1913 Yankees

They weren't the Highlanders anymore. After ten years under a name tied to a demolished ballpark on a Manhattan hilltop, the franchise formally became the New York Yankees in 1913 -- the first season the name appeared as the official designation rather than a newspaper shorthand. They moved into the Polo Grounds as tenants of the Giants. They hired Frank Chance, a Hall of Fame player-manager, and gave him a $120,000 contract to fix everything. They even held spring training in Bermuda, the first major league team to train outside the United States. The ambition was real. The results were a disaster.

The Bermuda Experiment

Chance's first act of reinvention was a spring training trip to Bermuda, where the team trained at Hamilton Cricket Grounds on a field converted for baseball. Initial reports were encouraging -- pitchers appeared sharp, the climate was ideal, and the isolation kept players focused. The New York Times praised the experiment. There was talk of building a permanent facility on the island.

Then the team sailed home. Seasickness ravaged the roster during the return voyage, and players arrived in New York physically diminished. The Yankees opened the season at 2-15, averaging just 2.7 runs per game. The Bermuda experiment, designed to give the franchise an edge, had crippled it instead. The team never went back.

A New Name, a New Home

The move to the Polo Grounds was a direct payback for the Highlanders' generosity in 1911, when they'd shared Hilltop Park with the Giants after the Polo Grounds fire. Now the Giants offered a 10-year sublease, and the Yankees became tenants in a stadium that wasn't theirs. The arrangement was practical -- the Polo Grounds was larger and more modern than Hilltop Park -- but it placed the Yankees firmly in the Giants' shadow.

The Yankees didn't win their first home game until June 7 -- after 17 losses and a tie at the Polo Grounds. It remains the latest date for a first home win in a normal MLB season. The new address didn't bring new luck.

The Chase Exile

The Hal Chase saga that had simmered through 1910 and 1911 finally reached its conclusion. Chance publicly accused Chase of "throwing down me and the team" -- the same complaint George Stallings had made three years earlier. This time, the manager won. On June 1, Chase was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Babe Borton and Rollie Zeider in what became the most lopsided deal of the season.

Sportswriter Mark Roth captured the trade's absurdity, noting the Yankees had dealt their star for "an onion and a bunion." Both replacements were gone before the season ended. Chase would eventually become entangled in baseball's gambling scandals, lending retrospective weight to every accusation Stallings and Chance had ever made.

Peckinpaugh and the Future

Not everything was bleak. On May 25, the Yankees acquired shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh from Cleveland in exchange for Jack Lelivelt and Bill Stumpf. Peckinpaugh would become a fixture at shortstop for the next decade, providing the kind of steady, reliable play the franchise desperately needed. On August 8, Fritz Maisel arrived from Baltimore for $12,000 and two players, adding speed to a roster that lacked it. These acquisitions wouldn't save 1913, but they'd contribute to the slow rebuild that followed.

46.5 Games Back

The final record -- 57-94, seventh place in the American League -- put the Yankees 46.5 games behind the pennant-winning Philadelphia Athletics. The gap was staggering. Even the fourth-place Red Sox were 22 games better. Chance's team wasn't just bad. They were historically irrelevant in a league dominated by Connie Mack's dynasty.

The Name That Waited

Chance would return for 1914 before resigning. The Bermuda experiment was abandoned permanently. The franchise spent the rest of the decade searching for the combination of talent and leadership that would transform "Yankees" from a new name on a losing team into the most storied brand in American sports. That transformation wouldn't arrive until a left-handed pitcher from Boston showed up in 1920 and changed everything.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did the team officially become the New York Yankees?

The franchise officially adopted the "Yankees" name in 1913, replacing the "Highlanders" designation that had been used since 1903. The name change coincided with the team's move from Hilltop Park to the Polo Grounds. Newspapers had been using "Yankees" informally for nearly a decade before it became official.

Did the Yankees really hold spring training in Bermuda?

Yes. In 1913, the Yankees became the first major league team to hold spring training outside the United States, traveling to Bermuda to train at Hamilton Cricket Grounds. The experiment backfired when players became seasick on the return voyage, contributing to a 2-15 start. The team never returned to Bermuda.

What happened to Hal Chase in 1913?

Manager Frank Chance publicly accused Chase of not giving full effort and traded him to the Chicago White Sox on June 1 for Babe Borton and Rollie Zeider. It was the latest in a series of managers who questioned Chase's commitment. Chase would later become involved in baseball's gambling scandals.

How far behind first place did the 1913 Yankees finish?

The 1913 Yankees finished 46.5 games behind the pennant-winning Philadelphia Athletics, posting a 57-94 record and landing in seventh place in the eight-team American League. The gap was one of the largest in franchise history and reflected deep organizational dysfunction.