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The Real Rivalry George Steinbrenner hates it when the Yankees lose. George Steinbrenner detests it when the Yankees lose to the Boston Red Sox. George Steinbrenner abhors it when the Yankees lose to the Mets. George Steinbrenner knows that the Yankees' major rival is the Mets. The American League expanded from eight to ten teams in 1961 when the Los Angeles Angels and Washington Senators were created. A year later the National League added the Houston Colt45s and the New York Mets. In 1962 the Mets were a joke. In 1969 they were the World Champions. George Weiss was the Mets' first general manager and Casey Stengel was their first manager. Weiss had built the Yankees' dynasty after World War II while Stengel managed them to seven World Championships, including the all time streak of five in a row from 1949-1953. Stengel's last World Series was in 1960 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, whose war cry was "Beat 'em Bucs" and that is just what they (the Bucs) did. The Yankees unceremoniously relieved Weiss and Stengel of their duties after that Series, which was one of the most one-sided of all time. The Yankees dominated the Pirates in almost every offensive and pitching category but statistics can lie, mislead, and create a false sense of superiority. The reality is that baseball is played one game at a time by humans and statistics are merely numbers. The Yankees won three games by scores of 16-3, 10-0, and 12-0, but they lost four close games and the Pirates were World Champions. Goodbye George and Casey. Weiss and
Stengel did not have to look far for a new employer. They
were hired to do for the Mets what they had done for the
Yankees. Despite early appearances and results, they
succeeded. Weiss decided to go with name players when he
took over the Mets. Dodgers great Gil Hodges, Pirates
slugger Frank Thomas, Phillies center fielder Richie
Ashburn, Dodgers infielder Charlie Neal, Gus Bell, Gene
Woodling, and pitchers Roger Craig, Al Jackson, and Vinegar
Bend Mizell all were Mets in 1962. The problem was that most
of them had seen better days. The 1962 Mets lost a record
120 games while the Yankees, who rebounded from the bitter
1960 World Series loss with one of their greatest seasons in
1961, won the World Series again in 1962.
The Yankees struggled on the field and in the fight for media attention. After winning their second straight World Series in 1962 by defeating an outstanding San Francisco Giants team, they ran into Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and old nemesis Johnny Podres in 1963. The Yankees couldn't beat Podres in 1955 when he led the Dodgers to their first and last World Championship in Brooklyn, and they couldn't beat him, Koufax or Drysdale in 1963. The Yankees were swept for the first time in their history (In 1922, the Yankees managed a tie against the Giants, losing in five games). In 1964 Yogi Berra managed the Yankees so that Ralph Houk could become general manager because Roy Hamey, who succeeded Weiss, lacked the baseball acumen necessary to replace the players the team needed to continue to dominate. The Yankees trailed the White Sox most of the second half of the season but with a late September rush, partially due to the impetus Phil Linz' harmonica, they won their fifth straight pennant, a record that is rarely referred to when discussing consecutive league titles. Most fans thought that the 1964 Phillies would be remembered for winning the National League pennant but sadly for them, they are remembered with the 1969 Cubs, the 1978 Red Sox, and the 1986 Red Sox as the greatest losers of all time. The 1969 Cubs blew a 9 1/2 game lead to the Mets, the 1978 Red Sox blew a 14 game lead to the Yankees, the 1986 Red Sox produced the biggest "choke" in World Series history when they lost to the Mets, and the 1964 Phillies allowed a 6 1/2 game lead dissipate in less than two weeks. After leading by 6 1/2 games with only 12 games remaining, the Phillies manager decided that Jim Bunning and Chris Short should start as many games as they could. Bunning, the future United States Senator from Kentucky and the left handed Short started eight times and the Phillies promptly went on a ten game losing streak, which was truly a team effort. The Cardinals won eight in a row, closed the gap, and after losing to the Mets on the Friday and Saturday of the last weekend of the season, managed to win behind Curt Simmons on the last day of the season to win the pennant. The 1964 World Series was a terrible disappointment for the Yankees. Whitey Ford had to leave the first game due to a lack of circulation in his pitching arm. The Yankees lost that game and were without Ford for the entire series. With the teams tied at three games, Bob Gibson started Game 7 for the Cardinals and rookie Mel Stottlemyre started for the visiting Yankees, each with two days rest. The Yankees lost and would not win another World Series until 1977. From the late 1960s until the late 1970s, the Mets owned New York. Enter Mr. Steinbrenner. In 1973 the Mets won their second pennant but were beaten in the World Series by Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson's Oakland A's. Mr. Steinbrenner decided that adding Hunter and Jackson to the Yankees was the right thing to do. It was, and in 1977 and 1978, the Yankees were once again World Champions. Following the two championships, the Yankees again fell on hard times. The Mets were sold to owners who wanted to win and were becoming a dangerous team. Darryl Strawberry was Rookie of the Year in 1983, Dwight Gooden was Rookie of the Year in 1984, Keith Hernandez came over from the Cardinals, Gary Carter left the Expos, and Lee Mazzilli was sent to Texas for Ron Darling and Walt Terrell. From the
days of the Dodgers and Giants, New York has been a National
League City. Most New York fans were Mets fans and it
showed. The Mets were on the back page of the tabloids while
the Yankees coverage was almost always secondary. Radio and
television sports reports invariably began with the Mets and
taxi drivers spoke to their passengers about the Mets. The
Yankees and Mets play in the same city, compete for the same
media attention, and draw from the same fan base. Yankee
Stadium is much closer to Shea Stadium than it is to Fenway
Park.
Jim Kaat told the story of Jackie Robinson entering the victorious New York Giants clubhouse immediately after Bobby Thomson hit the most important home run in National League history to give the Giants the pennant over the hated Dodgers. The Brooklyn Dodgers-New York Giants was the greatest rivalry in the history of sports for many reasons, not the least of which was that the players really did hate each other. Upon entering the Giants clubhouse, Robinson kept shouting to the victorious Giants that his Dodgers were better, much better than they were. Then he told the Giants to knock the crap out of the American League team in the World Series. Robinson was a Dodger but he was a National Leaguer. In the World Series, a National Leaguer roots for the National League team, no matter what. That is what one of the greatest, if not the greatest competitor of all time did. He rooted for the Giants. That is what Yankees fans had to do when the Red Sox played the Mets in the 1986 World Series. Since 1923, the year the Yankees won the first of 26 World Championships, the Red Sox have won none. In 1946, the Red Sox won 104 regular season games but lost the World Series in seven games to the Cardinals. In 1948 the Red Sox lost a one game playoff for the pennant to the Indians. Then, in 1967 they won a tight pennant race only to lose the World Series to the Cardinals. In 1975 they suffered one of the toughest defeats in World Series history to the Reds and in 1978 they blew a 14 game and once again lost a one game playoff for the pennant, but that was nothing compared to what they did against the Mets in 1986. The Red Sox broke a 3-3 tie with two runs in the top of the tenth inning. Wally Backman and Keith Hernandez were retired in the bottom of the tenth. The Red Sox were one out away. With two strikes, Gary Carter singled. With two strikes, Kevin Mitchell singled. With two strikes, Ray Knight singled. With two strikes on Mookie Wilson, Red Sox pitcher Bob Stanley made a wild pitch that allowed the tying run to score and moved Knight to second. With two strikes, Wilson hit a ground ball to Bill Buckner, whom manager John McNamara should have replaced for defensive purposes. The ball went through Buckner's legs and the Red Sox lost. Of course, they lost Game 7 after blowing a three run lead. It was the worst choke up performance in the history of professional sports. The Red Sox have not won a World Series since 1918. They expect to lose and usually find a way to do just that. Now, you tell me. Are the Red Sox the main Yankees' rival?
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