Luck.

 

"They say that luck is the residue of design," blurted the beginning of some inane YES ad for upcoming broadcasts last week.

No, "they" didn't say any such thing. 

Wesley Branch Rickey—seen here in his early days as a sore-armed catcher for your New York Highlanders—said it and lived it.

Rickey was the greatest general manager who ever lived, and almost the only one who could stand up to the Yankees juggernaut in its nautiest days. 

From 1923-53, the Yanks won 18 pennants and went 16-2 in the World Series, running up a record of 68-26 (.723) in the Fall Classic.  

The only two losses were to Rickey's small-market, small-budget Cardinals, in 1926 and 1942. The Yanks were 2-2 against those Cardinal teams, and 12-9, .571. Take out those Series, and the Yankees—who beat every other National League team in this stretch save for the Braves, who they didn't get the chance to play—were 56-17, .767.

(Caveat: The Yankees did considerably better against the 1947-1956 Dodgers, who Rickey also built, going 5-1, 23-16, .590. But that might not have been the case, had The O'Malley not utzed The Mahatma out of the front office at the end of the 1950 season.)  

Rickey accomplished this by creating baseball's first, full farm system—a system so good it was avidly copied by the Yankees' triumvirate of Jacob Ruppert, Ed Barrow, and George Weiss.  

None of these very different individuals believed in "luck." They didn't think that the World Series was "a crapshoot." And they were right.  

As JM, Kevin, and our Peerless Leader have all noted of late, most of what we think of as the Yankees' vaunted "legacy" was accomplished well before the Steinbrenner clan, the Snopeses of the Great Lakes region, ever came on the scene. 

What's more, it is ONLY thanks to the failings of said Steinbrenners—the childish irascibility of George; the obliviousness of Hal—that the team has missed several opportunities to recreate that sort of sustained excellence.

When the Yankees finish last this season, much is going to be heard about how that's the first time they've ended up in that position since 1990. We will also hear a good deal about how the team's 30-year streak of winning seasons has been snapped. And as the losing seasons and the last-place finishes pile up in the years ahead—as they will—we will hear much about that, too, along with assorted vows to rebuild, shake up, sweep out, do better.

What's missed is the bigger story of how, over the last three decades or so, other organizations have already eclipsed the Yankees' legacy of excellence in today's game.

We all know about how the likes of the Houston Astros—cheaters or no—the TB Death Rays, and the Boston Red Sox, this weekend's designated daddy, have surpassed the Yanks of late. But it goes well beyond that.

This occurred to me when I was watching the Braves' dynasty-in-the-making take apart both our local excuses for ball clubs.

Since 1991, the Braves have won only 2 World Series. But they have won 7 pennants and 21 division titles (counting this year), made the playoffs 23 times, and suffered only 5 losing seasons. And yet, somehow, they have been able to rebuild again and are looking at years of unbroken success "all before us."

You want to know the last time the Dodgers finished last? It was 1905, when they were popularly known as the Brooklyn Superbas. The last time they suffered three losing seasons in a row—a fate that is surely approaching for the Yankees—was the mid-1930s. 

Sure, since 1995, they have won just 3 pennants and 1 World Series. But if they win the NL West again this year, as it looks like they will, that will be their 11th division title in the last 12 years, and 15th altogether since 1995. In that time, they've suffered exactly 2 losing seasons, and made the playoffs 17 times.

Then there are the still-small-market, St. Louis Cardinals. Hey, no Branch Rickey needed! Since 1996, the Redbirds have won 4 pennants and 2 World Series. But they've also won 12 division titles, made the playoffs 17 times, and suffered only 3 losing seasons.

Point is, the playoffs aren't a "crapshoot." Luck's got nothing to do with it. 

Chances are, we'll all be dead and gone—thanks heavens—long before anyone breaks the Yankees' records for pennants or World Series titles. 

But that will be mainly because there are now so many superb organizations putting together winning teams year after decade—without ever having to tank and rebuild. Chances are there will soon be more—including a certain team in Queens.

If the Yankees truly want to compete in the years ahead—and thus far, there's no indication that they do—they can't go on running the team like some sloppy, declining family business. They can't go on, in short, running the team the way Old George ran his family's shipping business aground.

The new Branch Rickeys will eat our lunch.