1985 New York Yankees season

1985 New York Yankees
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) George Steinbrenner
General manager(s) Clyde King
Manager(s) Yogi Berra, Billy Martin
Local television WPIX
(Phil Rizzuto, Bill White, Spencer Ross)
SportsChannel NY
(Mel Allen, Mickey Mantle, others from WPIX)
Local radio WABC (AM)
(Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto, Bill White, John Gordon)
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The New York Yankees' 1985 season was the 83rd season for the Yankees. The team only played 161 games, came in second place in the American League Eastern Division with a record of 97-64, and finished 2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays. New York was managed by Yogi Berra and Billy Martin. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium.

Offseason

Regular season

  • Rickey Henderson set a new club record by stealing 80 bases in one season. The previous mark had stood since 1914.

Henderson also scored 146 runs. It was the most in the Major Leagues since Ted Williams scored 150 runs in 1949.[8] In addition, Rickey Henderson became the first player since Lou Gehrig in 1936 to amass more runs in a season than games played.[8]

  • Don Mattingly became the first Yankee since Joe DiMaggio to have back to back 200 hit seasons.
  • Mattingly's 48 doubles were the most since Lou Gehrig hit 52 in 1927.
  • Mattingly was the AL MVP and RBI leader with 145. Mattingly hit for a .324 average with 35 home runs.
  • Dave Winfield became the first Yankee since Yogi Berra to achieve four straight 100 RBI seasons. Berra did it from 1953 to 1956.
  • On April 28, the Yankees fired Yogi Berra as manager 16 games into the season, only hours after being swept by the Chicago White Sox in a three-game series at Comiskey Park. Owner George Steinbrenner did not fire Berra personally, but instead dispatched general manager Clyde King to deliver the news. Berra was replaced by Billy Martin, whom he replaced as manager after the 1983 season. It became the fourth of Martin's five stints as Yankee skipper. Berra vowed after the slight to never again set foot in Yankee Stadium as long as Steinbrenner owned the team
  • On September 22, while at a hotel bar in Baltimore, Maryland, pitcher Ed Whitson broke manager Billy Martin's arm after a heated argument that spread to other parts of the hotel. Whitson's Yankee tenure was also memorable for constantly being heckled and booed during home games.
  • On October 5, the Yankees entered the next-to-last game of the season against the division-leading Toronto Blue Jays trailing them by two games. However, the Jays, led by pitcher Doyle Alexander, triumphed 5-1, clinching their first division title in franchise history.
  • On October 6, Phil Niekro shut out the Blue Jays 8-0 for his 300th major league win. He did not throw his trademark knuckleball until the final pitch of the game, striking out Jeff Burroughs.

Season standings

AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Toronto Blue Jays 9962 0.615 54–26 45–36
New York Yankees 9764 0.602 2 58–22 39–42
Detroit Tigers 8477 0.522 15 44–37 40–40
Baltimore Orioles 8378 0.516 16 45–36 38–42
Boston Red Sox 8181 0.500 18½ 43–37 38–44
Milwaukee Brewers 7190 0.441 28 40–40 31–50
Cleveland Indians 60102 0.370 39½ 38–43 22–59

Record vs. opponents

1985 American League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore 5–87–58–48–56–76–69–46–61–127–56–610–24–8
Boston 8–55–74–8–18–56–75–75–87–55–88–46–65–79–4
California 5–77–58–58–48–44–99–39–43–96–79–49–45–7
Chicago 4–88–4–15–810–26–65–85–76–76–68–59–410–33–9
Cleveland 5–85–84–82–105–82–107–64–86–73–96–67–54–9
Detroit 7–67–64–86–68–55–79–43–99–38–45–77–56–7
Kansas City 6–67–59–48–510–27–58–47–65–78–53–106–77–5
Milwaukee 4–98–53–97–56–74–94–89–37–63–94–88–34–9
Minnesota 6–65–74–97–68–49–36–73–93–98–56–78–54–8
New York 12–18–59–36–67–63–97–56–79–37–59–38–46–7
Oakland 5–74–87–65–89–34–85–89–35–85–78–56–75–7
Seattle 6–66–64–94–96–67–510–38–47–63–95–86–72–10
Texas 2–107–54–93–105–75–77–63–85–84–87–67–63–9
Toronto 8–44–97–59–39–47–65–79–48–47–67–510–29–3

Notable transactions

Roster

1985 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

  • 51 Dom Scala (Bullpen)

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
CButch Wynegar10230969.223532
1BDon Mattingly159652211.32435145
2BWillie Randolph143597137.276540
3BMike Pagliarulo13838091.2391962
SSBobby Meacham156481105.218147
LFKen Griffey, Sr.127438120.2741069
CFRickey Henderson143547172.3142472
RFDave Winfield155633174.27526114
DHDon Baylor142477110.2312391

Other batters

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Ron Hassey9226779.2961342
Billy Sample5913940.288115
Keith Smith400.---00

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Joe Cowley30159.21263.9597

Other pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bob Shirley48109552.6455
Dennis Rasmussen22101.2353.9863

Relief pitchers

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Dave Righetti74127292.7892
Brian Fisher5544142.3885

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Columbus Clippers International League Doug Holmquist and Stump Merrill
AA Albany-Colonie Yankees Eastern League Barry Foote
A Fort Lauderdale Yankees Florida State League Bucky Dent
A-Short Season Oneonta Yankees New York–Penn League Buck Showalter
Rookie GCL Yankees Gulf Coast League Carlos Tosca

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Oneonta, GCL Yankees

References

  1. Matt Keough page at Baseball Reference
  2. Ron Hassey page at Baseball Reference
  3. Rick Cerone page at Baseball Reference
  4. Rickey Henderson page at Baseball Reference
  5. Jay Buhner page at Baseball Reference
  6. Ed Whitson page at Baseball Reference
  7. Billy Sample page at Baseball Reference
  8. 1 2 Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p.45, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
  9. Shane Turner page at Baseball Reference
  10. Jim Leyritz page at Baseball Reference
  11. Bernie Williams page at Baseball Reference
  12. Jim Deshaies page at Baseball Reference
  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
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