ICYMI: What the World Was Like the Last Time the Yankees Finished with a Losing Record

The New York Yankees have not had a losing season since the 1992 Yankees that put up a 76-86 record. All signs point to the possibility of 2016 being a losing season, especially if the team decided to sell at this year’s August 1st trading deadline, so I thought for no other reason than it would be fun to look back at what the world was like back in 1992.


Back in 1992 George Steinbrenner was the owner of the Yankees (yet suspended from day-to-day operations), Buck Showalter was the manager and Don Mattingly was the star player and the captain. Michael Kay was in his first year on the radio beside John Sterling and Gene “Stick” Michael was the team’s General Manager.


A gallon of gas cost $1.5 while a pound of bacon was just $1.92. A new car would set you back $16,950 and a new house would cost you just $122,500.00 based on your average salary of $30,030.00 annually.


The civil war in Somalia was in full effect and the United States were acting as humanitarians.


Ross Perot ran as an independent against Bill Clinton and incumbent President George Bush subsequently dividing the Republican Party and handing the election to Clinton.


John Gotti, mafia boss, sentenced to life in prison for murder and racketeering.


The first McDonalds in China opened in Beijing.


Microsoft released Windows 3.1 and Microsoft Works while AT&T released a video telephone for the low, low price of $1,499. Nicotine patches were developed and introduced while the space shuttle Endeavour made a successful maiden voyage.


Much more went on during the year 1992 but I mainly hit the high points to give you an idea of what was going on during that eventful year that last saw the Yankees with a losing season. Maybe we won’t have to write about this for another 14-15 years.

What the World Was Like the Last Time the Yankees Finished with a Losing Record

The New York Yankees have not had a losing season since the 1992 Yankees that put up a 76-86 record. All signs point to the possibility of 2016 being a losing season, especially if the team decided to sell at this year’s August 1^st trading deadline, so I thought for no other reason than it would be fun to look back at what the world was like back in 1992.

Back in 1992 George Steinbrenner was the owner of the Yankees (yet suspended from day-to-day operations), Buck Showalter was the manager and Don Mattingly was the star player and the captain. Michael Kay was in his first year on the radio beside John Sterling and Gene “Stick” Michael was the team’s General Manager. 

A gallon of gas cost $1.5 while a pound of bacon was just $1.92. A new car would set you back $16,950 and a new house would cost you just $122,500.00 based on your average salary of $30,030.00 annually. 

The civil war in Somalia was in full effect and the United States were acting as humanitarians. 

Ross Perot ran as an independent against Bill Clinton and incumbent President George Bush subsequently dividing the Republican Party and handing the election to Clinton. 

John Gotti, mafia boss, sentenced to life in prison for murder and racketeering. 

The first McDonalds in China opened in Beijing. 

Microsoft released Windows 3.1 and Microsoft Works while AT&T released a video telephone for the low, low price of $1,499. Nicotine patches were developed and introduced while the space shuttle Endeavour made a successful maiden voyage.

Much more went on during the year 1992 but I mainly hit the high points to give you an idea of what was going on during that eventful year that last saw the Yankees with a losing season. Maybe we won’t have to write about this for another 14-15 years. 

Randy Levine & Donald Trump

Randy Levine and Donald Trump, what a combo. Very rarely do we mix politics and sports here on the blog, they usually don’t mix well, but today we will because someone in the Yankees front office is talking about it. Randy Levine, the President of the New York Yankees, is accusing GOP party insiders of “foul” play as they attempt to keep Trump from winning the presidential nomination. Dirty play in politics, say it ain’t so. Randy Levine complaining, say it ain’t so.

I’m not a big fan of Levine’s, you guys reading this probably already know that, but I am a fan of Trump. I don’t necessarily agree with or even like a lot of the things that Trump says for a plethora of reasons but there is one thing I like about Trump, he tells it like it is. He is not a politician and I truly believe that he will not be bought out if he wins the election. I think this country needs some radical change and I think the country needs someone who isn’t a politician, whether that be Bernie Sanders or Trump (or my original favorite Dr. Ben Carson). No president is going to get everything they promise to get done accomplished and a president with these radical ideas likely won’t get far but it will set the precedence and the tone for years to come. I’m thinking long term picture here but anyway I’m getting away from the point, here is the quote from Levine on the GOP and Trump:

"If a candidate garners the greatest number of votes, he or she should get the majority of delegates. That's the way elections are supposed to work," Levine wrote. "You win or lose on the field or at the ballot box. It is OK to play as a spoiler, as many teams do to affect the final standings, but if that is your goal you should acknowledge it."

This is going to go down to the wire, Game 162 if you will, and it’s going to get dirty. Watch it as it all unfolds because this is going to be one of the biggest elections of our lifetime’s folks. Oh and Randy Levine, shhhhhhhh. And everyone reading, please be nice in the comments section and on Twitter (@GreedyStripes) as my intention was not to incite a riot here. This post will likely decide whether more posts like it come on the blog. 

Quick Hit: Derek Jeter to Join MLB, the Rays and President Obama in Cuba for Exhibition

Major League Baseball is preparing a historical and significant trip to the island country of Cuba this month and they are bringing some big shots with them. When it was announced that the Tampa Bay Rays would face off with the Cuban National Team in Havana on March 22 of this season the President of the United States Barack Obama almost immediately threw his name in the hat and booked a seat along for the ride with the league and the Rays and now a notable baseball legend is coming as well. His name is Derek Jeter.

Derek Jeter will join a group headlined by Cuban greats Luis Tiant and Jose Cardenal as a part of the first exhibition in Cuba since 1999.This will mark Jeter's first major public appearance since he retirement in 2014 and speculation has already begun as to why Jeter wants to go. The main speculation is that Jeter wants to one day own a MLB team, but again that is simply speculation. Jeter will be joined by MLB personnel including former manager Joe Torre. 

This was already going to be epic but that just got taken up by about ten notches, at least. 

Quick Hit: Aroldis Chapman Seeks US Citizenship

The New York Yankees closer was recently suspended for 30 games under MLB and Commissioner Rob Manfred’s new domestic violence policy but that is not stopping Aroldis Chapman from seeing his ultimate goal come to fruition, to become a legal citizen of the United States of America.

According to the New York Post Chapman has begun the long process of becoming a US citizen and started down that road last year. Chapman told the Post “I am in the process right now. Eventually, when I become a citizen, if it happens, it’s going to be something great. It’s a nice opportunity for me to become a U.S. citizen.”

This is in my very humble yet very bias opinion the greatest country in the world and I love it when people live out and fulfill the American dream. Good for Chapman on his potential citizenship and good for anyone else who does or tries, it’s just a small part of what makes this country great.

Major League Baseball and Homeland Security

The world is a messed up place and it’s getting messier by the day, let’s not equivocate and let’s refrain from beating around the bush here. The world sucks right now and while the United States as a whole and as a country has missed far more than their fair share of the chaos the country has been vulnerable to terrorist attacks both abroad and domestically by the enemy and by our very own people and citizens. Terrorists love to inflict fear on the population and they like to kill in cold blood. Terrorists aren’t picky and they don’t care. They have a target and they go into their mission knowing they will die just trying to take as many people with them as they can. You and I know this, the terrorists know this, Homeland Security knows this and apparently Major League Baseball does as well.

Major League Baseball presents more than 2,400 games a season and some crowds approach 40,000-50,000 fans on a nightly basis. While MLB has tightened their checks and security over the years including adding metal detectors to all 30 MLB stadiums the threat is still there unfortunately. Some ideas that were mentioned, whether in passing or in suggestion, included not allowing fans to bring in bags and eliminating food and food-service workers. Checking the trunks and bottoms of cars entering parking lots outside the ballparks was also discussed at the seminar. What is this, Bosnia?

I’m all for being safe, I bring my family and my children to ball games, but at some point it will become more trouble than it’s worth. Checking my trunk and the bottom of the car like I’m about to walk into the CIA building and hear some classified top secret information may be that line for me personally. 

Baseball WILL Unify the United States and Cuba

For basically my entire lifetime the United States and Cuba have had little that the two countries actually agreed on. During the Cold War the Russians sided with Cuba, or vice versa but who is really counting at this point, while the United States countered with embargoes on the island country. These two countries, especially under former leader Fidel Castro, have never seen eye-to-eye and have never seemingly wanted to see eye-to-eye. Well until recently when President Barack Obama began lifting embargoes and restrictions on the country in hopes of easing the tension between the two countries diplomatically. President Obama may have opened the doors for a whole new set of possibilities between the two but it will be Major League Baseball that will unify the people of these two countries.

Recently Major League Baseball sent a goodwill tour to the country of Cuba in hopes of beginning a relationship and friendship between the league and Cuba. The US sent some of their own All-Stars, Clayton Kershaw being one of them, but also sent stars that defected from Cuba in Jose Abreu and Yasiel Puig to name a few. It was a great gesture by the league and it resulted in both the Cuban flag and the United States flag being flown side-by-side inside the Estadio Victoria de Giron. A stadium that features a massive scoreboard with a photograph of Fidel Castro on it. Castro’s youngest son, Antonio, like much of the Cuban population, has a passion for baseball and he may understand more than anyone what a working relationship between MLB and the Cuban government could mean not only for the sport and the game but for the working relationship between the two countries.

These two countries speak two entirely different languages, but one common theme is baseball. These two countries are led and run two entirely different ways. One is a democracy and one is likely still run by a dictator, Raul Castro, but one common theme is baseball. The vast majority of Cubans love the sport of Major League Baseball and MLB is the national past time of the United States. It’s these baby steps and good gestures built on mutual respect and willingness to work together that can and I think will lead to a prosperous working relationship between the two countries outside of baseball.

Let’s be frank, Cuba needs MLB just as much as MLB needs the country of Cuba. We need each other and this is just the beginning I think of great things that we are all going to be seeing. All because of the sport of baseball, the unifying power.

September 11th.... Never Forget

Even 14 years later we can still never forget. Once again our thoughts and prayers go out to anyone and everyone who was affected, directly or indirectly, by the cowardly acts that happened on that September morning 14 years ago today. #NeverForget.

Posting Cuban Players May Take Years to Happen

Everyone around Major League Baseball was ecstatic when President Obama and President Raul Castro announced that the United States and Cuba would try to improve their diplomatic relationships with each other. There have been Cuban players defecting for years to the United States and there were five alone in the All Star Game this past season which has really put a strain on Cuba’s Serie Nacional. With the economy the league brings in and the struggles it’s already having I cannot see the Cuban government simply opening the gates for their players to come and go as they please.

Enter the posting system not unlike the system in place for Korean and Japanese players. While Korean players are still posted through the blind and private bidding system while the Japanese bidding system has been capped at $20 million per player. Cuba has been losing their players without compensation for years while the players are getting in excess of $60 million to play the game.

It won’t happen this year, next year or probably in the next five years but I truly think it is coming. The game will become even more of a national and global sport, the players can return home and not have to risk their lives getting here and worry about their families being labeled as traitors and the game of Major League Baseball gets better. This excites me and I can’t wait to see it all play out.