1990 New York Yankees season

1990  New York Yankees
League	American League
Division	East
Ballpark	Yankee Stadium
City	New York City
Owners	George Steinbrenner
General managers	Harding "Pete" Peterson, Gene Michael
Managers	Bucky Dent, Stump Merrill
Television	WPIX (Phil Rizzuto, George Grande, Tom Seaver) MSG (Tony Kubek, Dewayne Staats, Al Trautwig)
Radio	WABC (AM) (John Sterling, Jay Johnstone)
←  1989 Seasons 1991  →

The 1990 New York Yankees season was the 88th season for the Yankees. The team finished in seventh place in the American League East with a record of 67-95, finishing 21 games behind the Boston Red Sox. It was the Yankees' first last-place finish in 24 years (and their first last-place in the division era), the most losses they accumulated in a season since 1912 (a record which still stands), and their most recent last-place finish to date. New York was managed by Stump Merrill and Bucky Dent. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium.

In an historic changing of the guard, the Yankees finally left SportsChannel NY at the end of the 1989 season, moving their cable and satellite broadcasts to the cable-only MSG Network.

Offseason

Notable transactions

• October 1989: Dickie Noles was released by the Yankees. ^[1]
• October 4, 1989: Steve Kiefer was released by the Yankees. ^[2]
• November 20, 1989: Rafael Santana was released by the Yankees. ^[3]
• November 21, 1989: Pascual Pérez was signed as a free agent by the Yankees. ^[4]
• December 12, 1989: Hal Morris and Rodney Imes (minors) were traded by the Yankees to the Cincinnati Reds for Tim Leary and Van Snider. ^[5]
• December 20, 1989: Rick Cerone was signed as a free agent by the Yankees. ^[6]
• February 17, 1990: Mariano Rivera was signed as an amateur free agent by the Yankees. ^[7]
• March 13, 1990: Orlando Miller was traded by the Yankees to the Houston Astros for Dave Silvestri and a player to be named later. The Astros completed the deal by sending Daven Bond (minors) to the Yankees on June 11. ^[8]

Death of Billy Martin

Billy Martin's grave in Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven.

Multi-time former Yankees manager Billy Martin was working as a special consultant to Yankees owner George Steinbrenner when he was killed in a one-car crash in Binghamton, New York, on Christmas Day (December 25) in 1989. Martin had been drinking heavily with his friend, William Reedy, who was driving a pickup truck at the time of the accident. When Martin was killed, the media reported that he was a passenger in Reedy's pickup. However, Peter Golenbock, in his book Wild, High, and Tight: The Life and Death of Billy Martin , makes the case that Martin was the driver and that his wife and Reedy covered up the truth. According to the HBO TV series Autopsy , ^[9] forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden performed the autopsy on Martin and investigated the accident scene, including the pick-up truck in which Martin died. The autopsy revealed that Martin's impact injuries were all on the right side, and that hair and other DNA found on the right side of the shattered windshield belonged to Martin, who was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident. The conclusion of the autopsy study was that Reedy drove the pick-up.

Billy Martin was eulogized by Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, before his funeral at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. His grave is located about 150 feet from the grave of Babe Ruth. The following epitaph by Billy Martin himself appears on the headstone: I may not have been the greatest Yankee to put on the uniform but I was the proudest. Former President of the United States Richard Nixon attended Martin's funeral. The Yankees started the season with a small number 1 on their left sleeves.

Regular season

• June 6, 1990: Yankees manager Bucky Dent was fired before a game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. ^[10] George Steinbrenner was severely criticized for firing Dent, his 18th managerial change in 18 years, because he did it in Boston, where Dent had his greatest moment as a player. ^[11] However, Bill Pennington called the firing of Dent "merciless." ^[12] But Yankees television analyst Tony Kubek blasted at Steinbrenner for the firing in a harsh, angry way. ^[13] At the beginning of the broadcast of the game on MSG Network, he said to Yankees television play-by-play announcer Dewayne Staats, "George Steinbrenner...mishandled this. You don't take a Bucky Dent (at) the site of one of the greatest home runs in Yankee history and fire him and make it a media circus for the Boston Red Sox." ^[14] He then stared defiantly on camera and said to Steinbrenner, "You don't do it by telephone, either, George. You do it face to face, eyeball to eyeball...If you really are a winner, you should not have handled this like a loser." ^[14] He then said, angrily, "George, you're a bully and a coward." ^[15] He then said that "What all this does, it just wrecks George Steinbrenner's credibility with his players, with the front office and in baseball more than it already is–if that's possible. It was just mishandled." ^[14] The firing of Dent shook New York to its core and the Yankees flagship radio station then, WABC, which also criticized the firing, ran editorials demanding that Steinbrenner sell the team. ^{[16] [17] [18]}
• On July 30, 1990, Commissioner Fay Vincent banned Steinbrenner from baseball for life after he paid Howard Spira, a small-time gambler, $40,000 for "dirt" after Dave Winfield sued him for failing to pay his foundation the $300,000 ^[19] guaranteed in his contract.
• October 3, 1990: Cecil Fielder hit two home runs at Yankee Stadium to finish with 51 for the season. The 50th home run was hit off of Steve Adkins. Fielder would be the first Major Leaguer since George Foster in 1977 to hit 50 home runs in a season. It was the 18th time that a major leaguer (and the 11th time that an American League player) hit for 50 home runs in a season.

Season standings

v t e AL East	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Boston Red Sox	88	74	0.543	—	51–30	37–44
Toronto Blue Jays	86	76	0.531	2	44–37	42–39
Detroit Tigers	79	83	0.488	9	39–42	40–41
Cleveland Indians	77	85	0.475	11	41–40	36–45
Baltimore Orioles	76	85	0.472	11½	40–40	36–45
Milwaukee Brewers	74	88	0.457	14	39–42	35–46
New York Yankees	67	95	0.414	21	37–44	30–51

Record vs. opponents

1990 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	4–9	7–5	6–6	6–7	6–7	8–3	7–6	6–6	6–7	4–8	3–9	8–4	5–8
Boston	9–4	—	7–5	6–6	9–4	8–5	4–8	5–8	4–8	9–4	4–8	8–4	5–7	10–3
California	5–7	5–7	—	5–8	7–5	5–7	7–6	7–5	9–4	6–6	4–9	5–8	8–5	7–5
Chicago	6–6	6–6	8–5	—	5–7	5–7	9–4	10–2	7–6	10–2	8–5	8–5	7–6	5–7
Cleveland	7–6	4–9	5–7	7–5	—	5–8	6–6	9–4	7–5	5–8	4–8	7–5	7–5	4–9
Detroit	7–6	5–8	7–5	7–5	8–5	—	5–7	3–10	6–6	7–6	6–6	7–5	6–6	5–8
Kansas City	3–8	8–4	6–7	4–9	6–6	7–5	—	4–8	8–5	8–4	4–9	7–6	5–8	5–7
Milwaukee	6–7	8–5	5–7	2–10	4–9	10–3	8–4	—	4–8	6–7	5–7	4–8	5–7	7–6
Minnesota	6–6	8–4	4–9	6–7	5–7	6–6	5–8	8–4	—	6–6	6–7	6–7	5–8	3–9
New York	7–6	4–9	6–6	2–10	8–5	6–7	4–8	7–6	6–6	—	0–12	9–3	3–9	5–8
Oakland	8–4	8–4	9–4	5–8	8–4	6–6	9–4	7–5	7–6	12–0	—	9–4	8–5	7–5
Seattle	9–3	4–8	8–5	5–8	5–7	5–7	6–7	8–4	7–6	3–9	4–9	—	7–6	6–6
Texas	4–8	7–5	5–8	6–7	5–7	6–6	8–5	7–5	8–5	9–3	5–8	6–7	—	7–5
Toronto	8–5	3–10	5–7	7–5	9–4	8–5	7–5	6–7	9–3	8–5	5–7	6–6	5–7	—

Notable transactions

• April 29, 1990: Luis Polonia was traded by the Yankees to the California Angels for Claudell Washington and Rich Monteleone. ^[20]
• May 11, 1990: Dave Winfield was traded by the Yankees to the California Angels in exchange for Mike Witt. ^[21]
• June 4, 1990: Clay Parker and Lance McCullers were traded by the Yankees to the Detroit Tigers for Matt Nokes. ^{[22] [23]}
• September 24, 1990: Deion Sanders was released by the Yankees. ^[24]

Draft picks

• June 4, 1990: 1990 Major League Baseball Draft
  • Carl Everett was drafted by the Yankees in the 1st round. ^[25]
  • Robert Eenhoorn was drafted by the Yankees in the 2nd round of the 1990 June Draft. Player signed June 10, 1990. ^[26]
  • Sam Militello was drafted by the Yankees in the 6th round. ^[27]
  • Jalal Leach was drafted by the Yankees in the 7th round. Player signed June 8, 1990. ^[28]
  • Ricky Ledée was drafted by the Yankees in the 16th round. Player signed June 5, 1990. ^[29]
  • Andy Pettitte was drafted by the Yankees in the 22nd round, but did not sign. ^[30]
  • Jorge Posada was drafted by the Yankees in the 24th round. Player signed May 24, 1991. ^[31]
  • Shane Spencer was drafted by the Yankees in the 28th round. Player signed June 7, 1990. ^[32]

Roster

1990 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers 59 Steve Adkins 25 Greg Cadaret 51 Chuck Cary 58 Dave Eiland 35 Lee Guetterman 61 John Habyan 40 Andy Hawkins 26 Jimmy Jones 42 Dave LaPoint 54 Tim Leary 56 Mark Leiter 41 Lance McCullers 28,69 Alan Mills 55 Rich Monteleone 38 Clay Parker 34 Pascual Pérez 33 Eric Plunk 19 Dave Righetti 43 Jeff Robinson 22 Mike Witt		Catchers 11 Rick Cerone 28 Brian Dorsett 53 Bob Geren 38 Matt Nokes Infielders 45 Steve Balboni 24,21 Mike Blowers 20 Álvaro Espinoza 12 Jim Leyritz 24 Kevin Maas 23 Don Mattingly  6 Steve Sax  2 Wayne Tolleson 18 Randy Velarde 63 Jim Walewander		Outfielders 50 Oscar Azócar 29 Jesse Barfield 27 Mel Hall 39 Roberto Kelly 31 Hensley Meulens 21 Deion Sanders 17 Claudell Washington 31 Dave Winfield Other batters 22 Luis Polonia		Manager 20 Bucky Dent 46 Stump Merrill Coaches 52 Mark Connor 36 Billy Connors 44 Mike Ferraro 48 Buck Showalter 46 Joe Sparks 47 Champ Summers

Kevin Maas

• Kevin Maas set a major league record for the fewest at bats (72) to hit 10 home runs. He also set a record by hitting his first 15 home runs in the fewest at-bats. About halfway through the season a group of a dozen or so young ladies began wearing "Maas-tops" to Yankees home games and sitting in the right field stands. Whenever Maas hit a home run to right, the girls would get up, remove their tops and jump up and down until Maas finished circling the bases. However, after a few home runs the women were banned from entering Yankee Stadium.

Andy Hawkins no-hitter

• July 1, 1990: Yankees pitcher Andy Hawkins threw a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox but lost the game 4-0. ^[33] The following year, Major League Baseball changed the rule to require a minimum nine complete innings pitched to count as a no-hitter, and as Hawkins pitched only eight innings, as Chicago hosted and did not bat in the ninth, his no-hitter is no longer official. ^[34]

Line Score

July 1, Comiskey Park, Chicago, Illinois

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	3
Chicago	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	x	4	0	2
W: Barry Jones (10-1)  L: Andy Hawkins (1-5)
Attendance: 30,642 Time: 2:34

Batting

New York Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	Chicago White Sox	AB	R	H	RBI
Kelly, cf	4	0	0	0	Johnson, cf	3	1	0	0
Sax, 2b	4	0	0	0	Ventura, 3b	4	1	0	0
Mattingly, 1b	4	0	0	0	Calderon, dh	3	0	0	0
Balboni, dh	4	0	0	0	Pasqua, lf	4	0	0	0
Tolleson, pr, dh	0	0	0	0	Gallagher, lf	0	0	0	0
Barfield, rf	4	0	1	0	Kittle, 1b	3	0	0	0
Leyritz, lf	3	0	1	0	Lyons, 1b	0	0	0	0
Blowers, 3b	3	0	0	0	Karkovice, c	2	0	0	0
Geren, c	3	0	1	0	Fletcher, 2b	2	0	0	0
Espinoza, ss	2	0	1	0	Sosa, rf	3	1	0	0
NONE	0	0	0	0	Guillen, ss	2	1	0	0
Totals	31	0	4	0	Totals	26	4	0	0

Pitching

New York Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Hawkins, L (1-5)	8.0	0	4	0	5	3

Chicago White Sox	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Hibbard	7.0	4	0	0	0	4
Jones W (10-1)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1
Radinsky	1.0	0	0	0	0	0

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	Bob Geren	110	277	59	.213	8	31
1B	Don Mattingly	102	394	101	.256	5	42
2B	Steve Sax	155	615	160	.260	4	42
3B	Jim Leyritz	92	303	78	.257	5	25
SS	Álvaro Espinoza	150	438	98	.224	2	20
LF	Oscar Azócar	65	214	53	.248	5	19
CF	Roberto Kelly	162	641	183	.285	15	61
RF	Jesse Barfield	153	476	117	.246	25	78
DH	Steve Balboni	116	266	51	.192	17	34

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
Mel Hall	113	360	93	.258	12	46
Kevin Maas	79	254	64	.252	21	41
Matt Nokes	92	240	57	.238	8	32
Randy Velarde	95	229	48	.210	5	19
Mike Blowers	48	144	27	.188	5	21
Rick Cerone	49	139	42	.302	2	11
Deion Sanders	57	133	21	.158	3	9
Hensley Meulens	23	83	20	.241	3	10
Claudell Washington	33	80	13	.163	0	6
Wayne Tolleson	73	74	11	.149	0	4
Dave Winfield	20	61	13	.213	2	6
Brian Dorsett	14	35	5	.143	0	0
Luis Polonia	11	22	7	.318	0	3
Jim Walewander	9	5	1	.200	0	1

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
Tim Leary	31	208.0	9	19	4.11	138
Dave LaPoint	28	157.2	7	10	4.11	67
Andy Hawkins	28	157.2	5	12	5.37	74
Chuck Cary	27	156.2	6	12	4.19	134
Mike Witt	16	96.2	5	6	4.47	60
Dave Eiland	5	30.1	2	1	3.56	16
Steve Adkins	5	24.0	1	2	6.38	14
Pascual Pérez	3	14.0	1	2	1.29	12

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
Jimmy Jones	17	50.0	1	2	6.30	25
Mark Leiter	8	26.1	1	1	6.84	21
Clay Parker	5	22.0	1	1	4.50	20

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
Dave Righetti	53	1	1	36	3.57	43
Lee Guetterman	64	11	7	2	3.19	48
Jeff Robinson	54	3	6	0	3.45	43
Greg Cadaret	54	5	4	3	4.15	80
Eric Plunk	47	6	3	0	2.72	67
Alan Mills	36	1	5	0	4.10	24
Lance McCullers	11	1	0	0	3.60	11
John Habyan	6	0	0	0	2.08	4
Rich Monteleone	5	0	1	0	6.14	8

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Columbus Clippers	International League	Stump Merrill and Rick Down
AA	Albany-Colonie Yankees	Eastern League	Rick Down and Dan Radison
A	Prince William Cannons	Carolina League	Gary Denbo
A	Fort Lauderdale Yankees	Florida State League	Mike Hart
A	Greensboro Hornets	South Atlantic League	Brian Butterfield
A-Short Season	Oneonta Yankees	New York–Penn League	Trey Hillman
Rookie	GCL Yankees	Gulf Coast League	Glenn Sherlock

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Oneonta ^[35]

References

1. Dickie Noles page at Baseball Reference
2. Steve Kiefer page at Baseball Reference
3. Rafael Santana page at Baseball Reference
4. Pascual Pérez page at Baseball Reference
5. Tim Leary page at Baseball Reference
6. Rick Cerone page at Baseball Reference
7. Mariano Rivera page at Baseball Reference
8. Dave Silvestri page at Baseball Reference
9. Autopsy: Billy Martin
10. Cafardo, Nick (June 7, 1990). "Dent Dumped by Yankees". The Boston Globe. p. 37. Dent's greatest moment as a player—and his worst moment as a manager—came in Boston.
11. Shaughnessy, Dan (June 7, 1990). "His Back Was Against the Wall". The Boston Globe. p. 37.
12. Pennington, Bill (2019). Chumps to Champs: How the Worst Teams in Yankees History Led to the '90s Dynasty. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 32. ISBN   9781328849854.
13. Bock, Hal (June 7, 1990). "Kubek Speaks Out Against Dent Firing". Associated Press.
14. Raissman, Bob (June 7, 1990). "Kubek: George a Loser". New York Daily News. p. 64.
15. Raissman, Bob (June 8, 1990). "At MSG, Kubek Reigns Over George". New York Daily News. p. 71.
16. "Steinbrenner Under Fire In New York". Associated Press. June 8, 1990. Firing the manager is nothing new for George Steinbrenner, who made Bucky Dent the 18th victim in the 17 years he's owned the New York Yankees. But it has touched a nerve in New York, where just about everyone wants to have Steinbrenner fired. Even the team's media outlets have joined the bandwagon...The latest critic is hardly a likely one—Fred Weinhaus, general manager of WABC radio, the Yankees' flagship station. 'We're tired of what we have and we deserve better,' said Weinhaus, who has run editorials demanding that Steinbrenner either sell the team or bring in a knowledgeable baseball man and give him full power to run it.
17. Raissman, Bob (June 8, 1990). "ABC Exec Gives Boss Static". New York Daily News. p. 68.
18. Pedulla, Tom; Shuster, Rachel (June 7, 1990). "Players blame themselves; fans point to Steinbrenner". USA Today. p. 7C.
19. Anderson, Dave (March 7, 1988). "Sports Of The Times; Dave Winfield's Rebuttal". The New York Times.
20. Luis Polonia page at Baseball Reference
21. Dave Winfield page at Baseball Reference
22. Clay Parker page at Baseball Reference
23. "Lance McCullers Stats".
24. Deion Sanders page at Baseball Reference
25. Baseball Draft: 1st Round of the 1990 June Draft - Baseball-Reference.com
26. "Robert Eenhoorn Stats".
27. Sam Militello page at Baseball Reference
28. "Jalal Leach Stats".
29. Ricky Ledée page at Baseball Reference
30. Andy Pettitte page at Baseball Reference
31. Jorge Posada page at Baseball Reference
32. Shane Spencer page at Baseball Reference
33. Times, Michael Martinez, Special To The New York (July 2, 1990). "No-Hitter, but With No Glory". The New York Times. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
34. Donaghy, Jack (April 14, 1992). "Is revised no-hitter rule a no-no?". Eugene Register-Guard. pp. 2D. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
35. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

• 1990 New York Yankees at Baseball Reference
• 1990 New York Yankees team page at www.baseball-almanac.com