Baseball Home|Baseball Basics|Baseball History |Major League Baseball|Baseball Clothing & Apparel
Baseball Memorabilia|Baseball Books |Baseball Movies|Baseball Equipment

New York Yankees

The New York Yankees are a Major League baseball team based in the Bronx, New York, United States. They are in the Eastern Division of the American League.

Founded: 1893, as the Minneapolis, Minnesota franchise in the minor Western League. Moved to Baltimore, Maryland in 1900 when that league became the American League.
Formerly known as: Baltimore Orioles, 1901-1902. New York Highlanders, 1903-1910. "Yankees" and "Highlanders" used interchangeably over the next couple of years.
Home ballpark: Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx, New York City
Uniform colors: Midnight Blue with white or gray (Home uniform has distinctive pinstripes)
Logo design: Interlocking NY
Team theme song: "Here Come the Yankees" (1967), composed by Bob Bundin and Lou Stallman.
Division titles won (13): 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003.
American League pennants won (39): 1921, 1922, 1923, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003
World Series championships won (26): 1923, 1927, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1943, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1957, 1961, 1962, 1977, 1978, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000

New York Yankees History

In World Series play, the Yankees have won 26 and lost 13, over an 80-season span. This level of success is unmatched in professional sports in the United States. The team originated in Minneapolis as a team in the minor Western League. After the National League Baltimore franchise was disbanded in 1899, the club moved to Baltimore. The Western League became the American League, asserted major league status and began to compete with the established NL. For two years the club played there under manager John McGraw. When the league wrested control of the club from McGraw in order to move it to the more lucrative New York market, McGraw left for the competition in that market, the New York Giants and achieve substantial success with them. The Highlanders, as they were known, enjoyed brief moments of success, finishing in second place in the American League in 1904 and 1910, but spent much of the 1900s and 1910s in the cellar.

Under new ownership in the late 1910s, the Yankees, as they were now called, acquired a number of players who would later contribute to their success, mostly from the Boston Red Sox, whose owner, Harry Frazee, was unwilling to pay high salaries to the players on his team despite that team having won four World Series titles in the 1910s. The Yankees acquired pitchers Carl Mays, Bob Shawkey and Herb Pennock, catcher Wally Schang, and most notably, pitcher-turned-outfielder Babe Ruth. Led by manager Miller Huggins, the Yankees went through their first period of great success, winning six AL pennants and three World Series during the decade. The 1927 team featured the one-two punch of Ruth and Lou Gehrig and is sometimes considered to be the best team in the history of baseball (though similar claims have been made for other Yankee squads, notably those of 1939 and 1998).

In the 1930s, under manager Joe McCarthy: in the post-Ruth era, the Yankees won four straight World Series titles from 1936 through 1939 behind Gehrig and a bevy of new stars like Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing. In the 1950s, under Casey Stengel: bettering the McCarthy-era clubs, Stengel's squad won the World Series in his first five years as manager, 1949 through 1953. In twelve years, Stengel won 10 pennants and seven World Series titles. They were led by catcher Yogi Berra, outfielder Mickey Mantle and pitcher Whitey Ford, but unlike the star-studded McCarthy teams, the Yankees of the 1950s owed most of their success to Stengel's use of platooning and his ability to get the most out of average and slightly-above-average personnel.

After the 1964 season, CBS purchased the Yankees from Dan Topping and Del Webb for $11.2 million. Topping and Webb had owned the Yankees for 20 years, missing the World Series only 5 times, and going 10-5 in the World Series. During the 1970s, under Billy Martin, et al: George Steinbrenner purchased the club for $10 million on January 3, 1973 from the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), renovated Yankee Stadium, hired and fired Billy Martin a number of times, feuded with star outfielder Reggie Jackson, and presided over the resurgence of the Yankees in the late seventies. Jackson's three home runs in one game in the 1977 World Series (earning him the nickname "Mr. October") defined the period as much as Martin and Steinbrenner.

For the 1990s, under Joe Torre the Yankees entered the 1990s as a last-place team. In 1990, Yankee pitcher Andy Hawkins became the first pitcher ever to lose on a game in which he pitched a no-hitter, when he walked 3 men and the center fielder committed an error with bases loaded, scoring the 3 men on base plus the player who hit the ball to the center fielder. All that bad luck of the '80s and early '90s started to change when, under general manager Gene Michael (later Bob Watson) and manager Buck Showalter, the club shifted its emphasis from buying talent to developing talent through its farm system. Showalter, due to personality clashes with owner George Steinbrenner and his staff, left after the 1995 season, during which the Yankees returned to the postseason for the first time in 14 years. Joe Torre replaced Showalter and led the Yankees to a World Series victory in 1996. Bob Watson was dismissed when the Yankees failed to repeat in 1997, and was replaced by Brian Cashman. Torre and Cashman have, however, essentially won with the foundation laid by Michael, Watson, and Showalter before them, particularly the development of players like Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams, and the acquisition of linchpins Roger Clemens, David Wells, Tino Martinez and Paul O'Neill.

In October 2001, New York defeated the Oakland Athletics 3 games to 2 in the Divisional Series, and then defeated the Seattle Mariners in the American League Championship Series, 4 games to 1, before losing a close World Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks. In October 2003, the Yankees defeated their archrival Boston Red Sox in a tough seven game ALCS, which featured a near brawl in Game 3, and a walk off, series ending home run by Aaron Boone in the bottom of the 11th inning of the seventh game. They faced the Florida Marlins in the World Series, losing 4 games to 2.

New York Yankees Baseball Hall of Famers

  • Frank Baker
  • Yogi Berra
  • Frank Chance
  • Jack Chesbro
  • Earle Combs
  • Stan Coveleski
  • Bill Dickey
  • Joe DiMaggio
  • Leo Durocher
  • Whitey Ford
  • Lou Gehrig
  • Lefty Gomez
  • Clark Griffith
  • Burleigh Grimes
  • Waite Hoyt
  • Catfish Hunter
  • Reggie Jackson
  • Willie Keeler
  • Tony Lazzeri
  • Mickey Mantle
  • Bill McKechnie
  • Johnny Mize
  • Phil Niekro
  • Herb Pennock
  • Gaylord Perry
  • Phil Rizzuto
  • Red Ruffing
  • Babe Ruth
  • Joe Sewell
  • Enos Slaughter
  • Dazzy Vance
  • Paul Waner
  • Dave Winfield


    • New York Yankees Retired numbers

  • 1 Billy Martin
  • 3 Babe Ruth
  • 4 Lou Gehrig
  • 5 Joe DiMaggio
  • 7 Mickey Mantle
  • 8 Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey
  • 10 Phil Rizzuto
  • 15 Thurman Munson
  • 16 Whitey Ford
  • 23 Don Mattingly
  • 32 Elston Howard
  • 37 Casey Stengel
  • 42 Jackie Robinson (retired throughout baseball)
  • 44 Reggie Jackson


    • Cy Young Award Winners

  • 1958 Bob Turley
  • 1961 Whitey Ford
  • 1977 Sparky Lyle
  • 1978 Ron Guidry
  • 2001 Roger Clemens


    • Most Valuable Players

  • 1936 Lou Gehrig
  • 1939 Joe DiMaggio
  • 1941 Joe DiMaggio
  • 1942 Joe Gordon
  • 1943 Spud Chandler
  • 1947 Joe DiMaggio
  • 1950 Phil Rizzuto
  • 1951 Yogi Berra
  • 1954 Yogi Berra
  • 1955 Yogi Berra
  • 1956 Mickey Mantle
  • 1957 Mickey Mantle
  • 1960 Roger Maris
  • 1961 Roger Maris
  • 1962 Mickey Mantle
  • 1963 Elston Howard
  • 1976 Thurman Munson
  • 1985 Don Mattingly


    • Rookie Of the Year

  • 1951 Gil McDougald
  • 1954 Bob Grim
  • 1957 Tony Kubek
  • 1962 Tom Tresh
  • 1968 Stan Bahnsen
  • 1970 Thurman Munson
  • 1981 Dave Righetti
  • 1996 Derek Jeter


    • Batting Champion

  • 1924 Babe Ruth (.378)
  • 1934 Lou Gehrig (.363)
  • 1939 Joe DiMaggio (.381)
  • 1940 Joe DiMaggio (.352)
  • 1945 Snuffy Stirnweiss (.309)
  • 1956 Mickey Mantle (.353)
  • 1984 Don Mattingly (.343)
  • 1994 Paul O'Neill (.359)
  • 1998 Bernie Williams (.339)


    • New York Yankees Resources:

    New York Yankees Merchandise, Clothing and Jerseys