Yankees History

After 1923, Yankees fans weren’t too used to World Series droughts but that’s what they had to go through in the last 1950s into 1960.  The Yankees won in 1958, went to the World Series and lost to the Pirates in 1960 so heading into 1961, they hadn’t won in three years.  Not a long drought, but the last time they had a longer drought was leading into the 1947 season when they hadn’t won (or played in) a World Series since 1943.

Roger Maris won the MVP in 1960 and while nobody would see his 61 home run season coming, he hit a respectable 39 home runs and the led the AL in RBIs with 112.  Ironically, he finished 1960 with an OPS+ of 161 and in his historic 1961 season, it was only 167.  A good season, but it goes to show you how much offense was up that year.

Yogi Berra was near the end of his career and he was used primarily as an outfielder.  Even he hit 22 home runs 119 games  Mickey Mantle was coming off another outstanding season but he finished second in the MVP voting just behind Maris.    Throw in Moose Skowron and Elston Howard and you had some nice mashers on this team.

Next time, we’ll take a look at the pitching heading into the season.