New York Yankees Team History

The Polo Grounds burned down in 1911 and the Highlanders allowed the Giants to play in Hilltop Park during reconstruction. Relations between the two teams warmed, and the Highlanders would move into the newly rebuilt Polo Grounds in 1913. Now playing on the Harlem River, a far cry from their high-altitude home, the name “Highlanders” no longer applied, and fell into disuse among the press. The media had already widely adopted the “Yankees” nickname coined by the New York Press, and in 1913 the team became officially known as the New York Yankees.

By the middle of the decade, Yankees owners Farrell and Devery had become estranged and both were in dire need of money. At the start of 1915, they sold the team to Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Captain Tillinghast L’Hommedieu Huston for $1.25 million. Ruppert inherited a brewery fortune, providing the Yankees with an owner who possessed deep pockets and a willingness to dig into them to produce a winning team. This would lead the team to more success and prestige than Ruppert could ever have envisioned.

World Series – 1928
In the 1928 World Series, the New York Yankees swept the St. Louis Cardinals in four games. This was the first time a team had swept consecutive Series. Babe Ruth hit .625 (10 for 16) as the Yankees demolished their opponents by a combined score of 27 to 10. As he had done against the Cards in the 1926 Series, Ruth rocketed three home runs over the right field pavilion in Sportsman’s Park in Game 4, the only one to do it twice in the World Series through the 2014 season. Unlike 1926, however, it occurred in the final game of a Series won by the Yanks and put an exclamation mark on their two consecutive World Series sweeps.

World Series – 1927
In the 1927 World Series, the New York Yankees swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in four games. This was the first sweep of a National League team by an American League team. That year, the Yankees led the American League in runs scored, hits, triples, home runs, base on balls, batting average, slugging average and on-base percentage. It featured legends Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig at their peaks. The team won a then-league record 110 games, finished with a 19-game lead over second place, and are considered by many to be the greatest team in the history of baseball.

World Series – 1923
In the 1923 World Series, the New York Yankees beat the New York Giants in six games. This would be the first of the Yankees’ 27 World Series champibonships (as of 2014). The series was not played in a 2–3–2 format; the home field alternated each game.

World Series – 1937
The 1937 World Series featured the defending champion New York Yankees and the New York Giants in a rematch of the 1936 Series. The Yankees won in five games, for their second championship in a row and their sixth in fifteen years (1923, 1927–28, 1932, 1936).

World Series – 1936
The 1936 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the New York Giants, with the Yankees winning in six games to earn their fifth championship. The Yankees played their first World Series without Babe Ruth and their first with Joe DiMaggio, Ruth having been released by the Yankees after the 1934 season. He retired in 1935 as a member of the Boston Braves.

World Series – 1932
The 1932 World Series was a four-game sweep by the American League New York Yankees over the National League Chicago Cubs. By far its most noteworthy moment was Babe Ruth’s called shot home run, in his tenth and last World Series. It was punctuated by fiery arguments between the two teams, heating up the atmosphere before the Series even began.

World Series – 1943
The 1943 World Series matched the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals against the New York Yankees, in a rematch of the 1942 Series. The Yankees won the Series in five games for their tenth championship in 21 seasons. It was Yankees’ manager Joe McCarthy’s final Series win. This series was also the first to have a ‘World Series highlight film’ made for it (initially, the films were created as gifts to troops fighting in World War II, to give them a brief recap of baseball action back home), a tradition which continues to this day.

World Series – 1941
The 1941 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers, with the Yankees winning in five games to capture their fifth title in six years, and their ninth overall.World Series – 1939
The 1939 World Series featured the three-time defending champion New York Yankees against the Cincinnati Reds, who were making their first Series appearance since winning the scandal tainted 1919 World Series. The Yankees swept the Series in four games for the second straight year, winning their record fourth consecutive title they would later win five straight from 1949 to 1953. Yankee manager Joe McCarthy won his fifth title, tying the record held by Philadelphia Athletics manager Connie Mack.

World Series – 1939
The 1939 World Series featured the three-time defending champion New York Yankees against the Cincinnati Reds, who were making their first Series appearance since winning the scandal tainted 1919 World Series. The Yankees swept the Series in four games for the second straight year, winning their record fourth consecutive title they would later win five straight from 1949 to 1953. Yankee manager Joe McCarthy won his fifth title, tying the record held by Philadelphia Athletics manager Connie Mack.

World Series – 1938
The 1938 World Series matched the two-time defending champion New York Yankees against the Chicago Cubs, with the Yankees sweeping the Series in four games for their seventh championship overall and record third straight (they would win four in a row from 1936 to 1939, and five in a row later from 1949 to 1953).

World Series – 1953
The 1953 World Series matched the four-time defending champion New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers in a rematch of the 1952 Series, and the fourth such matchup between the two teams in the past seven seasons. The Yankees won in six games for their fifth straight title a mark which has not been equalled and their sixteenth overall. Billy Martin recorded his 12th hit of the Series scoring Hank Bauer in Game 6.

World Series – 1952
The 1952 World Series featured the three-time defending champion New York Yankees beating the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games. The Yankees won their fourth straight title tying the mark they set between 1936 and 1939 under manager Joe McCarthy, and Casey Stengel became the second manager in Major League history with four consecutive championships. It was the 15th championship in the Yankees’ history, and the third defeat of the Dodgers in six years.

World Series – 1951
The 1951 World Series matched the two-time defending champion New York Yankees against the New York Giants, who had won the National League pennant in a thrilling three-game playoff with the Brooklyn Dodgers on the legendary home run by Bobby Thomson (the Shot Heard ‘Round the World).

World Series – 1950
The 1950 World Series was the 47th World Series between the American and National Leagues for the championship of Major League Baseball. The Philadelphia Phillies as 1950 champions of the National League and the New York Yankees, as 1950 American League champions, competed to win a best-of-seven game series.

World Series – 1949
The 1949 World Series featured the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers, with the Yankees winning in five games for their second defeat of the Dodgers in three years, and the twelfth championship in team history. This victory would start a record run of five consecutive World Series championships by the Yankees, and was also the first of 14 AL pennants in 16 years (1949 – 1964 except for 1954 and 1959) for the Yankees.

World Series – 1947
The 1947 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Yankees won the Series in seven games for their first title since 1943, and their eleventh World Series championship in team history. Yankees manager Bucky Harris won the Series for the first time since managing the Washington Senators to their only title in 1924.

World Series – 1962
The 1962 World Series matched the defending American League and World Series champions New York Yankees against the National League champion San Francisco Giants, who had won their first NL pennant since 1954 and first since moving from New York in 1958, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three game playoff.

World Series – 1961
The 1961 World Series matched the New York Yankees (109–53) against the Cincinnati Reds (93–61), with the Yankees winning in five games to earn their 19th championship in 39 seasons. This World Series was surrounded by Cold War political puns pitting the “Reds” against the “Yanks”. But the louder buzz concerned the “M&M” boys, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, who spent the summer chasing the ghost of Babe Ruth and his 60 home run season of 1927. Mantle finished with 54 while Maris set the record of 61 on the last day of the season. With all the attention surrounding the home run race, the World Series proved almost anti-climactic.

World Series – 1958
The 1958 World Series was a rematch of the 1957 Series, with the New York Yankees beating the defending champion Milwaukee Braves in seven games for their 18th title, and their seventh in 10 years. With that victory, the Yankees became only the second team in Major League Baseball history to come back from a 3–1 deficit to win a best-of-seven World Series; the first was the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates. The 1903 Boston Red Sox came back from a 3–1 deficit in a best-of-nine affair. Both teams would meet again in the fall classic thirty-eight years later by that time, the Braves had moved to Atlanta.

World Series – 1956
The 1956 World Series of Major League Baseball was played between the New York Yankees (representing the American League) and the defending champion Brooklyn Dodgers (representing the National League) during October 1956. The Series was a rematch of the 1955 World Series. It was the last all New York Series until 2000; the Dodgers and the New York Giants moved to California after the 1957 season.

The Yankees had been struggling during their years under CBS ownership, which had acquired the team in 1965. In 1972, CBS Chairman William S. Paley told team president E. Michael Burke the media company intended to sell the club. As Burke later told writer Roger Kahn, Paley offered to sell the franchise to Burke if he could find financial backing. Steinbrenner, who had participated in a failed attempt to buy the Cleveland Indians from Vernon Stouffer one year earlier, was brought together with Burke by veteran baseball executive Gabe Paul.

On January 3, 1973, Steinbrenner and minority partner Burke led a group of investors, which included Lester Crown, John DeLorean and Nelson Bunker Hunt, in purchasing the Yankees from CBS. For years, the selling price was reported to be $10 million. However, Steinbrenner later revealed that the deal included two parking garages that CBS had bought from the city, and soon after the deal closed, CBS bought back the garages for $1.2 million. The net cost to the group for the Yankees was therefore $8.8 million.

From 2006 to his death, George Steinbrenner spent most of his time in Tampa, Florida. After the 2007 season and the decision not to bring back manager Joe Torre, Steinbrenner was in poor enough health that he officially retired and handed control of the Yankees to his sons Hank and Hal Steinbrenner. Hank in particular shows similar traits to his father.

World Series – 1996
The 1996 World Series matched the defending champion Atlanta Braves against the New York Yankees, with the Yankees winning in six games, despite being outscored 26–18, to capture their first championship since 1978, and their 23rd overall. The Yankees became the third team to win a World Series after dropping Games 1 and 2 at home, following the 1985 Kansas City Royals and the 1986 New York Mets. They also became the first team since the 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers (Yankees lost to the Dodgers in 1981) to win four straight games after dropping the first two.

World Series – 1978
The 1978 World Series matched the defending champion New York Yankees against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a rematch of the 1977 Series, with the Yankees winning in six games to repeat as champions.

World Series – 1977
The 1977 World Series was the 83rd edition of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) championship series. The best-of-seven playoff was contested between the New York Yankees, champions of the American League (AL) and defending American League champions, and the Los Angeles Dodgers, champions of the National League (NL). The Yankees defeated the Dodgers, four games to two, to win the franchise’s 21st World Series championship, their first since 1962, and the first under the ownership of George Steinbrenner. The Series was played between October 11 and 18, broadcast on ABC.

World Series – 2009
The 2009 World Series was the 105th edition of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) championship series. The best-of-seven playoff was contested between the Philadelphia Phillies, champions of the National League (NL) and defending World Series champions, and the New York Yankees, champions of the American League (AL). The Yankees defeated the Phillies, four games to two, to win the franchise’s 27th World Series championship. The series was played between October 28 and November 4, broadcast on Fox, and watched by an average of roughly 19 million viewers.

World Series – 2000
The 2000 World Series, the 96th edition of Major League Baseball’s championship series, featured a crosstown matchup between the two-time defending champion New York Yankees and the New York Mets, with the Yankees winning four games to one for their third straight championship and 26th overall. It marks, to date, the last World Series with a repeat champion. It was the first postseason Subway Series since 1956. The Yankees were in the World Series for the third straight year, fourth in the previous five, and 37th time overall the most of any team in the MLB, while the Mets made their fourth World Series appearance the most of any expansion franchise in the MLB and its first since winning the title in the 1986 World Series.

World Series – 1999
The 1999 World Series, the 95th edition of Major League Baseball’s championship series, featured a match between the defending champions New York Yankees (representing the American League) against the Atlanta Braves (representing the National League) during the month of October, with the Yankees sweeping the Series in four games for their second title in a row, third in four years, and 25th overall. It is remembered for Chad Curtis’ home run in Game 3, which gave the Yankees a 6–5 victory and Game 2, featuring Jim Gray of NBC’s infamous interview with Pete Rose.

World Series – 1998
The 1998 World Series, the 94th edition of Major League Baseball’s championship series, matched the New York Yankees (representing the American League) against the San Diego Padres (representing the National League). The Yankees swept the Series in four games to capture their second championship in three years, and their 24th overall. It was San Diego’s second World Series appearance, and the first since losing in 1984 to the Detroit Tigers. This was officially the first World Series that Bud Selig presided as Commissioner of Baseball, although he had presided over the Commissioner’s Trophy presentation at the end of the 1995 and 1997 World Series.