1970 New York Yankees season

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.

1970 New York Yankees
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)
← 1969 Seasons 1971 →

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]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

AL East

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Baltimore Orioles	108	54	.667	—	59‍–‍22	49‍–‍32
New York Yankees	93	69	.574	15	53‍–‍28	40‍–‍41
Boston Red Sox	87	75	.537	21	52‍–‍29	35‍–‍46
Detroit Tigers	79	83	.488	29	42‍–‍39	37‍–‍44
Cleveland Indians	76	86	.469	32	43‍–‍38	33‍–‍48
Washington Senators	70	92	.432	38	40‍–‍41	30‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

1970 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	WSH
Baltimore	—	13–5	7–5	9–3	14–4	11–7	12–0	7–5	5–7	11–7	7–5	12–6
Boston	5–13	—	5–7	8–4	12–6	9–9	7–5	5–7	7–5	10–8	7–5	12–6
California	5–7	7–5	—	12–6	6–6	6–6	10–8	12–6	8–10	5–7	8–10	7–5
Chicago	3–9	4–8	6–12	—	6–6	6–6	7–11	7–11	6–12	5–7	2–16	4–8
Cleveland	4–14	6–12	6–6	6–6	—	7–11	8–4	7–5	6–6	8–10	7–5	11–7
Detroit	7–11	9–9	6–6	6–6	11–7	—	6–6	8–4	4–8	7–11	6–6	9–9
Kansas City	0–12	5–7	8–10	11–7	4–8	6–6	—	12–6	5–13	1–11	7–11	6–6
Milwaukee	5–7	7–5	6–12	11–7	5–7	4–8	6–12	—	5–13	3–9–1	8–10	5–7
Minnesota	7–5	5–7	10–8	12–6	6–6	8–4	13–5	13–5	—	5–7	13–5	6–6
New York	7–11	8–10	7–5	7–5	10–8	11–7	11–1	9–3–1	7–5	—	6–6	10–8
Oakland	5–7	5–7	10–8	16–2	5–7	6–6	11–7	10–8	5–13	6–6	—	10–2
Washington	6–12	6–12	5–7	8–4	7–11	9–9	6–6	7–5	6–6	8–10	2–10	—

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 22 Jack Aker 45 Stan Bahnsen 50 Bill Burbach 49 Loyd Colson 56 John Cumberland 43 Rob Gardner 39 Steve Hamilton 39 Gary Jones 18 Mike Kekich 24 Ron Klimkowski 38,42 Steve Kline 29 Mike McCormick 40 Lindy McDaniel 19 Fritz Peterson 30 Mel Stottlemyre 52 Joe Verbanic 54 Gary Waslewski		Catchers 41 Jake Gibbs 15 Thurman Munson Infielders 26 Frank Baker 10 Danny Cater 20 Horace Clarke 23 John Ellis 28 Ron Hansen  2 Jerry Kenney 17 Gene Michael 21 Frank Tepedino 25 Pete Ward		Outfielders 13 Curt Blefary 27 Jim Lyttle 46 Bobby Mitchell  1 Bobby Murcer  6 Roy White  9 Ron Woods		Manager 35 Ralph Houk Coaches 44 Jim Hegan 32 Elston Howard 34 Dick Howser  7 Mickey Mantle 31 Jim Turner

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	Thurman Munson	132	453	59	137	.302	6	53	5
1B	Danny Cater	155	582	64	175	.301	6	76	4
2B	Horace Clarke	158	686	81	172	.251	4	46	23
3B	Jerry Kenney	140	404	46	78	.193	4	35	20
SS	Gene Michael	134	435	42	93	.214	2	38	3
LF	Roy White	162	609	109	180	.296	22	94	24
CF	Bobby Murcer	159	581	95	146	.251	23	78	15
RF	Curt Blefary	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
John Ellis	78	226	24	56	.248	7	29	0
Ron Woods	95	225	30	51	.227	8	27	4
Jake Gibbs	49	153	23	46	.301	8	26	2
Jim Lyttle	87	126	20	39	.310	3	14	3
Frank Baker	35	117	6	27	.231	0	11	1
Ron Hansen	59	91	13	27	.297	4	14	0
Pete Ward	66	77	5	20	.260	1	18	0
Bobby Mitchell	10	22	1	5	.227	0	4	0
Frank Tepedino	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
Mel Stottlemyre	37	271.0	15	13	3.09	126
Fritz Peterson	39	260.1	20	11	2.90	127
Stan Bahnsen	36	232.2	14	11	3.33	116
Bill Burbach	4	16.2	0	2	10.26	10
Rob Gardner	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
Mike Kekich	26	98.2	6	3	4.83	63
John Cumberland	15	64.0	3	4	3.94	38
Gary Waslewski	26	55.0	2	2	3.11	27
Mike McCormick	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
Lindy McDaniel	62	9	5	29	2.01	81
Ron Klimkowski	45	6	7	1	2.65	40
Jack Aker	41	4	2	16	2.06	36
Steve Hamilton	35	4	3	3	2.78	33
Joe Verbanic	7	1	0	0	4.60	8
Gary Jones	2	0	0	0	0.00	2
Loyd Colson	1	0	0	0	4.50	3

Awards and honors

• Ralph Houk, Associated Press AL Manager of the Year
• Thurman Munson, AL Rookie 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

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Syracuse Chiefs	International League	Frank Verdi
AA	Manchester Yankees	Eastern League	Gene Hassell
A	Kinston Eagles	Carolina League	Alex Cosmidis
A	Fort Lauderdale Yankees	Florida State League	Lamar North
A-Short Season	Oneonta Yankees	New York–Penn League	George Case
Rookie	Johnson City Yankees	Appalachian League	Jerry Walker

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Syracuse^[9]