New York Yankees: Giancarlo Stanton, Reggie Jackson measuring stick
Being a New York Yankees player means being judged against former bombers who once roamed the Bronx. And the man Giancarlo Stanton must measure up to is Reggie Jackson.
New York Yankees fans who are old enough remember 1976. That was the first year since 1964 that the Yanks had won the American League. And in another letdown reminiscent of that earlier season, the bicentennial Yankees also failed to win the World Series.
But among the many changes to baseball and life in the interim—there was now an AL East and West, the Vietnam War, er, Police Action had primarily come and gone, bell bottoms were inexplicably cool—free agency had the most significant impact on the game.
Maybe the second biggest was the addition of George Steinbrenner.
He didn’t institute free agency; Curt Flood and a players’ strike did that. But he was surely not going to miss a chance to restore the Yankees to past glory by any means necessary, as we used to say back then.
And so he reflexively created the modern blueprint for building a successful team as soon as he took over the Yanks in 1973.
First, start by identifying the cream of your homegrown crop. For Steinbrenner and the Yankees of the early 70’s, that proved to be C Thurman Munson, LF Roy White, and Gator (nee Louisiana Lightning) LHP Ron Guidry.
The Mother of Invention
Next, trade the many goods for the excellent few.
That philosophy slowly but methodically imported 3B Graig Nettles and 1B/DH Chris Chambliss in separate deals with the Indians, and RHP Ed Figueroa and Mick the Quick CF Mickey Rivers in a singular agreement with the vagabond California Angels.
Trades also netted SS Bucky Dent and OF Lou Piniella, as well as 2B/Future team captain Willie Randolph after just thirty games for the Pirates.
Finally, of course, is add just a few key free agents and turn an outstanding team into a great one. The Yankees first gun-for-hire was workhorse RHP Catfish Hunter, signed before the ’75 season. And he did elevate the team, but they still needed one more piece as was self-evident at the end of 1976.
Well, two as they traded for Dent just as the ’77 season dawned. But the team needed a lot more than a slick-fielding infielder if they wanted to win the World Series.
And Steinbrenner knew it.
But They Did Get What They Needed
What the Yankees needed was baseball’s best slugger. They needed someone who could put the power back in the pinstripes and the intimidation back in their opponents. The team needed a star, a modern day Babe Ruth.
They needed Reggie Jackson.
And that is precisely who Steinbrenner went out and wooed prior to the 1977 season. He wined him, dined him, and then Ol’ George signed him.
The results speak for themselves. The Yankees went to three World Series in the next five years, winning two of them. And in 1977, former AL MVP Reggie did something only Ruth had ever done: Hit three home runs in one World Series game.
Even now, some 40 years later, it’s only been done four times, three of those by Yankees. That feat helped Jackson secure the WS MVP. Reggie so captured New York they even made an eponymous candy bar in his honor, as he predicted they would.
The Yankees got titles 21 and 22 out of the signing. And Reggie went from the Yanks to the Angels, to Cooperstown.
That was then.
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.
Ruth, Jackson, Stanton…and Judge
The hope, for the Yankees, is that his new closed stance will keep the home runs coming at a Ruthian pace. Stanton hit 59 last season at the age of 27. Ruth hit the same number in 1921 at the age of 26.
They hope his power will add to an already imposing line-up, turning their offense from a cudgel to a bludgeon. And the Yankees hope for at least the same return on investment or even a 90’s-esque one in their wildest dreams.
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While down in Tampa, I performed an informal survey asking if the fans assembled thought Stanton would have the same impact, a greater, or lesser one, as Reggie. No one took the under. Each man and woman felt the team could expect at least the same results, if not better.
If truth serum were applied, I have to think Yankees executives would give the same answer. Stanton might, as well. If all his hopes and dreams come true in pinstripes, he might even tell us someday.
Kaleidoscope
Until then, it is wise to remember that perspective is a funny old thing. I keep reading that the Mets have won their off-season. Making that statement requires a shift in expectations from just a year ago, or at least a redefining of the word, winning. But, still, it is true from a certain point of view.
This article, as well, is only looking at the acquisition of Stanton through one narrow viewpoint.
But I do think the comparison of times and teams is fair. And even the revered Ken Singleton has suggested the Yankees might be on the precipice of a new dynasty with Stanton now in place, as he told Justin Terranova and the NY Post:
Adding the reigning National League MVP has pushed the Yankees from contender to American League co-favorite (with the Astros)… Singleton also sees the similarities between these Yankees and the group Joe Torre inherited in 1996. “The Yankees sense they have the type of team now that was like the late ’90s,” Singleton said. “They have a sense they have this kind of ballclub again, and if everything goes right, they can challenge for a title every year.”
If Giancarlo Stanton leads the New York Yankees in home runs this year, if he hits them at Fenway and Camden Yards with great frequency, and comes through in the playoffs especially on the road, he will become the new Reggie Jackson, the final dynamic piece of a championship puzzle.
Well, I’ll think of him that way, even if no one else does.
Next: The Red Sox Dustin Pedroia has his Own Measuring Stick: Dustin Pedroia
It’s doubtful he gets a candy bar named after him, though, as the times have a-changed so much. But maybe he and Judge can re-start the whole bell bottom thing. Again, inexplicable.