Based in the borough of The Bronx, The New York Yankees are a Major League Baseball team. Its name is often shortened to “the Yanks”, and their most significantly used nickname is “the Bronx Bombers”, or simply “the Bombers”. Detractors as the Bronx Zoo or the Evil Empire sometimes refer to the organization.
One of the American League’s eight charter franchises, founded in Baltimore, Maryland in 1901 as the Baltimore Orioles, moving to New York in 1903 to become the New York Highlanders. From 1923 the Yankees have played at Yankee Stadium. They 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 Canadians’ 24 titles in 1999. They are also the only team represented in the National Baseball Hall of Fame at every position. They have even faced every winner of the National League pennant in the World Series except for the Houston Astros, who won their first pennant in 2005.
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 on the supposed Curse of the Bambino, and has gained even more significance with the creation of the Wild Card in 1995, which allowed the two teams to meet in the playoffs.
Franchise history
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.
The team was known as the Baltimore Orioles and began playing in 1901 with John McGraw as manager. McGraw had an argument with Johnson, who enforced the rules about loudness 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 raided the teams for players. The AL stepped in and took control of the team, eager to move the team to New York.
The Highlanders (1903-1912)
Hilltop Park was located at 165th Street and Broadway in Manhattan, near the highest point on the island. In the spring of 1904, the name that eventually sticks was the New York Highlanders, reference to the team’s location and also to the noted British military unit The Gordon Highlanders. It fit, as the team’s president from 1903 to 1906 was Joseph Gordon.
The team enjoyed success only twice, finishing second place in 1904 and 1910 as the Highlanders. Much of the team’s Hilltop Park days were spent in the basement.
The high point of the Highlander’s existence came on the last day of the 1904 season at Hilltop Park. New York pitcher Jack Chesbro threw a wild pitch in the ninth inning, allowing the eventual pennant-winning run to score for the Boston Americans.
New Owners, A New Home, and a New Name (1913-1922)
In 1911 the Polo Grounds, home of the Giants, destroyed in a fire, the Highlanders let the Giants play in Hilltop Park while the Polo Grounds was being rebuilt. In 1913, they moved into Polo Grounds after their agreement to play at Hilltop Park ended. Now playing on the Harlem River, the “Highlanders” name had no meaning. The name “Yankees” was occasionally applied to the club as a variation on “Americans”. On April 7, 1904, a spring training story from Richmond, Virginia carried the headline “Yankees Will Start Home From South To-Day.” The New York Evening Journal screamed: “YANKEES BEAT BOSTON”. Now, in 1913, the New York Highlanders officially changed their name to the New York Yankees.
By the mid 1910’s, owners Farrell and Devery had separated, both in dire need of money. At the start of 1915, the duo sold the team to Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Captain Tillinghast L’Hommedieu Huston. Ruppert inherited fortune and had also been tied to the Tammany Hall machine, serving as a Congressman for eight years. However, now had an owner possessing willingness to dig into them to produce a winning team.
Joe Torre and a new dynasty (1996-2000)
The poor showing in the ’80s and early ’90s would start to change when management was able to implement a logical development program without interfering from Steinbrenner, suspended from day-to-day team operations by then-Commissioner Fay Vincent for hiring Howard Spira to reveal damaging information on former Yankee outfielder Dave Winfield. Under general managers Gene Michael and Bob Watson and manager Buck Showalter, the club turned its attention from buying talent to developing talent through its farm system. In 1994 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 abolished only after a memorable 1995 American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners where the Yankees won the first two games at home and dropped the next three in Seattle.
The 21st century (2001-Present)
In 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. By winning the banner 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 uninterrupted postseason series in successive years.
After the 2001 season, Paul O’Neill and Scott Brosius retired. Tino Martinez and Chuck Knoblauch left for free agency. The Yankees needed to rebuild the offense that was shut down by the Johnson-Schilling duo in the 2001 World Series. They signed 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 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. 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 highlighted the season. 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 that are Nolan Ryan and Steve Carlton.
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Macie is a staff writer for Ticket Nest ( www.ticketnest.com ) and enjoys writing about her travel, theater and concert experiences. She can be reached at macie@ticketnest.com
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