A review of Yankees’ history tells us something important about sports. Even the mighty can fall. Indeed, they often do.
Anyone who has followed MLB baseball knows the NY Yankees have a rich tradition of winning. From 1926-1964, the Yankees didn’t have a losing season. That’s nearly 40 straight years! Only hockey’s Montreal Canadians have come close (32 straight winning seasons) but, in baseball, the Yankees reign supreme–winners of 40 American League pennants and 27 World Series trophies. The second-place St. Louis Cardinals don’t come close to those numbers.
The iconic New York Yankees
But even the Yankees have gone through extended periods of losing. From 1903-1918, the team had only five winning seasons. And it happened again immediately after the consecutive streak ended in 1965.
In 1966, NYY finished in last place with a 70-89 record. Fans stopped attending games, too. On September 22 that year, Stadium turnstiles moved only 413 times. Things didn’t get much better in 1967 when the Yankees finished next to last and lost 90 games.
After three consecutive losing seasons, the ’68 Yankees got back to winning by going four games over .500, but they also finished 20 games behind the Tigers. The good news is that New York had a nucleus of young talent with pitchers Al Dowling, Fritz Peterson, and Mel Stottlemyre, infielders Horace Clarke and Gene Michael, and outfielders Roy White and Joe Pepitone. They still had future Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle, too, who (by then) had moved to first base.
But gone were many players from the 1964 pennant-winning club, including pitchers Whitey Ford and Ralph Terry, catcher Elston Howard, infielders Bobby Richardson, Clete Boyer, and Tony Kubek, and outfielders, Roger Maris and Johnny Blanchard.
Even with Mantle retiring, hopes were high in 1969, but the outcome didn’t match. NYY had yet another losing season (80-81), its fourth in five years. It took another year to change the storyline.
In 1970, the club went 93-69 record–the best record since ’64. Ralph Houk won the AL Manager of the Year award, and catcher Thurman Munson, who batted .302, was named the AL Rookie of the Year. Bobby Murcer, Roy White, Fritz Peterson, and Mel Stottlemyre also had solid years, too. But the problem for the Yankees was the Baltimore Orioles–a team that finished with 108 wins and captured the World Series title.
Baltimore’s supremacy wasn’t a one-off. The ’71 Yankees finished 21 games behind the O’s, and even when Baltimore took a dip in ’72, the Yankees couldn’t make a move. The team finished 4th only three games above .500. Bright spots were reliever Sparky Lyle, who was secured in a trade, and Murcer, who hit nearly .300 with 33 homers and 96 RBI’s. Mercer was the Yankees’ only All-Star that year.
The stormy George Steinbrenner (photo, NY Daily News)
But things were about to change in 1973. George Steinbrenner bought the team from CBS (thought by many fans to be a rotten owner), and the team acquired 3rd baseman, Graig Nettles, from the Cleveland Indians. By July 1, the Yankees were in first place in their division but then went into a slump, ending the year two games below .500.
It was a sad way to say goodbye to the original version of Yankees Stadium. The old haunt needed remodeling, and NYY played the 1974 season at Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets. The change of scenery and the acquisition of new players (e.g., Chris Chambliss, Lou Piniella) wasn’t enough. Yes, the team had a winning record in 1974 (89-73), but the Orioles took the division title…again.
The big news during the off-season was that Bobby Bonds would be joining the club in a trade that sent fan-favorite Bobby Murcer to the Giants. Then on New Year’s Eve, the Yankees announced the signing of free-agent All-Star pitcher Jim “Catfish” Hunter. Unfortunately, those improvements didn’t add up to a better record in 1975 (only six games above .500), and even before the season’s end, Steinbrenner had fired Manager Bill Virdon and replaced him with Billy Martin.
New York Yankees manager, Billy Martin, argues a call with first base ump Bruce Froemming. Martin was later ejected from the game for throwing baseballs from the Yankees’ dugout. (photo courtesy Salon.com)
From 1976-1981 the picture changed significantly. The Yankees won four AL pennants and two World Series titles, but–in typical Steinbrenner style–the team did it under the leadership of three different managers and the transition from losing to winning was anything but uneventful. Team captain Thurman Munson died in a plane crash in 1979, and Reggie Jackson left the team at the end of 1981.
The constant firing/hiring of managers took a toll. A losing season in 1982 was the first since 1973, and even though the team won consistently under Don Mattingly (1983 to 1988), the Yankees never had quite enough to win the division. The closest finish was in 1985 when NYY finished 97-64, two games behind the upstart Blue Jays.
Fans had to remember the good years because the Bronx Bombers would be entering a drought. From 1989-1992, the Yankees lost four seasons in a row, including going a lousy 67-95 in 1990, the team’s worst record since 1912.
Things would turn around, as they sometimes do in sports … and always seem to do in the Bronx. Today, the Yankees are experiencing the fourth-longest winning streak in sports history–27 consecutive winning seasons (1993-2019). During that time, they have won seven AL pennants and five World Series.
But our review of Yankees’ history tells us something important about sports. It says that even the mighty can fall. Indeed, they often do.
