It took the
Yankees two decades to get to their first World Series. Five other
AL teams had won a title before the New Yorkers garnered an AL crown.
The roots of the franchise actually belong in Baltimore, where John
McGraw piloted the Orioles in 1901 and 1902 before his feud with
the American League. In 1903, AL officials decided to compete with
the established National League in New York, establishing a franchise
in the city. The team was known as the Highlanders, in part because
of the region of New York they played in.
The best player
on those Highlander teams was "Wee Willie" Keeler, who
was finishing up his Hall of Fame career. Right-hander Jack Chesbro,
another Hall of Fame member, starred on the mound, winning 41 games
in 1904. Later standouts were Birdie Cree, Hal Chase, Roger Peckinpaugh,
and Wally Pipp. These are the forgotten names in Yankee history
because of the dynasty that began in the 1920s.
The 1920s Yankees
rested on the shoulders of the greatest home run hitter in history,
Babe Ruth. The Boston Red Sox inexplicably sold Ruth to to New York
after the 1919 season, and they soon regretted it. Ruth’s
stats are legend: 714 home runs, 2,174 runs, 2,210 RBI, 2,056 walks,
a .342 average, and a mammoth .690 career slugging average. Ruth
led the AL in homers 12 times, in runs scored eight times, in total
bases six times, in RBI six times, in walks 11 times, in batting
once, slugging 12 times, and in On-base percentage 10 times.
The bookend
to Ruth on the 1920s Yankees was Lou Gehrig, a Hall of Famer with
astounding credentials. The power-hitting first sacker won two MVP
awards, including 1927 when Ruth clubbed 60 homers. Gehrig of course,
played in 2,130 consecutive games for New York, a record until Cal
Ripken Jr. bested it. But unlike Ripken, Gehrig performed at an
MVP level every year of his streak.
Joining Gehrig
in the 1930s was California golden boy Joe DiMaggio, who hit .323
his first season, with 29 homers and 125 RBI. In 1939, "The
Yankee Clipper" hit .381, winning his first batting title.
He followed in 1940 with another title, hitting .352. A versatile
performer, DiMaggio led his league in homers (1937, 1948), RBI (1941,
1948), and runs scored (1937). His workman-like 56-game hitting
streak in 1941 helped him to the MVP award and secured his place
in baseball history.
Behind Gehrig
and DiMaggio, and pitchers Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing, the Yanks
won four straight titles from 1936 to 1939, something no other team
had ever done. During the war years the Yankees lost most of their
stars and the league was left wide open. Within a few seasons however,
the Yankees had returned to dominance again.
Mickey Mantle
rose to the challenge of replacing DiMaggio in the early 1950s.
In 1956, Mantle won the triple crown with 52 homers, 130 RBI, and
a .353 average. Mantle battled nagging injuries his entire career
yet still managed 536 home runs (the most by any Yankee other than
Ruth), 1,509 RBI, and 1,733 walks. He played on 12 Yankee pennant
winners, taking home seven World Series rings.
The Yankees
spent much of the 1950s battling the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World
Series, with the Yankees beating them three of four times in that
decade. From 1949 to 1953 the team won every World Series, a record
unmatched to this day. Among others, that team featured Hall of
Famers DiMaggio, Mantle, Yogi Berra, Johnny Mize, and Phil Rizzuto.
In the early
1960s, the Yankee dynasty rolled on, winning pennants from 1960-1964,
despite the firing of Casey Stengel after the 1960 World Series
loss to Pittsburgh. The Yankees great dynasty of 1921-1964, a stretch
of 44 years, had won 29 pennants and finished second seven times,
while winning 100 games 11 times. But the end of the dynasty was
nearing: the Yankees slowly degenerated into an over-the-hill team
by 1965. That year, the team finished sixth, their lowest mark since
1925. The following season, the Yankees fell to last place for the
first time since 1912.
The 1970s began
just as feebly, but new ownership in the person of George Steinbrenner
changed the attitude in the Bronx. In 1976, in a revamped Yankee
Stadium, former Yankee infielder Billy Martin led the team to the
first of three straight pennants. In 1977 and 1978, the Yankees
defeated their old rivals, the Dodgers, in the World Series. The
Steinbrenner Yankees were fueled by free agents Reggie Jackson and
Catfish Hunter, trade-acquisitions Graig Nettles, Mickey Rivers,
Willie Randolph, Rich Gossage, Ed Figueroa, Sparky Lyle, and Lou
Piniella, and homegrown stars Thurman Munson, Roy White, and Ron
Guidry.
The ace of the
Yankees teams in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Guidry was a slim-bodied
Cajun who dominated games and overpowered opposing teams. In 1978
he had a monster year, going 25-3 with nine shutouts, a 1.74 ERA,
and 248 K’s. Guidry won 20 or more three times on his way
to a 170-91 career mark. "Louisiana Lightning" played
his entire career with the Yanks.
The 1980s began
where the 1970s left off, with a World Series trip in 1981. But
the Dodgers bested the Yankees in six games, ending the Yankees
mini-dynasty and the Reggie-era. Despite the presence of all-stars
Rickey Henderson, Dave Winfield, and Don Mattingly, the rest of
the decade the Yankees were disappointing under-achievers, winning
more games in the decade than any other AL team, but failing to
win a World Series.
From 1982 to
1991 the team was a revolving door of players and managers. There
were eleven managerial changes during that period before Buck Showalter
finally brought some stability in 1992. Billy Martin was hired and
fired six times, as Steinbrenner made a circus of the franchise.
In 1994, Showalter had the Yankees in first place when the season
was cancelled due to a players strike. In 1995, they earned a wild
card spot, and in 1996 the Yanks returned to the Fall Classic after
15 years, under the leadership of Joe Torre.
Unfortunately
for Mattingly, who retired after the '95 season, a new Yankee dynasty
was being born just as he left the game. In 1996, 1998, 1999, and
2000, the Yankees won World Series titles, reeling of 14 consecutive
World Series victories at one point. The '98 team was especially
dominating, winning 114 games in the regular season and going 11-2
in the post-season.
On those Yankee
teams, young stars Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Chuck Knoblauch,
Tino Martinez, Jorge Pasada, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera teamed
with veterans Wade Boggs, David Cone, Roger Clemens, David Wells,
Paul O'Neill, Chili Davis, Cecil Fielder, Darryl Strawberry, and
Tim Raines. In 1999, the Yankees met their arch rival, the Red Sox,
in the post-season for the first time, beating Boston in the ALCS
in five games.
The 2001 Yankees
won yet another AL East flag and earned a chance to defend their
three championships. In the first round, the pesky Oakland A's took
a 2-0 lead, but the Yanks came back in dramatic fashion to sweep
the final three games. A victory over the favored Seattle Mariners
(who won 116 games in the regular season, besting the '98 Yanks
total) put the Bombers in the World Series for the fourth straight
season.
In the World
Series, the Arizona Diamondbacks became the sixth franchise to defeat
the Yankees in the World Series, coming from behind to win Game
Seven against relief ace Rivera. In 2002, even more armor flaked
off the Yankees, as they were defeated by the Anaheim Angels in
the ALDS, three games to one. The series succeeded in proving one
thing: the Yankee pitching staff was aging.
In 2003, the
Yankees defied their critics, winning a sixth straight AL East title.
They also defied Major League Baseball by cranking their team salary
up over the $160 million mark. Posting the best record in the AL,
the Yankees were led by Alfonso Soriano, Posada, Jeter, Jason Giambi,
imported Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui, and the ever-aging staff
(featuring 40-year olds Clemens and Wells, and 34-year old Mike
Mussina). Once again (for the sixth consecutive season), the Red
Sox finished second to the Bombers.
After dispatching
the Minnesota Twins in the Divisional Series, the Yankees met the
Red Sox in the League Championship Series for the second time. Unlike
1999, when the Bombers easily cast aside the Sox, this time Boston
"Cowboyed Up." The Yanks lost Games One and Six in Yankee
Stadium, setting up an historic matchup between Clemens and Sox
ace Pedro Martinez in Game Seven. When the two had met in Game Three,
the teams had been involved in a bench-clearing brawl, which included
Don Zimmer's face-plant on the Fenway Park turf. But, in Game Seven,
tempers were restrained as both teams focused on winning the biggest
game in the history of their rivalry.
With a capacity
crowd shaking Yankee Stadium, the Red Sox withstood the pressure
of 85 years of The Curse and took leads of 4-0 and 5-2, knocking
out Clemens in the fourth inning. Leading by three in the bottom
of the eighth, the Yankees rallied behind hits from Jeter, Williams,
Matsui, and Posada. After nine innings, the game was tied at five
runs apiece. Then, in the bottom of the 11th frame, saved by three
innings of shutout pitching from Rivera, the Yankees put an exclamation
point on The Curse. Aaron Boone hit a homer off Tim Wakefield, and
the Yankees won their 39th pennant.
