1990 New York Yankees season

The 1990 New York Yankees season was the 88th season for the Yankees. The team finished in seventh place in the American League East with a record of 67-95, finishing 21 games behind the Boston Red Sox. It was the Yankees' first last-place finish in 24 years (and their first last-place in the division era), the most losses they accumulated in a season since 1912 (a record which still stands), and their most recent last-place finish to date. New York was managed by Stump Merrill and Bucky Dent. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium.

1990 New York Yankees
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
OwnersGeorge Steinbrenner
General managersHarding "Pete" Peterson, Gene Michael
ManagersBucky Dent, Stump Merrill
Local televisionWPIX
(Phil Rizzuto, George Grande, Tom Seaver)
MSG
(Tony Kubek, Dewayne Staats, Al Trautwig)
Local radioWABC (AM)
(John Sterling, Jay Johnstone)
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In an historic changing of the guard, the Yankees finally left SportsChannel NY at the end of the 1989 season, moving their cable and satellite broadcasts to the cable-only MSG Network.

Offseason

Notable transactions

Death of Billy Martin
Billy Martin's grave in Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven.

Multi-time former Yankees manager Billy Martin was working as a special consultant to Yankees owner George Steinbrenner when he was killed in a one-car crash in Binghamton, New York, on Christmas Day (December 25) in 1989. Martin had been drinking heavily with his friend, William Reedy, who was driving a pickup truck at the time of the accident. When Martin was killed, the media reported that he was a passenger in Reedy's pickup. However, Peter Golenbock, in his book Wild, High, and Tight: The Life and Death of Billy Martin, makes the case that Martin was the driver and that his wife and Reedy covered up the truth. According to the HBO TV series Autopsy,[9] forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden performed the autopsy on Martin and investigated the accident scene, including the pick-up truck in which Martin died. The autopsy revealed that Martin's impact injuries were all on the right side, and that hair and other DNA found on the right side of the shattered windshield belonged to Martin, who was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident. The conclusion of the autopsy study was that Reedy drove the pick-up.

Billy Martin was eulogized by Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, before his funeral at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. His grave is located about 150 feet from the grave of Babe Ruth. The following epitaph by Billy Martin himself appears on the headstone: I may not have been the greatest Yankee to put on the uniform but I was the proudest. Former President of the United States Richard Nixon attended Martin's funeral. The Yankees started the season with a small number 1 on their left sleeves.

Regular season
  • June 6, 1990: Yankees manager Bucky Dent was fired before a game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.[10] George Steinbrenner was severely criticized for firing Dent, his 18th managerial change in 18 years, because he did it in Boston, where Dent had his greatest moment as a player.[11] However, Bill Pennington called the firing of Dent "merciless."[12] But Yankees television analyst Tony Kubek blasted at Steinbrenner for the firing in a harsh, angry way.[13] At the beginning of the broadcast of the game on MSG Network, he said to Yankees television play-by-play announcer Dewayne Staats, "George Steinbrenner...mishandled this. You don't take a Bucky Dent (at) the site of one of the greatest home runs in Yankee history and fire him and make it a media circus for the Boston Red Sox."[14] He then stared defiantly on camera and said to Steinbrenner, "You don't do it by telephone, either, George. You do it face to face, eyeball to eyeball...If you really are a winner, you should not have handled this like a loser."[14] He then said, angrily, "George, you're a bully and a coward."[15] He then said that "What all this does, it just wrecks George Steinbrenner's credibility with his players, with the front office and in baseball more than it already is–if that's possible. It was just mishandled."[14] The firing of Dent shook New York to its core and the Yankees flagship radio station then, WABC, which also criticized the firing, ran editorials demanding that Steinbrenner sell the team.[16][17][18]
  • On July 30, 1990, Commissioner Fay Vincent banned Steinbrenner from baseball for life after he paid Howard Spira, a small-time gambler, $40,000 for "dirt" after Dave Winfield sued him for failing to pay his foundation the $300,000 [19] guaranteed in his contract.
  • October 3, 1990: Cecil Fielder hit two home runs at Yankee Stadium to finish with 51 for the season. The 50th home run was hit off of Steve Adkins. Fielder would be the first Major Leaguer since George Foster in 1977 to hit 50 home runs in a season. It was the 18th time that a major leaguer (and the 11th time that an American League player) hit for 50 home runs in a season.

Season standings
AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Boston Red Sox 8874 0.543 — 51–30 37–44
Toronto Blue Jays 8676 0.531 2 44–37 42–39
Detroit Tigers 7983 0.488 9 39–42 40–41
Cleveland Indians 7785 0.475 11 41–40 36–45
Baltimore Orioles 7685 0.472 11½ 40–40 36–45
Milwaukee Brewers 7488 0.457 14 39–42 35–46
New York Yankees 6795 0.414 21 37–44 30–51

Record vs. opponents
1990 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —4–97–56–66–76–78–37–66–66–74–83–98–45–8
Boston 9–4—7–56–69–48–54–85–84–89–44–88–45–710–3
California 5–75–7—5–87–55–77–67–59–46–64–95–88–57–5
Chicago 6–66–68–5—5–75–79–410–27–610–28–58–57–65–7
Cleveland 7–64–95–77–5—5–86–69–47–55–84–87–57–54–9
Detroit 7–65–87–57–58–5—5–73–106–67–66–67–56–65–8
Kansas City 3–88–46–74–96–67–5—4–88–58–44–97–65–85–7
Milwaukee 6–78–55–72–104–910–38–4—4–86–75–74–85–77–6
Minnesota 6–68–44–96–75–76–65–88–4—6–66–76–75–83–9
New York 7–64–96–62–108–56–74–87–66–6—0–129–33–95–8
Oakland 8–48–49–45–88–46–69–47–57–612–0—9–48–57–5
Seattle 9–34–88–55–85–75–76–78–47–63–94–9—7–66–6
Texas 4–87–55–86–75–76–68–57–58–59–35–86–7—7–5
Toronto 8–53–105–77–59–48–57–56–79–38–55–76–65–7—

Notable transactions

Draft picks
  • June 4, 1990: 1990 Major League Baseball Draft
    • Carl Everett was drafted by the Yankees in the 1st round.[25]
    • Robert Eenhoorn was drafted by the Yankees in the 2nd round of the 1990 June Draft. Player signed June 10, 1990.[26]
    • Sam Militello was drafted by the Yankees in the 6th round.[27]
    • Jalal Leach was drafted by the Yankees in the 7th round. Player signed June 8, 1990.[28]
    • Ricky Ledée was drafted by the Yankees in the 16th round. Player signed June 5, 1990.[29]
    • Andy Pettitte was drafted by the Yankees in the 22nd round, but did not sign.[30]
    • Jorge Posada was drafted by the Yankees in the 24th round. Player signed May 24, 1991.[31]
    • Shane Spencer was drafted by the Yankees in the 28th round. Player signed June 7, 1990.[32]

Roster
1990 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Kevin Maas
  • Kevin Maas set a major league record for the fewest at bats (72) to hit 10 home runs. He also set a record by hitting his first 15 home runs in the fewest at-bats. About halfway through the season a group of a dozen or so young ladies began wearing "Maas-tops" to Yankees home games and sitting in the right field stands. Whenever Maas hit a home run to right, the girls would get up, remove their tops and jump up and down until Maas finished circling the bases. However, after a few home runs the women were banned from entering Yankee Stadium.

Andy Hawkins no-hitter
  • July 1, 1990: Yankees pitcher Andy Hawkins threw a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox but lost the game 4-0.[33] The following year, Major League Baseball changed the rule to require a minimum nine complete innings pitched to count as a no-hitter, and as Hawkins pitched only eight innings, as Chicago hosted and did not bat in the ninth, his no-hitter is no longer official.[34]

Line Score

July 1, Comiskey Park, Chicago, Illinois

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 000 000 000 043
Chicago 000 000 04x 402
W: Barry Jones (10-1)  L: Andy Hawkins (1-5)  
Attendance: 30,642 Time: 2:34

Batting
New York Yankees AB R H RBI Chicago White Sox AB R H RBI
Kelly, cf 4 0 0 0 Johnson, cf 3 1 0 0
Sax, 2b 4 0 0 0 Ventura, 3b 4 1 0 0
Mattingly, 1b 4 0 0 0 Calderon, dh 3 0 0 0
Balboni, dh 4 0 0 0 Pasqua, lf 4 0 0 0
Tolleson, pr, dh 0 0 0 0 Gallagher, lf 0 0 0 0
Barfield, rf 4 0 1 0 Kittle, 1b 3 0 0 0
Leyritz, lf 3 0 1 0 Lyons, 1b 0 0 0 0
Blowers, 3b 3 0 0 0 Karkovice, c 2 0 0 0
Geren, c 3 0 1 0 Fletcher, 2b 2 0 0 0
Espinoza, ss 2 0 1 0 Sosa, rf 3 1 0 0
NONE 0 0 0 0 Guillen, ss 2 1 0 0
Totals 31 0 4 0 Totals 26 4 0 0

Pitching
New York Yankees IP H R ER BB SO
Hawkins, L (1-5) 8.0 0 4 0 5 3
Chicago White Sox IP H R ER BB SO
Hibbard 7.0 4 0 0 0 4
Jones W (10-1) 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
Radinsky 1.0 0 0 0 0 0

Player stats

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
CBob Geren11027759.213831
1BDon Mattingly102394101.256542
2BSteve Sax155615160.260442
3BJim Leyritz9230378.257525
SSÁlvaro Espinoza15043898.224220
LFOscar Azócar6521453.248519
CFRoberto Kelly162641183.2851561
RFJesse Barfield153476117.2462578
DHSteve Balboni11626651.1921734

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Mel Hall11336093.2581246
Kevin Maas7925464.2522141
Matt Nokes9224057.238832
Randy Velarde9522948.210519
Mike Blowers4814427.188521
Rick Cerone4913942.302211
Deion Sanders5713321.15839
Hensley Meulens238320.241310
Claudell Washington338013.16306
Wayne Tolleson737411.14904
Dave Winfield206113.21326
Brian Dorsett14355.14300
Luis Polonia11227.31803
Jim Walewander951.20001

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Tim Leary31208.09194.11138
Dave LaPoint28157.27104.1167
Andy Hawkins28157.25125.3774
Chuck Cary27156.26124.19134
Mike Witt1696.2564.4760
Dave Eiland530.1213.5616
Steve Adkins524.0126.3814
Pascual Pérez314.0121.2912

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jimmy Jones1750.0126.3025
Mark Leiter826.1116.8421
Clay Parker522.0114.5020

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Dave Righetti5311363.5743
Lee Guetterman6411723.1948
Jeff Robinson543603.4543
Greg Cadaret545434.1580
Eric Plunk476302.7267
Alan Mills361504.1024
Lance McCullers111003.6011
John Habyan60002.084
Rich Monteleone50106.148

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Columbus Clippers International League Stump Merrill and Rick Down
AA Albany-Colonie Yankees Eastern League Rick Down and Dan Radison
A Prince William Cannons Carolina League Gary Denbo
A Fort Lauderdale Yankees Florida State League Mike Hart
A Greensboro Hornets South Atlantic League Brian Butterfield
A-Short Season Oneonta Yankees New York–Penn League Trey Hillman
Rookie GCL Yankees Gulf Coast League Glenn Sherlock

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Oneonta[35]

References
  1. Dickie Noles page at Baseball Reference
  2. Steve Kiefer page at Baseball Reference
  3. Rafael Santana page at Baseball Reference
  4. Pascual Pérez page at Baseball Reference
  5. Tim Leary page at Baseball Reference
  6. Rick Cerone page at Baseball Reference
  7. Mariano Rivera page at Baseball Reference
  8. Dave Silvestri page at Baseball Reference
  9. Autopsy: Billy Martin
  10. Cafardo, Nick (June 7, 1990). "Dent Dumped by Yankees". The Boston Globe. p. 37. Dent's greatest moment as a player—and his worst moment as a manager—came in Boston.
  11. Shaughnessy, Dan (June 7, 1990). "His Back Was Against the Wall". The Boston Globe. p. 37.
  12. Pennington, Bill (2019). Chumps to Champs: How the Worst Teams in Yankees History Led to the '90s Dynasty. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 32. ISBN 9781328849854.
  13. Bock, Hal (June 7, 1990). "Kubek Speaks Out Against Dent Firing". Associated Press.
  14. Raissman, Bob (June 7, 1990). "Kubek: George a Loser". New York Daily News. p. 64.
  15. Raissman, Bob (June 8, 1990). "At MSG, Kubek Reigns Over George". New York Daily News. p. 71.
  16. "Steinbrenner Under Fire In New York". Associated Press. June 8, 1990. Firing the manager is nothing new for George Steinbrenner, who made Bucky Dent the 18th victim in the 17 years he's owned the New York Yankees. But it has touched a nerve in New York, where just about everyone wants to have Steinbrenner fired. Even the team's media outlets have joined the bandwagon...The latest critic is hardly a likely one—Fred Weinhaus, general manager of WABC radio, the Yankees' flagship station. 'We're tired of what we have and we deserve better,' said Weinhaus, who has run editorials demanding that Steinbrenner either sell the team or bring in a knowledgeable baseball man and give him full power to run it.
  17. Raissman, Bob (June 8, 1990). "ABC Exec Gives Boss Static". New York Daily News. p. 68.
  18. Pedulla, Tom; Shuster, Rachel (June 7, 1990). "Players blame themselves; fans point to Steinbrenner". USA Today. p. 7C.
  19. Anderson, Dave (March 7, 1988). "Sports Of The Times; Dave Winfield's Rebuttal". The New York Times.
  20. Luis Polonia page at Baseball Reference
  21. Dave Winfield page at Baseball Reference
  22. Clay Parker page at Baseball Reference
  23. "Lance McCullers Stats".
  24. Deion Sanders page at Baseball Reference
  25. Baseball Draft: 1st Round of the 1990 June Draft - Baseball-Reference.com
  26. "Robert Eenhoorn Stats".
  27. Sam Militello page at Baseball Reference
  28. "Jalal Leach Stats".
  29. Ricky Ledée page at Baseball Reference
  30. Andy Pettitte page at Baseball Reference
  31. Jorge Posada page at Baseball Reference
  32. Shane Spencer page at Baseball Reference
  33. Times, Michael Martinez, Special To The New York (July 2, 1990). "No-Hitter, but With No Glory". The New York Times. Retrieved April 11, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  34. Donaghy, Jack (April 14, 1992). "Is revised no-hitter rule a no-no?". Eugene Register-Guard. pp. 2D. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  35. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
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