1974 New York Yankees season

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1974 New York Yankees
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkShea Stadium
CityNew York City
OwnersGeorge Steinbrenner
General managersGabe Paul
ManagersBill Virdon
TelevisionWPIX
(Phil Rizzuto, Frank Messer, Bill White)
RadioWMCA
(Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto, Bill White)
← 1973 Seasons 1975 →

The 1974 New York Yankees season was the 72nd season for the team. The team finished second in the American League East with a record of 89–73, two games behind the Baltimore Orioles in Bill Virdon's first season as manager. The Yankees played at Shea Stadium due to the ongoing renovation of Yankee Stadium. This was the first season in which the away uniforms featured white outlines on the numbers and the city name. This would stay with the team for the next 50 seasons until it was retired just before the 2024 season when the white outline was removed (at the suggestion of team captain Aaron Judge) from the away jerseys, keeping the navy blue numbers.

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 Sr. 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 that made all the difference as the Yankees won 1–0.[8]

Hall of Fame

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
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 91 71 .562 — 46‍–‍35 45‍–‍36
New York Yankees 89 73 .549 2 47‍–‍34 42‍–‍39
Boston Red Sox 84 78 .519 7 46‍–‍35 38‍–‍43
Cleveland Indians 77 85 .475 14 40‍–‍41 37‍–‍44
Milwaukee Brewers 76 86 .469 15 40‍–‍41 36‍–‍45
Detroit Tigers 72 90 .444 19 36‍–‍45 36‍–‍45

Record vs. opponents

1974 American League record

Sources:
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 Sr. 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
Roy White 136 473 130 .275 7 43
Bill Sudakis 89 259 60 .232 7 39
Gene Michael 81 177 46 .260 0 13
Fernando González 51 121 26 .215 1 7
Rick Dempsey 43 109 26 .239 2 12
Otto Vélez 27 67 14 .209 2 10
Mike Hegan 18 53 12 .226 2 9
Walt Williams 43 53 6 .113 0 3
Horace Clarke 24 47 11 .234 0 1
Fred Stanley 33 38 7 .184 0 3
Alex Johnson 10 28 6 .214 1 2
Jim Ray Hart 10 19 1 .053 0 0
Duke Sims 5 15 2 .133 0 2
Terry Whitfield 2 5 1 .200 0 0
Jim Deidel 2 2 0 .000 0 0
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 39 281.0 19 15 3.07 157
Doc Medich 38 279.2 19 15 3.60 154
Dick Tidrow 33 190.2 11 9 3.87 100
Rudy May 17 114.1 8 4 2.28 90
Mel Stottlemyre 16 113.0 6 7 3.58 40
Larry Gura 8 56.0 5 1 2.41 17
Steve Kline 4 26.0 2 2 3.46 6

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
Sam McDowell 13 48.0 1 6 4.69 33
Dick Woodson 8 28.0 1 2 5.79 12
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
Sparky Lyle 66 9 3 15 1.66 89
Cecil Upshaw 36 1 5 6 3.02 27
Mike Wallace 23 6 0 0 2.41 34
Tippy Martinez 10 0 0 0 4.26 10
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

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 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

  1. ^ Jim Mason page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Lou Piniella page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Hal Lanier page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Ron Swoboda page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Ken Phelps page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Walt Williams page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ "The Nolan Ryan Express | The Strikeout King". smackbomb.com/nolanryan. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved July 28, 2008.
  8. ^ "ESPN.com - Page2 - Biggest cheaters in baseball".
  9. ^ Chris Chambliss page at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ Mike Pazik page at Baseball Reference
  11. ^ Horace Clarke page at Baseball-Reference
  12. ^ Lowell Palmer page at Baseball-Reference
  13. ^ Dennis Sherrill page at Baseball Reference
  14. ^ Rudy May page at Baseball Reference
  15. ^ Sandy Alomar page at Baseball Reference
  16. ^ Jesús Figueroa page at Baseball Reference
  17. ^ 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