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New York Yankees History continued...
The team that is now known as the New York Yankees originally began in the late 1800's in Minneapolis, in the minor Western League. Then, in 1899, the Baltimore franchise in the National League was dissolved. The Minneapolis team decided to move to Baltimore, where they became the Orioles. They won their first home game in 1901, beating Boston 10-6 at Orioles Park. Shortly after, the Western League became the American League and achieved major league status. It didn't take long for the new league to start competing with the long-established National League.
The team played in Baltimore for two years. Then, in 1903, the team was purchased by Frank Farrell and Bill Devery. They wanted to move the team to New York City, which they figured was a more lucrative market than Baltimore. As their home field, an all-wood park was built at 168th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. The site just happened to be one of the highest spots in the city. From this, the club became known as the New York Highlanders, and their park was named Hilltop Park.
Their first game on April 22, 1903, was a 1-3 loss at Washington. Their first home game came on May 1 of that same year. The game also happened to be against Washington. This time, however, the Highlanders came away with a 6-2 win. It was around this time, on April 11, 1912, that pinstripes became part of the Highlanders' uniforms. This created what would become one of the most famous uniform designs in professional sports history. The New York Highlanders enjoyed a few brief moments of success. They finished in second place in the American League in 1904 and 1910. Despite these brief moments, the Highlanders spent most of the 1900's and 1910's in the basement of the American League. In 1913, the team was moved to the Polo Grounds, where the National League's Giants played their home games. That's when the team officially changed their name to the New York Yankees.
The New York Yankees began to acquire a number of players who would later contribute to their major success. These players mostly came from the Boston Red Sox, whose owner, Harry Frazee, was unwilling to pay high salaries to his players, despite the fact that they had won four World Series titles in the 1910's. Among the players acquired by the Yankees were pitchers Carl Mays, Bob Shawkey and Herb Pennock, catcher Wally Schang and perhaps, most notably, pitcher-turned-outfielder, George Herman “Babe” Ruth. Along with their manager, Miller Huggins, the team enjoyed their first period of major success. They won six American League Championships and three World Series Championships during the decade. The 1927 team, which featured the offensive combination of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, is considered by some to be the best team ever assembled in the history of professional baseball.
In the 1930's, Joe McCarthy took over the management duties of the New York Yankees. This was the post-Babe Ruth era. The Yankees were led by Gehrig, along with new stars such as Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing. Under the leadership of McCarthy, the team won four straight World Series titles from 1936 to 1939, making the 1930's one of the most successful decades in New York Yankees history.
Later, in the 1950's, Casey Stengel took over as the manager of the New York Yankees. Stengel's team, which was led by catcher Yogi Berra, outfielder Mickey Mantle and pitcher Whitey Ford, won the World Series five times in his first five years of management, from 1949-1953. Overall, in twelve years, Stengel's team won 10 pennants and seven World Series titles. Unlike the star-studded teams of the McCarthy era, the New York Yankees of the 1950's were successful due to Stengel's use of platooning and his ability to get the most out of average or slightly above-average players.
The New York Yankees came up for sale after the 1964 season. Dan Topping and Del Webb sold the team to CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) for $11.2 million. Topping and Webb owned the Yankees for 20 years, missing the World Series only five times, with a World Series record of 10-5. Then, in 1973, CBS sold the New York Yankees to George Steinbrenner for $10 million. Steinbrenner immediately went to work and renovated Yankee Stadium. He hired and fired his manager, Billy Martin, a number of times. He also feuded with the Yankees' star outfielder, Reggie Jackson. Despite the feuding, Steinbrenner led a resurgence of the New York Yankees in the late 1970's. However, Reggie Jackson's three home runs in one game in the 1977 World Series (earning him the nickname “Mr. October”) defined the era as much as the leadership of Martin and Steinbrenner.
During the 1980's, the Yankees enjoyed limited success. During that time, in 1983, Dave Righetti pitched only the sixth regular season no-hitter in the history of the franchise. Also in 1983, the Yankees and the Kansas City Royals played in the infamous “pine tar” game at Yankee Stadium. During that game, George Brett hit a two-out, ninth-inning home run to give the Royals an apparent 5-4 lead. However, the umpires nullified the home run because Brett had too much pine tar on his bat. The tar on Brett's bat measured more than 18 inches, which was the allowable amount. Brett was called out for using an illegal bat and the Yankees went on to win, 4-3. This, however, is not where the story ends. After a protest from the Kansas City Royals, the game concluded and the Royals won, 5-4. Then, in 1985, Billy Martin was named the manager of the Yankees for the fourth time, replacing Yogi Berra. However, this stint did not last long. Later in that same year, Lou Piniella replaced Billy Martin once again. Later, in 1989, Billy Martin died in an automobile accident at the age of 61.
The New York Yankees entered the 1990's as a last-placed team. Yankee pitcher Andy Hawkins became the first pitcher ever to lose a game in which he pitched a no-hitter. Hawkins walked three men to load the bases. The centerfielder then committed an error with the bases loaded. The error scored all three men on base as well as the batter, losing the game for Hawkins. All of the bad luck of the 1980's and early 1990's started to disappear under manager Buck Showalter. However, due to his personality clashes with Steinbrenner, Showalter left the club after the1995 season, in which the team reached the postseason for the first time in 14 years. His replacement was Joe Torre. Torre immediately led the Yankees to the World Series victory in 1996.
In 2001, the New York Yankees once again found themselves in a familiar place, the World Series. This time, however, they would lose to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Then, once again in 2003, the Yankees returned to the World Series, this time losing to the Florida Marlins, four games to two.
Numerous Hall of Fame members have played for the New York Yankees. Among them are Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford, Lou Gehrig, Lefty Gomez, Reggie Jackson, Mickey Mantle, Gaylord Perry, Babe Ruth and Dave Winfield. Several former Yankees have also had their numbers retired. Among them are Babe Ruth (3), Lou Gehrig (4), Joe DiMaggio (5), Mickey Mantle (7), Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey (8), Whitey Ford (16), Don Mattingly (23), Casey Stengel (37) and Reggie Jackson (44).
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