, the Yankees have always been and continue to be one of the most popular sports teams in the country. Because of this they have immense fan support from an audience with a die-hard reputation, noticably larger than the cross-town New York Mets fanbase, who seem to come mostly from home borough Queens. At road games, especially at towns like Baltimore and Boston, the Yankees generally show very strong crowds. They not only have support from the New York area itself, but also from various areas around the country. This has led to the recently coined phrase "Yankees Universe", in response to the ever-popular "Red Sox Nation" that has always been attributed to the Boston fanbase.

The first one-million fan season was in 1920, when 1,289,422 fans attended games at the Polo Grounds. The first two-million fan season was in 1946, when 2,265,512 fans attended games at Yankee Stadium. Remarkably, the Yankees have beaten the league average for home attendance 83 out of the last 87 years (only during a rough stretch did they not accomplish this, in 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1994). Even during their playoff-less drought in the 1980's, they still hit the 2-million mark seven times. In the past seven years, in the dawn of their new dynasty, the Yankees have drawn over 3 million fans each year, with an American League record-setting 4,090,696 in 2005, becoming only the third franchise in sports history to draw over 4 million in regular season attendance at their own ballpark[6]. To put it in perspective, that's over 50,502 fans a game, on average.

The Bleacher Creatures

The "Bleacher Creatures" are a group of season ticket holders who occupy Section 39 in right field, and have gained notoriety over the past decade. Their name was coined by New York Daily News columnist Filip Bondy, who has already written a full length book on them. The creatures have popularized a type of chant called the "Roll Call," which occurs in the top of the first inning when the Yankees first play defense. In this Roll Call the creatures chant each field player's name (excluding the pitcher and the catcher, with some rare exceptions) repeatedly until the Yankee acknowledges the chant by waving or something similar. During many of the games, the creatures taunt the opposing team's rightfielder with various songs and insults. Because of the group's rowdiness, alcoholic beverages were banned from the bleachers in 2000[7] and there are always at least 2 NYPD officers monitoring the section.

Opposing fans and hatred

With the success of the franchise and a large fanbase, many other fans across the nation have come to hate the Yankees. This is most obvious in areas of New England, where long-time Red Sox supporters have gotten sick of watching the Yankees win year after year. But the hatred extends to many other places. It has become a tradition at many road games for the home crowd to chant "Yankees Suck", even if the Yankees are winning. During 2002, shirts with this phrase were sold in Seattle during a Yankees-Mariners series, which was 2,500 miles away from New York[8]. There was no real rivalry between the two clubs, and there still isn't. But Mariners fans, like fans from many other ballclubs, have not seen their franchise win in a long time (in Seattle's case, ever), so their frustration is generally taken out on the Yankees when they come to town. References
*Yankee Attendance Numbers.

Retired numbers

The Yankees have retired 16 numbers, the most in Major League Baseball.

Although it has not been officially retired, the Yankees have not reissued number 21 since the retirement of Paul O'Neill.

The Yankees have also dedicated plaques in a "Monument Park" at Yankee Stadium for each of these men, as well as for team owner Jacob Ruppert; general manager Ed Barrow; managers Miller Huggins and Joe McCarthy; pitchers Red Ruffing, Lefty Gomez and Allie Reynolds; broadcaster Mel Allen; public-address announcer Bob Sheppard; and the victims and rescue workers of the 9/11 attacks. The Knights of Columbus contributed plaques honoring the papal masses delivered by Popes Paul VI and John Paul II.

Number 42 was retired throughout Major League Baseball in 1997 for Jackie Robinson, but because of a "grandfather clause," Mariano Rivera still wears this number. He is the last remaining player who wears it. The other Major League Basball teams, however, retired number 42 while they still had players wearing the number. Whether the Yankees will honor Robinson, who played for the rival Brooklyn Dodgers, with a retired number in Monument Park after Rivera retires is unknown.

The only number to be retired twice by the same baseball team is 8 of the New York Yankees. The number was retired in 1972 for Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra, both catchers. Berra took number 8 in 1948 after Dickey stopped playing but before he was a coach.