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1973 New York Yankees season

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1973 New York Yankees
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkYankee Stadium
CityNew York City
OwnersGeorge Steinbrenner
General managersLee MacPhail
ManagersRalph Houk
TelevisionWPIX
(Phil Rizzuto, Frank Messer, Bill White)
RadioWMCA
(Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto, Bill White)
← 1972 Seasons 1974 →

The 1973 New York Yankees season was the 71st season for the team. The Yankees finished fourth in the American League East with a record of 80–82 under manager Ralph Houk, 17 games behind the division champion Baltimore Orioles. This was the last time that the Yankees finished the season below .500 until 1982. This was also their last year in the "old" Yankee Stadium (on the south side of 161st Street), which was targeted for major reconstruction in 1974–1975. During this period, the Yankees shared a home field with a National League team for the third time in their history, moving into Shea Stadium for two years.

George Steinbrenner

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The Yankees had been struggling during their years under CBS ownership, which had acquired the team in 1965. In 1972, CBS Chairman William S. Paley told team president E. Michael Burke the media company intended to sell the club. As Burke later told writer Roger Kahn, Paley offered to sell the franchise to Burke if he could find financial backing. Burke ran across Steinbrenner's name and veteran baseball executive Gabe Paul, a Cleveland-area acquaintance of Steinbrenner, helped bring the two men together.

On January 3, 1973, a group of investors led by George Steinbrenner and minority partner Burke bought the Yankees from CBS for $10 million.

The announced intention was that Burke would continue to run the team as club president. But Burke later became angry when he found out that Paul had been brought in as a senior Yankee executive, crowding his authority, and quit the team presidency on April 29, 1973. (Burke remained a minority owner of the club into the following decade.) He handed in his resignation to the New York Yankees, so that he could become president of Madison Square Garden.[1]

It would be the first of many high-profile departures by employees who crossed paths with "The Boss". At the conclusion of the 1973 season, two more prominent names departed: manager Ralph Houk, who resigned and then signed to manage the Detroit Tigers; and general manager Lee MacPhail, who became president of the American League.

Offseason

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Regular season

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After the last game of the 1973 season on September 30, fans ripped out parts of the stadium, including the seats, to take as souvenirs. The stadium would be remodeled, and reopen in 1976. On July 1, the Yankees were 45–33 and leading the American League East by four games, but posted a 35–49 record in their remaining games.[5]

Season standings

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AL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 97 65 .599 — 50‍–‍31 47‍–‍34
Boston Red Sox 89 73 .549 8 48‍–‍33 41‍–‍40
Detroit Tigers 85 77 .525 12 47‍–‍34 38‍–‍43
New York Yankees 80 82 .494 17 50‍–‍31 30‍–‍51
Milwaukee Brewers 74 88 .457 23 40‍–‍41 34‍–‍47
Cleveland Indians 71 91 .438 26 34‍–‍47 37‍–‍44

Record vs. opponents

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1973 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK TEX
Baltimore — 7–11 6–6 8–4 12–6 9–9 8–4 15–3 8–4 9–9 5–7 10–2
Boston 11–7 — 7–5 6–6 9–9 3–15 8–4 12–6 6–6 14–4 4–8 9–3
California 6–6 5–7 — 8–10 5–7 7–5 10–8 5–7 10–8 6–6 6–12 11–7
Chicago 4–8 6–6 10–8 — 7–5 5–7 6–12 3–9 9–9 8–4 6–12 13–5
Cleveland 6–12 9–9 7–5 5–7 — 9–9 2–10 9–9 7–5 7–11 3–9 7–5
Detroit 9–9 15–3 5–7 7–5 9–9 — 4–8 12–6 5–7 7–11 7–5 5–7
Kansas City 4–8 4–8 8–10 12–6 10–2 8–4 — 8–4 9–9 6–6 8–10 11–7
Milwaukee 3–15 6–12 7–5 9–3 9–9 6–12 4–8 — 8–4 10–8 4–8 8–4
Minnesota 4–8 6–6 8–10 9–9 5–7 7–5 9–9 4–8 — 3–9 14–4 12–6
New York 9–9 4–14 6–6 4–8 11–7 11–7 6–6 8–10 9–3 — 4–8 8–4
Oakland 7–5 8–4 12–6 12–6 9–3 5–7 10–8 8–4 4–14 8–4 — 11–7
Texas 2–10 3–9 7–11 5–13 5–7 7–5 7–11 4–8 6–12 4–8 7–11 —


Opening Day lineup

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Notable transactions

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Roster

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1973 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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
C Thurman Munson 147 519 156 .301 20 74
1B Felipe Alou 93 280 66 .236 4 27
2B Horace Clarke 148 590 155 .263 2 35
3B Graig Nettles 160 552 129 .234 22 81
SS Gene Michael 129 418 94 .225 3 47
LF Roy White 162 639 157 .246 18 60
CF Bobby Murcer 160 616 187 .304 22 95
RF Matty Alou 123 497 147 .296 2 28
DH Jim Ray Hart 114 339 86 .254 13 52

Other batters

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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
Ron Blomberg 100 301 99 .329 12 57
Johnny Callison 45 136 24 .176 1 10
Mike Hegan 37 131 36 .275 6 14
Hal Lanier 35 86 18 .209 0 5
Otto Vélez 23 77 15 .195 2 7
Fred Stanley 26 66 14 .212 1 5
Celerino Sánchez 34 64 14 .219 1 9
Jerry Moses 21 59 15 .254 0 3
Bernie Allen 17 57 13 .228 0 4
Ron Swoboda 35 43 5 .116 1 2
Rick Dempsey 6 11 2 .182 0 0
Duke Sims 4 9 3 .333 1 1

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Mel Stottlemyre 38 273.0 16 16 3.07 95
Doc Medich 34 235.0 14 9 2.95 145
Fritz Peterson 31 184.1 8 15 3.95 59
Pat Dobson 22 142.1 9 8 4.17 70
Sam McDowell 16 95.2 5 8 3.95 75
Steve Kline 14 74.0 4 7 4.01 19

Other pitchers

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Fred Beene 19 91.0 6 0 1.68 49
Mike Kekich 5 14.2 1 1 9.20 4
Dave Pagan 4 12.2 0 0 2.84 9

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Sparky Lyle 51 5 9 27 2.51 63
Lindy McDaniel 47 12 6 10 2.86 93
Jim Magnuson 8 0 1 0 4.28 9
Tom Buskey 8 0 1 1 5.40 8
Wayne Granger 7 0 1 0 1.76 10
Casey Cox 1 0 0 0 6.00 0

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Syracuse Chiefs International League Bobby Cox
AA West Haven Yankees Eastern League Doc Edwards
A Kinston Eagles Carolina League Gene Hassell
A Fort Lauderdale Yankees Florida State League Pete Ward
A-Short Season Oneonta Yankees New York–Penn League Hank Majeski
Rookie Johnson City Yankees Appalachian League Steve Hamilton

Kinston affiliation shared with Atlanta Braves[15]

Awards and honors

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All-Star Game

  • Thurman Munson, catcher
  • Bobby Murcer, outfield, starter
  • Sparky Lyle, pitcher [16]

Notes

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  1. ^ Madden, Bill (2010). Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball. New York: Harper Collins Publishing. pp. 47–48. ISBN 978-0-06-169031-0.
  2. ^ Rich McKinney page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Graig Nettles page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Murcer, Bobby; Waggoner, Glen (2008). Yankee for Life. New York: Harper Collins. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-06-147342-5.
  5. ^ "Memorable Stadium Moments". The New York Times. September 21, 2008.
  6. ^ Tom Matchick page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Kerry Dineen page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Al Closter page at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ Sam McDowell page at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ Mike Kekich page at Baseball-Reference
  11. ^ Jerry Kenney page at Baseball Reference
  12. ^ Ken Crosby page at Baseball Reference
  13. ^ Bernie Allen page at Baseball Reference
  14. ^ Johnny Callison page at Baseball Reference
  15. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
  16. ^ "1973 All-Star Game".

References

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