The play-in series between the 1978 Yankees and 1956 Yankees will be played Thursday. It is a best of five series.
1. 1927 Yankees
Owners of a 110-44 regular season record, the 1927 Yankees won by an average of 2.4 runs-per-game. All three outfielders (Earle Combs, Babe Ruth and Bob Meusel) hit over .337 and slugged over .510. A star-studded infield was led by Lou Gehrig who hit .373 and drove in 175 runs, while only striking out 84 times. Babe Ruth set the single-season homerun record, blasting 60 round-trippers and slugging .772. Starting pitcher and captain Herb Pennock led the rotation to a 3.20 ERA and a sweep over the Pirates in the World Series.
2. 1998 Yankees
Derek Jeter's team won its second World Series in three years and broke the single-season wins mark (125-50 including the playoffs) without having one hitter knock 30 homers. Tino Martinez came closest hitting 28 homeruns. A great rotation was led by Andy Pettitte, David Wells and David Cone. Orlando Hernandez was signed mid-season as a Cuban defect and made an immediate impact, posting a 12-4 record and a 3.13 ERA.
3. 1961 Yankees
Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris led the offense to combine for 115 homeruns (54 and 61, respectively). Six players hit at least 20 homers as the Yankees set the team record for most homeruns in a season with 240. A great rotation was headed by Cy Young winner Whitey Ford (25-4, 3.21 ERA), Ralph Terry (16-3, 3.15 ERA) and Bill Stafford (14-9, 2.68 ERA). The Yankees beat the Reds in a five game World Series.
4. 1939 Yankees
Red Ruffing was the ace of the staff going 21-7 with a 2.93 ERA. Ruffing also played his part offensively, hitting .307 and driving in 20 runs from the nine-hole in the lineup. Fourth-year player Joe DiMaggio hit .381 with 30 homeruns, 126 RBI and only 20 strikeouts, while playing a stellar defensive centerfield. The Yankees swept the Reds in the World Series.
5. 1932 Yankees
Like the '27 Yankees, this team was anchored by a three-four combination of right fielder Babe Ruth (.341-41-137) and first baseman Lou Gehrig (.349-34-151). On a pitching staff that was not superb - they had a 3.98 team ERA - Red Ruffing was the lone stand-out with an 18-7 record and 3.09 ERA. The Yankees dominated games with their offense en route to scoring 1,002 runs and sweeping the Cubs in the World Series, a series that featured Babe Ruth calling his famous homerun in Wrigley Field.
6. 1950 Yankees
Rookie Whitey Ford joined the rotation mid-season and made an impression from his first day going 9-1 with a 2.81 ERA in 112 innings and finishing second in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Walt Dropo. Johnny Mize hit 25 homeruns in only 274 at bats and Joe DiMaggio hit .301 with 122 R.B.I. in his final full season in the Major Leagues. An offense that scored 914 runs was led by Yogi Berra's 124 R.B.I. en route to a sweep over the Phillies in the World Series.
7. 1947 Yankees
Unlike most of the great Yankees' teams, the 1947 Yankees were more dominating on the mound than at the plate. In order to compensate for a sometimes sputtering offense - an offense that did not a representative from the 100 R.B.I. club - the pitching staff posted a team ERA of 3.39. Ace Allie Reynolds was 19-8 with a 3.20 ERA in 241.2 innings. Spud Chandler had a 2.46 ERA and Bobo Newsom had a 2.80. They beat Jackie Robinson's Brooklyn Dodgers in a seven-game World Series.
1978 Yankees and 1956 Yankees
Because Ron Guidry had such a spectacular year in 1978 (25-3 with a 1.74 ERA in over 270 innings), people forget that Ed Figueroa also put up Cy Young-quality numbers going 20-9 with a 2.99 ERA. That's not bad for a number two starter.
In 1956, Mickey Mantle had the best year of his career hitting .353 with 52 homers and 130 R.B.I. Whitey Ford went 19-6 with a 2.47 ERA, finishing third in the Cy Young voting. Don't forget, this is the year that Don Larsen threw the World Series' only perfect game. Now let's see if he can do it in the play-in series.
- D. Spell
1 comment:
Why wasn't the 1936 team included? No regular batted below .287. 6 Regulars hit above .300. 5 regular players, including a rookie Joe DiMaggio, drove in over 100 RBI's. Gehrig, in an MVP season, was 49-152-.354. (He didn't even have the higest BA on the team - Dickey did, at .362. 4 PLayers scored over 100 runs (Dickey was at 99 and Selkirk was at 93).
The team won 102 games, with only one 20 game winner (Ruffing). Pearson had 19 wins. This was clearly a team that survived on its hitting brawn, as the team's ERA was 4.17, which was high for that decade's pennant winners. This was also the first WS win of 4in a row for the NYY. This team weas certainly better than some of your other choices. Curious as to what criteria you used to knock this team out of contention?
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