The New York Yankees are a Major League Baseball team based in the borough of The Bronx, in New York City. The team's name is often shortened to "the Yanks", and their most prominent nickname is "The Bronx Bombers", or simply "the Bombers". The term used to describe the team during its tumultuous times during the late 70's, "the Bronx Zoo" is also used to describe the organization and the stadium, mostly derisively by detractors. The club was founded in Baltimore, Maryland in 1901, moving to New York in 1903. From 1923 to the present, the Yankees have played at Yankee Stadium.
One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Yankees have been Major League Baseball's most storied franchise, winning 26 World Series titles and 39 American League Pennants. Their 26 titles make them the most successful franchise in North American professional sports history, passing the Montreal Canadiens' 24 titles in 1999. They are also the only team represented in the National Baseball Hall of Fame at every position. Notably, they have faced every winner of the National League pennant in the World Series except for the Houston Astros, who won their first pennant in 2005. No other team has come close to matching this feat.
The Yankees also have one of the longest standing and most storied rivalries in North American sports with the nearby Boston Red Sox. The Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry has centered around the supposed Curse of the Bambino, and has gained more power with the creation of the Wild Card in 1995 which allowed the two teams to meet in the playoffs.
Origins
At the end of the 1900 season, the American League reorganized, and, with AL president Ban Johnson as the driving force, decided to assert itself as a new major league. Known as the Western League until 1899, the AL carried over five of its previous locations and added teams in three East Coast cities, including Baltimore, Maryland. Baltimore had lost its National League team in 1899 when that league eliminated four teams. The original plan was to put a team in New York City, but the NL's New York Giants had political connections with Tammany Hall and kept the AL out.
The team was known as the Baltimore Orioles and began playing in 1901 with John McGraw as manager. McGraw fueded with Johnson, who rigidly enforced the rules about rowdiness on the field of play, and jumped leagues to manage the Giants in the middle of the 1902 season. A week later, the owner of the Giants gained controlling interest of the Orioles and raided the teams for players. The AL stepped in and took control of the team, still hoping to move the team to New York.
In January 1903, a "peace conference" was held between the two leagues to settle disputes and try to find a way to coexist. One of the results of the conference was that the NL agreed to let the "junior circuit" establish a franchise in New York. The Oriole's new owners, Frank Farrell and William Devery, found a ballpark location not blocked by the Giants, and Baltimore's team moved to New York.
The New Yankee Stadium
In 2006, the Yankees broke ground on a new, state-of-the-art ballpark, which will also be known as Yankee Stadium. It is scheduled to open in 2009. The current Yankee Stadium will be used until the new stadium is erected, and parts of it will be preserved even after the Yankees move to the new stadium. Major League Baseball has awarded the 2008 All-Star Game to the Yankees in honor of the last year of the current stadium.
Distinctions
The Yankees have won 26 World Series in 39 appearances (which, since the first World Series in 1903, currently amounts to an average appearance every 2.7 seasons and a championship every 4.0 seasons); the St. Louis Cardinals are second with ten World Series victories. The Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers are second in World Series appearances with eighteen; eleven of those eighteen appearances have been against the Yankees, where the Dodgers have gone 3-8 against them. Among North American major sports, the Yankees' success is only approached by the 24 Stanley Cup championships of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League. The Yankees are also the only team that is represented at every position in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Joe Torre and a new dynasty: 1996-2000
Joe Torre on the right standing with legendary Yankee catcher Yogi Berra.The poor showing in the '80s and early '90s would start to change when management was able to implement a coherent acquisition/development program without interference from Steinbrenner, who had been suspended from day-to-day team operations by then-Commissioner Fay Vincent for hiring Howard Spira to uncover damaging information on former Yankee outfielder Dave Winfield. Under general managers Gene Michael and 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 AL before the season was cut short by the players' strike. A year later, the team reached the playoffs as the wild card and were eliminated only after a memorable 1995 American League Division Series series against the Seattle Mariners where the Yankees won the first two games at home and dropped the next three in Seattle.
Shaking it up once again, Steinbrenner replaced Showalter and his staff with manager Joe Torre, who brought with him Don Zimmer as bench coach and former Yankees pitching star Mel Stottlemyre as pitching coach. Torre's managerial tenure is now by far the longest under George Steinbrenner's ownership. One of Showalter's coaches, popular former Yankee second baseman Willie Randolph, was retained by Torre as a third base coach. Initially derided as a retread choice ("Clueless Joe" ran the headline on the New York Post), Torre's smooth manner proved to be what the team needed. Going 8-0 on the road in the three playoff series that year, the Yankees won the 1996 World Series, defeating the Atlanta Braves in six games (after losing the first two games at home by a combined score of 16-1), and ending their 18-year championship drought. Homegrown shortstop Derek Jeter was named Rookie of the Year, an auspicious start to his association with the Yankees.
After their first World Series win since 1978, the Yankees signed lefties David Wells and Mike Stanton to improve the pitching staff. They also allowed closing reliever (and Series MVP) John Wetteland to leave as a free agent, and named setup man Mariano Rivera as the team's new closer.
General Manager Bob Watson was dismissed when the Yankees lost in the 1997 ALDS to the Cleveland Indians. He was replaced by Brian Cashman, a former Yankee intern. Cashman made many key acquisitions to improve the team, through the acquisitions of third baseman Scott Brosius, second baseman and leadoff man Chuck Knoblauch, outfielder Darryl Strawberry and starting pitcher Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez.
On May 17, 1998 David Wells, who would later claim to have been hungover that day, pitched a perfect game against the Minnesota Twins. A year later, on July 18, 1999, which was "Yogi Berra Day" at the Stadium, David Cone pitched a perfect game against the Montr้al Expos. In an amazing coincidence, Don Larsen, who pitched the perfect game in the 1956 World Series, was in attendance and had thrown out the ceremonial first pitch to Berra, his catcher for that storied game. An even more amazing coincidence is that Larsen and Wells both attended Point Loma High School in San Diego, California.
The 1998 Yankees are widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest teams in baseball history, having compiled a then-AL record of 114 regular season wins against just 48 losses en route to a Series sweep of the San Diego Padres. The '98 Yankees went 11-2 during the playoffs and finished with a combined record of 125-50. Their 125 wins is a major league record, though their AL regular season record was surpassed by the 2001 Seattle Mariners, who went 116-46 before losing to the Yankees in the ALCS.
After the 1998 season, fan favorite David Wells was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for Roger Clemens, who had just completed two consecutive Cy Young Award and pitching triple crown seasons. After winning the Eastern division and defeating the Texas Rangers for the third time in the 1999 American League Division Series, the Yankees met up with the their longtime rivals, the Boston Red Sox, in the next playoff round. Clemens, a former Red Sox pitcher, started the third game of the ALCS against the Sox who blasted him 13-1 in what had been a highly anticipated pitching match up between Clemens and Pedro Martํnez, the winner of the Cy Young Award and the pitching triple crown that season. However, it was the only game the Red Sox won, as the Yankees won the ALCS four games to one, and then went on to sweep the Atlanta Braves in the 1999 World Series, with Clemens winning the clincher in Game Four in the Bronx. This gave the 1998-1999 Yankees a 22-3 record (including four series sweeps) in six consecutive postseason series.
In 2000, the Yankees met up with the crosstown New York Mets for the first Subway Series since the 1956 World Series. To get there, they defeated the Oakland Athletics in the ALDS and then the Seattle Mariners in the ALCS. By winning the first two games of the Series, the Yankees won a total of fourteen straight World Series games from 1996 to 2000, breaking their own record of twelve (in 1927, 1928 and 1932). When the Mets scored a run against Mariano Rivera, they snapped his string of postseason consecutive scoreless innings at 34 1/3. Prior to Rivera's streak, the record had been held by Whitey Ford, who had broken Babe Ruth's scoreless World Series pitching streak. The win ran the Yankees' postseason series winning streak to nine and gave them a 33-8 record during that run. The Yankees are the most recent major league team to repeat as World Series champions and after the 2000 season they joined the Yankee teams of 1936-1939 and 1949-1953, as well as the 1972-1974 Oakland Athletics as the only teams to win at least three consecutive World Series.
The 21st century
President Bush tosses out the ceremonial first pitch before a 2-1 Yankee victory in Game 3 of the 2001 World Series.In the emotional times of October 2001, following the September 11 attack on New York's World Trade Center, the Yankees defeated the Oakland A's three games to two in the ALDS, and then the Seattle Mariners, who had won 116 games, four games to one in the ALCS. By winning the pennant for a fourth straight year, the 1998-2001 Yankees joined the 1921-1924 New York Giants, and the Yankee teams of '36-'39, '49-'53, '55-'58 and '60-'64 as the only dynasties to reach at least four straight pennants. The Yankees had now won eleven consecutive postseason series in consecutive years.
However, the World Series starters for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling (later named the World Series co-MVPs), kept them in check, starting Games One, Two, Four, Six and Seven; the Diamondbacks won all four games at home, including Game Seven where Yankee star closer Mariano Rivera uncharacteristically lost the lead - and the Series - in the bottom of the ninth inning.
After the 2001 season, fan favorites Paul O'Neill and Scott Brosius retired. Tino Martinez and Chuck Knoblauch left for free agency. The Yankees had a lot of reconstructing to do; they needed to rebuild the offense that was shut down by the Johnson-Schilling duo in the 2001 World Series. They did it by signing slugger Jason Giambi and outfielder Rondell White, as well as trading David Justice to the Mets for third baseman Robin Ventura. The team also brought back fan favorite David Wells to bolster the pitching staff. The Yankees finished the 2002 season with an AL best record of 103-58, winning the division by 10.5 games over the Red Sox. The season was highlighted by Alfonso Soriano becoming the first second baseman ever to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season, as well as Giambi's 41 home runs. Roger Clemens also made history in the 2002 season by obtaining his 300 win as a pitcher and striking out 4000 batters over the course of his career. Only two other pitchers in major league history have more then 4000 strikeouts which are Nolan Ryan and Steve Carlton. In the ALDS, the Yankees lost to the Anaheim Angels in four games.
In 2003, the Yankees once again had the best league record (101-61), defeated the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS, and then defeated their longtime rival Red Sox in a tough seven-game ALCS, which featured a bench-clearing brawl in Game Three and a Series-ending walk-off home run by Aaron Boone in the bottom of the 11th inning of the final game. The Yankees were then defeated by the Florida Marlins - a team with a payroll a quarter of the size of the Yankees' - in the World Series, four games to two.
After the 2003 season, the Yankees hoped to add more power to a lineup which was shut down in the previous year's Series. They gained two sluggers, signing free agent Gary Sheffield, and trading second-baseman Alfonso Soriano for Texas Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez. With Jeter as the Yankees All-Star shortstop, Rodriguez, who had played the position his entire career, agreed to move to third base. Throughout 2004, however, the Yankees' weakness was their starting pitching. Despite this, they managed to win over 100 games with their powerful lineup, the third straight year they had done so, and reach the playoffs. In the ALDS, the Yankees once again met and defeated the Twins three games to one.
In the 2004 American League Championship Series against the Red Sox, the Yankees became the first team in professional baseball history, and only the third team in North American pro sports history (it happened in the NHL twice), to lose a best-of-seven series after taking a 3-0 series lead. The Yankees thought they needed to improve their pitching, which faltered in their loss to the Red Sox, and they signed free-agent pitchers Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright and acquired dominant lefty Randy Johnson from Arizona. However, none of the three performed up to expectations; Pavano pitched in only 17 games in 2005 and missed the entire 2006 season due to a variety of injuries,[5] Wright was traded after starting only 40 games over two seasons, and Johnson suffered from back problems which resulted in surgery in October, 2006.
Alex Rodriguez, 2005 season American League MVPThe 2005 season started slowly for the Yankees, and they spent most of the season chasing the Boston Red Sox for the division title. The Yankees, however, won the division, clinching it in the second-to-last game of the season against the Red Sox. Alex Rodriguez won the American League Most Valuable Player award, becoming the first Yankee to win the award since Don Mattingly in 1985. Giambi was named Comeback Player of the Year, as voted by fans, and second baseman Robinson Can๓ was runner-up in Rookie of the Year voting. Another highlight of the season was the record-setting pitching by journeyman Aaron Small, who became just the fourth pitcher in history to win at least ten games without a loss.
In the 2005 American League Division Series, the Angels defeated the Yankees in five games in the first round of the postseason, marking the second time in four years that the Angels beat the Yankees in the first round. Alex Rodriguez, the American League's 2005 MVP, had a poor series, hitting .133 with no home runs and no RBIs.
In the 2005-2006 offseason, general manager Brian Cashman was given more control of the direction of the Yankees, and in December 2005, the Yankees signed center fielder Johnny Damon from the archrival Red Sox. The Yankees also signed Kyle Farnsworth, Mike Myers, Octavio Dotel and Ron Villone to improve their bullpen, which had been a weak point during the 2005 season.
An in-game meeting on the mound featuring, from left to right, Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, Randy Johnson, Jorge Posada, and Joe Torre.Despite losing starting outfielders Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield to injuries early in the season, the Yankees finished the first half of the 2006 season with 50 wins and 36 losses, three games behind the Red Sox. But they caught up to the Red Sox, and on August 18, the Yankees entered Fenway Park with a 1.5 game lead for a five game series. The series opened up with a doubleheader that the Yankees swept 12-4 and 14-11, echoing the Boston Massacre of 1978, and prompting the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy to dub the doubleheader sweep the "Son of Massacre". The Yankees went on to sweep all five games (calling the series the "Second Boston Massacre"). They outscored the Red Sox by a combined score of 49-26, and left them 6.5 games out of first place. The Red Sox would eventually end the season in third place in the AL East behind the Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays, making it the first time since 1998 that the Red Sox did not finish in second place behind the Yanks.
The division win was the ninth consecutive AL East title for the Yankees. When the New York Mets won their division (snapping the Atlanta Braves' eleven-year stranglehold on the NL East), it marked the first time ever that both New York teams won their respective divisions in the same year. Their 97-65 record tied the Mets for the best record of the year, giving New Yorkers hopes for another Subway Series. However, the Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers in four games in the ALDS, while the Mets lost the NLCS to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.
On October 11, 2006, days after the ALDS was over, tragedy struck when pitcher Cory Lidle died in a plane crash. It has yet to be determined if Lidle or his co-pilot, Tyler Stanger, who was also killed, was piloting the plane which crashed into a highrise apartment building on East 72nd Street on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Lidle was the second active Yankee to be killed in a crash of his own private plane, following Thurman Munson's death in 1979.
Changes during the 2006-2007 off-season included the trading of Gary Sheffield and Jaret Wright, and the signings of Japanese pitcher Kei Igawa and former Yankee Andy Pettitte, who left the Yankees after 2003. In early January, the team traded Randy Johnson to the Arizona Diamondbacks for reliever Luis Vizcaํno and three minor leagers. Longtime outfielder Bernie Williams, the longest-tenured Yankee player as of 2006 and currently a free agent, declined the non-roster Spring Training invitation that was extended to him. Also during the offseason, Don Mattingly, who had served as the Yankees' hitting instructor for the previous three seasons, was promoted to bench coach.
Celebrity fans
The Yankees also have many celebrity fans. Among them:
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is commonly seen at games and flashed on the video screen.
Actor/Director Billy Crystal is also frequently seen at games; he directed a memorable movie named 61* in 2001 which highlighted Roger Maris' chase of Babe Ruth's single-season home run record in 1961.
Actor Adam Sandler has flaunted his Yankee loyalty in several of his movies, most notably in Anger Management where several scenes are actually shot at Yankee Stadium.
Other famous celebrity fans include:
Actor Jack Nicholson
Business mogul Donald Trump
Director Spike Lee
Actor Denzel Washington
Actress Penny Marshall
Comedian Artie Lange
Actress Sarah Jessica Parker
The Yankees' hat is often seen in public worn by rappers to show an identity with New York City. Artists spotted with this look include Nas, Fat Joe, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Fred Durst, Jay-Z, P-Diddy, Daddy Yankee, H้ctor El Father, and Jadakiss.
The popularity of the Yankees' hat has grown to include color patterns not actually used by the Yankees. This is probably most notable in rock band Limp Bizkit's video for the song "Nookie", in which lead singer Fred Durst wore a red Yankees hat.
Critics
With the long-term success of the franchise and a large Yankee fanbase, other teams' fans across the nation have come to hate the Yankees. This is most apparent among New England fans of the Boston Red Sox, but the hatred extends to other places. It has become a tradition at many road games for the home crowd to chant "Yankees Suck!", even or especially if the Yankees are winning. During 2002, shirts with this phrase were sold during a Yankees-Mariners series in Seattle, which is 2,500 miles away from New York.
Much of the animosity toward the team may derive from the its payroll (which was around $194 million at the start of the 2006 season, the highest of any American sports team), and the free agent superstars the team attracts or buys in the offseason.
Other reasons for anti-Yankee feelings go as far back as the 1950s, with aging diehard Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants fans, some still in New York, some transplanted elsewhere, still feeling the pain of the years that the Yankees repeatedly defeated their teams.
Famed sports columnist Mike Royko summed it up when he said, "Hating the Yankees is as American as pizza pie, unwed mothers, and cheating on your income tax."
Fight and theme songs
The official fight song for the Yankees is "Here Come the Yankees", written in 1967 by Bob Bundin and Lou Stallman. While its old form with lyrics is not used as often, it is still heard frequently in instrumental form, most prominently in radio broadcasts.
Another song strongly linked to the team is "New York, New York", which is played in the stadium after home games. The Frank Sinatra cover version is traditionally played after victories, the Liza Minnelli original version after losses.
A wide selection of songs is played at the stadium, many of them live on the Stadium's Hammond organ. God Bless America has been played during the 7th inning stretch since September 11, and is sung by Dr. Ronan Tynan on the days of major games, complete with long lyrical intro. This practice is criticized by some, as it stretches the break between the innings, throwing off the rhythm of the opposing pitcher.
During the 5th, the grounds-crew, while performing their duties, dances to "Y.M.C.A.". "Cotton-Eyed Joe" once played during the 7th inning stretch, but is now pushed back to the 8th in favor of "God Bless America". On the DiamondVision screen, a man in farmer's garb is shown dancing in the stadium's control room, the words "Cotton-Eyed Joey" at the bottom. The organist will sometimes play the "Zorba the Greek Theme", accompanied by clapping from the audience, to excite the crowd and encourage a rally.
Some players have their own songs which are played in celebration of their accomplishments, or to introduce them. Examples include Bernie Williams, whose actions are often accompanied by the lines "Burn (Bern) baby burn (Bern)" from "Disco Inferno", and Mariano Rivera, who gets a great ovation from the fans when he comes out from the bullpen to Metallica's "Enter Sandman". Occasionally, Hideki Matsui will come out to Blue ึyster Cult's "Godzilla", as his nickname is "Godzilla", in reference to his Japanese heritage.
When the Yankees take the field the song, "Get Ready For This" is played with the fans usually clapping along.
During the 1993 season, "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister was played after every win, before "New York, New York". Kiss's, "New York Groove" was used many times during the 70's as well as during some more recent playoff games.
When the Yankees are either tied or behind in the late innings (usually the 8th innning), "Going The Distance" from the Rocky II soundtrack is played while, on the DiamondVision screen, a mix of the Rocky II training scene and Yankee highlights is shown.
The YES Network
In 1997, Cablevision bought MSG Network, home of the Yankees, and became owner of the television rights to all seven MLB, NBA, and NHL teams in New York City. This monopoly allowed MSG to use such tactics as putting games on channels that were not available to many Time Warner Cable or Comcast customers. In 1999, the Yankees and the New Jersey Nets formed a partnership, and discussed their options. Due to the success of the Yankees in the late 90's, giving their brand name a boost, they decided to leave and form a new network.
The Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network launched in 2002, and served as the home of the New York Yankees during the baseball season, and the New Jersy Nets for the rest of the year, giving it live sports coverage for the entire year. It also offered original programming such as Yankeeography, CenterStage, and the re-airing of older games under the name Yankees Classics. They also simulcast the popular New York radio show Mike and the Mad Dog as it airs on WFAN. The partnership between the Yankees and Nets ended in 2003, but the Nets still remain the part of YES they were since its beginning. YES has also begun airing programming for the New York Giants and Manchester United.
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