1974 New York Yankees season

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1974 New York Yankees
Major League affiliations
Location
  • New York City (since 1903)
Other information
Owner(s) George Steinbrenner
General manager(s) Gabe Paul
Manager(s) Bill Virdon
Local television WPIX (Phil Rizzuto, Frank Messer, Bill White)
Local radio WMCA
(Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto, Bill White)
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The 1974 New York Yankees season was the 72nd season for the team in New York and its 74th overall dating from its origins in Baltimore. The team finished with a record of 89-73, finishing 2 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. New York was managed by Bill Virdon. The Yankees played at Shea Stadium due to the ongoing renovation of Yankee Stadium.

Offseason

The off-season became controversial when George Steinbrenner and Gabe Paul sought to hire former Oakland Athletics manager Dick Williams, who had resigned immediately after leading the team to its second straight World Series title. However, because Williams was still under contract to Oakland, A's owner Charlie Finley sought to block the move, the subsequent legal wrangling prevented the Yankees from hiring him. On the first anniversary of the team's ownership change, the Yankees hired former Pittsburgh Pirates manager Bill Virdon to lead the team on the field.

Notable transactions

Regular season

  • August 25, 1974: Nolan Ryan of the California Angels struck out Sandy Alomar of the Yankees for the 1500th strikeout of his career.[7] Ryan and Alomar had been teammates at the beginning of the season, but Alomar had been sold to the Yankees on July 8.
  • September 7, 1974: The Yankees' Graig Nettles hit a home run against the Detroit Tigers. The next time up, he hit a broken-bat single. Tigers catcher Bill Freehan scrambled for the six superballs that came bouncing out. Nettles was called out on the single, but his solo homer was allowed and the made all the difference as the Yankees won 1-0.[8]

Hall of Fame

YankeesRetired16.svg
Whitey Ford's number 16 was retired by the New York Yankees in 1974.

Mickey Mantle and former teammate Whitey Ford were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame together in 1974, Mantle in his first year of eligibility, Ford in his second. Ford's number 16 was retired as well. Although Ford wore number 19 in his rookie season, following his return from the army in 1953, he wore number 16 for the remainder of his career.

Season standings

AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 91 71 0.562 46–35 45–36
New York Yankees 89 73 0.549 2 47–34 42–39
Boston Red Sox 84 78 0.519 7 46–35 38–43
Cleveland Indians 77 85 0.475 14 40–41 37–44
Milwaukee Brewers 76 86 0.469 15 40–41 36–45
Detroit Tigers 72 90 0.444 19 36–45 36–45


Record vs. opponents

1974 American League Records

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 10–8 7–5 5–7 12–6 14–4 8–4 8–10 6–6 11–7 6–6 4–8
Boston 8–10 4–8 8–4 9–9 11–7 4–8 10–8 6–6 11–7 8–4 5–7
California 5–7 8–4 10–8–1 3–9 5–7 8–10 3–9 8–10 3–9 6–12 9–9
Chicago 7–5 4–8 8–10–1 8–4 7–5 11–7 8–4 7–11–1 4–8 7–11 9–7–1
Cleveland 6–12 9–9 9–3 4–8 9–9 8–4 10–8 6–6 7–11 5–7 4–8
Detroit 4–14 7–11 7–5 5–7 9–9 7–5 9–9 3–9 11–7 5–7 5–7
Kansas City 4–8 8–4 10–8 7–11 4–8 5–7 11–1 8–10 4–8 8–10 8–10
Milwaukee 10–8 8–10 9–3 4–8 8–10 9–9 1–11 6–6 9–9 5–7 7–5
Minnesota 6–6 6–6 10–8 11–7–1 6–6 9–3 10–8 6–6 4–8 5–13 9–9
New York 7–11 7–11 9–3 8–4 11–7 7–11 8–4 9–9 8–4 7–5 8–4
Oakland 6–6 4–8 12–6 11–7 7–5 7–5 10–8 7–5 13–5 5–7 8–10
Texas 8–4 7–5 9–9 7–9–1 8–4 7–5 10–8 5–7 9–9 4–8 10–8


Notable transactions

Roster

1974 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

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
C Thurman Munson 144 517 135 .261 13 60
1B Chris Chambliss 110 400 97 .243 6 43
2B Sandy Alomar 76 279 75 .269 1 27
3B Graig Nettles 155 566 139 .246 22 75
SS Jim Mason 152 440 110 .250 5 37
LF Lou Piniella 140 518 158 .305 9 70
CF Elliott Maddox 137 466 141 .303 3 45
RF Bobby Murcer 156 606 166 .274 10 88
DH Ron Blomberg 90 264 82 .311 10 48

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
Fernando González 51 121 26 .215 1 7
Otto Vélez 27 67 14 .209 2 10
Walt Williams 43 53 6 .113 0 3
Larry Murray 6 1 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

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
Pat Dobson 39 281 19 15 3.07 157
Doc Medich 38 279⅔ 19 15 3.60 154
Dick Tidrow 33 190⅔ 11 9 3.87 100
Rudy May 17 114⅓ 8 4 2.28 90
Mel Stottlemyre 16 113 6 7 3.58 40

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
Dave Pagan 16 49.1 1 3 5.11 39
Fritz Peterson 3 7.2 0 0 4.70 5

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
Fred Beene 6 0 0 1 2.70 10
Tom Buskey 4 0 1 1 6.35 3
Ken Wright 3 0 0 0 3.18 2
Rick Sawyer 1 0 0 0 16.20 0

Awards and honors

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Syracuse Chiefs International League Bobby Cox
AA West Haven Yankees Eastern League Doc Edwards
A Fort Lauderdale Yankees Florida State League Pete Ward
A-Short Season Oneonta Yankees New York–Penn League Mike Ferraro
Rookie Johnson City Yankees Appalachian League Gene Hassell

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Oneonta[17]

Notes

References