by Paul Semendinger
FROM April 19, 2024
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I have been writing (almost) daily posts and talking (almost daily) with Yankees fans and baseball fans here at Start Spreading the News since October 2017. We've been at this for a long time. We've had close to 10,000 articles published and have had millions and millions of page views. In total there have been tens of thousands of comments on the site.
Over the years, I have heard a host of myths about the Yankees. This article continues a new series where I prove that certain myths are untrue.
Here is the first article in the series:
Today, I'll take on the myth that great Yankees teams of the 1990s were primarily constructed while George Steinbrenner was suspended.
That myth is false and is easily proved false with simple facts. To do this, I'll simply demonstrate how many of the championship Yankees players came after George Steinbrenner's return to baseball.
George Steinbrenner's second suspension from Major League Baseball ended in 1993. He returned to running the Yankees on March 1, 1993.
The following important Yankees from the 1996 Championship team were brought up from the minor leagues or acquired only after George Steinbrenner returned to the Yankees:
C- Joe Girardi
1B- Tino Martinez
2B- Mariano Duncan
SS- Derek Jeter
DH - Ruben Sierra
LF- Tim Raines
LF- Darryl Strawberry
DH/1B- Cecil Fielder
INF- Andy Fox
OF- Ruben Rivera
INF - Luis Sojo
C- Jorge Posada
3B- Charlie Hayes
SP- Andy Pettitte
SP- Kenny Rogers
SP- Dwight Gooden
SP- David Cone
P- Ramiro Mendoza
RP- John Wetteland
RP- Mariano Rivera
RP- Jeff Nelson
RP- Graeme Lloyd
RP- David Weathers
That, quite simply, is the bulk of the team. 23 players in all.
This idea that George Steinbrenner was someone who made irrational decisions, didn't listen to his baseball people, traded away all of the talent, and such, is patently false in regards to the Yankees Championship Teams of the 1990s.
In addition to those players, the following other players were acquired or brought up from the minor leagues during the championship era, all who played significant roles in the Yankees' four World Series wins in five years (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000);
2B- Chuck Knoblauch
3B- Scott Brosius
DH- Chili Davis
OF- Ricky Ledee
INF- Homer Bush
OF- Shane Spencer
OF- David Justice
2B- Alfonso Soriano
UT- Clay Bellinger
SP- Hideki Irabu
SP- Orlando Hernandez
SP- David Wells
SP- Roger Clemens
SP- Denny Neagle
RP- Mike Stanton
RP- Darren Holmes
RP- Jason Grimsley
It's absolutely impossible to claim that the players who made up the championship core were all acquired pre-Steinbrenner. That narrative is completely false.
Along with the "They built the championship core while Steinbrenner was suspended myth" is the one that says, "Steinbrenner traded away all the Yankees' young talent."
Look over the list above. The Core Four is there. They weren't traded away. But note something else, there are a host of other young players who played big roles and who came through the minor league system: Ramiro Mendoza, Ricky Ledee, Shane Spencer, Homer Bush. The fact is, Steinbrenner didn't trade away that young talent.
Now, sure he traded some young players. Eric Milton went for Chuck Knoblauch. Ricky Ledee went for David Justice. But, many of the times when the kids were traded, they were part of deals that made the Yankees' core even better.
Once this is pointed out, the reply that many who want to hold onto the false Steinbrenner myth give is, "Well, he wanted to trade them." Ok. But he didn't. The fact that he didn't negates the false premice that somehow he did a bad job in this period because he discussed trading players. Again, the fact is that he did not trade those key players. Period.
The fact is, a host of young Yankees came up from the minor leagues and were given chances to succeed after George Steinbrenner returned to the Yankees in 1993. The facts show this clearly.
One cannot claim that George Steinbrenner acted recklessly post-1993 when presented with this data. It's clear that he did not. That might have been true in the 1980s. It might have been true in the 1970s. But it wasn't true once he returned.
People change. People grow. It is clear that George Steinbrenner changed his thinking and his approach. And it worked!
The Yankees Championship Teams of the 1990s were built, primarily, under George Steinbrenner's watch.
What is also clear is that the fact that since George Steinbrenner died, the Yankees have never reached the World Series. (Updated - to "never won")
Hopefully this myth can now go away forever.
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in my perspective, George clearly did make some mistakes. for a period of time, maybe a lot of mistakes (I think there can be some debate about luck- such as how much better would early 90s Yankees have been minus Mattingly getting hurt. just to name one).
but taking his entire tenure he did FAR MORE good than bad and was an excellent owner. and for me the HUGE thing i loved about George, especially compared to his son, is that George really, really, really wanted to win above anything else!! he definitely cared more about winning than he cared about a budget. he also cared about winning more than he cared about his ego, or getting his way.
You're not reading what I said: I give George credit for the free agents he signed. That's him and his wallet. The trades are all Gene Michael. Steinbrenner never said, "Hey, get me Tino Martinez and Jeff Nelson for Russ Davis and Sterling Hitchcock." He presumably approved it, but there is no way he engineered it, unlike, say, Buhner for Phelps.
So my bottom line: Steinbrenner gets credit a) for the '76-'81 teams; b) for Cone, Hernandez and Wells (Irabu is a wash because while Steinbrenner signed him, he also tried to destroy Irabu mentally), and the fill-in pieces of Strawberry and Raines; and c) for not screwing up Gene Michael's efforts to create a great team. As I not…
George was the lightning rod and Gene Michael was the calming everyday influence who put everything together and George signed off .... as you noted credit to George and putting to rest the false narrative on the boss GS!
Great point Paul. Man oh man, I wish they had that roster these days. That team was so fun to watch!!
The biggest thing that happened since his Tisha B'Av 1990 (also Thurman Munson's yahrtzheit) suspension was that Gene Michael seized control of the day to day of the franchise, and when George came back, he, George, allowed himself to be talked out of doing things that pre suspension he would've just gone ahead and done, like Mariano for Fermin (Willie), or Pettitte just off loaded to the Phillies (Torre), and instead reacquired Jimmy Leyritz to be #46 personal catcher.
It is my opinion, at the end of the day, Gene Michael was the only one that never cowered and just folded when George barked, all the way back to Stick telling him NO to firing Dick Howser after the 1980…