Yankeeography - History of the Yankees - 1957-1979

I'm gonna put you guys in the championship, give me three years. Chris Chambliss has won the American League pennant for the New York Yankees. You just don't get 25 guys that you get along with all of them. And the world champions for the second year in a row, the New York Yankees. The decade of the 50s was one of great prosperity for both the United States and the New York Yankees. So closely linked were the two, in fact, it was said that rooting for the Yankees was like rooting for U.S. Steel. Hi, I'm John Sterling for the YES Network, and this is a special edition of Yankeography, the history of the New York Yankees. In 1956, the Yankees finished first for the seventh time in eight years. And fresh off his triple crown season, Mickey Mantle was filling the enormous shoes of Joe DiMaggio quite nicely. No doubt about it, the Yankees were the team of the decade, and Mantle an American icon. Under the tutelage of Casey Stengel, the Yankees were the only team grabbing headlines in the mid-50s, having won six pennants and five world titles in the first seven years of the decade. And one Yankees player was emerging from the pack, evolving from hero to legend. Mantle, 5'11", 195 pounds, never lifted a weight in his life. Any substances he put in his body didn't help him athletically, I can tell you that. This guy just did it on raw physical ability. There's a certain charm and mystique about that that you don't have in baseball anymore. The idea of some kid coming out of the mines of Oklahoma like Mickey Mantle, and they just show up like the natural. You know, carrying literally a cardboard suitcase, wearing an ill-fitting suit. A hasty who could hit the ball over buildings and run like a jackrabbit. He had the physique. He had a V-shaped back on him that was just different. He looked like a tremendous athlete. He had strength. Unbelievable. Other guys hit home runs and he never talked about them. Mickey would hit one, you'd talk about it. That one, 480, 485. Mickey Mantle always was a picture-perfect baseball player for me. Batting from both sides of the plate and having the ability to hit the ball four or five hundred feet from both sides of the plate. They hit the ball over the moon. He helped them win world championships. He won triple crowns and batting titles and home run titles and was a hero. This guy touched me. My first hero. He became a very good friend. He always was an inspiration. But as Mickey blossomed, he became more than just a baseball player. Influencing a generation that even included some future Yankees. Mickey Mantle was my hero. He was the guy that I really, as a kid, followed. When you play in the backyard, you know, he was the guy that I wanted to be. You know, playing stickball or wiffleball or whatever it was. Mickey Mantle was dreams of Yankee Stadium. Number 7, pinstripes, transistor radios with earphones in your ear. Sneaking a listen of Mel Allen. Say, Mantle. Mickey Mantle. This young man's name will be in blazing high among the stars. It was just a special part of being a boy for me. Mickey Mantle. The name was perfect. Mickey Mantle. I mean, that went on the bubblegum card with no problem. His name, it was magical. Mickey Mantle. The name Mickey Mantle, it just rings a bell. You know, it's not like a Mel Stottlemeyer. The hat was always molded the crown on the head. We used to take the crown of our hats and put it in a coffee cup so you could get it, you know, like Mickey Mantle wore his. Already an idol to legions of fans, Mickey's triple crown season in 1956 and still another solid World Series performance took him to a level that transcended the world of sport. One last achieved by a man named Ruth. The Yankees won the pennant and were in the World Series almost every year so he was always in the most dramatic games. He was tremendously dynamic. He was the greatest combination of speed and power ever seen in any baseball player to that point in baseball history. That was awe-inspiring. But despite all the public adulation, it was the respect of his peers the humble Mantle both desired and earned. I played with him my first year. When I played with him that year, I was in awe. It took me half of a year before I ever had the nerve to go up and ask him to have his picture taken with me. I wanted one. I think everybody that played with Mickey or saw him had a great respect for him. A special part of being a baseball player for me was in Kansas City. I was just out of the minor leagues. It was in August. I was running off the field and I ran across Mickey Mantle who was playing first base for the Yankees. And he stopped for me to go by and he said, no Reggie, go ahead. He knew my name. And I looked down at his shoes and it was the number seven, Mantle. It just sent goosebumps up and down my spine. With his skills that he had on the field, the way that he was able to run, the power that he had, the fact that he was a switch hitter and so many things, a great outfielder. And above all, he was a tremendous team guy. He was so interested in winning and being a very important part of the team. I think you put all those together and you have someone that you can say, well he definitely is an icon and he deserved it. And behind Mantle, the Yankees had every reason to believe the 50s would end as they began. Coming up next on Yankeography. Why he pitched against all of the big guns. One of the best money pitchers of all time. Total, complete confidence. He had no fear. After Mickey Mantle's triple crown season, the first triple crown won by a Yankee hitter since Lou Gehrig in 1934, Mantle expected to be paid accordingly. General Manager George Weiss felt otherwise. First contract I got the next year was for a $5,000 raise. I thought you'd sent the contract to the wrong guy or something. Anyway, I finally got a hold of Mr. Weiss and I told him that I wanted to double my contract. He says, you know, you're like, you're only 25 or 26 years old. How are we going to pay you when you're 30? He said, well, I'm going to tell you something else. He said, if you don't sign this contract, I'm going to trade you to Cleveland for Herb Skor and Rocky Colavito. Frosty, tight-fisted, all-powerful. If you did not accept what he was offering, your option was to go home. Yankees co-owner Del Webb convinced Weiss to do something he almost never did, give in. Del Webb finally made George Weiss double my contract that year. It went from $32,500 to $65,000, which was a pretty good leap in those days. The next year, I hit $365,000 and had 35 homers, right at it, and 100 RBIs. It was a good year. Well, the first contract I got the next year was for a $10,000 cut because I didn't do as good as I did in 56, he said. Weiss had built the Yankees' dynasties as both director of the farm system and general manager. His unrivaled eye for talent was blinded by only one thing, color. During the eight years after the Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson, Weiss refused to put a black player on the Yankees' roster. He finally succumbed to pressure in 1955 and brought up Elston Howard. Primarily a catcher, Howard would become an all-star nine years in a row. Elston was a blue-collar worker. You know, he wasn't out for glamour. I mean, when he got behind the plate, a lot of days he would catch doubleheaders, never complain. In the 58 series, the Yankees sought to avenge their loss to the Braves in the 57 Classic, a trail three games to one. Then Howard, a left fielder at the time, and Cy Young Award winner Bob Turley led an inspired comeback. Elston Howard makes a spectacular diving catch, first base. Howard secured Turley's complete game shutout in Game 5 and then helped rescue the Yankees from elimination in Game 6. And two days after pitching a complete game shutout in Game 5, Turley began to throw in the bullpen. And Turley answered Stengel's call by providing some clutch relief. The following day, Stengel never wavered in the deciding Game 7, once again calling on Turley, who incredibly picked up the win by throwing six and two-thirds innings of two-hit relief of Yankee starter Don Larson. The game in the series is over. Turley can play a part in each of these three Yankee victories in a row. It was ironic that Turley became the first Yankees pitcher to win the newly created Cy Young Award, and not the staff ace Whitey Ford, perhaps the best pitcher in the league. But Whitey never got the chance to win 20 games in the 50s because of the way Stengel used him. Casey was not one of the managers that would follow a standard pitching rotation. That's why Whitey Ford never really won 20 games. He used to save Whitey for the big guns. Whitey pitched against all of the big guns, one of the best money pitchers of all time. He had no fear, no matter what the circumstances of the most important game of the season, total, complete confidence. Some members of the press questioned Stengel's handling of Ford, but none could question the manner in which Casey handled the press. Stengel understood the press better than almost any manager I'd ever heard of. Casey always gave the press a great deal of time, and you just open up your notebook, ask him one question, and your notebook is filled unless you get writer's cramp before that. Casey was loquacious, but he spoke a unique language, one that came to be known as Stengelese. Stengel's famous mangled language originally was purposeful, and it became so much a part of him that he did it automatically. The reasoning behind it was it made you pay attention. Casey even held court in the United States Senate in 1958, when he testified at the antitrust hearings. It proved to be a Casey classic. This was his first time before a national audience, other than the baseball audience, and he proceeded to give one of the greatest demonstrations of Stengelese that there ever was. I was asking you, sir, why it is that baseball wants this bill passed. I would say I wouldn't know, but I would say the reason why they'd want it passed is to keep baseball going as the highest baseball sport that has gone into baseball. And from the baseball angle, I'm not going to speak of any other sport that's been run cleaner than any baseball business that was ever put out in the hundred years at the present time. And so he went rambling on and rambling on, and of course, they got lost. They got totally lost. Stengel, I'm not sure that I made my question clear. Yes, well, that's all right. I'm not sure I'm going to answer yours perfectly. Casey certainly was a character, but he knew just what he was doing. Why should you be frightened if you did go into a World Series? The only thing is, it's a question of your arm. If their arms are good, I think they'll help our club hold their own in the series. And with the advent of the 60s, a return to the series was all that mattered. Still to come on this special edition of Yankeeography. Welcome back to the history of the New York Yankees. After a third-place finish in 1959, Yankees ownership began to question whether the 70-year-old Stengel was still fit to run the team. But Casey once again silenced the doubters as the Yankees returned to the series in 1960 to face the Pirates. There, Casey set the tone for the most bizarre World Series in Yankees history by not pitching forward in Game 1. I was so f****** mad that Casey Stengel didn't start me in the first game. For some reason, Casey thought that a left-hander shouldn't be starting in a World Series against Pittsburgh Pirates pitching back in New York. I finally got to pitch the third in the sixth game. I think we went 10-0 and 14-0. In the end, the Yankees would outscore Pittsburgh 55-27, led by a series-record 12 RBIs from second baseman Bobby Richardson. Still, the series was deadlocked at three games apiece. That seventh game, I said, that's the game I should be pitching. But Ford had pitched a complete game shutout in Game 6. So in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7, with a score tied at 9, it was Ralph Terry who faced Bill Mazeroski. And there she goes. It's a long one to left field. That's heading for the wall. The only thing going through my mind is we beat them. We beat them. We beat the great Yankees. It was a devastating defeat, one that cut through the Yankees' heart and soul. It was the only time I ever saw Mickey Mantle cry in the dressing room after the game. After 10 penance and 12 years, Stengel was fired. Said the old professor, I'll never make the mistake of being 70 again. George Weiss resigned, and the era of expansion was about to begin, changing the tenor of the game. But the Yankees' players, who forged the dynasty, weren't going anywhere in 61. They still had something to prove. And when longtime Yankees player and coach Ralph Houck replaced Casey as manager, the team showed new life. Greatest team I ever played with. Mickey and Roger. We hit 240 home runs as a team. Perhaps the greatest Yankees team ever, one that featured an incredibly balanced attack. I had guys hitting behind me like Moose and Yogi. Our three catchers, Alston and Yogi and Johnny Blanchard, hit 60 home runs that year. All those big guys hitting home runs. But on the other hand, we had Regison, Kubek, and myself in the infield. We had a pretty good infield. And at the infield, on the 61 Yankees, with Cletus Boyer, Tony Kubek, Bobby Regison, and Moose Scarron on first base, was the best infield I've ever seen. Whitey Ford won the Cy Young Award with a career-high 25 wins. And the Yankees won 109 games, just one fewer than Babe Ruth and the fabled Murderers' Row Yankees of 1927. But the Babes' home run mark, set in 27, did fall when Roger Marris hit No. 61 on the season's final day. Babe also lost a pitching record in 61 when his World Series scoreless hitting streak, set with the Red Sox, was broken by Ford. Whose 33-2 straight shutout innings still remains the series standard. And that makes 30 straight scoreless innings. Whitey Ford, the little lefty with a big heart, has shattered one of Babe Ruth's most cherished records. Behind Marris and Ford, the Yankees made Halco World Series champion in his first year managing the team, defeating the Cincinnati Reds in five games. The Yankees win 13-5. As it did in 1960, the 62 series came down to the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7. And as in 1960, Ralph Terry was on the mound for the Yankees. This time, Terry was pitching a 1-0 shutout. But with two outs and runners at 2nd and 3rd, he had to face Willie McCovey, a most imposing slugger. The same pitcher Ralph Terry was pitching that pitched against Mazeroski in 60. And I remember that Ralph Houck walked out to talk to him. Maze was on 2nd base, and I walked over to Kubik, and I remember Tony saying, boy, I sure hope McCovey doesn't hit the ball to you. I said, well, why? He said, well, you've already made two errors in this series, and I'd hate to see you blow it now. McCovey slashes away again. A sizzling line drive, but it's right at Bobby Richardson. He grabs it as he played McCovey perfectly. I was just thankful to get an opportunity to win a seventh game in the World Series, especially after losing a seventh game to redeem myself. The Yankees win 1-0 on a brilliant clutch effort by Ralph Terry, the hero of the 20th World Championship. Coming up next on the history of the New York Yankees. I got the harmonica and threw it at him. He said, shove that harmonica up your... It was the best fine Phil ever paid because it helped the whole ball club. Friday on Yes. Featuring the 2018 Audi A5 Sportback. Fox Sports Go puts the pinstripes in the palm of your hand. Now watch the Yankees when you're on the go and never miss a moment. Stream Yankee games on Fox Sports Go. Yankee streaming is brought to you by Montefiore. Doing more. We now return to the history of the New York Yankees. After being swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1963 World Series behind the starting pitching of Sandy Koufax, now Johnny Padres and reliever Ron Peronowski who combined to give up only four runs in four games holding New York to a 171 team batting average, the lowest ever for the Yankees in the postseason. The Yankees were obviously in need of some sort of shakeup. So prior to the 1964 season, Ralph Houck was named general manager and Yogi Berra got an offer he could not refuse. He said, how would you like to manage? And he says, the Yankees, it'll be fine. It'll be all right with me. One question that people wondered about was how he would be able to relate to the players. Would he be able to discipline players, especially veteran players, players he played with who were not only his teammates but his close friends? Yogi's Yankees struggled and slipped four and a half games back by the middle of August. After being swept in Chicago, he was on a not-so-harmonious bus. Yogi was under a lot of criticism. The Yankees were slumping. They had just lost a very tough game in Chicago. They were on their way to O'Hare Airport on the bus. We were going to the airport on the bus loaded with riders and all our coaches. Everybody was on the bus and everything was quiet, really quiet. And I was sitting right next to Phil. He had on that road trip purchased a harmonica and was teaching himself how to play the harmonica just to lighten the mood a little bit. And he started playing Mary Had a Little Lamb. And Yogi got up and he started saying, all right, Phil, you know, shove that harmonica, you know. Yogi called something out. Now I know what he said. He said, shove that harmonica up your... And Linz, occupied with playing Mary Had a Little Lamb, didn't hear what Yogi said and turned to Mickey Mantle and said, what did he say? I said, uh-oh, uh-oh. Here comes Yogi running back from the front of the bus. Then old Phil, I said, put that thing away, put that thing away. That's when I got back there, I got mad. I got the harmonica, threw it at him. I said, here, take it. He catches it, he threw it at me. I'll tell you what, he hit me in the head, I think I'm dead. Linz was fined, I think $200. It was the best fine Phil ever paid because it helped the whole ball club. And that started, we went up to Boston and we started off pretty good then, after that. The point was it was really the crystallizing incident of that 1964 season. From that point on, the Yankees began to win and came from behind and won the pennant. In the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Yankees summoned a page from the team's fabled history in their quest for one more crown. I think what made it special was the New York Yankees. Now, the New York Yankees weren't the vaunted Yankees, perhaps, that they were from the late 40s to the mid-50s, but this was their fifth consecutive pennant. And even though they'd lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers the year before, it was still playing against the New York Yankees. With a score tied in the ninth inning of Game 3 and the series tied in one game apiece, a physically weak Mickey Mantle limped to home plate. The few times I ever called a home run and then did it, they took the pitcher out and brought in Barney Schultz. And while he was coming in, I went back to the on-deck circle. Elston Howard was in the on-deck circle, and I said, Ellie, you can go on back in the clubhouse and take a shower if you want. This game's over. Schultz turns loose his first knuckler. Mantle tears into it with a terrific gun. Shannon races to the fence, but it's a futile gesture. Schultz has a nine-handed Jim Boughton who would go on to pick up his second win of the series in Game 6. In the pivotal Game 7, Mantle would hit his 18th and final World Series home run. But not even the Mick could stem the march of time. The Cardinals won in 7. The dynasty was over. After 1964, it was really pretty sad around here. I should have retired in 64. And so we really were at a point right then where we needed to rebuild, we needed to get things together, and it took a while before they were able to do that. Still to come on this special edition of Yankeeography. The arrival of George Steinbrenner was viewed as a very positive development by everybody. I'm going to put you guys in the championship. Give me three years. The Yankees had three players Steve Mantle, Roger Marris, and Whitey Ford on the decline. But Yogi took the fall and was fired after just one year as Yankees manager. Yogi Berra took a team that had a lot of injuries and older players, players not performing up to the levels they had been, and he got them into the series. It wasn't about Yogi's managing. It was about the scouting staff. Really the only prospect the Yankees had offensively would have been Bobby Mercer and pitching-wise Mel Stottlemeyer, but outside of them and a handful of others, the farm system was totally dry. They hired the man who just beat them in the series, Johnny Keene. Still, the demise of this dynasty continued. Keene had a horrible aging team. Marris was hurt. He was out of time, and early the next season, Houck returned to Skipper, but the downward spiral continued, and the Bronx Bombers finished last for the first time since 1912. I'd be lying if I didn't say that was a tough thing to go through when you're used to winning and winning with the Yankees, and it was tough. This was not a passing storm the Yankees needed only to weather. A dark cloud was hanging over this team. Under CBS, there were four star ballplayers and it was just kind of languishing. All of a sudden, everybody's gone. I look up, I'm playing first base, and I got Horace Clark playing second, Bobby Cox at third, Dick Michaels on short. I'm thinking, gee, where'd everybody go? When Mantle finally retired in the spring of 69, the party truly was over. The Yankees didn't get anything back for Mantle, for Kubick, for Richardson, Whitey Ford. The Yankees were mired in mediocrity. But they did have the 1970 Rookie of the Year Thurman Munson, an impact player who would establish himself as one of the best all-around catchers in the game. The Yankees surrounded him with better talent, trading for players like Greg Nettles and Sparky Lyle. But the biggest move of all was when a group of Cleveland-based businessmen bought the team from CBS in 1973. It was the year of the new ownership. It's important to me, it's important to all of us, and it's particularly important to New York and to the Yankees that the group that gets behind the Yankees at this point have the wherewithal and the interest to get the kind of job done that the sportswriters, that the fans, that the city and the media in New York deserve. The arrival of George Steinbrenner was viewed as a very positive sign that the Yankees are going to be on their way again. George Steinbrenner looks like he really wants to get us back on top. I said, I'm going to put you guys in the championship, give me three years. Both Steinbrenner and general manager Gabe Paul recognized the talent that was there. They simply sought to enhance it. It was widely assumed that Steinbrenner took over a lousy team. No, he didn't. The Yankees filled the holes with professional hitters Chris Chambliss and Lou Piniella. They added speed and defense with Mickey Rivers and Willie Randolph and rebuilt their pitching staff with Dick Tidrow and Ed Figueroa. They also went fishing. I remember how impressed I was with Catfish. That's the day I said to him, Gabe, if we ever get a ball club, that's the guy I want. And that's who they got, hook, line, and sinker. Signing Catfish to the biggest contract in the game, triple that of any other ball player at the time. Catfish was a major catch for the Yankees, for not only did he bring ace credentials to the pitching staff, he also brought three World Series rings with him, exactly the type of hardware the Yankees were looking for. With the talent of the team considerably upgraded, Catfish was the place he always felt he belonged. To Billy, returning to the Yankees was everything in his life because he felt betrayed when the Yankees had traded him away and now this had come full circle. He was back home. And as a manager, Billy displayed a shrewd baseball intellect. He was a genius in the dugout. He was four steps ahead of anybody else. And his scrappy style of play soon rubbed off on his players. At Shea Stadium, during 1974 and 75, while Yankee Stadium underwent major renovations, the Yankees began 1976 by unveiling their newly renovated ballpark and featuring a recharged team that appeared poised to return to the postseason for the first time since 1964 and end the club's long postseason drought. Coming up next on Yankeography. Reggie said, Munson can only stir it bad. I was like, wow. Welcome back to this special edition of Yankeeography. At the start of the 1976 campaign, George Steinbrenner appointed Thurman Munson the team captain. I said, Thurman, we need somebody to lead us. We need a leader or we're not going to make it. We don't have leadership. It rekindled a Yankees tradition that had been dormant since the Iron Horse. Joe McCarthy's intent when Lou Gehrig took himself out of the lineup in 1939 was that there would never be a Yankee captain again. The position was going to be retired with Lou. To his credit, George Steinbrenner said, well, if Joe McCarthy or Lou Gehrig knew Thurman Munson, they'd know this was the right guy. But Thurman was reluctant and said, I'm paying you and you're going to be the captain. He played as the captain and everybody knew it. You didn't have to name him captain to know he was the captain. He was a guy that really just went out there and led by example. He wasn't a big talker. He wasn't a rah-rah guy. But when you see a guy go out there on bad knees trying to run and catch, that's inspiring. Eight years behind the plate had taken a toll on Thurman's body. That season, he decided that he was going to go for it all, I think, and just take the Yankees where they needed to go. And he did. Munson helped the Yankees end their 12-year absence from postseason play. And they faced the Kansas City Royals in the league championship series. In the fifth and final game, with a score tied at 6-9, Chris Chambliss stepped to the plate. That's not all. Chris Chambliss has won the American League pennant for the New York Yankees. I don't know if a lot of guys can say he's had that one moment that you can remember your career by, but that home run was just one of the most exciting moments of my life. That home run right there, I think, was a big moment for me. And the reason being, of course, I got into the World Series with that home run. Everybody in New York, too. But the euphoria of returning to the fall classic was short-lived, for the Yankees faced a Cincinnati team that was in the midst of its own dynasty as the Big Red Machine, and the Bombers never won a game. For the second year in a row, Steinbrand has signed his second big free agent from the Oakland A's dynasty of the early 70s, Reggie Jackson, Steinbrenner being the entertainer that he is, determined that he wanted as much pizzazz as he could possibly bring to Yankee Stadium. And so the player he wanted to sign was Reggie Jackson. Reggie signed a five-year deal worth $3.5 million. At the time, it made him the highest-paid player in the game. I thought we were getting ourselves a legitimate superstar and part of winning teams, but I knew we were also going to get a little controversy. It began before spring training, when Reggie questioned the leadership of Captain Thurman Munson in a national magazine. As Reggie came to spring training, he did this article where he said, I am the straw that stirs the drink. Reggie said, I'm the straw that stirs the drink. Munson can only stir it bad. He was the leader of the Yankees. And when they read what Reggie had to say about Thurman, they were absolutely furious. Reggie had distanced himself from his teammates and his manager. The tension reached a boiling point during a mid-June game in Boston. He turns around and looks and says, you coming in for me? I said, yeah, come on. He said, why? I said, Billy's the manager. Go in there and ask Billy. And after that happened, I went, wow. He showed Jackson up for not hustling on that pop choir rising. Jackson hit the top step of the dugout and went flying right at Billy Martin. One of them was telling the other one, you're showing me up. And the other one said, how can I show you up when you just showed me up? The Yankee dugout, which is a place of turmoil. With the Yankees immersed in such a tumultuous, it took humor to diffuse the chaotic situation. But Lyle was best at bringing laughter to the team. Well, Sparky was a real loose guy, real fun-loving guy, and a great guy to have on the ball club. He kept the clubhouse loose. He was the king practical joker on that team. Sparky loves to sit on birthday cakes. Nobody ever got a piece of birthday cake because Sparky would make sure he sat on it before anybody could get it. That's Sparky. That's Sparky and Jester. Sparky was the first real big closer that we'd had here for a long period of time. He had the hardest slider you ever want to see in your life. I mean, he was unhittable at times. Sparky Lyle! Sparky's slider helped him win the Cy Young Award, the first time an American League reliever had ever been so honored. He also helped the Yankees reach the championship series of what had now become a heated rivalry. The players on the Yankees literally hated the Kansas City Royals. And the players on the Royals literally hated the Yankees. And when the final bell rang, it was the Yankees who scored a knockout. Bouncing ball, that'll go to Randolph Watt over to first, in time, the Yankees win the American League pennant. The Dodgers were the Yankees' first full in the World Series, sparking memories of another era. Yankees-Dodgers, two great histories, two biggest cities, two biggest media markets. It captivated the country. The stage was set for Reggie Jackson to help bring a championship back to the Yankees. Although he got off to a slow start in the series, Reggie began to stir with home runs in both the fourth and fifth games. The Yankees returned home up three games to two, with Reggie on the verge of an historic offensive eruption. I just had a feeling before the game that he would do something special. Just had a funny feeling about it. With Reggie, nothing he did ever surprised you. You knew Reggie was capable of almost any theatrical moment. But this would be legendary. After hitting a home run in the fourth inning, Reggie, filled with confidence, came to bat in the fifth. On to the eighth at an encore that would resonate forever. Everybody in that ballpark was cheering. Whatever craziness he had brought to the Yankees was forgiven that day. That game that day was something that justified everything that had taken place. Reggie's phenomenal day helped lead the Yankees to a place they hadn't been in 15 years. Four years after George Steinbrenner bought the team, the Yankees were champions once again. But George did not rest on his laurels. He continued to try and improve the team during the offseason, signing another high-price free agent, closer Goose Gossage. A curious choice for Steinbrenner and Sparky. I mean, my whole thing with bringing Goose in is, and I told George this myself, that, hey, if I was him, I would have brought Goose Gossage in, too. He was younger, threw harder. But Goose struggled early in the 78 season, and so did the team, which heightened the tension in the clubhouse. The rift between the two main combatants, Billy and Reggie, only got worse. He was a fighter, walking into that clubhouse. The chaos reached its peak in mid-July, when Martin ordered Reggie to bunt, and Reggie refused at first. And then with two strikes, Billy took the bunt off. Billy had Reggie hitting away, and Reggie was bunting on his own. How many times during the course of Reggie's long and great career was he given the bunt sign? Not too many times. So maybe he missed a sign. It was also a no-win situation. Martin was lashing out at everyone. The firestorm created this time could not be extinguished, and Billy was soon gone. I hope they win it. I owe it to my health and my mental well-being to resign. Billy was out, and the more relaxed, laid-back Bob Lemon was in. He said, you got a great team here. You guys have proven what you can do. Let's go out there and finish up strong, and maybe we get back in this thing. They had 14 games just before Lemon took over, but Bob wasn't about to quit. We have nine games left with Boston, and anything can happen. And it did. Yankees fans knew something was up when the team went to Fenway and swept the Red Sox four straight, outscoring them 42-9 in what became known as the Boston Massacre. Fenway Park was just, the silence was deafening. I just couldn't believe how we had ended the season in a first-place deadlock. And it all came down to one final playoff game. The Yankees were brimming with confidence because Ron Guidry, the eventual Cy Young Award winner, was on the mound. The playoff game would have to be up in Boston, and I didn't like that at all. I was really down, because we were going to have to fly up there. So I came out of the stadium that night, walking to my car in the parking lot, and here's Guidry. And he said, what are you so down about? Go out there and play those, whatever I call them. And he said, don't worry, boss, don't worry, I'm going to beat them. Guidry's confidence was understandable. He had one of the most dominant seasons by a pitcher in the modern era, 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA. But pitching on just three days rest, he was shaky early on, and the Yankees fell behind. That's good! Boston took a 2-0 lead into the 7th. But then the curse of the Bambino reared its head, with light-hitting Bucky Dent at the plate. Deep to left! Jastrzewski will not get his home run! A three-run home run for Bucky Dent. The Yankees now lead it by a score of 3-2. One of the last guys on the ballclub to expect to hit a home run. Just hit one into the screen. Bucky Dent. Dent's home run capped off one of the most incredible comebacks by any team in the history of the game. Goose Gossage, in a season of comebacks much like his team had done, rebounded from his poor start to the season and had gone on to reclaim his status as an elite closer. Goose would enter the game with one out in the 7th inning, and in the 9th, with two outs, would face Carl Jastrzewski. Might be it! Detto's over at third base! He'll squeeze it, and it's over! What a comeback by this team that has come back all year long. We came from 14 games down. You know, they kept saying, well, you know, they had a bad streak. If they could get another crack at us, you know, that they'd beat us. They've got a better front nine than we have, and we came up and beat them all over again. And I'll tell you, it really feels good. And then, for the third consecutive year, the Yankees beat the Royals to win the pennant. And in still another World Series rematch with the Dodgers, the Yankees battle back from a two-game deficit for the 22nd championship in franchise history. Second year in a row, the New York Yankees. It was a strange and wonderful season in New York, one played under a full moon from beginning to end. It was just the way the owner wanted it to be, I think. He wanted us on the back page of the tabloids, and we did our darndest to stay there. When we left the dugout and we stepped on the field, we were totally together. That's what sets that team apart than most teams. I really can't say enough about when these guys went between the lines. They really knew how to play the game. In 1979, the Yankees' three-season domination of the AL East ended as the club was faced with a myriad of challenges that they ultimately could not overcome. Beset by injuries to key players, and the managerial merry-go-round turned once again as Bob Lemon was fired and Billy Martin returned to manage the team. It went from bad to worse as tragedy struck and the Yankees would receive some unthinkable news. New York Yankees and sports fans everywhere suffered a great loss tonight. That of star catcher Thurman Munson who was killed this afternoon in an airplane crash. I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. I mean, I just saw him. We just played a game together. I mean, that's impossible. It was an instant. Three people came to the door and told me what had happened. It just changed our world. On August 6th, with heavy hearts, the Yankees flew to Ohio to attend Munson's funeral then flew back to New York to play the Orioles. Riding home on the plane from the funeral, Billy had told me that he said, look, don't even worry about playing tonight. I told Billy, I said, for some reason or another I feel like I need to play tonight. I'm not really tired. After eulogizing his close friend, Bobby Mercer would somehow rise to the occasion in Munson's honor. In the 7th, with the Yankees trailing 4-0, the last Yankee to see Thurman got the chance to close the gap to 1. And then in the bottom of the 9th, still down by 1, Mercer brought the game to a poignant end. In the 1970s, the Yankees had returned to their former glory with three pennants and back-to-back world championships. And though the overwhelming sadness of Thurman Munson's death certainly cast a pall over the team, there was a new decade dawning and the Yankees looked forward to the 80s confident they were once again the team to beat. And thanks for watching Yankeeography. The preceding has been an explicit presentation of the Yes Network.