Yankees: 5 Forgotten Heroes From New York’s ’90s Dynasty

The New York Yankees dynasty in the 1990s wouldn’t have existed without these forgotten heroes.

You can’t win a World Series without a few lucky breaks along the way — something Yankees fans of the ’00s know all too well.

Even if your lineup contains nine All-Stars, and your rotation includes the three best options to hit the free agent market the previous winter, there’s a solid chance a 5-7 infielder nicknamed “Scrap Iron” can find a hole and sink you.

It only gets more remarkable with time that the Yankees of the 1990s and early 2000s could win four out of five World Series, with the amount of phenomenal competition they faced, and the wild fluctuations of their regular season success. Hell, they even parlayed the worst September you can imagine into a seamless Subway Series victory in 2000.

The team had plenty of star power, but no MVPs and never the game’s unquestioned greatest player. Most importantly, everyone knew their role, and we’d never be having this discussion today without a few very specific role players.

5. Graeme Lloyd

Remember when Graeme Lloyd saved the 1996 World Series for the Yankees?

There was really no more improbable comeback than this one, any way you slice it.

Graeme Lloyd, the monstrous Australian, had an incredible 1996 season in Milwaukee, posting a 2.82 ERA in 51.0 innings, though he pitched to contact and struck out only 24 men. In 13 games after arriving in New York, though, Lloyd cratered — he had an insane 17.47 ERA in 5.2 innings’ worth of abbreviated outings.

So what happened in October? Lloyd was excommunicated from the postseason roster? Out of the circle of trust? Hardly. He threw 5.1 innings across eight postseason games, 2.2 of them coming in the World Series. He allowed one singular hit. He did not let a run cross, while striking out five men, four of them Braves in the WS. Lloyd’s spotless inning even got him the win in Game 4, and he also earned a pair of holds.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oi, oi, oi.

New York’s World Series history looks remarkably different without one of their worst regular-season performers ever stepping up in a big way. Lloyd brought the thunder from Down Under in 1997 and 1998, too, performing during the regular season and, yes, NEVER ALLOWING AN EARNED RUN IN THE PLAYOFFS AS A YANKEE. Unbelievable. You earned your two rings with precision, you wacko.

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4. Jose Vizcaino

Jose Vizcaino, of all people, changed the Yankees momentum in the Subway Series.

With the Yankees and Mets deadlocked late into the night in Game 1 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, momentum was ever-so-silently creeping to the visitors.

After all, once a game passes a certain hour threshold, and hundreds of chances have been blown, the underdog has an excellent chance to sneak through the widening hole in the champion’s armor.

With two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning, Jose Vizcaino took a look at the assembled narratives and said, “Nah, actually we’re good.”

The Mets won seven more games than the Yankees in 2000, but New York was still the king, waiting to be dethroned at home. After tying the game in the bottom of the ninth on a Chuck Knoblauch sac fly, though, they put runners at second and third without a single out in the bottom of the 10th, and stranded them, staying silent until the bespectacled Vizcaino sliced one into left for the win.

In the oddity battle of Vizcaino’s goggles vs. Turk Wendell’s shark teeth, the veteran infielder won, polishing off a 4-for-6 day for the ages.

The 32-year-old hit .276 that season (.270 career), and came up big during the Houston Astros’ 2005 run to the NL pennant, too. But raise your hand if you expected him to be an automatic base hit and a walk-off hero in the Yankees’ most important tone-setting World Series game of the era.

3. Ricky Ledee

Ricky Ledee came out of his shell during the 1998 World Series for the Yankees.

The 1998 Yankees are so great that often, we forget the particulars. Yeah, they won every day, and 25 men helped them do it. Scott Brosius raised his fists. They won the inevitable title. Right, right, right.

But without Ricky Ledee playing the ’09 Hideki Matsui role in the ’98 World Series, things might’ve gone very differently.

After a moribund regular season where his contributions didn’t match his prospect standing (he hit just .241 in 87 at-bats), Ledee exploded in October. After five hitless at-bats in the ALCS (and zero appearances in the previous round, the kid went 6-for-10 with 4 RBI against the Padres in 13 plate appearances. He broke a scoreless tie against Kevin Brown with a pounded double in Game 1 of the series, setting the tone from there.

The next year, he hit .273 and .250 in the DS and CS, clocking a grand slam against the Red Sox at Fenway in the first modern postseason matchup between the two teams.

Ledee’s swing had a powerful uncoil, and while he never quite emerged as a star for the Yankees, his two stellar postseasons proved he had a sense of the moment.

Don’t believe us? His solo shot and circus catch in the bright sun helped usher in David Cone’s perfect game in 1999. It’s tough to escape this kid in Yankees lore, and what more can you really ask for?

2. Jimmy Key

The New York Yankees don’t start their dynasty without Jimmy Key.

How many Yankees starting pitchers from the ’90s do you have to name before you get to Jimmy Key?

There’s Andy, El Duque, and the Rocket. David Wells, Coney, and — erroneously — you probably name Mike Mussina, too.

But without Jimmy Key, who helped usher in the late-90s success by establishing the team as legitimate contenders from 1993-95, they don’t capture Game 6 of the 1996 World Series. And without the first domino, what do you have, really?

Key, a crafty lefty who was born into the perfect era, filled with big swings and overeager whiffs, fronted the Yankees rotation after Greg Maddux spurned their services in free agency. He went 18-6 and 17-4 in two dominant seasons in ’93 and ’94, prior to struggling immensely in 1995, falling apart to the tune of a 5.64 ERA in just five starts. He underwent shoulder surgery in mid-July, and it was theorized the 34-year-old might never pitch again.

Of course, he did. After a 4.68 ERA regular season, spent getting his bearings, Key ironically outdueled Maddux himself to put the Yankees back on top and usher in the first of many dogpiles.

Key went to Baltimore after the ’96 season, but no hard feelings. His bulldog nature vindicated the ’93 Yankees’ braintrust right when it mattered most.