1985 New York Yankees season

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1985 New York Yankees
Major League affiliations
Location
  • Yankee Stadium (since 1976)
  • New York City (since 1903)
Other information
Owner(s)George Steinbrenner
General manager(s)Clyde King
Manager(s)Yogi Berra, Billy Martin
Local televisionWPIX
(Phil Rizzuto, Bill White, Spencer Ross)
SportsChannel NY
(Mel Allen, Mickey Mantle, others from WPIX)
Local radioWABC (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[]

  • November 5, 1984: Matt Keough was released by the Yankees.[1]
  • December 4, 1984: Ray Fontenot and Brian Dayett were traded by the Yankees to the Chicago Cubs for Ron Hassey, Porfi Altamirano, Rich Bordi, and Henry Cotto.[2]
  • December 5, 1984: Rick Cerone was traded by the Yankees to the Atlanta Braves for Brian Fisher.[3]
  • December 5, 1984: Stan Javier, Jay Howell, José Rijo, Eric Plunk, and Tim Birtsas were traded by the Yankees to the Oakland Athletics for Rickey Henderson, Bert Bradley and cash.[4]
  • December 20, 1984: Steve Kemp, Tim Foli, and cash were traded by the Yankees to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jay Buhner, Dale Berra and Alfonso Pulido.[5] Berra became the first player since 1925, when Earle Mack played for his father Connie Mack for the Philadelphia Athletics, to play for his father as manager.
  • December 27, 1984: Ed Whitson was signed as a free agent by the Yankees.[6]
  • February 27, 1985: Toby Harrah was traded by the Yankees to the Texas Rangers for Billy Sample and a player to be named later. The Rangers completed the deal by sending Eric Dersin (minors) to the Yankees on July 14.[7]

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[]

  • v
  • t
AL East 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Toronto Blue Jays 99 62 0.615 — 54–26 45–36
New York Yankees 97 64 0.602 2 58–22 39–42
Detroit Tigers 84 77 0.522 15 44–37 40–40
Baltimore Orioles 83 78 0.516 16 45–36 38–42
Boston Red Sox 81 81 0.500 18½ 43–37 38–44
Milwaukee Brewers 71 90 0.441 28 40–40 31–50
Cleveland Indians 60 102 0.370 39½ 38–43 22–59

Record vs. opponents[]

1985 American League Records
  • v
  • t

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 — 5–8 7–5 8–4 8–5 6–7 6–6 9–4 6–6 1–12 7–5 6–6 10–2 4–8
Boston 8–5 — 5–7 4–8–1 8–5 6–7 5–7 5–8 7–5 5–8 8–4 6–6 5–7 9–4
California 5–7 7–5 — 8–5 8–4 8–4 4–9 9–3 9–4 3–9 6–7 9–4 9–4 5–7
Chicago 4–8 8–4–1 5–8 — 10–2 6–6 5–8 5–7 6–7 6–6 8–5 9–4 10–3 3–9
Cleveland 5–8 5–8 4–8 2–10 — 5–8 2–10 7–6 4–8 6–7 3–9 6–6 7–5 4–9
Detroit 7–6 7–6 4–8 6–6 8–5 — 5–7 9–4 3–9 9–3 8–4 5–7 7–5 6–7
Kansas City 6–6 7–5 9–4 8–5 10–2 7–5 — 8–4 7–6 5–7 8–5 3–10 6–7 7–5
Milwaukee 4–9 8–5 3–9 7–5 6–7 4–9 4–8 — 9–3 7–6 3–9 4–8 8–3 4–9
Minnesota 6–6 5–7 4–9 7–6 8–4 9–3 6–7 3–9 — 3–9 8–5 6–7 8–5 4–8
New York 12–1 8–5 9–3 6–6 7–6 3–9 7–5 6–7 9–3 — 7–5 9–3 8–4 6–7
Oakland 5–7 4–8 7–6 5–8 9–3 4–8 5–8 9–3 5–8 5–7 — 8–5 6–7 5–7
Seattle 6–6 6–6 4–9 4–9 6–6 7–5 10–3 8–4 7–6 3–9 5–8 — 6–7 2–10
Texas 2–10 7–5 4–9 3–10 5–7 5–7 7–6 3–8 5–8 4–8 7–6 7–6 — 3–9
Toronto 8–4 4–9 7–5 9–3 9–4 7–6 5–7 9–4 8–4 7–6 7–5 10–2 9–3 —


Notable transactions[]

  • June 3, 1985: Shane Turner was drafted by the Yankees in the 6th round of the 1985 Major League Baseball Draft.[9]
  • August 24, 1985: Jim Leyritz was signed by the Yankees as an amateur free agent.[10]
  • September 13, 1985: Bernie Williams was signed by the Yankees as an amateur free agent.[11]
  • September 15, 1985: Jim Deshaies and players to be named later were traded by the Yankees to the Houston Astros for Joe Niekro, who joined his brother Phil Niekro in the rotation. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Neder Horta (minors) to the Astros on September 24 and Dody Rather (minors) to the Astros on January 11, 1986.[12]

Roster[]

1985 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

  • 25 Don Baylor
 Manager
  •  8 Yogi Berra
  •  1 Billy Martin

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 Butch Wynegar 102 309 69 .223 5 32
1B Don Mattingly 159 652 211 .324 35 145
2B Willie Randolph 143 597 137 .276 5 40
3B Mike Pagliarulo 138 380 91 .239 19 62
SS Bobby Meacham 156 481 105 .218 1 47
LF Ken Griffey, Sr. 127 438 120 .274 10 69
CF Rickey Henderson 143 547 172 .314 24 72
RF Dave Winfield 155 633 174 .275 26 114
DH Don Baylor 142 477 110 .231 23 91

Other batters[]

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Ron Hassey 92 267 79 .296 13 42
Dan Pasqua 60 148 31 .209 9 25
Billy Sample 59 139 40 .288 1 15
Andre Robertson 50 125 41 .328 2 17
Dale Berra 48 109 25 .229 1 8
Omar Moreno 34 66 13 .197 1 4
Henry Cotto 34 56 17 .304 1 6
Rex Hudler 20 51 8 .157 0 1
Scott Bradley 19 49 8 .163 0 1
Juan Bonilla 8 16 2 .125 0 2
Juan Espino 9 11 4 .364 0 0
Victor Mata 6 7 1 .143 0 0
Keith Smith 4 0 0 .--- 0 0

Pitching[]

Starting pitchers[]

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Ron Guidry 34 259 22 6 3.27 143
Phil Niekro 33 220 16 12 4.09 149
Joe Cowley 30 159.2 12 6 3.95 97
Ed Whitson 30 158.2 10 8 4.88 89
Marty Bystrom 8 41 3 2 5.71 16
Joe Niekro 3 12.1 2 1 5.84 4

Other pitchers[]

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bob Shirley 48 109 5 5 2.64 55
Dennis Rasmussen 22 101.2 3 5 3.98 63
John Montefusco 3 7 0 0 10.29 2

Relief pitchers[]

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Dave Righetti 74 12 7 29 2.78 92
Brian Fisher 55 4 4 14 2.38 85
Rich Bordi 51 6 8 2 3.21 64
Neil Allen 17 1 0 1 2.76 16
Mike Armstrong 9 0 0 0 3.07 11
Don Cooper 7 0 0 0 5.40 4
Rod Scurry 5 1 0 1 2.84 17
Dale Murray 3 0 0 0 13.50 0

Awards and honors[]

All-Star Game

  • Don Mattingly, First Base
  • Dave Winfield, Outfield
  • Rickey Henderson, Outfield

Farm system[]

See also: Minor League Baseball
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. ^ a b 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.

External links[]

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