The complete history of the new york yankees.

Essay by duke21A, June 2003

download word file, 14 pages 3.7 1 reviews

The History of the New York Yankees

The New York Yankees are referred to as America's team. The team has won twenty-eight world championships and many of baseball's best players of all time have worn the Yankee pinstripes.

The franchise started in 1903 as the team was first referred to as the New York Highlanders because their stadium was located at 168th Street and Broadway, which is one of the highest points of Manhattan. The team was not officially called the Yankees until 1913. The franchise recorded three, second-place finishes in the team's first four seasons but for the most part the first seventeen years of the team's history were very frustrating.

Then in 1915, Col. Jacob Ruppert and Til Houston purchased the Yankees from the original owners, Frank Farrell and Bill Devery, for $460,000. Three years later they hired Miller Huggins to manage the club and slowly began to assemble the players who would go on to become the supporting cast that would help launch the greatest dynasty in sports history.

With a well-rounded supporting cast the team needed a star. On Dec. 26, 1919 The Yankees obtained the contract of Boston's Babe Ruth for $125,000 plus a loan of approximately $300,000. Ruth, who had blasted a record twenty-nine homers the year before went on to become baseball's arguably best player of all time. In 1920, Ruth belted a record, fifty-four home runs, which was more than any other team that season. Despite their third-place finish, the Yankees set a Major League Baseball attendance record of 1,289,422, which was more than twice the previous season's total.

In 1921 and 1922 the Yankees started their current long list of pennants won. Both years they made it to the World Series where they lost to the powerhouse New York Giants. Losing...