1977 New York Yankees season

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1977 New York Yankees
1977 AL East Champions
1977 AL Champions
1977 World Series Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
  • New York City (since 1903)
Other information
Owner(s) George Steinbrenner
General manager(s) Gabe Paul
Manager(s) Billy Martin
Local television WPIX (Phil Rizzuto, Frank Messer, Bill White)
Local radio WMCA
(Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto, Bill White)
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The 1977 New York Yankees season was the 75th season for the Yankees in New York and the 77th season overall for the franchise. It culminated in the 21st World Series championship in franchise history, and its first under the ownership of George Steinbrenner. The season was brought to life years later in the book, turned drama-documentary, The Bronx is Burning.

Offseason

The Yankees signed Reggie Jackson to a five-year contract, totaling US$2.96 million, on November 29, 1976. Upon arriving in New York, Jackson asked for uniform number 9, which he had worn in Oakland and Baltimore. However, that number was being worn by third baseman Graig Nettles. So, noting that then-all-time home run leader Hank Aaron had just retired, Jackson asked for and received number 44, Aaron's number.

Notable transactions

Regular season

The team finished in first place in the American League East with a record of 100-62, finishing 2½ games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles to win their second AL East title. In the ALCS, they beat the Kansas City Royals in 5 games. In the World Series, they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in 6 games. New York was managed by Billy Martin. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium.

Game log

Season standings

AL East		 W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 100 62 0.617 — 55–26 45–36
Baltimore Orioles 97 64 0.602 2½ 54–27 43–37
Boston Red Sox 97 64 0.602 2½ 51–29 46–35
Detroit Tigers 74 88 0.457 26 39–42 35–46
Cleveland Indians 71 90 0.441 28½ 37–44 34–46
Milwaukee Brewers 67 95 0.414 33 37–44 30–51
Toronto Blue Jays 54 107 0.335 45½ 25–55 29–52


Record vs. opponents

1977 American League Records

Sources:

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


Notable transactions

Draft picks

All-Star game

In 1977, the New York Yankees also hosted the All-Star Game, held on July 19. Four Yankees were in the game: Willie Randolph and Reggie Jackson were in the starting lineup at second base and outfield, while pitcher Sparky Lyle and third baseman Graig Nettles were part of the roster as reserves. The National League defeated the American League 7-5.

Roster

1977 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Characters

Reggie Jackson

Jackson's first season with the Yankees, 1977, was a difficult one. Although team owner George Steinbrenner and several players, most notably catcher and team captain Thurman Munson and outfielder Lou Piniella, were excited about his arrival, Martin was not. Martin had managed the Tigers in 1972 when Jackson's A's beat them in the playoffs. Jackson was once quoted as saying of Martin, "I hate him, but if I played for him, I'd probably love him."

The relationship between Jackson and his new teammates was strained due to an interview with SPORT magazine writer Robert Ward. During spring training at the Yankees' camp in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Jackson and Ward were having drinks at a nearby bar. Jackson's version of the story is that he noted that the Yankees had won the pennant the year before, but lost the World Series to the Reds, and suggested that they needed one thing more to win it all, and pointed out the various ingredients in his drink. Ward suggested that Jackson might be "the straw that stirs the drink." But when the story appeared in the May 1977 issue of SPORT, Ward quoted Jackson as saying, "This team, it all flows from me. I'm the straw that stirs the drink. Maybe I should say me and Munson, but he can only stir it bad."

Billy Martin

Billy Martin feuded publicly with both Yankee owner George Steinbrenner and star outfielder Reggie Jackson. In one especially infamous incident, on June 18, 1977, in the middle game of what would prove to be a three-game series sweep by the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, Martin pulled Jackson off the field in mid-inning for failing to hustle on a ball hit to the outfield. The extremely angry and highly animated Martin had to be restrained by his coaches from getting into a fight with Jackson in the dugout during the nationally-televised Saturday afternoon game.

In popular culture

Jonathan Mahler wrote a bestselling book entitled Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning about the turmoil in New York City in 1977, including the Son of Sam, the blackout, and how Yankees season rallied the people of New York. The book was adapted for an ESPN miniseries, The Bronx Is Burning

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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 149 595 183 .308 18 100
1B Chris Chambliss 157 600 172 .287 17 90
2B Willie Randolph 147 551 151 .274 4 40
3B Graig Nettles 158 589 150 .255 37 107
SS Bucky Dent 158 477 118 .247 8 49
LF Roy White 143 519 139 .268 14 52
CF Mickey Rivers 138 565 184 .326 12 69
RF Reggie Jackson 146 525 150 .286 32 110
DH Carlos May 65 181 41 .227 2 16

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
Lou Piniella 103 339 112 .330 12 45
Paul Blair 83 164 43 .262 4 25
Cliff Johnson 56 142 42 .296 12 31
Jimmy Wynn 30 77 11 .143 1 3
Fran Healy 27 67 15 .224 0 7
George Zeber 25 65 21 .323 3 10
Fred Stanley 48 46 12 .261 1 7
Dell Alston 22 40 13 .325 1 4
Dave Kingman 8 24 6 .250 4 7
Mickey Klutts 5 15 4 .267 1 4
Elrod Hendricks 10 11 3 .273 1 5
Gene Locklear 1 5 3 .600 0 2
Dave Bergman 5 4 1 .250 0 1
Marty Perez 1 4 2 .500 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
Ed Figueroa 32 239.1 16 11 3.57 104
Mike Torrez 31 217 14 12 3.82 90
Ron Guidry 31 210.2 16 7 2.82 176
Don Gullett 22 158.1 14 4 3.58 116
Catfish Hunter 22 143.1 9 9 4.71 52
Dock Ellis 3 19.2 1 1 1.83 5

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
Ken Holtzman 18 71.2 2 3 5.78 14
Gil Patterson 10 33.1 1 2 5.40 29

Relief pitchers

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

Player G IP W L SV ERA SO
Sparky Lyle 72 137 13 5 26 2.17 68
Dick Tidrow 49 151 11 4 5 3.16 83
Ken Clay 21 55.2 2 3 1 4.37 20
Stan Thomas 3 6.1 1 0 0 7.11 1
Larry McCall 2 6 0 1 0 7.50 0

ALCS

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Main article: 1977 American League Championship Series

Game 1

October 5: Yankee Stadium, New York City

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 9 0
New York 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 0
W: Paul Splittorff (1-0)  L: Don Gullett (0-1)  
HRs: KC – Hal McRae (1), John Mayberry (1), Al Cowens (1) NYY – Thurman Munson (1)

Game 2

October 6: Yankee Stadium, New York City

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 3 1
New York 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 1 - 6 10 0
W: Ron Guidry (1-0)  L: Andy Hassler (0-1)  
HRs: KC – none; NYY – Cliff Johnson (1)

Game 3

October 7: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 4 1
Kansas City 0 1 1 0 1 2 0 1 - 6 12 1
W: Dennis Leonard (1-0)  L: Mike Torrez (0-1)  
HRs: NYY – none; KC – none

Game 4

October 8: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 6 13 0
Kansas City 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 8 2
W: Sparky Lyle (1-0)  L: Larry Gura (0-1)  
HRs: Yanks – none; KC – none

Game 5

October 9: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 5 10 0
Kansas City 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 10 1
W: Sparky Lyle (2-0)  L: Dennis Leonard (1-1)  
HRs: NYY – none; KC – none

World Series

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Main article: 1977 World Series

AL New York Yankees (4) vs. NL Los Angeles Dodgers (2)

Game Score Date Location Attendance Time of Game
1 Dodgers – 3, Yankees – 4 (12 inns) October 11 Yankee Stadium 56,668 3:24
2 Dodgers – 6, Yankees – 1 October 12 Yankee Stadium 56,691 2:27
3 Yankees – 5, Dodgers – 3 October 14 Dodger Stadium 55,992 2:31
4 Yankees – 4, Dodgers – 2 October 15 Dodger Stadium 55,995 2:07
5 Yankees – 4, Dodgers – 10 October 16 Dodger Stadium 55,995 2:29
6 Dodgers – 4, Yankees – 8 October 18 Yankee Stadium 56,407 2:18

Awards and honors

All-Stars

All-Star Game

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Syracuse Chiefs International League Pete Ward
AA West Haven Yankees Eastern League Mike Ferraro
A Fort Lauderdale Yankees Florida State League Ed Napoleon
A-Short Season Oneonta Yankees New York–Penn League Art Mazmanian

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: West Haven, Oneonta[12]

Notes

  1. ↑ Jim Mason page at Baseball Reference
  2. ↑ Willie McGee page at Baseball Reference
  3. ↑ Paul Blair page at Baseball Reference
  4. ↑ Brian Doyle page at Baseball Reference
  5. ↑ Kerry Dineen page at Baseball Reference
  6. ↑ Oscar Gamble page at Baseball Reference
  7. ↑ Dock Ellis page at Baseball Reference
  8. ↑ Stan Thomas page at Baseball Reference
  9. ↑ Joe Lefebvre page at Baseball Reference
  10. ↑ Chuck Hensley page at Baseball Reference
  11. ↑ Chris Welsh page at Baseball Reference
  12. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References

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