1965–1975
The Lean Years
The dynasty crumbles. Aging stars, CBS ownership, and a fading Yankee Stadium. But a catcher named Thurman Munson arrives to rebuild from the ashes.
The Captain
Thurman Munson→KEY PLAYERS
The Stars of The Lean Years
Lee MacPhail
WS: 0
Lean Years
Roy White
AVG: .271
Lean Years
Thurman Munson
AVG: .292
Lean Years
Bobby Murcer
AVG: .278
Lean Years
Horace Clarke
AVG: .257
Lean Years
Tom Tresh
AVG: .247
Lean Years
Joe Pepitone
AVG: .252
Lean Years
Gene Michael
AVG: .233
Lean Years
Jake Gibbs
AVG: .235
Lean Years
Jerry Kenney
AVG: .238
Lean Years
Ron Blomberg
AVG: .302
Lean Years
Mel Stottlemyre Sr.
ERA: 2.97
Lean Years
Felipe Alou
AVG: .271
Lean Years
Jim Mason
AVG: .207
Lean Years
Steve Hamilton
ERA: 2.78
Lean Years
Bill Robinson
AVG: .205
Lean Years
Fritz Peterson
ERA: 3.10
Lean Years
Danny Cater
AVG: .290
Lean Years
Lindy McDaniel
ERA: 2.89
Lean Years
Bill Virdon
G: 266
Lean Years
SEASONS
1965–1975 Season by Season
The dynasty collapses -- first losing season in 40 years, Keane overwhelmed, Mantle plays through pain, Bobby Murcer debuts
6th in AL · Mgr: Johnny Keane
10th in AL · Mgr: Johnny Keane / Ralph Houk
9th in AL · Mgr: Ralph Houk
5th in AL · Mgr: Ralph Houk
5th in AL East · Mgr: Ralph Houk
2nd in AL East · Mgr: Ralph Houk
4th in AL East · Mgr: Ralph Houk
4th in AL East · Mgr: Ralph Houk
Steinbrenner buys the team, last game at old Yankee Stadium, Murcer's All-Star season -- the hinge between darkness and dynasty
4th in AL East · Mgr: Ralph Houk
2nd in AL East · Mgr: Bill Virdon
3rd in AL East · Mgr: Bill Virdon / Billy Martin
HISTORIC MOMENTS
Defining Moments of The Lean Years
Mickey Mantle Hits First Home Run in Astrodome History
Mantle hit the first home run in the Houston Astrodome during a Yankees exhibition game.
Johnny Keane's Disastrous 1965 Season
Keane was overwhelmed managing an aging Yankees roster and was fired early in the 1966 season.
Bobby Murcer's Major League Debut
Murcer debuted as a 19-year-old shortstop, beginning a career that would make him the Yankees' best player of the 1970s.
Fritz Peterson's Complete-Game Debut in Baltimore
April 15, 1966. Memorial Stadium, Baltimore. A 24-year-old left-hander named Fritz Peterson walked to the mound for the first time as a major leaguer...
Red Barber and the 413-Fan Game
September 22, 1966. A Thursday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. Rain drizzling, the season already dead, the White Sox in town for a meaningless makeup...
1966 Yankees Finish Last for the First Time Since 1912
The numbers don't do it justice. Seventy wins and eighty-nine losses and a tie, tenth place out of ten, 26.5 games behind a Baltimore Orioles team that...
Joe Pepitone's 1966: 31 Homers and a Gold Glove
Joe Pepitone played 152 games for the 1966 Yankees -- more than anyone else on a roster that couldn't wait for the season to end. While the franchise...
Roger Maris Traded to the Cardinals
December 8, 1966. The Yankees announced they'd traded Roger Maris to the St. Louis Cardinals for Charley Smith. Five years after hitting 61 home runs...
Mickey Mantle Hits His 500th Home Run
The night before he hit number 500, Mickey Mantle called his wife and told her he'd try to hit one for Mother's Day.
The 1967 Yankees-Red Sox Brawl at Yankee Stadium
June 21, 1967. Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox were rolling, the Yankees were sinking, and somewhere in the middle innings of a game Boston was winning...
Elston Howard Traded to the Red Sox
August 3, 1967. The Yankees traded Elston Howard to the Boston Red Sox for Pete Magrini and a player to be named later. The first Black player in...
The Horace Clarke Era Begins
Horace Clarke didn't ask for any of this. The second baseman from Frederiksted, Virgin Islands, showed up at Yankee Stadium in 1967 to replace the...
Mickey Mantle's Final Season
Mickey Mantle walked into spring training in 1968 knowing what everyone else already suspected: this was the end. He was 36 years old. His knees had...
Mel Stottlemyre's 21-Win Season
Mel Stottlemyre won 21 games for the 1968 Yankees -- a team that batted .214 as a collective. Think about what that means. Twenty-one times...
The 1968 Yankees Bat .214 in the Year of the Pitcher
The 1968 New York Yankees batted .214 as a team. Read that number again: .214. Not a single player's average pulled down by a slump. Not a September...
Mickey Mantle Day: No. 7 Retired
June 8, 1969. Yankee Stadium. Sixty thousand and ninety-six people filled every seat, every aisle, every vantage point with a view of the field. They...
Moon Landing Announced at Yankee Stadium
July 20, 1969. The 98th game of the 1969 Yankees season. A regular-season Sunday against the Washington Senators at Yankee Stadium -- the kind of game...
Thurman Munson's Major League Debut
August 8, 1969. The second game of a doubleheader against the Oakland Athletics at Yankee Stadium. A 22-year-old catcher from Canton, Ohio, named...
93 Wins, No Playoffs: The 1970 Yankees
The 1970 New York Yankees won 93 games. Ninety-three. It was the fourth-best record in Major League Baseball, the franchise's best mark since the 1964...
The Yankees' June 1970 Hot Streak
June 1970. The 1970 Yankees hadn't felt this alive in years. After stumbling to a 9-12 April and clawing back in May, the team ripped off 11 wins in 12...
Thurman Munson's 1970 Rookie of the Year Season
Thurman Munson hit .302 in his first full major league season, caught 132 games, threw out baserunners like he took it personally, and won the 1970...
The Yankees' Decline Under CBS Ownership
When CBS purchased 80% of the New York Yankees for $11.2 million in 1964, the network believed it had acquired the greatest brand in American sports...
Bobby Murcer's 1971 Breakout Season
Bobby Murcer had heard the boos. He'd heard the comparisons to Mickey Mantle -- unfair ones, because nobody could be Mantle -- and he'd heard the...
Stottlemyre and Peterson Carry the 1971 Rotation
Mel Stottlemyre threw 269 innings in 1971. Fritz Peterson threw 274. Between them, that's 543 innings and 32 complete games from two starting pitchers...
The Sparky Lyle Trade
March 22, 1972. The Yankees traded first baseman Danny Cater and a player to be named later to the Boston Red Sox for a left-handed relief pitcher...
Bobby Murcer Hits for the Cycle
August 29, 1972. Bobby Murcer stepped into the batter's box in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Texas Rangers, needing a home run to complete...
The Graig Nettles Trade
November 27, 1972. The 1972 season had been over for nearly two months when the Yankees made the trade that would define their decade. They sent four...
George Steinbrenner Buys the Yankees
Steinbrenner's $10 million purchase from CBS began the most consequential ownership era in franchise history.
Ron Blomberg Becomes MLB's First Designated Hitter
On April 6, 1973, Ron Blomberg stepped up for the Yankees at Fenway Park and became Major League Baseball's first designated hitter -- without swinging...
Bobby Murcer's 1973 All-Star Season
Murcer hit .304 with 22 home runs as the Yankees' brightest star during the transition years.
Last Game at Original Yankee Stadium
The Yankees played their final game at the original Yankee Stadium before a two-year renovation.
The Yankees' First Home Game at Shea Stadium
On April 6, 1974, the New York Yankees played their first home game at Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens -- the first time since 1923 that the franchise...
The Chris Chambliss Trade
On April 26, 1974, GM Gabe Paul sent four pitchers -- Fritz Peterson, Steve Kline, Fred Beene, and Tom Buskey -- to the Cleveland Indians for first...
Bobby Murcer Traded for Bobby Bonds
On October 22, 1974, the phone rang in Bobby Murcer's apartment, and Gabe Paul delivered the news that no Yankee fan wanted to hear: Murcer had been...
Catfish Hunter Signs with the Yankees
On December 15, 1974, arbitrator Peter Seitz made the most consequential ruling in baseball history outside of a courtroom. He declared that Oakland...
Billy Martin Hired as Yankees Manager
On August 1, 1975, George Steinbrenner fired Bill Virdon and replaced him with the most volatile, brilliant, self-destructive manager in baseball...
Catfish Hunter's 23-Win Season in 1975
Catfish Hunter threw 328 innings in 1975. He completed 30 of his 39 starts. He won 23 games and lost 14, posted a 2.58 ERA, and finished second in the...
The Yankees' Last Season at Shea Stadium
The 1975 Yankees played their final game at Shea Stadium on September 28, ending a two-year exile that nobody enjoyed and everybody endured. For 324...
Thurman Munson Emerges as a Leader in 1975
Thurman Munson hit .318 in 1975 with 190 hits, 102 RBI, and 83 runs scored across 157 games. He caught 30 of Catfish Hunter's complete games, handled a...