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The New York Yankees are one of the oldest baseball clubs in the majors. The Yankees began playing in 1901 in the American League. The Yankees started out with two decades of struggle. The team never won a pennant and only finished second twice. The team regularly finished near the bottom of the standings, well under .500.That all changed in 1920 when the Red Sox, one the most successful teams in the majors at the time, sold the contract of Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Ruth had been a pitcher who was instrumental in the Red Sox three World Series appearances from 1916 to 1918. The trade reversed the roles of the teams and the Yankees went on to win 26 World Series and the Boston Red Sox went on an 86-year drought.
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About The New York Yankees
The Yankees turned Ruth into an outfielder and the Sultan of Swat took the Yankees to three straight World Series. The team won it first in 1923 when Lou Gehrig joined the team. Ruth’s time with Yankees ended in 1933 after seven AL Pennants and four World Series titles.
The Yankees followed Ruth with Joe DiMaggio. DiMaggio patrolled center field for the club and played for the club until 1951. He won three AL MVPs, led the league in batting average twice, led the league in home runs twice, and finished his career with 361 home runs. The Yankees DiMaggio and Gehrig won ten World Series in 11 tries.
DiMaggio’s later career coincided with the additions of Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Elston Howard, and Roger Maris. The Hall of Fame roster dominated the rest of the ‘50s and the first part of the ‘60s with 11 AL Pennants and six World Series titles.
The years after 1964 with the stars leaving the club were tough for the team. The Yankees finished near the bottom of the AL East for the first time in over forty years. The team would wait until new ownership took over before becoming a force again in the late ‘70s.
George Steinbrenner purchased the club from CBS in 1973 and immediately took advantage of free agency. The Yankees signed pitcher Catfish Hunter right away. After the Yankees failed to win the World Series in 1976, Steinbrenner opened his pocket book again and signed Reggie Jackson. Manager Billy Martin and Steinbrenner fought constantly, but produced winners, winning the first World Series since 1962 in 1977 and repeating in 1978.
The Yankees remained competitive for a couple more years, but fell into a slump that lasted from 1982 to 1994. The slump included a number of second place finishes and an MVP year by Don Mattingly in 1985, but for the Yankees a slump meant not returning to the World Series in 1996.
The Yankees of he late ‘90s dominated with Joe Torre as manager, short stop Derek Jeter, and a host of changing rosters that included David Wells, Mike Stanton, Scott Brosius, Chuck Knoblauch, Darryl Strawberry, and Orlando Hernandez.
The Yankees won the World Series in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000. The team continued to make high priced moves after the turn of the century, notably picking up Alex Rodriguez and his massive contract, but have failed to win another World Series despite threatening in the playoffs every year.
The Yankees Brian Cashman simply could not sit on his hands this offseason. The roster lost quite a few key players, so he went spent freely. The thing is that the investments do not look all that bad. Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte (barring any resigning) have been replaced by C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. If the New York Yankees can find another starter, this rotation will rank among the best in the league going into the season.
Nick Swisher was brought over in trade from the White Sox and Mark Teixeira was the bell of the free agent ball, signing a $180 million, eight-year deal. The additions give the lineup some pop after it was looking like Alex Rodriguez would be the only power option in the new Yankee Stadium. The great roster moves may not be enough, as the AL East is the best division in baseball and the signings simply improved the club a little bit after it ended last season in third place.
