In 1948 the Yankees finished in third place, and quite simply, that doesn’t fly around here. So Casey Stengel took over the club in 1949 and the Yankees went on to win the pennant in nine of the next 10 years. Hey, nobody’s perfect.

Stengel didn’t do it by himself, of course. And was his list of helpers ever impressive? During that championship run, Phil Rizzuto, Tommy Henrich, Gil McDougald, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Moose Skowron paced the Yankee lineup. With that crew, World Series wins from 1949-53 were almost automatic, marking the most successful five-year stretch in club history.

The Yankees won it all in 1956 – highlighted by Don Larsen’s perfect World Series game – and 1958 as well. Stengel exited after the pennant-winning 1960 season. The new skipper? Ralph Houk, who captained the Yanks to a pair of World Series titles and three AL pennants in his three seasons, the highlight being his opening campaign where Mantle and Roger Maris staged a home-run derby for the ages. In ’64, Berra took over as skipper and the Yanks eked out another division win.

The final 16-year rundown? Nine World Series, 14 AL pennants, three different managers. With these Yankees, no matter who tinkered with the lineup, you couldn’t tinker with the success.

1961

THE REGULARS

POS. … PLAYER … HR … RBI … AVG.

C … Elston Howard … 21 … 77 … .348

1B … Moose Skowron … 28 … 89 … .267

2B … Bobby Richardson … 3 … 49 … .261

SS … Tony Kubek … 8 … 46 … .276

3B … Clete Boyer … 11 … 55 … .224

OF … Roger Maris … 61 … 142 … .269

OF … Mickey Mantle … 54 … 128 … .317

OF … Yogi Berra … 22 … 61 … .271

TOP STARTERS

PITCHER … W … L … ERA

Whitey Ford … 25 … 4 … 3.21

Ralph Terry … 16 … 3 … 3.15

Bill Stafford … 14 … 9 … 2.68

Rollie Sheldon … 11 … 5 … 3.60

Bud Daley … 8 … 9 … 3.96

TOP RELIEVERS

PITCHER … W … L … SV … ERA

Luis Arroyo … 15 … 5 … 29 … 2.19

Jim Coates … 11 … 5 … 5 … 3.44

Hal Reniff … 2 … 0 … 2 … 2.58

Tex Clevenger … 1 … 1 … 0 … 4.83

AL RANKINGS

CATEGORY … NO. … RANK

RUNS … 827 … 2nd

HITS … 1,461 … 4th

HR … 240 … 1st

RBI … 782 … 1st

AVG. … .263 … 4th

OBP … .328 … 5th

ERA … 3.46 … 2nd

WINS … 109 … 1st

SAVES … 39 … 1st

Ks … 866 … 4th

AL STANDINGS

TEAM … W … L … PCT. … GB

Yankees … 109 … 53 … .673 …

Detroit … 101 … 61 … .623 … 8

Baltimore … 95 … 67 … .586 … 14

Chicago … 86 … 76 … .531 … 23

Cleveland … 78 … 83 … .484 … 30½

Boston … 76 … 86 … .469 … 33

Minnesota … 70 … 90 … .438 … 38

Los Angeles … 70 … 91 … .435 … 38½

Kansas City … 61 … 100 … .379 … 47½

Washington … 61 … 100 … .379 … 47½