The 1994 New York Yankees season was the 92nd season for the Yankees. New York was managed by Buck Showalter and played at Yankee Stadium. The season was cut short by the 1994 player's strike, which wiped out any postseason aspirations for their first postseason appearance since losing the 1981 World Series and any postseason aspirations that their star player and captain, Don Mattingly, had for the first time in his career.[1] On the day the strike began, the team had a record of 70–43, 6+1⁄2 games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles, the best record in the American League and the second-best record in Major League Baseball.[3] The Yankees were on pace to win at least 100 games for the first time since 1980.[4] The Yankees' ace, 33-year-old veteran Jimmy Key, was leading the majors with 17 wins and was on pace to win 24 games.[3] Right fielder Paul O'Neill was also having a career year, as he was leading the league with a .359 batting average.[3]
The strike is remembered bitterly by Yankees fans as it shook sports fans in New York City and the Yankees to the core,[5][6] and has been named among the 10 worst moments in New York City sports history, primarily because Mattingly had not played in a postseason.[7] It was also seen as the frustrating peak of the Yankees' downfall of the 1980s and early 1990s.[5]
Many fans said that the strike and the lost Yankees season was another blow to baseball backers in New York City, following the move of the Dodgers and the Giants to California for the 1958 season, the demise of the Yankees during the 1960s and early 1970s, and the bad baseball at Shea Stadium during the late 1970s and early 1990s.[5] The strike ruined the chance for the Yankees to follow in the footsteps of the NHLStanley Cup Champion Rangers and NBA Eastern Conference Champion Knicks by making the championship round of their respective sport.[8][1]
Because the Yankees' last postseason appearance had been in a season cut short by a strike,[9] the media often remarked on the parallels between the two Yankee teams (1981 and 1994), which included both teams having division leads taken away by strike.[10][11] Throughout October, they continued to bombard the Yankees, making speculations about what might have been if there had not been a strike.[12]
February 15, 1994: Jeff Reardon was signed as a free agent by the Yankees.[19]
Regular season
By Friday, August 12, the Yankees had compiled a 70-43 record through 113 games. They were leading the AL East Division and had scored 670 runs (5.93 per game) and allowed 534 runs (4.73 per game).[20] Yankees hitters were walked 530 times in the strike-shortened season: the most in the Majors. They also led the Majors in on-base percentage, with .374.[1] They did, however, tie the San Diego Padres for the most double plays grounded into, with 112.[21]
The World Series, for which the Yankees appeared to be destined,[22] was never played and contributed to fallouts both on and off the field. On the field, Buck Showalter did not have his contract renewed and Don Mattingly retired after the 1995 season.[1] In addition, General Manager Gene Michael was fired as a result of the strike.[23] Off the field, the Yankees broadcast team on MSG Network left due to the strike; play-by-play announcer Dewayne Staats didn't have his contract renewed and analyst Tony Kubek, himself a former Yankee, retired from broadcasting.[24] Kubek cited "I hate what the game's become—the greed, the nastiness." He hasn't seen or broadcast a baseball game since.[25]
The 1994 New York Yankees team that could have been remains a hot discussion point in both baseball and in New York City because of the team's revival and Mattingly had not played in a postseason.[1][26][27] When reacting to the strike's cancellation of the season, the first words many people on the Yankees, including Owner George Steinbrenner, Michael, and Showalter all said was that they all felt bad for Mattingly, saying that he deserved a postseason.[28][1] Mattingly led active players in both games played and at bats without ever appearing in the postseason.[29]
Opening Day lineup
Game log
1994 Regular Season Game Log (70-43) (Home: 33-24; Road: 37-19)
^Albanese, Laura (March 31, 2019). "'I'M TOLERATED, NOT ACCEPTED': Waldman's road to radio booth has been rough". Newsday. p. 68. In 1994, she became the play-by-play person for WPIX's Yankees telecasts.
^O'Connell, Jack (August 3, 1994). "In the End, a Big Finish for Yankees". The Hartford Courant. p. G1. They are on a pace for a 103-victory season over 162 games. The Yankees have not won 100 games since winning 103 under Dick Howser in 1980.
^ abcMcShane, Larry (September 16, 1994). "Yankees Fans Left with Broken Hearts". Associated Press.
^Kawakami, Tim (August 10, 1994). "'81, '94 Yankees Both Winners but Worlds Apart in Personality". The Los Angeles Times. p. C2. Those who followed the 1981 New York Yankees...can't help but notice potential similarities with this year's first-place Yankee club.
^O'Connell, Jack (April 25, 1995). "Finishing What They Started". The Hartford Courant. p. G2. In the lengthy and uncertain off-season, an unfair anointing was bestowed on the Yankees. To emphasize the sense of loss with no World Series, many columnists kept referring to the dates in October when the Yankees might have played a Series game. This kind of reference occurred so often, fans may have gotten the idea the Yankees were a lock for the Series. An unforeseen stumble on the way to the playoffs or in one of the newly expanded rounds of postseason play was out of the question.
^Staats, Dewayne; Scheiber, Dave (2015). Position to Win: A Look at Baseball and Life From the Best Seat in the House. Advance Ink Publishing. ISBN978-0692487969.
^Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles (2007) [1997]. The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd and 3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America.
Bibliography
Pennington, Bill (2019). Chumps to Champs: How the Worst Teams in Yankees History Led to the '90s Dynasty. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN9781328849854.
