Yankees Dynasty: Remembering An Almost Forgotten Team

When recalling the Yankee dynasty of the 1990’s, there is often one team that is all but forgotten. There is a valid reason for this, and it’s a sore spot in many baseball fans memory banks. The player’s strike of 1994 is a bitter pill for most. In fact, it most likely robbed the Yankees of a championship.

On Friday, August 12, 1994, the Yankees were 70-43. That was good enough to be six and a half games up on the second-place Orioles. They had the second-best record in the major leagues behind the Montreal Expos. Most were projecting the Yankees as favorites to win the World Series.

That same day was also the day the players went on strike. Then manager Buck Showalter was convinced it would be short lived. So convinced, that he didn’t even pack up his office. However, the strike lingered into the next season and finally ended just as the owners were prepared to start the year with replacement players.

The Yankees Offense Was In High Gear

At the time of the strike, several Yankees were having a season to remember. Right fielder Paul O’Neill was leading the majors with a .359 batting average to go with 21 home runs and 83 runs batted in. His closest competition was teammate Wade Boggs, who at .342 was right behind him.

Catcher Mike Stanley, a former backup with the Texas Rangers, was hitting an even .300 with 17 home runs. Don Mattingly was having his best season post-1989, with a .305 average. While most of his power had been sapped by back injuries, he still could hit. This was the year he could finally taste the playoffs. No Yankee deserved to be part of the dynasty more.

Even Stanley’s sometimes backup and sometimes utility infielder Jim Leyritz was in on the act. He also hit 17 home runs in that abbreviated season. His 59 RBI’s were nothing to sneeze about either. Young centerfielder Bernie Williams had seemed to put it together finally. His .289 average with 12 homers and 57 RBI, a signal that he had finally arrived.

The Yankees Had Dominant Pitching As Well

That’s just the offensive side of the game. Southpaw Jimmy Key, the ace of the staff, was 17-4 at the time of the strike. Lost soul and reclamation project Steve Howe had settled into the closer role with a fresh 1.80 earned run average. That was the last time Howe would ever be so

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dominating.

We will never know how the Yankees would have fared had the season continued. It’s a frustrating topic for that very reason. Had they won the fall classic, the following years may have played out differently. Perhaps the dynasty that followed never would have been.

For instance, a World Series win in 1994 would most likely lead to a contract extension for Buck Showalter. With Buck’s job secure, Joe Torre would not have been the skipper in 1996. Despite the media hammering Torre and the Yankees when the signing was announced, he proved to be the perfect manager going forward.

Player personnel might have been altered as well. What if, in 1995, the Yankees in a bid to repeat, traded a young pitcher named Mariano Rivera for a frontline starter? Or maybe even Derek Jeter? As late as spring training 1996, Clyde King, George Steinbrenner’s most trusted advisor was telling the owner that they couldn’t win a World Series with Jeter as the shortstop. A proposed solution was to trade Rivera to the Seattle Mariners for shortstop Felix Fermin.

The 1994 Yankees will always remain a mystery due to the season never coming to a conclusion

Sometimes it’s fun to play the “what if” game. Other times it’s probably best to just leave it alone. While most Yankee fans would have loved to see their team win the fall classic that year, it could have been the only team that decade to bring home a ring. Perhaps the changes that followed never would have occurred.

The 1994 Yankees will always remain a mystery due to the season never coming to a conclusion. For the Yankees though, at least they were able to recover.

The National League-leading Montreal Expos, operating without the money they would have earned in the playoffs, had to have a fire sale the next year. The reason was they could not afford to keep the team intact.

The Yankees for their part were able to keep most of their players. In fact, the loss to the Seattle Mariners in the American League Division in 1995 was the catalyst for several changes.

Next: The Yankees 25 Most Memorable Home Home Runs

While some were panned at the time, it was, in fact, the correct decision. Had they won it all in 1994, we might not have that dynasty to talk about.