Sunday, October 1, 2023

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

 

Sing, O Muse, of the Man of 31 straight winning seasons (many of which he did nothing to bring about himself, but never mind.) 

Yup, 31 straight years it is. And—somebody was claiming on the local news the other day—second only to the longest streak of winning seasons in all of major league, North American sports...the Yankees' 39 straight winning years, from 1926 through 1964.

(Which could have been 46 straight, save for Babe Ruth's Big Bellyache in 1925. But I digress.)

So how do the streaks compare? 


During those 39 years from 1926-1964, your O.G. New York Yankees won 26 pennants and 19 World Series, with a postseason record of 94-54 .635.

They never finished out of the first division (that is, lower than fourth) in this period, and repeatedly set attendance records in a tourist-attraction ballpark they built entirely with their own money.

They were undoubtedly richer than most teams, but for much of this streak enjoyed no TV revenues, and stocked their team overwhelmingly with players they developed in their own, extensive farm system.

(They also were very late in signing Black and Hispanic players, and crudely fired some of the men most responsible for building their dynasty.)

Your 1993-2023 Yankees?

In those 31 years (and counting), they have won 7 pennants and 5 World Series, going 25-13 .658. Overall, in the postseason, they have gone 121-91 .571. 

They enjoyed enormous monetary advantages during most of this time, including the only owners who would not obey the sport's self-imposed payroll limits, and their own television network.

The Yankees finished first 16 times, were in the playoffs 24 times (one postseason, in 1994, was canceled), and repeatedly set attendance records in their two, publicly subsidized stadiums—one of which they intentionally downsized, in order to have more luxury boxes.

(They also passed on numerous star free agents, gave out disastrously large and overlong contracts to broken down, useless players, and crudely fired some of the men most responsible for building their dynasty. But never the man most responsible for its demise.)


 


16 comments:

JM said...

As we've said before, our amazing pile of WS rings was mostly won many, many years ago. The last 31 years aren't impressive at all, barring the great late 90s crew.

Gee, I wonder who's been in charge for most of that stretch?

Publius said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
HoraceClarke66 said...

Yup.

The first 29 seasons of the Steinbrenner years, 1973-2001:

9 pennants, 6 World Series. 11 division titles, 2 wild cards.

Not exactly old school, but still pretty impressive.

The last 22 Steinbrenner years, 2002-2023:

2 pennants, 1 World Series. 10 division titles, 7 wild cards.

The Red Sox, Cardinals, Astros, Dodgers, Braves, Giants, Phillies, and Royals have all done as well or better.

HoraceClarke66 said...

So Buck is out in Queens.

He would be an excellent candidate to replace you-know-who as GM. But of course, Cashie is GM for life.

Yanks start game with three straight singles...whereupon Higgy—batting 4th—bounces into a DP, and then IKF, batting fifth, grounds out.

Thank you, see you next year.

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


Hello group. I know you didn't miss me, but i spent the past 2 weeks in Greece. Didn't take a computer (don't own a smart phone).

So I was out of touch. Didn't get the latest NYY news.

...looks like I didn't miss much that wasn't redundant.

The Hammer of God said...

@ Joe FoB, I've been in and out here myself lately. Seems you've missed nothing except the incessant hand wringing and complaining. Yankee Baseball, 2023 version!

The Hammer of God said...

Amen, Hoss!

And I was very surprised to see the NY Post article a few days ago by Joel Sherman. He said the Yankees lead the league in hiring "charlatans". I did a double take. A member of the press ripping the Yankee front office? Strange, is the guy going to retire soon?

HoraceClarke66 said...

Thanks, Hammer. And Joe, you didn't miss much...just our glorious, 31-game straight winning season streak.

Ho-hum.

BernBabyBern said...

We scored. In the immortal words of Derrick Coleman, whoop-de-damn do.

Being shut out would have been a fitting end to this season.

The only thing more fitting would have been if we were no-hit.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Fitting end to the season is Coney and big head talking about Taylor Swift.

Hinkey Haines said...

Winter comes earlier & earlier around here, doesn’t it?

BTR999 said...

Chuckling over that final lineup. .243 the highest BA. Shit, doesn’t matter anyway…

Doug K. said...

Is it safe to come out from under the bed yet? Is the season finally over?

Then again, Suzyn thinks that Boone and Cashman are returning so...

Rufus T. Firefly said...

RIP, Tim Wakefield.

JM said...

Brain cancer. That's tough.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Both my father-in-law and brother-in-law died from it. It's like a twilight zone episode dealing with it.