1959 Yankees

The defending World Champions opened 1959 by falling apart. The New York Yankees went 79-75 -- their worst record in 34 years -- finished third in the American League, 15 games behind the Chicago White Sox, and missed the postseason for the first time since 1954. Four straight pennants, gone. The dynasty that had rolled through the 1958 World Series comeback ran headfirst into age, injuries, and a Chicago club that simply wanted it more.

Last Place in Late May

The collapse didn't creep up on anyone. It announced itself.

By late May, the Yankees sat at 12-20 and briefly occupied last place in the American League -- a position so foreign to this franchise that reporters didn't know how to write about it. The pitching staff beyond lacked reliable arms. Don Larsen, the , couldn't record a win after mid-June and finished 6-7. Hank Bauer was 35 and hitting like it. showed visible decline behind the plate.

Ford did what Ford always did -- he pitched. On April 22, he threw at Griffith Stadium against Washington in a 1-0 win, one of the most dominant individual performances of the entire season. It didn't matter. One arm can't carry a roster that's breaking down at every other position.

The Moose Goes Down

Whatever faint pennant hopes remained died on July 25 in Detroit.

Bill "Moose" Skowron -- the same Skowron who'd crushed the off Lew Burdette nine months earlier -- reached for an errant throw at first base and collided with Tigers shortstop Coot Veal. The impact . Season over. At the time, Moose was hitting .298 with 15 home runs and 59 RBI (second in the AL). Casey Stengel didn't sugarcoat it: "If you had him, you could even think about winning it."

Three days later, on July 28, the White Sox beat the Yankees 4-3 behind Billy Pierce and took sole possession of first place. They never looked back.

If you had him, you could even think about winning it.

The White Sox and What Beat Them

Chicago's "Go-Go" Sox ran the Yankees off the field with speed, defense, and pitching -- a philosophical challenge to the Bombers' power-driven model. Al Lopez's club went 13-9 head-to-head against New York and clinched their first pennant since the 1919 Black Sox scandal on September 22 in Cleveland. The Yankees' third-place finish was confirmed days earlier (the Cleveland Indians finished second, five games back).

still hit 31 home runs, because Mantle was always going to hit home runs. But 126 strikeouts (an AL-leading total) and just 75 RBI told a different story -- a lineup that couldn't support its best hitter and a season where even Mantle's power felt hollow.

The Trade That Fixed Everything

The organizational response came on December 11. The Yankees shipped Hank Bauer, Don Larsen, Norm Siebern, and Marv Throneberry to Kansas City and received a 24-year-old outfielder named -- plus Joe DeMaestri and Kent Hadley. The sent aging veterans out the door and brought in the left-handed power bat that would change the franchise's trajectory.

Maris had hit .273 with 16 homers in just 122 games for the Athletics (he'd missed 45 games after an appendix operation). The raw numbers were modest. The Yankees' scouts saw something the stats didn't fully capture -- a compact left-handed swing built for the short right-field porch at the Stadium.

They were right. Maris won back-to-back MVP awards in 1960 and 1961, and the second of those campaigns produced and a broken record that had stood since 1927.

The Valley Between Peaks

This was and the beginning of something new. Stengel managed one more season before . The roster he'd ridden through the '50s needed a reset, and the front office -- to its credit -- didn't wait long to start building.

The 1959 season sits in franchise history as the valley that makes the next peak visible. Without this third-place finish, there's no Maris trade. Without the Maris trade, there are no M&M Boys. Without the M&M Boys, there's no 61. Sometimes the worst seasons do the most important work.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened to the Yankees in 1959?

The Yankees went 79-75 and finished third in the American League, 15 games behind the Chicago White Sox. It was their worst record since 1925 and ended a streak of four consecutive pennants. An aging roster, a devastating midseason injury to Bill Skowron (broken arm, July 25), and the White Sox's speed-and-pitching attack combined to dethrone the defending champions.

How did the Yankees get Roger Maris?

On December 11, 1959, the Yankees traded Hank Bauer, Don Larsen, Norm Siebern, and Marv Throneberry to the Kansas City Athletics for Roger Maris, Joe DeMaestri, and Kent Hadley. Maris was 24 years old and had hit .273 with 16 HR in 122 games. He won the AL MVP in his first season in pinstripes and broke Babe Ruth's single-season home run record with 61 in 1961.

Who won the 1959 American League pennant?

The Chicago White Sox won the 1959 AL pennant with a 94-60 record under manager Al Lopez. It was Chicago's first pennant since the 1919 "Black Sox" scandal -- a 40-year drought. The White Sox beat the Yankees 13-9 in the season series and finished 15 games ahead of New York.

Did the Yankees ever finish in last place?

The Yankees briefly sat in last place in late May 1959 at 12-20, though they recovered to finish 79-75 in third place. The 1959 season produced the franchise's worst record since the 1925 club, and the last-place moment -- however brief -- was a shock for a team coming off four straight pennants.