Yankees and the AL East: 25 years as baseball’s best division

A Yankees Rebirth

It’s 1996. The Yankees haven’t come close to winning a World Series since 1981, when they lost to the Dodgers; that might happen again soon. Their last title came two decades earlier in 1978. It was the longest title drought in Yankees history.

But under the careful eye of Gene “Stick” Michael, the Yankees did something the Boss thought not possible. Stick was growing a team of young players, instead of trading them for current stars. That plan had failed for more than a decade, with Yankees youngsters becoming big time players on other teams.

I lived in the northwest in the mid-nineties. Yankees fans have no idea what they missed out on when George Steinbrenner traded away Jay “Bone” Buhner. And he was just one. Instead, the Yankees signed players such as Danny Tartabull from the Royals. There’s a reason you have heard of Buhner but not Danny.

But now a new world order was rising in Yankees universe, and their stars would soon bring death to the rest of baseball.

The Previous Group of Baby Yankees

The change was led by the Yankees highest draft pick to date, Derek Jeter; 1996 was his first full year. Mariano Rivera had washed out as a starter but won the set-up role; John Wetteland from the Rangers was the closer.

That year still stands as the best Mariano ever had, or any reliever for that matter and the tandem shut down the last three innings of a game better than any bullpen before or since. The rotation, meanwhile, was augmented by Andy Pettitte, who would anchor the staff for years to come.

Jorge Posada was still developing, so Joe Girardi did most of the catching. Bernie Williams was the old man of the bunch; he was 27 that year. Meanwhile, Jeets was a baseball puppy at 22 and Andy was all of 24. That’s why they were still around in 2009 when Bernie was already playing Bach in Bridgeport.

Primetime

Added to this were two players already in their primes. The Bamtino, Tino Martinez (28), had just come over from Seattle, joining Paul O’Neill. The Warrior was not only the oldest player of this historic group, but also the only one with World Series experience. That would soon change.

Paul was on the Reds 1990 WS winning team, but the two sides were unhappy. In what can only be called a steal, Paul was traded to the Yankees before the ’93 season for Roberto Kelly. Again, there’s a reason you know O’Neill but not Kelly.

The trade paid dividends when The Warrior won the batting title in 1994 (.359), and his tutelage helped an entire new generation of Yankees hitters. He drove the Yankees with his fire and helped form the top of an order that would win four titles in five years.

When he played his last inning in the field at home, in the 2001 World Series, the fans chanted his name for the duration. No player ever deserved it more. He really was The Warrior.

But that 1996 team was not objectively great and clearly destined for greatness. They had a lot of great role players, like the Royals winning in 2015 more because of their bullpen than their starters. If the Yankees wanted to overcome their years-long malaise, they were going to have to earn it.

The World Series did not start out well, but, that’s how it goes when you have years of futility to overcome. Fortunately, their new manager was super cool.