The Bronx Zoo

As the decade of the 1970's dawned the Yankees were irrelevant.  Owned by CBS since 1965 the Bronx Bombers became the Bronx Bumblers as their core dynasty veterans became old almost all at once.  By 1970 the Yankees were beginning to build the core of their next dynasty.  Young guns like Thurman Munson, Bobby Murcer and Roy White were hitting the scene and not tolerating the losing ways of the late 60's.  During this early 70's era the Yankees finished at or about .500 and lived off their pitching.  Night after night Mel Stottlemyre and Fritz Peterson would toe the rubber knowing that if they gave up 2 or more runs they would wind up on the short side of the ledger.

In 1973 a Cleveland shipbuilding magnate named George S Steinbrenner bought the team from CBS for a poultry sum of $13 million.  To say that this might have been one of the greatest investment returns in the history of business would be an understatement.  That original $13 million investment is now worth close to $2 billion dollars.  Steinbrenner took control of the team and immediately said in his first press conference, "I do not intend to interfere in the day to day operations of this team".  That statement couldn't have been any further from the truth as evidenced by King George's nearly 3 decade reign.  The smartest thing George did was give Gabe Paul the green light to start squiring veteran talent to supplement his nucleus.  Gabe, who ran the Cleveland franchise before coming to New York, proceeded to raid the Indians talent pool with future cornerstones for the impending Yankee dynasty.  Chris Chambliss would be the rock solid anchor at 1st base and Graig Nettles would become the best third baseman in the AL thanks to Paul fleecing the Tribe.  Steinbrenner's next best move was to get himself suspended for 2 years from baseball thanks to his illegal campaign contributions to Richard Nixon.  During that time frame Paul was able to make more moves that always seemed to favor the men in pinstripes.

Paul, with Steinbrenner's check book, signed Catfish Hunter as the first high priced free agent in 1975.  Catfish brought with him his championship pedigre from Oakland, which brought accountability to a team that hadn't won in a decade.  1974 and 1975 saw the Yankees load up for a championship run.  With Yankee Stadium under renovation the Bronx Bombers were forced to play 2 seasons in Shea Stadium, which was not geared for power hitting lefties like the Big Ball Orchard in the Bronx.  With the move, star Bobby Murcer went from a 30 homer run guy to a 15 home run guy.  Paul saw that Murcer wasn't going to cut it at Shea, so he traded him to the Giants for Bobby Bonds, who had an MVP type season in '75.  With their impending move back to the Bronx, Paul sent Bonds to the Angels and got a young speedy centerfielder named Mickey Rivers.  Rivers, who was somewhat quirky, found a home in the Bronx and at the top of the Yankee order as the catalyst.  Paul wasn't done dealing.  He sent disgruntled starter Doc Medich to the Pirates for a rookie second baseman named Willie Randolph.  To add the finishing touches Billy Martin was brought back to the Bronx to manage and the Yankees won their first pennant in 12 years.

After getting swept by the Big Red Machine in the 1976 Series, King George opened his checkbook one more time and got the premier clutch player of his era, Reggie Jackson, to join the team.  The 1977 season was a rocky one, with more infighting than a Jersey Shore episode.  Still the team had more talent than the rest of the AL and eventually won out to win their second consecutive pennant.  Martin, who despised Jackson (refer to the fight in Boston) was "convinced" that he had to play his star.  Eventually Reggie was slotted into the #4 spot in the order and as they say "the rest is history".  After hitting 3 homers on 3 consecutive pitches to clinch the 1977 World Championship, Reggie cemented his status as a New York sports icon and a Mega star.

If 1977 didn't provide everyone with enough drama, 1978 would top it.  Down 14 1/2 games to the Red Sox after the All-Star break the Yankees were left for dead.  Martin was fired as manager and Bob Lemon was brought on board to get them through the season.  The team got healthy and played at a .700 clip the rest of the way and forced a 1 game playoff vs Boston, who basically limped home down the stretch.  The Yankees were down in the play off game, which will forever be known as "The Bucky Dent Game", until the aforementioned Dent hit an unlikely homer to put the Bombers up for good.  New York went on to win their 3rd consecutive pennant and 2nd World Series.  The following year the Bombers started slow as well.  This time they couldn't rebound thanks to an aging veteran lineup, multiple managerial changes and the death of their captain (Munson).  In August of 1979 Thurman Munson died in a plane crash in Ohio.  His death signified the end of an era.  Munson was irreplaceable.  If Reggie was the "Straw that stirred the drink", Munson was the cup that held it all together.

Because of their mediocre start of the decade the Bombers can't be considered the "team of the decade", IMO.  They would definitely be in the running for most interesting team of the decade, but without sustained success across the ten year period it is hard to give them the nod.  No other franchise had as many managerial changes, ownership changes, key free agent signings and players who swapped wives (refer to Kekich and Peterson), like New York did.