The Yankees are without dispute the most successful franchise in baseball history.
They have won a record 22 World Series and 33 AL pennants and totally dominated the
sport in the 1940s and, especially, the 1950s. They have won more games than any
franchise, even though they are in the younger American League.
The club came to
New York when AL president Ban Johnson moved the Baltimore franchise to compete with
the Giants for attendance. The club cost owners Frank Farrell and Bill Devery $18,000.
Playing in Hilltop Park in upper Manhattan, the club was named the Highlanders, until
they moved into the Polo Grounds (shared with the Giants) and became the Yankees.
The club almost won the 1904 pennant on the strength of Jack Chesbro's 41-12 record,
but lost on the last day of the season when Chesbro wild-pitched in the losing run
in the ninth inning. The team remained respectable for several years and then declined.
In January 1915 Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Colonel Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston
bought the franchise for $460,000. That season the famous Yankee pinstripes were
seen for the first time. The new owners began buying talent almost immediately, picking
up Bob Shawkey in 1916 as Connie Mack finished breaking up the Athletics.
But the
deal that made the Yankees into a powerhouse came in January 1920, when they bought
Babe Ruth from the Red Sox as Boston owner Harry Frazee sold off his stars to finance
his Broadway shows. Ruth changed baseball history by hitting 54 HR in 1920, breaking
the record of 29 that he had set the previous season. At the end of the 1920 season
the Yankees hired Boston manager Ed Barrow to be their general manager. Knowing the
Boston players well, he continued the Yankees' stripping of the Red Sox roster by
acquiring Wally Schang and Waite Hoyt a few months later, Joe Bush, Everett Scott,
and Joe Dugan after the 1921 season, and Herb Pennock in 1923. The Yankees had just
won their first pennant, and although they lost to their Polo Grounds landlords,
John McGraw's Giants, that year and the next, they outdrew them. The popularity
of the team, especially Ruth, helped finance the building of Yankee Stadium, hence
its nickname of "The House That Ruth Built." In May 1922, two weeks after construction
of the park was begun, Ruppert bought out Huston for $1.5 million.
Moving into
their new home in 1923, the Yankees celebrated by finally besting the Giants in the
1923 WS, the Yankees' first World Championship. After a two-year hiatus, the Yankees
resumed their pennant-winning ways with another three straight, 1926-28. The 1927
team has become symbolic of overwhelming strength. Nicknamed Murderer's Row, the
offense posted the highest team slugging percentage in history, .489. The Yankees
won 110 games and finished 19 games ahead of the Athletics, who had Hall of Famers
Ty Cobb, Al Simmons, Mickey Cochrane, and Lefty Grove, and won 91 games. Ruth set
another, nearly unbreakable record by hitting 60 home runs, and had 164 RBI, second
in the
league. The man who finished ahead of him, Lou Gehrig, drove in 175 and finished
second to Ruth with 47 HR while batting .373 (third in the AL). Ruth, Gehrig, and
Earle Combs finished 1-2-3 in runs scored, and it was Gehrig, Ruth, and Combs atop
the total bases list. Tony Lazzeri finished third behind Ruth and Gehrig in home
runs. This powerhouse, which led in every major offensive category but doubles and
steals, might have won with the worst pitching staff in the league, but instead it
had the best, with Hoyt leading the league in ERA and winning percentage and tying
in wins. Teammate Urban Shocker followed him on the ERA list. The Pirates were swept
in four games in the World Series, supposedly demoralized just by watching the Yankees
take batting practice. The Yankees had another Series sweep in 1928, of the Cardinals.
In
1929 the Yankees wore numbers on their backs, the first team to do so on a permanent
basis. Bill Dickey took over behind the plate, and the Yankees finished second; manager
Miller Huggins died in September of that year. Shawkey led the team to a third-place
finish in 1930, and Joe McCarthy took over in 1931, when Lefty Gomez had the first
of his four 20-win seasons. McCarthy ended the three-year reign of the Athletics
in 1932 and once again the Yankees swept the Series. They had won 12 consecutive
WS games. The team finished second the next three seasons, with Ruth being let go
after 1934.
But a new era of domination was coming, presaged by the November 1934
purchase of Joe DiMaggio from the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League.
An agreement between the two teams allowed him to play one last season for the Seals,
which had the effect of creating great anticipation in New York. His rookie season
in 1936 certainly did not disappoint the Yankees, as he was the team's second-best
hitter, behind Gehrig, in the three major categories, hitting .323 with 29 HR and
125 RBI. Red Ruffing, picked up from Boston in mid-1930 after leading the league
in losses the previous two seasons, had the first of four straight 20-win seasons
in 1936. The Giants managed to end the Yankees' WS consecutive game-winning streak
in the first game, but the Yankees beat them that year and the next. In 1938 it was
the Cubs' turn to lose, as New York swept them. Joe Gordon was now the Yankee second
baseman, having pushed Lazzeri aside, and that helped compensate for the reduced
effectiveness of Gehrig. Col. Ruppert died in January 1939, and GM Barrow succeeded
him as club president. Later that year, when Gehrig ended his monumental 2,130 consecutive-game
streak by sitting himself down, it was discovered that he had amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis. He never played again and died two years later. His spot was taken by
Babe Dahlgren, and the Yankees swept the Reds in the Series. McCarthy had led them
to World Championships in four consecutive seasons, then a record.
After a third-place
finish in 1940, the Yankees had a memorable season in 1941. DiMaggio hit in a record
56 games, and rookie Phil Rizzuto took over shortstop from the aging Frankie Crosetti.
Their Game One victory in the WS gave them another consecutive-victory streak, of
ten games. The first of the fabled Yankee-Dodger matchups, the 1941 World Series
was effectively decided in Game Four. The Dodgers were ahead 4-3 in the ninth inning
with two out, and were about to even the Series at two games apiece. But Hugh Casey's
third strike got
past Mickey Owen, and, given that reprieve, the Yankees came back
with four runs and clinched the Series the next day. They hadn't lost a WS since
1926, to the Cardinals; their triumph in eight Series without an intervening loss
was yet another record. The string was snapped in 1942 when the Cardinals triumphed
again, but the Yankees came back to beat them in 1943 despite the loss of DiMaggio,
Rizzuto, and others to military service. Spud Chandler helped compensate with a 20-4
season. But so many players were lost to military service in the next two years that
the Yankees slipped to third, and then fourth, place. In January 1945 Dan Topping
and Del Webb purchased the club for $2.8 million. They replaced Barrow with Larry
McPhail, giving him a third of the club. He brought night baseball, his innovation
in Cincinnati, to Yankee Stadium after the war ended. But McCarthy, who had completely
rebuilt the image of the Yankees from the team of carousers it had been during Ruth's
time, did not get along with the unstaid McPhail, and quit in early 1946. Bill Dickey
and Johnny Neun also managed the team that year, and the Yankees finished third.
In
1947 the Yankees had a new manager, Bucky Harris; a new catcher, Yogi Berra (he shared
duties with Aaron Robinson); a new staff ace, Allie Reynolds; and a new bullpen ace,
Joe Page. They ran away with the flag and beat the Dodgers in a memorable World Series
that included a near-no-hitter by Bill Bevens. McPhail proved too much of an embarrassment,
and was replaced by director of minor league operations George Weiss. When the Yankees
finished third in 1948, Harris was fired, despite winning 94 games. Weiss convinced
the owners to bring in Casey Stengel, whom he knew from Stengel's time managing the
Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. Many were surprised and disappointed with
the choice of a manager who had lost in a big way in both his previous major league
assignments, and who had developed a reputation as a clown, but Stengel would go
on to win with the Yankees to an extent unmatched by any before or since.
Stengel
inherited a "Big Three" of Reynolds, Eddie Lopat, and Vic Raschi on the pitching
staff and an offense that, though it included Tommy Henrich, Joe DiMaggio, and Phil
Rizzuto, reminded no one of the Bronx Bombers of seasons past. He compensated by
raising platooning to a new level of complexity, and he made Berra the regular catcher
(he led the team in RBI the next seven seasons and won three MVP awards), gave more
playing time to Bobby Brown, Jerry Coleman, Hank Bauer, and Gene Woodling, and began
a practice of late-season pick-ups of veterans by buying slugger Johnny Mize, then
36 years old, from the Giants at the end of August 1949. DiMaggio was injured for
much of that season, but came back cold off the DL to ravage the Red Sox in an important
series at Fenway Park. Stengel finished one game ahead of Joe McCarthy's Red Sox,
but had an easier time of it in the World Series as the Yankees beat the Dodgers
in five games. In 1950 Whitey Ford began making the "Big Three" into the "Big Four"
and the Phillies were swept in the Series. DiMaggio passed the torch to rookie Mickey
Mantle in 1951, Gil McDougald won Rookie of the Year, and Johnny Sain was picked
up at the end of August as the Yankees won their third straight World Championship.
Mantle took over in centerfield in 1952 and Stengel installed Billy Martin, a favorite
of his from
Oakland, as the regular second baseman. The Dodgers fell in a seven-game
Series, and Stengel had equalled McCarthy's four straight World Championships, and
more important to him personally, his mentor John McGraw's four straight pennants.
Oddly,
Yankee Stadium was sold to Earl and Arnold Johnson of Kansas City at the beginning
of the 1953 season, presaging the close link that would develop between New York
and Kansas City after the Athletics moved there in 1955 (previously it was a Yankee
minor league outpost). Mantle hit his famous 565-foot home run in Washington that
April 17, and Whitey Ford came back from two years of military service to become
the staff ace as the Yankees coasted to another title. Stengel got his record fifth
consecutive World Championship as Martin hit .500 in the Series against the Dodgers,
equaling the Series record with 12 hits.
The Indians managed to interrupt the Yankees
in 1954 by winning an AL-record 111 games; Stengel's personal high of 103 games was
good enough for second place. Bill Skowron came up and began winning time at first
base, and Bob Grim won the Rookie of the Year award with a 20-6 mark, although he
proved to be a one-year wonder. Don Larsen and Bob Turley were picked up from the
Athletics in December in the first of many similar transactions. A month later John
Williams Cox bought Yankee Stadium and sold the grounds to the Knights of Columbus;
in 1962 he left the facilities to Rice University. In 1955 Mantle led the AL in home
runs for the first of four times and Ford led in wins for his first time. New York
returned to the top of the standings. But the Dodgers finally triumphed in the Fall
Classic, beating the Yankees in seven games. Mantle had his finest season in 1956,
winning the first of his three MVP awards with league highs of 52 HR and 130 RBI
in his finest season. The World Series featured Larsen's perfect game as the Yankees
won in seven games.
In June 1957 Martin was traded to Kansas City, over Stengel's
objections, in a deal that brought Ryne Duren to the Yankees. Martin had supposedly
been involved in a brawl at a New York nightclub, and although he was not a major
figure in the incident, Weiss considered him a bad influence. Bobby Richardson took
over at second base. The Braves defeated New York in the World Series in 1957, but
the Yankees revenged themselves in a 1958 rematch after cruising to a third straight
easy pennant. Tony Kubek won the shortstop job and Rookie of the Year honors, Turley
was the Cy Young winner, and Duren took over as the bullpen ace. But in 1959 the
team stumbled, finishing in third with a 79-75 record. It was the first time since
1946 that they hadn't won at least 90 games, and their worst season since 1925. The
truth was that the talent was running out, partly because of the Yankees' early failure
to sign gifted black players. Aside from Ford, the pitching staff was not dominating.
Stengel had maneuvered spot starters in and out for years, but for one year, it didn't
work. Even so, the Yankees had dominated the decade in unprecedented fashion. But
the owners decided that Stengel was getting too old.
Another raid on the Athletics'
roster brought Roger Maris to New York for 1960, and he won the first of his back-to-back
MVP awards. Defensive whiz Clete Boyer took over third base, moving butcher Hector
Lopez into the outfield to share time with Berra, who relinquished the majority of
the
catching duties to Elston Howard, who had patiently played out of position in the
outfield and at first base for five years. The Yankees rebounded to 97-57 and won
by eight games, but lost to the Pirates in a wild, seesaw World Series that saw Pittsburgh
outscored 55-27, outhit .338 - .256, and outpitched 3.54 - 7.11. But the Pirates
won the close games, and Bill Mazeroski's climactic Game Seven home run in the bottom
of the ninth inning cost Stengel and Weiss their jobs as club president Topping forced
them out in the name of a supposed youth movement.
Former third-string catcher
Ralph Houk took over the reins in 1961 as two teams and eight games were added in
expansion. Maris and Mantle chased Ruth's 60 home runs all season, with Maris topping
it in the final game and winning his second MVP award. Ford had his best season,
going 25-4 and winning Cy Young honors, as Houk stabilized the rotation for the first
time in years and Luis Arroyo saved 29 games (then a record, although it was not
yet a statistic). The surprise NL winners, the Reds, were disposed of in five games
in the Series. The Yankees repeated easily in 1962 as Ralph Terry had a career year,
going 23-12 and winning two games in the Yankees' seven-game triumph over San Francisco.
Mantle won his final MVP award, and Tom Tresh was named Rookie of the Year in his
best season after temporarily pushing Kubek aside. Skowron was traded after the Series,
and Joe Pepitone took over first base in 1963. Tresh spent the whole season in the
outfield as Mantle was sidelined most of the season. Howard captured MVP honors as
the Yankees won their third straight pennant for Houk. But the superior pitching
of the Dodgers swept New York in the World Series. Houk moved to the front office
after the season and Berra took over in the dugout. The Yankees won the best AL pennant
race in over a decade in 1964 to again win five straight AL titles. Topping had been
disappointed by the team's showing in the early part of the season, though, and it
was already arranged that Berra would be fired after the season, with Cardinals manager
Johnny Keane to replace him. The fact that New York lost the World Series to the
Cardinals in seven games was enough justification for Topping; the odd turn of events
went through. Berra was luckier than he realized.
Topping had arranged during the
season to sell the team to CBS. Following the World Series, they purchased 80% of
the franchise for $11.2 million, buying the remaining 20% later. Their investment
fell apart on them as the Yankees had their first losing season since 1925 in 1965
and then dropped to last place in 1966. Kubek and Ford had retired, Maris had lost
most of his power, Mantle was deteriorating physically, and Tresh hit home runs but
contributed little else. Houk took over in 1966 after the team started the year 4-16.
The team improved only marginally in 1967, as Mantle and Pepitone switched positions;
Mantle's knees were no longer able to handle outfield play. Howard and Tresh lost
their skills, and the mediocre Horace Clarke became the symbol, fairly or unfairly,
of a new Yankee era. The team rebounded to an 83-79 fifth-place finish in 1968, Mantle's
last season. But the years 1965-71 are perhaps best summed up in the current Yankee
media guides, where the only highlights listed in that time period are the painting
of Yankee Stadium after the 1966 season and Mickey Mantle Day in 1969. Mel
Stottlemyre
won 20 games three times, and Thurman Munson came up in 1970. The Yankees even finished
second that year, although they were 15 games back. But the club remained mediocre
for several more years.
A large group of businessmen bought the Yankees from CBS
in January 1973. Principal owner George Steinbrenner, who made his money in shipbuilding,
claimed he was going to be a silent partner, but Houk resigned after the season over
Steinbrenner's meddling in decision-making. It was the first indication of a coming
managerial carrousel unmatched in instability and surprising twists. Playing at Shea
Stadium while Yankee Stadium was renovated by the City of New York, the Yankees were
led by low-key Bill Virdon to a second-place finish in 1974, just two games out.
The team featured Graig Nettles, Bobby Murcer, and Chris Chambliss. Virdon was replaced
with the volatile Martin after going 53-51 in the first two-thirds of 1975. Catfish
Hunter was the ace of the pitching staff, the first of Steinbrenner's blockbuster
free-agent signings. The owner's willingness to spend freely proved to be his best
quality.
The remodeled Yankee Stadium was opened in 1976, and a revamped team that
now included Willie Randolph at second base and Mickey Rivers in centerfield, and
Ed Figueroa and Dock Ellis on the mound, finished first for the first time in 12
years. Munson won MVP honors, Nettles led the AL in homers, and Sparky Lyle emerged
as the bullpen ace with 23 saves. Chambliss's dramatic ninth-inning home run clinched
the LCS. New York was swept by the Reds in the World Series, but the Yankees had
reestablished themselves as a dynasty. Superstar Reggie Jackson was Steinbrenner's
next headline-grabbing free-agent acquisition; Don Gullett was also picked up for
1977. Jackson alienated many Yankees with an undiplomatic, bragging interview, and
Martin was unhappy that he hadn't gotten the hit-and-run man he wanted. But with
Munson leading the Yankees in the clubhouse and on the field, and Jackson leading
them statistically, the club captured its first World Championship in 15 years. Lyle
captured Cy Young honors. Jackson's remarkable performance in the final game of the
Series, in which he hit three consecutive homers, all on the first pitch, clinched
the Series and earned him the nickname Mr. October. The 1978 season topped 1977 in
all respects. The new free-agent arrival was Goose Gossage, who won the stopper role
from Lyle. Martin and Jackson and Steinbrenner feuded openly, with Martin getting
the ax while 52-42 for calling Steinbrenner and Jackson liars. Officially, he retired
for health reasons. After interim manager Dick Howser lost one game, Chicago manager
Bob Lemon took over the Yankees. But there was a startling twist to his situation,
as it was announced just four days later (at Old-Timers Day) that Martin would return
in 1980. Under Lemon's calm guidance and masterful handling of the pitching staff,
helped by the return of several injured Yankees, the club went 48-20 the rest of
the way to tie the Red Sox. Ron Guidry won the climactic playoff game, running his
record to 25-3, on Bucky Dent's home run. Guidry won the Cy Young Award, and Ed Figueroa
became the first Puerto Rican 20-game winner. Kansas City fell to the Yankees again
in the LCS, and the Yankees won their second straight World Championship, the most
recent team to repeat. Dent continued his improbable heroics to win the Series MVP
award; Nettles's spectacular fielding might
have won it for him if he had only hit
better than his feeble .160. Tommy John and Luis Tiant were signed as free agents
over the winter; John led the staff in wins in 1979. Martin's return came sooner
than expected when he replaced Lemon on June 18 with the Yankees at 34-30. But the
team was stunned by the August death of the irreplaceable Munson in a plane crash.
They finished in fourth place.
Martin was replaced after the season by Dick Howser,
who led the Yankees to a 103-victory division title. Newest free-agent acquisition
Rudy May led the league in ERA, and Jackson led in HR. But the team was swept by
the Royals in the LCS, and Steinbrenner forced Howser to "retire" in a charade that
fooled no one. Gene Michael was named as Howser's replacement in an effort to use
his popularity as a former Yankee star to offset outrage at the dismissal of Howser.
Steinbrenner's biggest free-agent signing came that December when he signed Dave
Winfield to a 10-year contract. Dave Righetti won the Rookie of the Year award. In
a season broken into two parts by a mid-season players' strike, the Yankees won the
first half easily and then coasted, finishing under .500 in the second half of the
season. Steinbrenner's unhappiness with this situation, which emphasized the unimportance
of the second half and threatened attendance, led to the firing of Michael in the
beginning of September. He was replaced by Lemon, who led the Yankees past the Brewers
(in the divisional playoff) and the A's. But the Yankees' World Series loss elicited
Steinbrenner's outrageous "apology" to New York fans that was an implicit criticism
of Winfield's 1-for-22 performance. It would prove to be the Yankees' last postseason
appearance for quite a while.
Lemon was fired again after starting the 1982 season
6-8. Gene Michael replaced him for 86 games and was in turn replaced after he attempted
to stand up for the players during a disappointing 79-83 fifth-place finish (the
team was at .500 at the time). Clyde King lasted to the end of the season and Martin
was rehired for 1983. The Yankees finished third that year, and third under Berra
in 1984 as Don Mattingly and Winfield battled down to the last day of the season
before Mattingly won the batting title. Berra was fired while 6-10 in April 1985,
with Martin once again taking over. He drove the team to a second-place finish as
Mattingly won the MVP and Guidry went 22-6. After the season Lou Piniella, another
popular ex-Yankee, replaced Martin as manager. He lasted through a second-place finish
in 1986, but finished in fourth in the tough 1987 AL East despite an 89-73 record.
Martin spent the whole summer sniping at Piniella's managerial expertise from the
Yankee broadcast booth, and replaced Piniella, who was made GM, after the season.
In Martin's fifth term, a record for times managing one team for a non-owner (Bill
Sharsig named himself manager of the Philadelphia club in the American Association),
his erratic and violent behavior once again embarrassed the team, and he was fired
and replaced by Piniella. Dallas Green was named manager for 1989 and began rebuilding
the team with GM Syd Thrift, but was unsurprisingly fired that August; 1978 playoff
hero Bucky Dent replaced him. It was the 17th managerial change in Steinbrenner's
17 years of ownership.
(SH)
FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
»March 12, 1903: The New York Highlanders are officially approved as members of the AL.
»April 22, 1903: At Washington, before 11,950, the New York Highlanders play their first game, losing 31. Washington elects to bat first, but the New Yorkers score in the bottom of the opening inning to take a 10 lead. Each starter gives up six hits with Jack Chesbro, the National League's top winner last year (28-6) taking the loss. Al Orth, in his second season with Washington, is the winner.
»April 23, 1903: Behind the pitching of Harry Howell, the New York Highlanders (11) win their first game, 72, over Washington.
»June 10, 1903: Detroit SS Kid Elberfeld, suspended for abusing an umpire, is traded to the New York Highlanders for veteran infielders Herman Long, 37, and Ernie Courtney. The Highlanders' first trade is a good one as"The Tabasco Kid", currently hitting .341, will be a key ingredient in New York's rise as contenders in 1904.
»June 16, 1903: Against the White Sox, Clark Griffith tosses a 1-0 shutout to give the New York Highlanders their first shutout ever.
»July 7, 1903: In a game with the New York Highlanders, White Sox OF Danny Green is called out at 1B by John Sheridan, and after returning to the bench continues to yell at the ump. Sheridan finally rushes the bench and hits Green with his mask, who then belts the umpire. The umpire is taken from the grounds and locked up on charges of disorderly conduct. An hour later he is released after bail is posted by Highlander president Joseph Gordon.
»May 11, 1904:
In the opener of a 4-game series with the visiting Cleveland Blues, the New York Highlanders prevail, 4-2, on a 2-run HR by Kid Elberfeld and a pair of run-scoring singles by Deacon McGuire. The New Yorkers will take three of the four games to move into a tie 2nd place.
»July 4, 1904: Jack Chesbro, the New York Highlanders spitballer, wins his 14th in a row, an American League record until Walter Johnson wins 16 straight in 1912. The A's lose both today, as the Highlanders sweep the three games series.
»July 27, 1904: John McGraw and John T. Brush say they have no intention of playing a post-season series with the American League champions. "The Giants will not play a post season series with the American League champions. Ban Johnson has not been on the level with me personally, and the American League management has been crooked more than once." says McGraw. "When we clinch the National League pennant, we'll be champions of the only real major league," Ban Johnson fires back, "No thoughtful patron of baseball can weigh seriously the wild vaporings of this discredited player who was canned from the American League." As the New York Highlanders battle for the AL pennant, local pressure mounts, but Brush, still angry over the inter-league peace treaty, and McGraw, who despises Ban Johnson, are adamant.
»September 17, 1904: More than 23,000, reputedly the largest crowd in Boston history, show up for the showdown twinbill with the New York Highlanders. New York scores three runs in each of the first two innings against Bill Dineen. Jack Chesbro (35-8) holds on for a 6-4 win, his 7th win in a row. New York briefly takes over 1st place. But Cy Young tops New York, 4-2, in the nitecap, beating Ned Garvin, recently acquired from Brooklyn. The two teams complete their three doubleheaders at 2-2-2.
»October 2, 1904: Doc White's scoreless streak ends at 45 innings, when the New York Highlanders score in the first; White then pitches another eight shutout innings to win, 7-1.
»July 13, 1905: The Philadelphia A's "sell" catcher Mike "Doc" Powers to the New York Highlanders. Powers will be sold back to the A's on August 7. As noted by Lyle Spatz, Powers was needed to replace back up C Red Kleinow, injured yesterday in a game with Detroit. Powers will play mainly at 1B, replacing Hal Chase whose nose was broken in the Detroit game.
»May 21, 1906: An 11-game win streak by Philadelphia is stopped by Cleveland 2-1 in 13 innings. The Athletics, Cleveland Naps, and New York Highlanders juggle the top spot in AL standings.
»September 7, 1908: On Labor Day, Manager Joe Cantillon starts the Big Train in place of one pitcher who is sick, and another who returned to Washington to be with his sick wife. Only three Senators' pitchers made the trip to NY. Walter Johnson shuts out the New York Highlanders for the 3rd time in four days, 4-0, topping Jack Chesbro and allowing just two hits and no walks. In the three games, Walter allows 12 hits, walks one, and strikes out 12. Johnson will pitch 130 shutouts during his career, 23 more than runner-up Grover Alexander. This is one of a record (topped in 1972) seven shutouts tossed today, out of 16 games.
»October 7, 1908:
The last-place New York Highlanders close out the season losing 10 in 11 innings to Walter Johnson and the Senators. Johnson, who missed 10 weeks , ends up at 1414, with a 1.65 ERA.
»June 19, 1909: Walter Johnson has a strange day beating the New York Highlanders 7-4. He gives up just three hits, but is unusually wild, issuing seven walks, uncorking four wild pitches, and hitting one batter, while fanning 10.
»May 14, 1911: More than 15,000 turn out for Cleveland's first Sunday game, and they see a 143 win over the New York Highlanders. George Stovall paces Cleveland with four hits.
»September 28, 1912: Having recovered from an operation, Frank Chance is released by the Cubs. He will manage the newly named New York Yankees for two years.
»December 31, 1914: Ban Johnson's efforts to strengthen the New York Yankees succeed when he arranges the purchase of the team by Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Cap Huston for $460,000 from Bill Devery and Frank Farrell. After Detroit owner Navin refuses to let Hugh Jennings go, the new Yankee owners will name longtime Detroit pitcher Bill Donovan as manager. Donovan was recently manager of Providence (IL).
»January 7, 1915: The Tigers waive Wally Pipp to the New York Yankees. Pipp hit .161 in 12 games, but he'll anchor first base in New York for a decade.
»May 11, 1919:
Walter Johnson retires 28 consecutive batters
during a 12-inning scoreless tie against Jack Quinn
and the New York Yankees. Future football immortal
George Halas, batting leadoff for New York, fans twice
and goes 0-for-5.
»October 23, 1927:
Bill Purdy, who hit .355 in his 2nd year with the
Reds, scores a touchdown for the Green Bay Packers
against the New York Yankees. Purdy's score comes
on a 5-yard run.
»October 10, 1930:
The New York Yankees announce they have signed Joe
McCarthy to manage the team for 4 years. The Cubs
made him available one year after he had led them
to a pennant, and the Yankees lost no time in signing
him. McCarthy will lead New York to 8 pennants and
7 World Championships before resigning in 1946.
»April 2, 1931:
Miss Jackie Mitchell, a 17-year-old gate attraction
for Joe Engel's Chattanooga Lookouts (Southern Association),
pitches against the New York Yankees in an exhibition
game in Chattanooga. Babe Ruth waves wildly at 2 pitches
and watches a 3rd strike go by. Lou Gehrig gallantly
times his 3 swings to miss the ball, but unsmiling
Tony Lazzeri, after first trying to bunt, walks
and Miss Mitchell leaves the game. The final
score is 14-4 Yankees. In 1933 Mitchell will
pitch for the House of David team.
»September 16, 1939:
The New York Yankees clinch their 4th successive
pennant with a win over Detroit.
»July 28, 1940:
King Kong Keller clouts three HRs for the New York Yankees in a 10-9 Yanks win over Chicago in the first game of a doubleheader split.
»June 2, 1941:
New York Yankees 1B Lou Gehrig dies of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at age 37 in New York. From that time on, the illness is known primarily as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
»August 1, 1941:
Lefty Gomez of the New York Yankees pitches a 9-0 shutout over the St. Louis Browns despite walking 11 batters, the most ever issued in a shutout. Fifteen
base runners are left stranded by the Browns.
»October 5, 1942: Whitey Kurowski's 2-run home run in the 9th inning gives St. Louis a 42 World Series triumph and enables the Cardinals to upset the New York Yankees in five games.
»November 3, 1942: Ted Williams is the ML Triple Crown winner, but
the writers select 2B Joe Gordon by 21 votes as AL
MVP. Gordon of the New York Yankees leads the AL with
95 strikeouts, the most ground balls hit into double
plays (22), and the most errors at his position (28).
P Mort Cooper gets the MVP honor in the NL.
»October 6, 1943:
Robert Cooper, father of P Mort Cooper and C Walker
Cooper, dies at his home in Independence, MO, but
both players decide to play in the WS. Mort goes on
to beat the New York Yankees 4-3, resurrecting
memories of 1942 when the Yankees lost 4 straight
after winning the opener. Marty Marion and Ray Sanders
homer.
»July 27, 1945:
The Cubs purchase P Hank Borowy from the New York Yankees in an unexpected waiver deal. Borowy, 10-5 with the Yankees, was put on waivers, apparently to solve a roster problem, and was passed over by 15 teams. The Cubs snatch him for $97,500, and he will help the Cubs win the pennant with an 11-2 record, including three wins over the Cardinals down the stretch.
»May 28, 1946: The Washington Senators edge the New York Yankees 21 before 49,917 fans in the first night game at Yankee Stadium.
»May 23, 1948: Joe DiMaggio hits three consecutive home runs for the New York Yankees in a 65, first-game win against the Indians. The first two home runs are off Bob Feller. Behind Don Black, the Indians take the nightcap, 51, to preserve first place.
»July 23, 1950: Tigers P Saul Rogovin hits a 2nd inning grand slam off Yankees P Eddie Lopat as the first-place Bengals nip onrushing New York Yankees, 65.
»December 11, 1951: Joe DiMaggio officially retires as a member of the New York Yankees with 361 home runs and an average of .325 after 13 seasons. His 56-game, consecutive-game hitting streak in 1941 will stand as one of the all-time best diamond achievements.
»May 12, 1953: Whitey Ford of the New York Yankees allows only rival pitcher Early Wynn's infield single in the 6th in beating the Indians 70. New York increases its lead to two games over the 2nd-place Indians.
»May 7, 1959: The Los Angeles Coliseum is jammed by 93,103 on "Roy Campanella Night" for an exhibition game between the Dodgers and the New York Yankees. This is the largest crowd in ML history. The Yanks win 62.
»June 22, 1965: Ray Barker's ML-record-tying 2nd consecutive pinch-hit home run is wasted in a first-game, 62 Yankees loss to the A's. Mickey Mantle adds a home run in the opener, but in the 42 nightcap win he tries to score from 2nd on a wild pitch and snaps a upper-thigh hamstring. He will be out for three weeks. The June 21st Sports Illustrated cover features Mantle with the prescient title "New York Yankees: End of an Era?"
»June 21, 1969: Minnesota scores a club-record 11 runs in an inning, the 10th inning at Oakland, and set major-league record for runs in the 10th, in winning 144. The Twins send 16 batters to the plate in the frame garnering eight hits, four walks, and three errors. Harmon Killebrew's 3-run homer is the big blow. Minnesota's 11 match the New York Yankees' 12th inning of July 26, 1928, for most runs for one club in extra innings, and shatters the previous high for the 10th inning of eight runs. The A's add a run of their own in the 10th to set a record (12) for runs in the 10th by two clubs. Yesterday, Oakland won, 32, in 14 innings.
»January 3, 1973: A group of investors, headed by shipbuilder George Steinbrenner, purchases the New York Yankees from CBS for $10 million.
»December 15, 1980: Outfielder Dave Winfield becomes the highest-paid player in baseball when he signs a 10-year, $15 million contract with the New York Yankees.
»December 24, 1986: Two free agents sign, OF Gary Ward with the New York Yankees, while Reggie Jackson signs with the Oakland A's. With Jackson's signing, the Angels receive the A's 2nd round draft pick.
»August 12, 1997:
Dean Palmer homers and drives in four runs as the Kansas City Royals end the New York Yankees' three-game winning streak with a 6-4 victory. Palmer, who is 10-for-21 with runners in scoring position and has 16 RBIs in 18 games since coming over in a trade with Texas, singles home a run in the fourth, opens the 6th with his 17th homer, and hits a go-ahead, two-run double in the 7th. Mike Perez (2-0), the second of five Royals' pitchers, is the winner. Jeff Montgomery pitches the 9th for his eighth save, the 250th of his career. He retires 32 consecutive batters, one shy of the club record, before Bernie Williams singles with two outs in the ninth.
»May 28, 2000:
Forbes magazine reports the New York Yankees are worth $540 million, making them the most valuable team in baseball for the 3rd straight year.
»August 11, 2001:
Led by the two Giambi brothers, Oakland beats the visiting New York Yankees, 86, for their 10th straight win. Jason Giambi and Jeremy Giambi each club 2-run homers, the 2nd time they've both gone deep in the same game. They did it twice last year as well.
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