1973 New York Yankees season

The 1973 New York Yankees season was the 71st season for the team in New York, and its 73rd season overall. 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 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.

1973 New York Yankees
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)George Steinbrenner
General manager(s)Lee MacPhail
Manager(s)Ralph Houk
Local televisionWPIX (Phil Rizzuto, Frank Messer, Bill White)
Local radioWMCA
(Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto, Bill White)
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George Steinbrenner

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

Regular season

After the last game of the 1973 season, 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 were only 35-49 rest of the way.[5]

Season standings
AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 9765 0.599 — 50–31 47–34
Boston Red Sox 8973 0.549 8 48–33 41–40
Detroit Tigers 8577 0.525 12 47–34 38–43
New York Yankees 8082 0.494 17 50–31 30–51
Milwaukee Brewers 7488 0.457 23 40–41 34–47
Cleveland Indians 7191 0.438 26 34–47 37–44

Record vs. opponents
1973 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK TEX
Baltimore —7–116–68–412–69–98–415–38–49–95–710–2
Boston 11–7—7–56–69–93–158–412–66–614–44–89–3
California 6–65–7—8–105–77–510–85–710–86–66–1211–7
Chicago 4–86–610–8—7–55–76–123–99–98–46–1213–5
Cleveland 6–129–97–55–7—9–92–109–97–57–113–97–5
Detroit 9–915–35–77–59–9—4–812–65–77–117–55–7
Kansas City 4–84–88–1012–610–28–4—8–49–96–68–1011–7
Milwaukee 3–156–127–59–39–96–124–8—8–410–84–88–4
Minnesota 4–86–68–109–95–77–59–94–8—3–914–412–6
New York 9–94–146–64–811–711–76–68–109–3—4–88–4
Oakland 7–58–412–612–69–35–710–88–44–148–4—11–7
Texas 2–103–97–115–135–77–57–114–86–124–87–11—

Opening Day lineup

Notable transactions

Roster
1973 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
CThurman Munson147519156.3012074
1BFelipe Alou9328066.236427
2BHorace Clarke148590155.263235
3BGraig Nettles160552129.2342281
SSGene Michael12941894.225347
LFRoy White162639157.2461860
CFBobby Murcer160616187.3042295
RFMatty Alou123497147.296228
DHJim Ray Hart11433986.2541352

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
Johnny Callison4513624.176110
Otto Vélez237715.19527
Jerry Moses215915.25403
Bernie Allen175713.22804

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 Dobson22142.1984.1770
Sam McDowell1695.2583.9575
Mike Kekich514.2119.204

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
Fred Beene1991601.6849
Dave Pagan412.2002.849

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
Tom Buskey80115.408
Wayne Granger70101.7610
Casey Cox10006.000

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 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

All-Star Game

  • Thurman Munson, Catcher
  • Bobby Murcer, Outfield, Starter
  • Sparky Lyle, Pitcher [16]

Notes
  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. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/asgbox/yr1973as.shtml
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References
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