New York Yankees
In January 1903 after the acquisition of team by Frank Farrell and Bill Devery for $18,000 the non-operational Baltimore Orioles moved to Manhattan. On March 12 the team became the part of Eastern Division of the American League with its roots in the Bronx, New York City. Initially the club played at the “Hilltop Park” located at 168th Street and Broadway in Mnhattan. Due to the venue’s site the club became known as the "Highlanders.” The Yankees in their formative years struggled to form a space for themselves. Griffith became the first manager of the Highlanders. The Highlanders were led by "Wee Willie" Keeler, who was adroit in at laying down a bunt, chopping the ball into the ground to beat it out for an infield hit, performing the suicide squeeze, and parlaying the double steal. In 1904 and 1910, the Highlanders finished in second place in the American League. They scrutinized their shortcomings and realized a new name and new manager was required to fortify the future of the team. At that time Arthur Norman Elberfeld took hold of the managerial duties of the consistently losing club. Immediately a year later the Highlanders became the most affluent team of MLB. Currently the team has 26 World Series to its credit. In 1910, with the segregation of Farrell and Devery, the team became the possession of Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Captain Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston. At this Rupert even commented, "For $450,000 we got an orphan ball club, without a home of its own, without players of outstanding ability, without prestige." Over the years, the Yankees competently strengthened their array by increasing the payroll of their players and by acquiring the new players. The newly acquired players mostly belonged to the Boston Red Sox. Harry Frazee, the owner of the Sox, in order to free himself from the debts traded off his star players. He even traded pitcher-turned-outfielder star player Babe Ruth. This deal became known as the Curse of the Bambino and also kept the foundation of the most heated rivalry between the Sox and the Yankees since. The Sox didn’t win even a single Fall Classic title until 2004 after Ruth’s trade in exchange for $125,000 hard cash and $300,000 finance on the Red Sox's Fenway. Other significant change that took place in the Yankees was the appointment of Miller Huggins as manager and Ed Barrow as general manager. Barrow didn’t leave any stone unturned to take the club to the summit for the next 25 years. He also deserves the credit for improving the Yankees' farm system. From 1913 to 1922 the Yankees played at the Polo Grounds, which was also the home ballpark of their National League opponents, the San Francisco Giants. The Yankees struggled for two complete decades to win their first World Series. On the other hand Ruth’s influence on the team and his productive scores infuriated the Giants that they asked the Yankees to shift from their home ballpark. In 1923, the Yankees moved into Yankee Stadium located at 161st St. and River Avenue in the Bronx. The first phase of success of Yankees came in 1921, the success that Yankees pursued through 1928. They conquered six American League pennants and three World Series. The line-up of 1927 became the finest team in the history of baseball. The players were aggressive and full of enthusiasm. In the 1930s, Joseph Paul DiMaggio proved to be a versatile performer of the Yankees. Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing also proved to be the promising players of the 1930s. From 1949 to 1953 the team won successive World Series. The Yankees of the 1950s allocated much of their success to Stengel's use of platooning and his aptitude to get the most out of average. Following the 1964 season CBS purchased the Yankees from Dan Topping and Del Webb for $11.2 million. Until the second half of the 1970s, the team’s fortune fluctuated, but they could not establish themselves as serious contenders. In January 1973, George Steinbrenner took the hold of the team. He backed the renovation of the Yankees stadium. In 1978, the Yankees won the AL flag when Bucky Dent drove a game-winning home run over the "Green Monster." The Yankees entered the 1990s as a last-place team since their last appearance in the World Series in 1981. They fetched their best record in the AL. in 1995 when George Steinbrenner and his personnel was replaced by Joe Torre. The Yankees potent line-up of new century features Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui, Gary Sheffield, Kevin Brown, Alex Rodriguez and Javier Vazquez. In the 2004 ALCS, the Yankees became the first club in pro baseball history, and only the third team in North American professional sports history, to be beaten in a best of 7 series.
