1960,1961,1962,1963,964: five consecutive pennants and two consecutive World Series championships (1961-1962) managed by Casey Stengel (1960), Ralph Houk (1961-1963), Yogi Berra (1964).
Mickey Mantle was still the main guy but Roger Maris joined the Yankees in 1960 and hit 100 (39 + 61) home runs in his first two Yankee seasons. Yankee AL MVP 1960-1964:
1960: Maris
1961: Maris
1962: Mantle (also 1956, 1957)
1963: Howard
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| Maris & Mantle Baseball Digest, front cover, October 1961 issue. Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
| 1965 (77-85, 8.2 oWAR) | Howard (1.0) | Pepitone (1.1) | Richardson (-1.0) | Boyer (2.9) | Kubek (-1.3) | Mantle (1.8) | Tresh (3.8) | Lopez (-0.5) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 (99-63, 20.0 oWAR) | Howard (5.5) | Pepitone (-0.7) | Richardson (0.4) | Boyer (-0.2) | Kubek (1.9) | Tresh (1.8) | Mantle (4.8) | Maris (3.8) | |
| 1963 (104-57, 25.9 oWAR) | Howard (5.2) | Pepitone (2.9) | Richardson (2.5) | Boyer (2.5) | Kubek (2.2) | Lopez (-0.3) | Tresh (4.1) | Maris (3.5) | |
| 1962 (96-66, 29.7 oWAR) | Howard (3.8) | Skowron (1.9) | Richardson (3.3) | Boyer (4.6) | Tresh (4.3) | Lopez (0.7) | Mantle (6.0) | Maris (3.7) | |
| 1961 (109-53, 36.1 oWAR) | Howard (5.4) | Skowron (2.4) | Richardson (-0.7) | Boyer (3.8) | Kubek (3.3) | Berra (2.1) | Mantle (10.4) | Maris (6.9) | |
| Year (Bold=Pennant) | C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | LF | CF | RF | DH |
| 1960 (97-57, 34.9 oWAR) | Howard (0.5) | Skowron (4.6) | Richardson (0.6) | Boyer (2.5) | Kubek (3.9) | Lopez (1.8) | Mantle (6.4) | Maris (7.5) | |
| 1959 (79-75, 22.8 oWAR) | Berra (3.9) | Skowron (1.9) | Richardson (2.1) | Lopez (2.1) | Kubek (2.3) | Siebern (0.8) | Mantle (6.6) | Bauer (-0.4) |
| 1964 (99-63) | Ford | Bouton | Downing | Terry | Stottlemyre | Mikkelsen | Hamilton | Stafford | Reniff |
| 1963 (104-57) | Ford | Bouton | Downing | Terry | Williams | Reniff | Hamilton | Bridges | Kunkel |
| 1962 (96-66) | Ford | Bouton | Stafford | Terry | Sheldon | Bridges | Coates | Daley | Arroyo |
| Year | Starting Pitchers | Closer | Bullpen | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 (109-53) | Ford | Daley | Stafford | Terry | Sheldon | Arroyo | Coates | Reniff | Clevenger |
| 1960 (97-57) | Ford | Ditmar | Turley | Terry | Coates | Shantz | Duren | Maas | Arroyo |
Whitey Ford and Ralph Terry were starting pitchers on all five teams. In 1960 in Pittsburgh Terry have up the home run in game 7, bottom 9 to Bill Mazeroski, which put Maz in the Hall of Fame (for his fielding) and gave the championship to the Pirates despite the Yankees outscoring the Pirates 55-27. In 1962 Terry won game 7 in San Francisco 1-0 against the Giants; in the 1962 regular season Terry was 23-12.
You can see the transition to three young starters: Bouton, Downing and Stottlemyre. Bouton won 21 and 18 ... and wrote "Ball Four" years later. Al Downing is the last Yankee pitcher to lead the AL in SO: 209 in 1964. While pitching for the Dodgers April 8, 1974 Downing gave up career home run 715 to Hank Aaron, which broke Babe Ruth's record. Stottlemyre won 20 games three times and was pitching coach for five WS champions: 1986 Mets and 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 Yankees.
The American League expanded from 8 to 10 teams in 1961. The National League in 1962. With expansion 5% more games were added: 154 to 162. Divisions were created in 1969. But through 1968 the World Series was the one and only post season competition.
In 1961 Mantle and Maris had their second consecutive home run race:
1960: Mantle 40, Maris 39
1961: Maris 61, Mantle 54; Maris broke Babe Ruth's record of 60
In 1961 Whitey Ford was 25-4 and won the Cy Young award as the best pitcher in both the AL and NL. In the 1961 WS Ford broke Babe Ruth's record for pitching consecutive scoreless innings: 32 to 29. Ford quipped that it was a bad year for the Babe. In 1964 Ford was both a starting pitcher (17-6) and the pitching coach under rookie manager Yogi Berra, who had also been a player/coach in 1963 but with limited playing.
The amatuer draft was introduced in 1965 to save money and combat the dominance of the Yankees.
Maris was traded to the Cardinals after the 1966 season, where he contributed to two more pennants.
Skowron was traded to the Dodgers for pitcher Stan Williams. Skowron played against the Yankees in the 1963 WS and hit a home run. Williams was a bust. Pepitone replaced Skowron but after a couple of good years, he, too, was a bust.
Switch hitter Tommy Tresh was AL rookie of the year in 1962 playing shortstop for Kubek who had been drafted into the Army; Tresh moved to the outfield but broke down physically too soon. Boyer was traded to Atlanta after 1966. Kubek and Richardson retired early. Mantle had four tack on down seasons. By 1968 he had broken down and retired at age 36, like Joe DiMaggio.
The only thing Mantle added to his resume in those four seasons was career home run 500. Had he retired after 1964 Mantle would have been even more of a legend.
But in elimination games in his final two WS, Mantle homered in 1963 in game 4 off Sandy Koufax and in 1964 in games 6 (off Curt Simmons) and 7 (off Bob Gibson) giving him 3 HR in the 1964 WS; Mantle had won game 3 with a walk off HR, which broke Babe Ruth's record of 15 WS HR. Mantle finished with 18 WS HR.
Mantle and Ford were inducted into the Hall of Fame on the same day in 1974. I attended the ceremony.
60 years since 61 in 61: second of five consecutive pennants; end of the old Yankee dynasty. Saturday, January 2, 2021
Three consecutive pennants 1903-2020. Four. FIVE! Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Four consecutive World Series championships: Yankees 1936,1937,1938,1939. Sunday, January 10, 2021
Five consecutive World Series championships: Yankees 1949,1950,1951,1952,1953. Sunday, January 24, 2021
Four consecutive pennants: Yankees 1955,1956,1957,1958. Monday, January 25, 2021
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