"No team in sports was more disappointed with its showing in 1973 than the New York Yankees. The New Yorkers thought they had a chance to win the AL East at the start of the season. By mid-July, they were sure they were going to win. Then came a total collapse and a fourth-place finish.
Now patient Lee MacPhail and ever-optimistic Ralph Houk are gone and the Yankees prepare to do battle again with essentially the same team that faded so badly in 1973. It seems like a contradiction, and yet the Yankees may well move up a notch in 1974 by standing still.
The Yankees and Tigers are in pretty much the same spot - veteran teams that were disappointed by the events of 1973. Neither has changed much and neither looks strong enough to challenge the Baltimore Orioles or beat out the Boston Red Sox. Having been brought up as a true believer in 'Yankee luck,' this fearless forecaster predicts a third-place finish for the Yankees and a fourth-place windup for the Tigers.
The Yankees are an odd sort of team for a patient builder like Lee MacPhail to have put together. They have two outstanding players in center fielder Bobby Murcer and catcher Thurman Munson, but they relied too heavily on these stars last season. They have glaring defensive weaknesses, especially in the infield. They have a steady pitching staff without a superstar in the starting foursome (Mel Stottlemyre hasn't been a 20-game winner since 1969) backed by one of the best relief pitchers in the game in Sparky Lyle. They have an offense that should have been better than it was in Yankee Stadium and will probably be more of a home run threat playing its 1974 home games at Shea Stadium.
Any consideration of the Yankees must start with Murcer and Munson. Murcer is an authentic superstar, clearly one of the four or five best players in the league. His .304-22-95 offensive contribution in '73 has become typical of his performance. He is a splendid outfielder and did his level best to carry the club when it started to fade in August. Munson became a take-charge guy in '73 and delivered .301-20-74 statistics.
Lyle belongs right up there with Murcer and Munson, although, of course, he can't be in the lineup every day. Sparky supplies Yankee fans with some of their most exciting moments as he strides to the mound in relief of pitchers in trouble. He, too, faltered in August and September, but his 32 saves and five victories ranked second as a fireman only to John Hiller of the Detroit Tigers.
The Yankees' starting rotation is expected to Stottlemyre (16-16 with a 3.07 ERA in '73), George Medich (14-9, 2.91), Fritz Peterson (8-15 and 3.95) and either Steve Kline (4-7, 4.01) or Pat Dobson (9-8, 4.24 with the Yankees). Sam McDowell (5-8, 3.95 with New York) is a long shot as a starter and little Fred Beene (6-0, 1.68) has limitations. Lyle is king of the bullpen, and he can expect help from Ken Wright and Wayne Granger.
Munson gives the Yankees class behind the plate and he is backed by Duke Sims, a capable receiver and a dangerous long ball hitter, and Jerry Moses.
The Yankee infield presents a problem. Second baseman Horace Clarke and third baseman Graig Nettles had poor seasons defensively in 1973 and Ron Blomberg is no gazelle at first base. Mike Hegan could be substituted for Blomberg but that would relegate the Boomer to the role of designated hitter, and he is already complaining that he doesn't play enough. Also, it would push Jim Ray Hart out of the picture as the Yankees' DH. This leaves only shortstop Gene Michael as 'set,' and it must be noted that his offensive contribution was only .225-3-47 in '73.
Roy White has his critics and isn't too proud of his .246-18-60 performance but he went into 1973 with a .274 lifetime batting average in the big leagues and deserves another chance. Lou Piniella, obtained from the Royals, made a .250-9-69 contribution in '73 and probably will wind up as the Yankees' regular right fielder.
You have to feel sorry for the Yankee management - past and present. The Yankees, built slowly and diligently after the Great Disaster of 1965, and were the most exciting team in New York for four and half months of the '73 season and had good reason to think they were going to win the Eastern title; then came the collapse. But worse was to follow: the Mets came on like gangbusters, won the Eastern title in the National League, topped the Cincinnati Reds in the playoffs and carried the Oakland A's to a seven-game World Series.
Now the Yankees have to put the pieces back together during two years in enemy territory while Yankee Stadium is being remodeled.
Good guys don't deserve that kind of grief.
PITCHING: How do you explain a class pitcher like Mel Stottlemyre having successive 15-13, 16-12, 14-18 and 16-16 records? He seemed at times last season to be pushing the ball; at other times he had the old zing. This staff needs a leader. Medich is a possibility but he really doesn't have the kind of speed usually associated with staff leaders. Peterson gets a lot out of his equipment and should improve on his 1973 performance now that his personal problems aren't so much in the spotlight.
Beene is one of the toughest little critters anybody ever saw and did yeoman service for the Yankees last season until he hurt his arm. Relief pitchers don't come any better than Lyle - even admitting that he folded during the last six weeks of the '73 season along with most of his teammates. It will be worth keeping an eye on Wright, who can overpower most hitters. Granger has pretty much toured the majors in the last few years; his experience can help if he's not too shopworn.
Kline has rather ordinary stuff but is a fighter. McDowell has disappointed too many managers too many times to expect too much from him. Dobson had a 20-8 record for the Orioles as recently as 1972; despite his '73 disappointment with Atlanta and his mediocre showing with the Yankees, he could snap back to his old form.
This is a professional staff but it seems somewhat leaderless. Who stops the losing streaks? Who pitches the big game when it's needed?
Performance Quotient: 3 [1 through 5, 1 being best]
CATCHING: Munson and Boston's Carlton Fisk are the two best in the league. Munson is a winning-type player and has driving ambition. Sims swings a rugged bat and is quick with a quip, too. He's the guy who correctly analyzed that the Indians were 'overmanaged and underfinanced' in 1970. He can also play the outfield and first base. Moses is a handy backup.
Performance Quotient: 1
INFIELD: This unit is the big question mark on this team. It looks like a matter of trial and error before the right combination is found. Clarke has been severely criticized, especially on defense, but who would be his replacement? It seems a shame that former manager Houk didn't play Blomberg against left-handers as well as right-handers. He could give the Yankees a lot of that old-time crash. Nettles was frustrating to the Yankees in 1973. He didn't hit or field as well as they thought he would. Hegan is an outstanding defensive first baseman but not much of a hitter. Michael does the job at short, but he's getting old. Hart is a hitter only. Sanchez is a handy sub.
Performance Quotient: 4
OUTFIELD: Murcer is a first-class outfielder and guy, who only wishes people would stop comparing him with Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. He wore himself out trying to carry the club in its time of troubles last August. Piniella had a .312-11-72 performance with Kansas City in 1972 and is the type of guy who could rise to the occasion in New York. White has shortcomings in the field but he's a better hitter than last season's numbers indicate.
Performance Quotient: 3"
-Fred Down, Major League Baseball 1974
1974 Yankees Depth Chart
C Thurman Munson/Duke Sims/Jerry Moses
1B Ron Blomberg/Mike Hegan
2B Horace Clarke/Celerino Sanchez
3B Graig Nettles/Celerino Sanchez
SS Gene Michael/Celerino Sanchez
LF Roy White
CF Bobby Murcer
RF Lou Piniella
PITCHERS:
Mel Stottlemyre
George Medich
Fritz Peterson
Steve Kline
Pat Dobson
Sparky Lyle
Ken Wright
Sam McDowell
Fred Beene
Wayne Granger
-Fred Down, Major League Baseball 1974
HITTING
"No more Yankee Stadium for two years, no more lineups with eight left-handed hitters. But while the transition may be difficult for a little while, in the long run it may help this club, which badly overstocked itself with similar types.
There is a solid core of players who can hit - Bobby Murcer and Thurman Munson. But that is about it. If Horace Clarke should really play again, he can lead off pretty well, but Roy White is aging, Graig Nettles was a big disappointment and otherwise there are retread veterans (Lou Piniella, Duke Sims, Jim Ray Hart) or unproven kids (Ron Blomberg, Otto Velez). The fact that they are out of Yankee Stadium and will see fewer lefties will help Blomberg. This club scored the third fewest runs in the league last year - and it may get worse."
-Peter Gammons, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1974 Edition
PITCHING
"At one time last year, they thought they had the best staff in the league. It fell apart but there is still a fairly good group of pitchers available. The key is right-hander Steve Kline, who must bounce back from elbow problems. Mel Stottlemyre is getting older, but he's still effective. George Medich, with many teams, would be expecting to win 20.
Fritz Peterson is all right occasionally. Pat Dobson, Sam McDowell and Fred Beene can help in spots. Certainly, Sparky Lyle is better than he showed the second half of the season, and he may get help from Ken Wright, who can throw very hard but has never learned exactly where. They had the third-best earned run average in the league last year and had to do so with the nine stooges playing behind them."
-Peter Gammons, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1974 Edition
FIELDING
"For nine years they've seen Horace Clarke turn sure double play one-hoppers into single outs. And he is still there. Oh, dear. Munson gives them solid defense behind the plate, either Gene Michael or Jim Mason is adequate at short and so is Nettles at third, but otherwise this is a poor defensive club. Murcer is no center fielder, White throws the way Orlando Cepeda runs. And Horace? Maybe Fred Stanley, now on his fourth club, will replace him."
-Peter Gammons, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1974 Edition
OUTLOOK
"On the afternoon of July 3, 1973, everyone in New York was comparing them to the '27 Yankees. The team finished 80-82, and it is questionable that new manager Bill Virdon can accomplish any more than Ralph Houk did last season. The club might even sink below Milwaukee and Cleveland."
-Peter Gammons, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1974 Edition
"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
For that matter, you could ask the same of Ralph Houk, Lee MacPhail and Mike Burke. Ah, the Yankees have changed. Why, they don't even play at Yankee Stadium. (And a Pirate, Bill Virdon, is manager).
Yes, due to remodeling, the House that Ruth Built has been closed for two years. The Yankees will play home games until 1976 in Shea Stadium, home of the rival Mets.
Last year, in an attempt to win the American League pennant during the 50th anniversary of Yankee Stadium, New York stocked its roster with left-handed hitters. It was only 296 feet down the right-field line at the Stadium, you'll recall.
However, it's 341 feet in Shea, a park that's symmetrical and doesn't favor right of left-handed hitters. In short, the Yankees are going to have to change their game plan.
With that in mind, the Yankees obtained Lou Piniella (.250, 9 homers, 69 RBIs) from Kansas City. If he isn't the designated hitter, he'll be in left field, with Roy White (.246, 18 homers, 60 RBIs and a team-leading 15 stolen bases) moving to right. Bobby Murcer (22 homers and 95 RBIs), one of the club's two stars, will return to center. It's likely Otto Velez (.269, 29 homers, 98 RBIs at Syracuse) will stick as a reserve or as the right fielder.
The New York infield remains unchanged. Ron Blomberg, who hit .329 with 12 homers and 57 RBIs in 100 games against right-handed pitchers, returns to first base with a vow that he'll hit southpaws, too. Horace Clarke (.262) is at second and Gene Michael (.225) at shortstop. Graig Nettles (.234, 22 homers, 81 RBIs) returns at third.
The Yanks' second infield has Mike Hegan (.243) at first, Billy Parker (.225 in 38 games at California) at second, Jim Mason (.206 at Texas) at shortstop and Celerino Sanchez (.219) at third. Jim Ray Hart (.254, 13 homers, 52 RBIs) is the DH.
In Thurman Munson (.301, 22 homers, 74 RBIs), New York has one of the best catchers in the league and the team's other acknowledged star. Jerry Moses (.254) is a capable replacement on defense and Duke Sims (.245) can pinch-hit.
For the Yankees to recapture some of that past glory in their new home, their pitching staff will have to improve. Where have you gone, Whitey Ford? Well, welcome back, coach. Maybe you've got the magic.
Mel Stottlemyre (16-16, 3.07, 19 complete games) continues to be the staff's ace. Rookie right-hander George Medich (14-9, 2.95 and 11 complete games) was excellent during his year of interning- he's studying to become a doctor. But Steve Kline slipped to 4-7 with a 4.01 ERA due to a sore arm and shoulder. Fritz Peterson was 8-15 with a 3.95 ERA and Sam McDowell (5-9) and Pat Dobson (9-8) didn't offer that much help after being obtained in trades.
Sparky Lyle had a 5-9 record with 27 saves and a 2.51 ERA in 51 games and you have to wonder if he can perform that often again, or if he'll need a season to rest his left arm. Otherwise, in the bullpen there is Fred Beene who was 6-0 with a 1.68 ERA in 19 games; Dave Pagan, 0-2 in four games; Wayne Granger, 0-1 in seven games with a 1.76 ERA; and Ken Wright, 6-5 at Kansas City.
It could be an embarrassing season for the Yankees. Unless they recover to challenge for another pennant, the Mets will lure many more fans into Shea."
-Bob Fowler, Popular Sports 1974 Baseball
"Last July 2, the Yankees were four games ahead of the Orioles and 12 games over .500 at 45-33. The Red Sox, however, started the Yankees moving in the opposite direction by taking four-of-five and [the Yankees finishing] 17 games in arrears of the Orioles.
A leaky infield weakened the Yankees, who were in the market for help either at second or shortstop. They came away from the meetings with a .200-hitting infielder in Jim Mason, purchased from the Texas Rangers, but the Yankees made a solid deal in trading Lindy McDaniel to the Royals for outfielder Lou Piniella and pitcher Ken Wright.
Piniella will battle for a spot in right field or as a berth as the designated hitter with Jim Ray Hart. The addition of Wright could help the pitching staff that includes such vets as Mel Stottlemyre and Fritz Peterson and youngsters Steve Kline and George (Doc) Medich and bullpenner Sparky Lyle.
Bobby Murcer and Ron Blomberg are still young enough to afford a foundation to build on but the farm system, once the fountainhead of those gone-by dynasties, just hasn't produced. The free agent draft broke up the Yankees. It's doubtful whether Bill Virdon can pick up the pieces as the new skipper."
-Joe O'Day, Sports Quarterly Presents Baseball, Spring 1974
HAVE YANKS LEFT THEIR BRONX STADIUM FOR GOOD?
"There will be a new breed of beast riding New York's Queens-bound subways this summer or crawling bumper-to-bumper in the clogged traffic snarl for which New York City's Long Island Expressway is famous. The new breed is characterized by people who cheer themselves hoarse over names like Murcer, and Munson, and Blomberg.
They are, of course, Yankee fans. And this year and next, at least, Yankee fans will be sitting in unfamiliar surroundings watching their favorite ball team at work. While Yankee Stadium is undergoing a major overhaul for two years, the erstwhile Bronx Bombers will be tenants of the New York Mets at Shea Stadium.
Yankee partisans will be treated to some familiar sights while watching their favorites at Shea. Behind deepest centerfield at Yankee Stadium rises the Bronx's 161st Street and River Avenue elevated subway platform. Behind Shea's centerfield, the sign on the elevated platform reads Willets Point Station.
But, unlike Yankee Stadium, there's no short right-field porch for left-handed pull hitters to take aim at. Nor are there monuments in the remote regions of centerfield with names like Ruth and Gehrig emblazoned across them.
Worst of all, to Yankee fans, there is the memory of a miserable 1973 campaign, coupled with the sight of the 1973 National League championship flag flying high above Shea. For much of last season the Yankees were the club all of New York was turned on to, but in the end there was only despair in the Bronx and jubilation in Queens as the Mets went all the way to the seventh game of the World Series before losing to the Oakland A's.
The World Series, up until a decade ago, used to be almost the exclusive property of the Yankees. In their proud history, the Yankees have captured more league championships, 29, and more world titles, 20, than any other club in baseball. Twenty-seven of those American League pennants and all 20 World Series triumphs came since the Yankees first became inhabitants of their own ballpark, 'The House That Ruth Built,' on April 18, 1923. The Yanks won the pennant in 1921 and 1922, the first two pennants in their record, but they lost to the New York Giants, their most hated rival- and Polo Grounds landlord- both of those years. Their first year in their own Stadium, 1923, the Yankees avenged themselves by beating the Giants in a six-game World Series.
Along with most of 50-year-old Yankee Stadium, the championship flags are in temporary limbo. The flags will fly again, but with the wreckers and demolition experts having completed their work, two questions linger about the future of Yankee Stadium. The questions are:
-Will the Yankees really return to the Stadium for the 1976 season as scheduled?
-Why?
The Yankee era of dominance over the rest of the baseball world is long gone. The team hasn't made it to the World Series since 1964 and won their last World Series in 1962. Even Yankee-haters never expected the drought to continue so long.
The inescapable fact remains, however, that things change, teams as well as stadiums. Perhaps it is time for the Yankees and Yankee Stadium to go their separate historical ways- one to a new home, the other under the wreckers' ball.
History dies hard. A Yankee official explained to this writer last fall the methods being proposed to reconstruct the aging stadium.
'The place will be ripped apart until only a shell remains. The result will be the ultimate in modern stadia. Spectator views will be unobstructed. Parking will be improved, and the entire neighborhood, which has been deteriorating badly, should be uplifted.'
It is obviously not easy for millions of people to accept the fact that Yankee Stadium may have no future, and may not deserve one. This is from someone who has lived in the Bronx almost of his life, and although never a true Yankee fan at any time, always appreciated the proximity of the ballpark and the ease in reaching it.
But the Yankee Stadium matter, as if anyone needed any more reminding, has illustrated how closely politicians and politics affect us in our every-day wandering and travels through life.
The cost to New York City for overhauling Yankee Stadium has become one of those issues pundits like to call 'a political football.' In this case, it might better be labeled a double-play grounder- flubbed with the bases loaded in the ninth inning.
When former New York Mayor John Lindsay announced last summer that his findings showed the cost of renovating the Yankee home would be in the neighborhood of $21,000,000, many people in the know suggested that the Mayor was in the wrong neighborhood.
Then Abe Beame was elected to succeed Lindsay as the boss of the City, and in late November the City Council approved budget appropriations that would hike the city's investment toward Stadium renovations near the $50,000 mark, with several speculators hinting that the eventual cost might soar still higher.
Matthew Troy, a Queens councilman and his county's Democratic leader, was chairman of the city's Finance Committee and fiercely opposed the added monies awarded by the city to the Stadium plan. But the members of Troy's committee rebuffed him and the City Council awarded the extra money by a vote of 27-9.
But the issue didn't drop there. Though he didn't proclaim it publicly, Troy allegedly told close friends that he felt the $21,000,000 figure originally announced by Lindsay for renovating Yankee Stadium had been understated purposefully. A long-time fervent critic of Lindsay, Troy reportedly felt the retiring mayor left to his successor the problem of the real amount to be spent in the Yankee Stadium refurbishing.
There is another point to be considered here, too. That is a purposed construction of a 75,000-seat football stadium and racetrack in the East Rutheford, New Jersey Meadowlands, 10 miles outside New York City. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority experienced several delays last summer and fall in trying to float a multi-million bond issue to finance the stadium-racetrack complex. But shortly after being elected New Jersey's new governor last November, Democrat Brendan Byrne announced his support for a moral pledge of state credit for the interest in the sale of bonds.
The announcement came on the heels of a settlement involving the New York Football Giants and the Sports and Exposition Authority regarding modifications in the proposed contract between the two. The most significant change was the elimination of a clause that had given the Giants a veto over other proposed tenants and that would have restricted the authority's planned booking of major college and other sports attractions.
The settlement between the Giants and the complex ostensibly was made to free the authority to rent to other professional football teams for pre-season exhibitions and the New York-New Jersey franchise in the new World Football League.
No mention was made about the Yankees as possible tenants, but the possibility wasn't ruled out, either. So by 1976, with two full years to dicker and resolve all kinds of problems, the Yanks may well be taking their act to the New Jersey Meadowlands.
While most of Yankee Stadium was being torn up, representatives of the two companies charged with the assignment admitted they had some doubts about the rationale in tearing the structure apart. 'Sometimes when I come here,' said one worker for Invirex Demolition, Inc, 'I wonder why we don't just go all the way and knock the whole thing down.' L.L. (Jay) Schwall, president of Invirex, said he was 'sentimental' about participating in the destruction about what has become a national landmark. 'But,' he added, 'this is what our business is all about, getting rid of the old to make room for the new. It's progress.'
One representative from the Cuyahoga Wrecking Corporation perhaps summed it up best when he said, 'We can't let ourselves worry whether it's Yankee Stadium or whatever it is that's coming down. We have a job to do here, and that's to knock down the frame of the place.'
For several weeks, passers-by, people driving the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx, and straphangers in the subway cars coming in and out the 161st Street Station could spot Invirex and Cuyahoga doing their wrecking and demolishing with professional smoothness. Many articles were on general sale to the public- things like Stadium seats; signs that once hung over lockers, press rooms, restaurants and even restrooms, and signs that adorned the outfield fences. When Bob Fishel, Yankee public relations director and vice-president, was told this writer had purchased a recently-painted blue reserved third-base box seat, the publicity man said, 'Make sure you never sit in it. It's sacred.'
Like the Stadium itself, Fishel and other members of the Yankee staff underwent renovating during the off-season. Fishel, one of the most popular men in sports, received eye surgery but recovered satisfactorily to move into the temporary Yankee offices a few blocks from Shea Stadium in a building that was part of the 1964 World's Fair.
While the Charlie Finley-Dick Williams-Ralph Houk managerial snafu lingered on long beyond reason, the Yankees also lost their general manager, Lee MacPhail, to the American League presidency. Gabe Paul, who used to run the Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros and Cleveland Indians, is now the full-time front office boss of the New Yorkers. Bill Virdon wound up as the Yankee manager when the Finley sideshow ended and Williams was still unavailable.
The Yankees will be virtual strangers to a lot of New Yorkers this year, in their temporary home in Shea Stadium, and with a host of newcomers on hand to try to uplift the fortunes of the once-proud champions. They have fallen far since they laughed at the new club known as the Mets that came to town in 1962.
Until they leave Shea Stadium in 1976, either to return to Yankee Stadium or head for a permanent new residence, they will have to play second fiddle to the once-bumbling Mets, who won a championship they weren't' supposed to win in 1973, a year when the Yankees were rated as prime contenders in the American League pennant derby.
Maybe Mets' fans will turn out on nights the Yankees are hosting a junior-circuit rival at Shea to wave a few banners and yell a few words of encouragement."
-Larry Bortstein, Sports Quarterly Presents Baseball, Spring 1974
1974 Yankees Spring Training Depth Chart
C Thurman Munson
1B Ron Blomberg
2B Horace Clarke
3B Graig Nettles
SS Gene Michael
LF Roy White
CF Bobby Murcer
RF Lou Piniella
DH Jim Ray Hart
UTILITY:
C Jerry Moses
C Duke Sims
1B Mike Hegan (OF)
2B Billy Parker (3B)
SS Jim Mason
OF Otto Velez
PITCHERS:
Mel Stottlemyre
Doc Medich
Fritz Peterson
Steve Kline
Pat Dobson
Sam McDowell
RELIEF PITCHERS:
Sparky Lyle
Wayne Granger
Fred Beene
Ken Wright
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