New York Yankees

Foundation until opening Yankee Stadium

The Yankees were founded in Baltimore in 1901. There, like today's Baltimore team, they played their first two seasons in the MLB under the name Baltimore Orioles. On January 9, 1903, Frank Farrell and Bill Devery bought the club for the American League and moved the team to Manhattan. The team's new name was the New York Highlanders until 1912. The deciding factor for the name was Hilltop Park at the corner of 165th and 168th Street, which was one of the highest points in Manhattan at the time. As early as 1904, New York Press sportswriter Jim Price christened the Highlanders the "Yankees" or "Yanks," which was a common name for the Yankees at the time. The reason for the simple nickname was simply size, which fit better in the newspaper's headlines. Due to a fire at the stadium of the San Francisco Giants, then still playing in New York, in 1911, the Highlanders allowed the Giants to share Hilltop Park until their home stadium, Polo Grounds, was rebuilt. In return, the Highlanders moved to the Polo Grounds and officially called themselves the New York Yankees, as the name "Highlanders" no longer fit due to their new home. With the signing of German-born player George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. and his still legendary ability to play baseball, and especially to hit home runs, the Yankees now attracted more spectators than the Giants. The rivalry then culminated in 1921 at their shared stadium, the Polo Grounds. The teams met in the World Series, in which the Yankees lost to the Giants in 5 of 8 games. As a result, the Giants' manager at the time recommended that the Yankees find a new home of their own. In 1922, the Yankees again lost to the Giants in the World Series. The officials of the Bronx Bombers, as the Yankees were also called, looked for a place right next to the Giants across the Harlem River in the Bronx. In 1923, they moved to the new stadium, which could hold 58,000 spectators. It was nicknamed "The House That Ruth Built," which is figurative because of the money that could be made from its attractive style of play and its hitting power.

1923–1945

On April 18, 1923, Yankee Stadium, built at a cost of $2.4 million, opened in the Bronx and Babe Ruth hit the first home run in its new home.

In their third attempt, the Yankees scored their first World Series triumph against the Giants in 1923. In the 7-game series (best-of-seven), the Yankees won 4 games to 2 and thus secured their first title. Also, for the first time, postseason matchups, playoff games after the regular season, were held in the new large Yankee Stadium. The size was one of the reasons why more than 300,000 spectators were able to watch the World Series for the first time.

In 1926, the Yankees won the American League again, but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

The 1927 New York Yankees team is still considered by many baseball experts to be one of the strongest teams in baseball history. In the regular season, the Yankees managed 110 wins with only 44 losses. The Pittsburgh Pirates didn't stand a chance in the World Series either, losing 4-0. The next World Series triumph came in 1928, this time against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Yankees managed another sweep, i.e. the Cardinals remained without a win in the series against the Yankees.

In 1929, the Yankees became the first team to have back numbers on their jerseys. But the next success in the World Series was not until 1932. Joe McCarthy had taken over the manager post of the Yankees, with him a second successful era would begin with the Yankees. Seven victories in the World Series in eight appearances under his direction in the years from 1932 to 1946 speak for themselves. In 1932 the Yankees defeated the Chicago Cubs clearly with 4-0, in 1936 the New York Giants were defeated with 4-2. In 1937, the Yankees again got the better of their local rival Giants, and in 1938, the Chicago Cubs again went winless in the Fall Classic. A year later, the Cincinnati Reds had no chance and also lost 4-0. In 1941, the Yankees met the Brooklyn Dodgers for the first time. The Yankees won with 4:1. The following year it came to the only World Series defeat under Joe McCarthy. The New York Yankees were defeated 4-1 by the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1943 the Yankees took revenge and turned the tables.

1946–1975

The next success in the World Series came in 1947, with Bucky Harris as manager and the Brooklyn Dodgers as opponents in the finals. In a thrilling series, the Yankees had the better end with a narrow 4:3. The clashes between the two local rivals were called the Subway Series.

Casey Stengel was the Yankees' manager from 1949 to 1960. His tenure included seven World Series titles and three American League victories. In 1949, 1952, 1953 and 1956 they celebrated victories against the Brooklyn Dodgers, who prevailed in 1955. In 1950, they defeated the Philadelphia Phillies. In 1951 they defeated the Giants, in 1958 they lost to the Milwaukee Braves, a year before they had been successful. In the final year of his tenure, Casey Stengel's men lost the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3.

Ralph Houk was the manager of the Yankees in 1961, 1962 and 1963. In the first two years the Yankees could celebrate the championship again, in the last year they lost in the World Series. Defeated were the Cincinnati Reds and the San Francisco Giants, there was a clear 0:4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yogi Berra was able to reach the World Series again in 1964 as the new manager, but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals by a narrow margin of 3:4.

Since 1976

It would take until 1976 for the Yankees to return to their glorious past. In 1976 they lost under manager Billy Martin with 0:4 against the Cincinnati Reds, but remained successful in 1977 and 1978 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 1980 and 1981 the Yankees still participated in the play-offs, but remained unsuccessful until 1994. In 1994 under Buck Showalter the Yankees played an excellent season, but could not win, because the player strike ended the season prematurely and there was no champion in the MLB for the first time in 90 years.

In 1995, the Yankees reached the playoffs with a wild card, losing 3-2 to the Seattle Mariners in the Division Series. In 1996, Joe Torre took over as manager, and the Yankees have participated in every playoff since. In 1996, they defeated the Atlanta Braves 4-2 in the World Series, and in 1998 and 1999, the Yankees needed the minimum 8 games to defeat the San Diego Padres and again the Atlanta Braves.

A rematch of the Subway Series came in 2000 in the World Series against the New York Mets. In 2001, the Yankees lost in a dramatic World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks with 3:4. The next appearance of the Yankees in the final series was in the World Series 2003, where the Yankees lost surprisingly to the underdog Florida Marlins with 2:4.

In 2004, the Yankees lost 4-3 to the Boston Red Sox after taking a 3-0 lead in the League Championship Series, missing out on a spot in the 2004 World Series and becoming the first team in baseball history to lose a playoff series after taking a 3-0 lead.

After that loss, it took until 2009 for the Yankees to win another playoff series. By subsequently winning their 40th American League title, they made it to the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. With a 4-2 win in the World Series, the Yankees won their 27th World Series title after a drought of 8 years (the third longest time without a title win after 1979-1995 as well as 1963-1976).

In the 2010 season, the Yankees narrowly missed winning the American League East, but advanced to the Division Series as a wild-card team. There, they beat the Minnesota Twins soundly in three games. In the Championship Series that followed, however, they lost to the Texas Rangers 2-4.

During the season, the Yankees suffered the deaths of their owner George Steinbrenner and their longtime stadium announcer Bob Sheppard.

2012

In Game 3 of the Division Series against the Baltimore Orioles, Raul Ibanez hit a home run in the 9th inning while trailing 2-1 to tie the game. The last person to do that was Alex Rodriguez in 2009, who did it twice. Ibanez became the 6th player in the postseason to accomplish that. The others were: Pat Sheridan in 1985 for the Kansas City Royals, Kirk Gibson in 1988 for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Ed Sprague, Jr. in 1992 for the Toronto Blue Jays, Jim Leyritz in 1998 for the San Diego Padres and J.T. Snow in 2000 for the San Francisco Giants. He also hit the game-winning solo single home run in the 12th inning. In doing so, he became the first player to hit 2 home runs in a postseason game, in the 9th inning or later to tie or take the lead.

Rankings of the last years

The colored cells describe your own performance in the AL East, the numbers in parentheses describe the distances to the other teams at the end of the season.
WC = Wild Card, ALDS = AL Division Series reached, ALCS = AL Championship Series reached, AL = AL Pennant (World Series lost), WSC = World Series Champion