All-time Yankees Tournament, Round 2, part 2: Down to the final 8

We whittle the field down a little more and get down to the final 8 teams. We have two extra-inning Game 7s in today's batch, so read on ...

1998 Yankees beat 1958 Yankees, 4 games to 3

1936 Yankees beat 1949 Yankees, 4 games to 2

1947 Yankees beat 1977 Yankees, 4 games to 3

1961 Yankees beat 1950 Yankees, 4 games to 2

Too see more details about each series, click below ...

1998 Yankees beat 1958 Yankees, 4 games to 3

Game 1: 1958 wins, 4-3

Game 2: 1958 wins, 10-6

Game 3: 1998 wins, 11-10, 11 innings

Game 4: 1958 wins, 6-5

Game 5: 1998 wins, 4-3

Game 6: 1998 wins, 11-5

Game 7: 1998 wins, 7-6, 11 innings

The 1998 team rallied from a 3-games-to-1 deficit to sweep the last three game and win the series. Game 7 went 11 innings, and Chuck Knoblauch was the walk-off hero when his single drove in Paul O'Neill, who has led off the inning with a double. Derek Jeter was the hero in the other extra-inning game, driving in Joe Girardi with a single in the top of the 11th of Game 3. Tino Martinez was the series MVP, hitting .333 with 5 HRs adn 13 RBIs. Jorge Posada drove in 7 runs and Shane Spencer hit .400. Elston Howard hit .371 with 2 HRs and 7 RBI, while Yogi Berra and Andy Carey each drove in 8 runs for the 1958 Yankees. 

1936 Yankees beat 1949 Yankees, 4 games to 2

Game 1: 1936 wins, 1-0

Game 2: 1936 wins, 12-1

Game 3: 1949 wins, 9-7

Game 4: 1936 wins, 7-5, 10 innings

Game 5: 1949 wins, 7-5

Game 6: 1936 wins, 17-8

DiMaggio vs. DiMaggio again. Lefty Gomez tosses a 6-hit shutout in game 1, where the only run was a solo HR by Lou Gehrig. Vic Raschi was the hard-luck loser in that one. Game 4 was decided by a 2-run walk-off HR by George Selkirk (Twinkletoes does it again!). The 1936 teeam also won a couple of blowouts. The 1936 DiMaggio was MVP, hitting .421 with 4 HRs and 13 RBIs, while Gehrig hit .368 with 8RBIs. Bump Hadley (who?) won two games in relief. Yogi hit .333 with 2 HRs and 5 RBIs for 1949, while the 1949 DiMaggio drove in 7 runs.

1947 Yankees beat 1977 Yankees, 4 games to 3

Game 1: 1977 wins, 4-1

game 2: 1947 wins, 7-6

Game 3: 1977 wins, 3-0

Game 4: 1947 wins, 11-4

Game 5: 1977 wins, 6-0

Game 6: 1947 wins, 10-5

Game 7: 1947 wins, 6-4, 13 innings

Like disco, the 1970s were a big thing for a while, then fizzled out quickly. Unbeaten in the first round, both 1970s teams are eliminated in the second round. This series at least went down to the wire, but Tommy Heinrich hit a 2-run HR off Dick Tidrow in the top of the 13th that proved to be the series-winner. Billy Johnson hit .344 with 8 RBIs for 1947, while Spud Chandler won two games. DiMaggio was just 5-for-28, but had a home run and 7 RBIs. Ron Guidry did not allow an earned run in two complete-game wins, allowing just 6 hits total and striking out 14, while Reggie Jackson hit .433 with 3 HRs and 8 RBIs and was named series MVP in a losing effort (I don't get some of these MVP picks by the computer, to be honest. Billy Johnson had 8 RBIs for the winning team, so he'd get my vote.; or, if you're going to give it to someone from the losing team, Guidry was magnificent.)

1961 Yankees beat 1950 Yankees, 4 games to 2

Game 1: 1961 wins, 12-0

Game 2: 1961 wins, 8-3

Game 3: 1950 wins, 2-1, 11 innings

Game 4: 1961 wins, 8-1

Game 5: 1950 wins, 4-2

Game 6: 1961 wins, 4-0

The M&M boys start off with a pair of blowout wins and make it to the final eight. The offensive stars, though, were Johnny Blanchard (.318, 3 HRs, 8 RBIs, series MVP), Tony Kubek (.385, 1 HR, 6 RBIs) and Elston Howard (.318, 1 HR, 6 RBIs), while Bill Stafford got 2 wins and had a 1.53 ERA over 17.2 innings. The 1950 offense fizzled out, With Johnny Hopp leading the team with 3 RBIs and Phil Rizzuto and Hank Bauer the only players over .300 (both hitting .318). Tom Ferrick got both of 1950's wins in relief. 

So, the 1970s is the only decade that doesn't have at least one representative in the Final 8 teams (well, except for the miserable 1980s and 2010s, but you know the reasons for that).