1970 New York Yankees season explained

New York Yankees
Season:	1970
League:	American League
Division:	East
Ballpark:	Yankee Stadium
City:	New York City
Owners:	CBS
General Managers:	Lee MacPhail
Managers:	Ralph Houk
Television:	WPIX (Phil Rizzuto, Frank Messer, Bob Gamere, Whitey Ford)
Radio:	WHN (Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto, Bob Gamere)

The 1970 New York Yankees season was the 68th season for the franchise. The team finished in second place in the American League East with a record of 93–69, 15 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. The 93 wins were the most for the Yankees since 1964. New York was managed by Ralph Houk. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium.

Offseason

• December 1, 1969: Tom Shopay was drafted from the Yankees by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1969 rule 5 draft.^[1]
• December 4, 1969: Joe Pepitone was traded by the Yankees to the Houston Astros for Curt Blefary.^[2]
• December 5, 1969: Al Downing and Frank Fernández were traded by the Yankees to the Oakland Athletics for Danny Cater and Ossie Chavarria.^[3]
• December 18, 1969: Mickey Scott and cash were traded by the Yankees to the Chicago White Sox for Pete Ward.^[4]

Regular season

The Yankees went from a record of 80 wins and 81 losses in 1969 to a record of 93 wins and 69 losses.^[5]

Opening Day lineup

• Horace Clarke 2B
• Thurman Munson C
• Roy White LF
• John Ellis 1B
• Danny Cater 3B
• Bobby Murcer CF
• Curt Blefary RF
• Gene Michael SS
• Mel Stottlemyre P

Notable transactions

• September 22, 1970: Bobby Cox was released by the Yankees.^[6]

Roster

1970 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Pos	Player	G	AB	R	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
C		132	453	59	137	.302	6	53	5
1B		155	582	64	175	.301	6	76	4
2B		158	686	81	172	.251	4	46	23
3B		140	404	46	78	.193	4	35	20
SS		134	435	42	93	.214	2	38	3
LF		162	609	109	180	.296	22	94	24
CF		159	581	95	146	.251	23	78	15
RF		99	269	34	57	.212	9	37	1

^[7]

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
	78	226	24	56	.248	7	29	0
	95	225	30	51	.227	8	27	4
	49	153	23	46	.301	8	26	2
	87	126	20	39	.310	3	14	3
	35	117	6	27	.231	0	11	1
	59	91	13	27	.297	4	14	0
	66	77	5	20	.260	1	18	0
	10	22	1	5	.227	0	4	0
	16	19	2	6	.316	0	2	0

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
	37	271.0	15	13	3.09	126
	39	260.1	20	11	2.90	127
	36	232.2	14	11	3.33	116
	4	16.2	0	2	10.26	10
	1	7.1	1	0	4.91	6

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
	26	98.2	6	3	4.83	63
	15	64.0	3	4	3.94	38
	26	55.0	2	2	3.11	27
	9	20.2	2	0	6.10	12

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
	62	9	5	29	2.01	81
	45	6	7	1	2.65	40
	41	4	2	16	2.06	36
	35	4	3	3	2.78	33
	7	1	0	0	4.60	8
	2	0	0	0	0.00	2
	1	0	0	0	4.50	3

Awards and honors

• Ralph Houk, Associated Press AL Manager of the Year
• 1970 MLB All-Star Game
  • Fritz Peterson, reserve
  • Mel Stottlemyre, reserve
  • Roy White, reserve^[8]

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Syracuse^[9]

References

• 1970 New York Yankees at Baseball Reference
• 1970 New York Yankees team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/shopato01.shtml Tom Shopay page at Baseball Reference
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/blefacu01.shtml Curt Blefary page at Baseball Reference
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/caterda01.shtml Danny Cater page at Baseball Reference
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/w/wardpe01.shtml Pete Ward page at Baseball Reference
5. Yankee for Life, Bobby Murcer and Glen Waggoner, p. 62, Harper Collins, 2008, New York,
6. https://www.baseball-reference.com/c/coxbo01.shtml Bobby Cox page at Baseball Reference
7. Web site: 1970 New York Yankees Statistics . Baseball Reference . 29 November 2021.
8. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/asgbox/yr1970as.shtml 1970 All-Star Game
9. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007