Tuesday Discussion: Going Back To A Season...

November 11, 2025

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This week we asked our readers the following question:

If you could go back and watch any one full season of baseball, which season would it be, and why?

Here are their responses...

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Paul Semendinger - There are so many, of course. In the end, I like watching the Yankees dominate the game, and 1927 fits that bill rather well. Gehrig, Ruth, Combs, Meusel, Lazzeri... Yeah, that would be a fun team to watch day-in and day-out.

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Lincoln Mitchell - The short answer to this question is all of them, but that is kind of cheating, so I have decided on one season. I have decided upon a season that featured a great pennant race, a Yankees World Series championship, great drama and some wonderful players. I also wanted a season that was in that sweet spot of old enough to be intriguing and recent enough to be baseball as I recognize it. For those reasons, I decided upon 1951. The race for the National League flag culminated in what still may be the greatest moment in baseball history, but the Yankees went on to win that World Series. 1951 was Joe DiMaggio’s last year, but the first for Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle. Other inner circle all-time greats around then included Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams and Stan Musial.

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Ed Botti - This a tough question, because there are so many great seasons to go back and watch. Having seen nearly every inning of the great 90’s teams, I’ll eliminate that era.

I lived through the 70’s, and although we didn’t have access to all the games back then, I saw quite a bit of the 76-78 teams.

1961 M & M Boys and the 1956 Triple crown Mantle seasons would be interesting to see, as well. Ditto for DiMaggio’s 1941.

But, having read and heard the comparisons to 1998 over and over again, I’d jump into a time machine to see the 1927 Yankees.

I’ll go warm up the DeLorean!

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Cary Greene - 2027 was a must see season if you're a Yankee fan and since this time period would have also been really cool to be a part of, I have to place my vote for the Yankees team with the original Murder's Row! Seeing Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig Bob Muesel, Tony Lazzeri and the rest of the Yankees lineup lash 291 doubles, rope an astonishing 103 triples while clubbing 158 home runs and driving in 907 runs would have been pretty darn fun! 

This past season's Yankees had 255 doubles, a mere 20 triples and 274 home runs to go along with 820 RBI's. No doubt, the game has changed dramatically since Ruth's era. 

Though no beer was served at Yankee Stadium in 1927 because of Prohibition - the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which banned the production and sale of alcohol from 1920 to 1933 - hot dogs, boiled peanuts and ice cream were the standard concessions of the day. I'll confess, there's no way I'd like to see every single game played in 1927, but I certainly would like to have seen a few of the more memorable ones and also, perhaps even a couple of the less memorable ones as well. 

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Derek McAdam - The 1998 season was definitely full of excitement. The Yankees ended up winning their second World Series in three seasons, but it also included the home run battle between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire. Plus, David Wells also threw a perfect game for the Yankees just to add on to the excitement. 

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Tim Kabel - initially, I thought I would say 1961 because that was considered to be one of the greatest Yankees teams ever and of course there was the home run chase between Mickey Mantle and Roger. However, I think I would like to see in the 1978 season. I saw it but I was 13 years old. I would like to experience it again as an adult to watch the Yankees come all the way back from 14 games out. It was also Thurman Munson‘s last full seasons. I would like to watch that season as an adult with different perceptions than I had when I was a teenager.

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Andy Singer - This is a really tough one for me. I'm torn between wanting to relive one of the dynasty years of my youth or witness history I never saw with my own eyes. As tempting as it is to relive one of the dynasty years that cemented my love of the Yankees, I think I'd want to go back and see Mickey Mantle's Triple Crown season in 1956.

Mickey Mantle, great as he was, is something of a tragic figure in Yankee history despite the accolades and titles. The Mick blew his knee apart on an exposed drain in his Rookie season in the World Series when DiMaggio cut him off in CF (to be fair, it was Joe D's right to call Mantle off, but manager Casey Stengel had told Mick to go at every ball he could get), and he was never the same. Despite that, Mantle still went on to have one of the most valuable careers in the history of baseball. Without that injury and a wild life away from the ballpark, Mantle's career stunningly could have been even more incredible.

I have always been fascinated by Mantle's career, and I would have loved to see him at something approaching his peak.