Here’s when it starts to get ridiculous. When the Yankees became the YANKEES – the greatest collection of gold medallists in the history of sport.

From 1932-43, the Yankees were all about numbers. Numbers like eight, as in pennants. Seven, as in World Series championships. Six, as in seasons with 100 wins or more. And if you’re looking for quality, not quantity, these Yanks were full of that too. Just consider that the end of the Babe Ruth-Lou Gehrig era coincided with the beginning of the Bill Dickey-Joe DiMaggio-Red Rolfe-Lefty Gomez-Red Ruffing one. How many teams could replace that kind of Hall-of-Fame power with more Hall-of-Fame power? Just one.

Manager Joe McCarthy’s club won it all in 1932, 1936-39, 1941 and 1943. More impressive than the victories, though, was the Yankees’ manner in recording them. They bludgeoned teams and sprinted past them in the standings as if they were standing still. They won the AL in 1932 by 13 games. In 1936, by 19½ games. In 1937, by 13 games. In 1939 and 1941, by 17 games. Second place might as well have been last. And in the World Series? They owned a cumulative record of 29-9. With this team, it was pretty easy to see why.

1939

THE REGULARS

POS. … PLAYER … HR … RBI … AVG.

C … Bill Dickey … 24 … 105 … .302

1B … Babe Dahlgren … 15 … 89 … .235

2B … Joe Gordon … 28 … 111 … .284

SS … Frankie Crosetti … 10 … 56 … .233

3B … Red Rolfe … 14 … 80 … .329

OF … George Selkirk … 21 … 101 … .306

OF … Joe DiMaggio … 30 … 126 … .381

OF … Charlie Keller … 11 … 83 … .334

TOP STARTERS

PITCHER … W … L … ERA

Red Ruffing … 21 … 7 … 2.93

Lefty Gomez … 12 … 8 … 3.41

Atley Donald … 13 … 3 … 3.71

Monte Pearson … 12 … 5 … 4.49

Bump Hadley … 12 … 6 … 2.98

Oral Hildebrand … 10 … 4 … 3.06

TOP RELIEVERS

PITCHER … W … L … SV … ERA

Johnny Murphy … 3 … 6 … 19 … 4.40

Steve Sundra … 11 … 1 … 0 … 2.76

Spud Chandler … 3 … 0 … 0 … 2.84

AL RANKINGS

CATEGORY … NO. … RANK

RUNS … 967 … 1st

HITS … 1,521 … 2nd

HR … 166 … 1st

RBI … 903 … 1st

AVG. … .287 … 2nd

OBP … .370 … 1st

ERA … 3.31 … 1st

WINS … 106 … 1st

SAVES … 26 … 1st

Ks … 565 … 3rd

AL STANDINGS

TEAM … W … L … PCT. … GB

Yankees … 106 … 45 … .702 …

Boston … 89 … 62 … .589 … 17

Cleveland … 87 … 67 … .565 … 20½

Chicago … 85 … 69 … .552 … 22½

Detroit … 81 … 73 … .526 … 26½

Washington … 65 … 87 … .428 … 41½

Philadelphia … 55 … 97 … .362 … 51½

St. Louis … 43 … 111 … .279 … 64½