There was rebuilding in the Bronx under the watchful eye of general manager Gene Michael, and a young Buck Showalter was the field boss. By the standards of even a few years later, this wasn’t the star-studded lineup we’ve come to expect from the House of Steinbrenner. Don Mattingly was winding down a great career, and while he could hit for average and get on base, a lot of the power was gone from his swing.
The 1977 New York Yankees season was immortalized in the ESPN movie The Bronx Is Burning, and unlike a lot a cases with this franchise, the ’77 campaign was really worthy of the hype. A exciting, drawn-out AL East race was followed by a thrilling ALCS and then capped off with a World Series moment for the ages.
In a major league baseball era where one-third of the teams qualify for postseason play, the organization with the most distinct financial advantage of any in sports was not one of them in 2013. The New York Yankees lived through a season filled with injuries, drama and underachievement, en route to an 85-win season that left them home for October. After a busy offseason, are the Yanks ready to come back strong? The Notebook Nine, our key talking points about the Pinstripes, are what follows…
The official word on any suspensions regarding BioGenesis has led MLB coverage in most outlets, and the biggest name is obviously Alex Rodriguez. But as we await word on what early reports indicate will be a suspension that lasts through 2014, a more immediate question is this—is the New York Yankees’ pitching staff still good enough that A-Rod’s presence the rest of the season would even matter?