Welcome
history of the New York Yankees
The New York Yankees, a professional baseball team, are usually considered the most successful professional sports franchise in history. The Yankees are also the best known American sports team worldwide. They are based in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. The club was one of the original American League teams but known as the Baltimore Orioles for their first two years. In 1903 they moved from Baltimore to New York and became the Highlanders. They officially became the “Yankees” in 1913.
The Yankees play at Yankee stadium, one of the most famous sports venues the world has ever known. The original stadium was built in 1923 and was known as “the house that Ruth built” referring to Babe Ruth, the famous Yankee slugger. In 2009 the team moved into the new Yankee stadium which was built on a site across the street from the original ballpark.
The Yankees have won 40 American League pennants qualifying them for more world series than any other major league team. They won their last world series in 2009 which was the 27th world championship in their storied history. The Yankees won their first series in 1923 and have won on average about one out of every three world series since that time. A remarkable feat in any sport.
In the past 110 years, the Yankees have featured some of the most famous players in major league baseball (MLB). George Herman “Babe” Ruth played for the Yankees from 1920 until 1934 after playing six years for the rival Boston Red Sox. Along with Lou Gehrig and several other great players, Ruth began the Yankee domination of the sport. After Ruth and Gehrig, the amazing Joe DiMaggio years followed until the 1950s when the role of superstar was filled by Mickey Mantle. At the end of Mantle’s career in the 1960s and into the early 1970s the Yankees had unusually mediocre teams.
In 1973 multi-millionaire George Steinbrenner led a group of investors to purchase the New York Yankees from CBS (the television network) which had bought the team in 1965 ( some believe that CBS was a major reason for the years of mediocrity). The recent “Curt Flood” court decision had led to free agency in major league baseball. Steinbrenner signed free agents like Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson to large contracts and rebuilt the team into a powerhouse returning to the World Series in 1976 after a 12 year absence.
Steinbrenner made the Yankees into the most valuable sports franchise in the world. Until his retirement in 2006, the Yankee owner used his pocketbook to assure that the Yankees remained as one of the elite teams in baseball. Over that time the number of stars wearing the famed Yankee pin stripped uniform are too numerous to mention. profit for the Yankees soared as sales of caps, jerseys, headbands, shoes, helmets, jewelry and anything else that could carry a Yankee logo was gobbled up by millions of fans, tourists and collectors.
Steinbrenner however had his share of controversy and detractors. fans of other teams have referred to the Yankees during his reign as the “Evil Empire” referencing Darth Vader’s dark side in the Star Wars movies .His on again off again relationship with sometimes Yankee manager Billy Martin often left both fans and Yankee haters perplexed. The talented gut volatile Martin was hired and fired five times by Steinbrenner and was set for a sixth stint before his untimely death in 1989.
The Yankees of today are still a very good baseball team with Derek Jeter as their current superstar. They made the 2011 playoffs but were eliminated rather quickly,, an unusual occurrence for Yankee fans. television, movies and the internet now take American sports around the world. As with some football and basketball teams, you will find Yankee fans in Utah, Texas, Los Angeles, Florida, Japan and even Thailand. Most of us like to be associated with winners and the New York Yankees are the definition of the word “winners”.
About the Author
I grew up near Syracuse, New York and was a huge Yankee fan in the late 50s and early 60s. Mickey Mantle was my favorite sports hero both then and now. In the 1970s I moved south and became an Atlanta Braves fan and one of those Yankee haters. In recent years after the drug scandals, strikes and ridiculous contracts, I have lost interest in major league baseball. However, I still daydream about Mickey, Yogi, Whitey and the boys when the fresh smell of a spring day reminds me of the great game of baseball.
