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New York Yankees

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The New York Yankees are a Major League baseball team based in the Bronx, New York, United States. They are in the Eastern Division of the American League.

The Yankees have won 26 and competed in 39 World Series. These numbers dominate the sport, considering the St. Louis Cardinals and the Athletics franchise are tied for second on the list with 9 World Series victories apiece, and the Giants franchise is second with 15 World Series appearances. Among the North American major sports, their level of sucess is only approached by the 24 Stanley Cup championships of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League.

Founded: 1893, as the Minneapolis, Minnesota franchise in the minor Western League. Moved to Baltimore, Maryland in 1900 when that league became the American League.
Formerly known as: Baltimore Orioles, 1901-1902. New York Highlanders, 1903-1910. "Yankees" and "Highlanders" used interchangeably over the next couple of years.
Home ballpark: Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx, New York City
Uniform colors: Midnight Blue with white or gray (Home uniform has distinctive pinstripes)
Logo design: Interlocking NY
Team theme song: "Here Come the Yankees" (1967), composed by Bob Bundin and Lou Stallman.
World Series championships won (26): 1923, 1927, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1943, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1957, 1961, 1962, 1977, 1978, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000.
American League pennants won (39): 1921, 1922, 1923, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003.
Additional Division titles won (13): 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003.

Origins

The team originated in Minneapolis as a team in the minor Western League. After the Baltimore National League franchise was disbanded in 1899, the club moved to Baltimore. The Western League became the American League, asserted major league status in 1901, and began to compete with the established NL.

The team then known as the Baltimore Orioles was managed by John McGraw until the middle of the 1902 season, when he jumped to the New York Giants as a result of a feud with American League president Ban Johnson. 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. In January 1903 the franchise was sold to Frank Farrell and William Devery of New York and construction began on a park at 165th St. and Broadway in Manhattan. This being near the highest point on the island, the team was logically renamed the New York Highlanders. As the Highlanders the team enjoyed brief moments of success, finishing in second place in the American League in 1904 and 1910, but spent much of the 1900s and 1910s in the cellar.

From 1913 to 1922 the team would play in the Polo Grounds, a park owned by their National League rivals, the Giants. With the change of parks in 1913, the team also officially changed its name to New York Yankees, a name which had been in informal but increasing use for several years.

At the start of 1915, the Yankees were sold to Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Captain Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston, and over the next few years the new owners would begin to enlarge the payroll. (Ruppert would buy Huston out in 1923.) Several of the newly acquired players who would later contribute to their success came from the Boston Red Sox, whose owner, Harry Frazee, had bought his team on credit and was hard-pressed to pay of his loans. From the Red Sox, the Yankees acquired pitchers Waite Hoyt, Carl Mays and Herb Pennock; catcher Wally Schang; shortstop Everett Scott; and most notably, pitcher-turned-outfielder Babe Ruth. From other teams they acquired first baseman Wally Pipp and pitcher Bob Shawkey.

First Success

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, at the Polo Grounds. In 1921 the Yankees were told to move out after the 1922 season. In 1923 the Yankees moved into Yankee Stadium at 161st St. and River Avenue in the Bronx. The Stadium was the first triple-deck venue in baseball and seated an astounding 58,000. It was truly "the House that Ruth Built",

Led by manager Miller Huggins, hired in 1919, the Yankees went through their first period of great success, winning six AL pennants and three World Series between 1921 and 1928, the first World Series win coming in 1923 against the Giants. The 1927 team was so potent that it became known as "Murderer's 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 and 1998). Ruth's home run total of 60 in 1927 was more than any other entire team in the American League and set a single-season record which would stand for 34 years, and Lou Gehrig had his first big season with 47 round-trippers.

The McCarthy Era

The 1930s, under manager Joe McCarthy: in the post-Ruth era, the Yankees won four straight World Series titles from 1936 through 1939 behind Gehrig and a bevy of new stars like Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing.

The 1950s

The 1950s, under Casey Stengel: bettering the McCarthy-era clubs, Stengel's squad won the World Series in his first five years as manager, 1949 through 1953. In twelve years, Stengel won 10 pennants and seven World Series titles. They were led by catcher Yogi Berra, outfielder Mickey Mantle and pitcher Whitey Ford, but unlike the star-studded McCarthy teams, the Yankees of the 1950s owed most of their success to Stengel's use of platooning and his ability to get the most out of average and slightly-above-average personnel.

After the 1964 season, CBS purchased the Yankees from Dan Topping and Del Webb for $11.2 million. 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.

Return to Glory

The 1970s, under Billy Martin, et al: George Steinbrenner purchased the club for $10 million on January 3, 1973 from the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), renovated Yankee Stadium, hired and fired Billy Martin a number of times, feuded with star outfielder Reggie Jackson, and presided over the resurgence of the Yankees in the late seventies. Jackson's three home runs in one game in the 1977 World Series (earning him the nickname "Mr. October") defined the period as much as Martin and Steinbrenner.

A New Dynasty

The Yankees entered the 1990s as a last-place team, having spent well but not always wisely on free-agent players since their last appeaarance in the World Series in 1981. In 1990, Yankee pitcher Andy Hawkins became the first pitcher ever to lose on a game in which he pitched a no-hitter, when he walked 3 men and the center fielder committed an error with bases loaded, scoring the 3 men on base plus the player who hit the ball to the center fielder.

The bad luck of the '80s and early '90s started to change when, while owner George Steinbrenner was under suspension, management was able to implement a coherent program without interference from above. Under general manager Gene Michael (later 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 American League when the season was cut short by the players' strike. A year later, the team gained the playoffs as the wild card and was eliminated only after a memorable series against the Seattle Mariners.

Showalter left after the 1995 season due to personality clashes with owner George Steinbrenner and his staff and was 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 World Series victory in 1996, defeating the Atlanta Braves in six games. Bob Watson was dismissed when the Yankees failed to repeat in 1997 and was replaced by Brian Cashman. Torre and Cashman have, however, essentially won with the foundation laid by Michael, Watson, and Showalter before them, particularly the development of players like Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Bernie Williams. Putting to use the sizable financial advantage they possess over other teams, the Yankees made several notable player acquisitions teams during the decade, including Paul O'Neill, David Cone, Tino Martinez, David Wells, and Roger Clemens.

The 1998-2000 Yankees were the first team to "three-peat" with World Series victories since the Oakland Athletics of the early 1970s. In 1998 and 1999 the swept the San Diego Padres and Atlanta Braves, respectively. In 2000 the Yankees met up with crosstown New York Mets for the first Subway Series since 1956 and won four games to one.

The New Millennium

In an emotional October 2001, following the September 11 attack on New York's World Trade Center, New York defeated the Oakland Athletics 3 games to 2 in the Divisional Series, and then the Seattle Mariners in the American League Championship Series, 4 games to 1. But the Yankees lost a close World Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks, going down in bottom of the ninth inning of game seven.

In October 2003, the Yankees defeated their archrival Boston Red Sox in a tough seven game ALCS, which featured a near brawl in Game 3, and a walk-off, series-ending home run by Aaron Boone in the bottom of the 11th inning of the seventh game. They faced the Florida Marlins in the World Series, losing 4 games to 2.

The World Series loss in the 2001 World Series, effectively marked the end of end of the 1990s Yankees dynasty, as lynchpin players began to retire or were traded. The Yankees quick exit from the 2002 playoffs accelerated the changes, as management began to look increasingly on free agent acquisitions, and the trend continued after the 2003 World Series.

Players of note

Baseball Hall of Famers

Current stars

Not to be forgotten

Retired numbers

Team captains

"Team captain" is an honorary title.

  1. Hal Chase, 1912
  2. Roger Peckinpaugh, 1914 to 1921
  3. Babe Ruth, May 20, 1922 to May 25, 1922
  4. Everett Scott, 1922 to 1925
  5. Lou Gehrig, April 21, 1935 to June 2, 1941
  6. Thurman Munson, April 17, 1976 to August 2, 1979
  7. Graig Nettles, January 29, 1982 to March 30, 1984
  8. Ron Guidry, March 4, 1986 to July 12, 1989
  9. Willie Randolph, March 4, 1986 to October 2, 1989
  10. Don Mattingly, February 28, 1991 to 1995
  11. Derek Jeter, June 4, 2003 to present

Team Ownership

See also

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