New York Yankees: Giancarlo Stanton, Reggie Jackson measuring stick

A Simpler Time

Yankees fans who are old enough remember 2017. A team in transition found itself winning ahead of schedule due to its creamy, homegrown players.

And, like ’76, the team fielded players both traded for—Didi Gregorius, Starlin Castro, Sonny Gray, et al—and paid for. Men such as CC Sabathia, Masahiro Tanaka, and Jacoby Ellsbury serve as exemplars.

All of these surrounded a much larger group of homegrown players than the Yankees had in the mid-70’s.

Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge roamed the outfield, while Gary Sanchez and Luis Severino formed the leagues most explosive battery. When healthy, Greg Bird could hit with the best of them and returned in time to prove it in the playoffs.

Meanwhile, Yankees youngsters shored up the team in times of trouble, including Jordan Montgomery, Tyler Wade, and Clint Frazier.

However, just as that earlier ’76 Yankees team had done, they won one postseason series but could not win two. They could see the ultimate prize in front of them, as well, but neither team could win even a single World Series game.

And how did this Yankees organization respond, under a new Steinbrenner?

By adding both the reigning NL MVP as well as MLB home run king, Giancarlo Stanton.

We can quibble over semantics but acquiring him in an apparent salary dump is akin to a free agent pick-up and is at least no worse than a hybrid of the two concepts. Either way, the Yankees added the Reggie Jackson of his day. And the attendant needs to do at least one thing Ruth did.