Completed Yankees Seasons Under Big Stein
Posted by Steve Lombardi on July 13, 2010
With the news of George Steinbrenner passing today, I thought it would be interesting to use the data on Baseball-Reference.com to look at the completed Yankees seasons from the time he bought the team until his death. There's a lot more good seasons in there than bad...that's for sure.
| Rk | Year | W 6 | L | Ties | Finish | Playoffs | Managers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1998 | 114 | 48 | 0 | .704 | 1st of 5 | Won WS (4-0) | Joe Torre (114-48) |
| 2 | 2002 | 103 | 58 | 0 | .640 | 1st of 5 | Lost LDS (3-1) | Joe Torre (103-58) |
| 3 | 1980 | 103 | 59 | 0 | .636 | 1st of 7 | Lost ALCS (3-0) | Dick Howser (103-59) |
| 4 | 2009 | 103 | 59 | 0 | .636 | 1st of 5 | Won WS (4-2) | Joe Girardi (103-59) |
| 5 | 2003 | 101 | 61 | 1 | .623 | 1st of 5 | Lost WS (4-2) | Joe Torre (101-61) |
| 6 | 2004 | 101 | 61 | 0 | .623 | 1st of 5 | Lost ALCS (4-3) | Joe Torre (101-61) |
| 7 | 1994 | 70 | 43 | 0 | .619 | 1st of 5 | Buck Showalter (70-43) | |
| 8 | 1977 | 100 | 62 | 0 | .617 | 1st of 7 | Won WS (4-2) | Billy Martin (100-62) |
| 9 | 1978 | 100 | 63 | 0 | .613 | 1st of 7 | Won WS (4-2) | Billy Martin (52-42), Dick Howser (0-1) and Bob Lemon (48-20) |
| 10 | 1976 | 97 | 62 | 0 | .610 | 1st of 6 | Lost WS (4-0) | Billy Martin (97-62) |
| 11 | 1999 | 98 | 64 | 0 | .605 | 1st of 5 | Won WS (4-0) | Joe Torre (98-64) |
| 12 | 1985 | 97 | 64 | 0 | .602 | 2nd of 7 | Yogi Berra (6-10) and Billy Martin (91-54) | |
| 13 | 2006 | 97 | 65 | 0 | .599 | 1st of 5 | Lost LDS (3-1) | Joe Torre (97-65) |
| 14 | 2001 | 95 | 65 | 1 | .594 | 1st of 5 | Lost WS (4-3) | Joe Torre (95-65) |
| 15 | 1997 | 96 | 66 | 0 | .593 | 2nd of 5 | Lost LDS (3-2) | Joe Torre (96-66) |
| 16 | 2005 | 95 | 67 | 0 | .586 | 1st of 5 | Lost LDS (3-2) | Joe Torre (95-67) |
| 17 | 2007 | 94 | 68 | 0 | .580 | 2nd of 5 | Lost LDS (3-1) | Joe Torre (94-68) |
| 18 | 1996 | 92 | 70 | 0 | .568 | 1st of 5 | Won WS (4-2) | Joe Torre (92-70) |
| 19 | 1983 | 91 | 71 | 0 | .562 | 3rd of 7 | Billy Martin (91-71) | |
| 20 | 1979 | 89 | 71 | 0 | .556 | 4th of 7 | Bob Lemon (34-31) and Billy Martin (55-40) | |
| 21 | 1986 | 90 | 72 | 0 | .556 | 2nd of 7 | Lou Piniella (90-72) | |
| 22 | 1981 | 59 | 48 | 0 | .551 | 4th of 7 | Lost WS (4-2) | Gene Michael (48-34) and Bob Lemon (11-14) |
| 23 | 1974 | 89 | 73 | 0 | .549 | 2nd of 6 | Bill Virdon (89-73) | |
| 24 | 1987 | 89 | 73 | 0 | .549 | 4th of 7 | Lou Piniella (89-73) | |
| 25 | 1995 | 79 | 65 | 1 | .549 | 2nd of 5 | Lost LDS (3-2) | Buck Showalter (79-65) |
| 26 | 2008 | 89 | 73 | 0 | .549 | 3rd of 5 | Joe Girardi (89-73) | |
| 27 | 1993 | 88 | 74 | 0 | .543 | 2nd of 7 | Buck Showalter (88-74) | |
| 28 | 2000 | 87 | 74 | 0 | .540 | 1st of 5 | Won WS (4-1) | Joe Torre (87-74) |
| 29 | 1984 | 87 | 75 | 0 | .537 | 3rd of 7 | Yogi Berra (87-75) | |
| 30 | 1988 | 85 | 76 | 0 | .528 | 5th of 7 | Billy Martin (40-28) and Lou Piniella (45-48) | |
| 31 | 1975 | 83 | 77 | 0 | .519 | 3rd of 6 | Bill Virdon (53-51) and Billy Martin (30-26) | |
| 32 | 1973 | 80 | 82 | 0 | .494 | 4th of 6 | Ralph Houk (80-82) | |
| 33 | 1982 | 79 | 83 | 0 | .488 | 5th of 7 | Bob Lemon (6-8), Gene Michael (44-42) and Clyde King (29-33) | |
| 34 | 1992 | 76 | 86 | 0 | .469 | 4th of 7 | Buck Showalter (76-86) | |
| 35 | 1989 | 74 | 87 | 0 | .460 | 5th of 7 | Dallas Green (56-65) and Bucky Dent (18-22) | |
| 36 | 1991 | 71 | 91 | 0 | .438 | 5th of 7 | Stump Merrill (71-91) | |
| 37 | 1990 | 67 | 95 | 0 | .414 | 7th of 7 | Bucky Dent (18-31) and Stump Merrill (49-64) |
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July 13th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
51% of these seasons had a W% better than .560
and
70% had a W% better than or equal to .549
for those keeping score at home...
July 13th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
You should add 2010 to the list, since he was alive for some of the season. Also I wonder what the Yankees' total record is during his reign as owner.
July 13th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
What a clean up they made between 92 and 93 : just compare the "Most common games" lines. And that whole new team gelled right away.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/1992-lineups.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/1993-lineups.shtml
July 13th, 2010 at 12:40 pm
His 28th-best team won the World Series. Whoa.
July 13th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
@ImAShark6
If you add this season's 56-32 record to Steve's table, the Bronx Bombers have a cumulative record of 3364 wins and 2583 losses(.566) during the Steinbrenner ownership era.
July 13th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
With all due respect to George, he really hasn't been running the team the last few seasons - his failing health left him as more of a figurehead than anything recently. Not to take anything away from him.
And looking at that table, I can't help but think of the scene from the Seinfeld episode that aired just after the 1995 season (before Buck Showalter had officially been fired):
"You know as painful as it is I had to let a few people go over the years. Yogi Berra, Lou Pinella, Bucky Dent, Billy Martin, Dallas Green, Dick Houser, Bill Virdon, Billy Martin, Scott Marrow, Billy Martin, Bob Lemmon, Billy Martin, Gene Michael, Buck Showalter, … uh, tut!, . . .George, you didn't hear that from me. [George exits] . . . George!"
Still makes me laugh ... 🙂