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1983 New York Yankees season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1983 New York Yankees
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionEast
BallparkYankee Stadium
CityNew York City
OwnersGeorge Steinbrenner
General managersBill Bergesch
ManagersBilly Martin
TelevisionWPIX
(Phil Rizzuto, Frank Messer, Bill White, Bobby Murcer)
SportsChannel NY
(Mel Allen, Fran Healy, others from WPIX)
RadioWABC (AM)
(Frank Messer, Phil Rizzuto, Bill White, John Gordon)
← 1982 Seasons 1984 →

The 1983 New York Yankees season was the 81st season for the Yankees. The team finished in third place in the American League East with a record of 91–71, finishing 7 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. New York was managed by Billy Martin. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium.

Offseason

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Spring training

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For the fourth straight spring training, the Yankees played an exhibition game at the Louisiana Superdome. On March 27, 1983, the Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2 to 1 behind six shutout innings from Doyle Alexander. Attendance was 15,129 for the game.[10]

Regular season

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  • June 11, 1983: Longtime Yankee Bobby Murcer played in the last game of his career.[11]
  • June 20, 1983: Bobby Murcer announced his retirement from the New York Yankees. On the same day, he became part of the Yankees Broadcasting Team for WPIX TV.[12]
  • July 4, 1983: Dave Righetti threw a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox[13]
  • August 4, 1983: Dave Winfield, while warming up before the 5th inning of a game at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium, accidentally killed a seagull with a thrown ball. He doffed his cap in mock sorrow. Fans responded by hurling obscenities and improvised missiles. After the game, he was brought to the Ontario Provincial Police station on charges of cruelty to animals and was forced to post a $500 bond before being released. Quipped Yankees manager Billy Martin, "It's the first time he's hit the cutoff man." The charges were dropped the following day.[14] For years afterward Winfield's appearances in Toronto were greeted with loud choruses of boos, but he later became a fan favorite.

Pine Tar Game

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The baseball bat used by Kansas City Royals third baseman George Brett in the Pine Tar Incident on July 24, 1983.

The Pine Tar Game refers to a controversial incident that took place in an American League baseball game played between the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees on July 24, 1983.

Playing at New York's Yankee Stadium, the Royals were trailing 4–3 with two outs in the top of the ninth and U L Washington on first base. In the on deck circle, George Brett was heard remarking to a teammate, "Watch this baby fly" as he shook his bat. He then came to the plate and connected off Yankee reliever Rich "Goose" Gossage for a two-run home run and a 5–4 lead. As Brett crossed the plate, New York manager Billy Martin approached home plate umpire Tim McClelland and requested that Brett's bat be examined. Earlier in the season, Martin and other members (most notably, third baseman Graig Nettles, who as a member of the Minnesota Twins, recalled a similar incident involving Thurman Munson) of the Yankees had noticed the amount of pine tar used by Brett, but Martin had chosen not to say anything until the home run.

With Brett watching from the dugout, McClelland and the rest of the umpiring crew inspected the bat. Measuring the bat against the width of home plate (which is 17 inches), they determined that the amount of pine tar on the bat's handle exceeded that allowed by Rule 1.10(b) of the Major League Baseball rule book, which read that "a bat may not be covered by such a substance more than 18 inches from the tip of the handle."

Season standings

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AL East
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 98 64 .605 — 50‍–‍31 48‍–‍33
Detroit Tigers 92 70 .568 6 48‍–‍33 44‍–‍37
New York Yankees 91 71 .562 7 51‍–‍30 40‍–‍41
Toronto Blue Jays 89 73 .549 9 48‍–‍33 41‍–‍40
Milwaukee Brewers 87 75 .537 11 52‍–‍29 35‍–‍46
Boston Red Sox 78 84 .481 20 38‍–‍43 40‍–‍41
Cleveland Indians 70 92 .432 28 36‍–‍45 34‍–‍47

Record vs. opponents

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1983 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore — 8–5 7–5 7–5 6–7 5–8 8–4 11–2 8–4 6–7 8–4 8–4 9–3 7–6
Boston 5–8 — 6–6 6–6 7–6 4–9 5–7 4–9 5–7 7–6 8–4 7–5 7–5 7–6
California 5–7 6–6 — 3–10 8–4 4–8 6–7 6–6 6–7 5–7 5–8 6–7 6–7 4–8
Chicago 5–7 6–6 10–3 — 8–4 8–4 9–4 4–8 8–5 8–4 8–5 12–1 8–5 5–7
Cleveland 7–6 6–7 4–8 4–8 — 5–8 7–5 3–10 6–6 6–7 7–5 8–4 3–9 4–9
Detroit 8–5 9–4 8–4 4–8 8–5 — 7–5 6–7 9–3 5–8 6–6 8–4 8–4 6–7
Kansas City 4–8 7–5 7–6 4–9 5–7 5–7 — 6–6 6–7 6–6 7–6 8–5 8–5–1 6–6
Milwaukee 2–11 9–4 6–6 8–4 10–3 7–6 6–6 — 8–4 4–9 6–6 5–7 8–4 8–5
Minnesota 4–8 7–5 7–6 5–8 6–6 3–9 7–6 4–8 — 4–8 4–9 9–4 5–8 5–7
New York 7–6 6–7 7–5 4–8 7–6 8–5 6–6 9–4 8–4 — 8–4 7–5 7–5 7–6
Oakland 4–8 4–8 8–5 5–8 5–7 6–6 6–7 6–6 9–4 4–8 — 9–4 2–11 6–6
Seattle 4–8 5–7 7–6 1–12 4–8 4–8 5–8 7–5 4–9 5–7 4–9 — 6–7 4–8
Texas 3–9 5–7 7–6 5–8 9–3 4–8 5–8–1 4–8 8–5 5–7 11–2 7–6 — 4–8
Toronto 6–7 6–7 8–4 7–5 9–4 7–6 6–6 5–8 7–5 6–7 6–6 8–4 8–4 —


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1983 New York Yankees
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Butch Wynegar 94 301 89 .296 6 42
1B Ken Griffey Sr. 118 458 140 .306 11 46
2B Willie Randolph 104 420 117 .279 2 38
SS Roy Smalley III 130 451 124 .275 18 62
3B Graig Nettles 129 462 123 .266 20 75
LF Dave Winfield 152 598 169 .283 32 116
CF Jerry Mumphrey 83 267 70 .262 7 36
RF Steve Kemp 109 373 90 .241 12 49
DH Don Baylor 144 534 162 .303 21 85

Other batters

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Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Andre Robertson 98 322 80 .248 1 22
Don Mattingly 91 279 79 .283 4 32
Rick Cerone 80 246 54 .220 2 22
Oscar Gamble 74 180 47 .261 7 26
Omar Moreno 48 152 38 .250 1 17
Lou Piniella 53 148 43 .291 2 16
Bert Campaneris 60 143 46 .322 0 11
Steve Balboni 32 86 20 .233 5 17
Larry Milbourne 31 70 14 .200 0 2
Bob Meacham 22 51 12 .235 0 4
Brian Dayett 11 29 6 .207 0 5
Juan Espino 10 23 6 .261 1 3
Bobby Murcer 9 22 4 .182 1 1
Otis Nixon 13 14 2 .143 0 0
Rowland Office 2 2 0 .000 0 1

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Ron Guidry 31 250.1 21 9 3.42 156
Shane Rawley 34 238.1 14 14 3.78 124
Dave Righetti 31 217.0 14 8 3.44 169
Ray Fontenot 15 97.1 8 2 3.33 27
Matt Keough 12 55.2 3 4 5.17 26
John Montefusco 6 38.0 5 0 3.32 15

Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bob Shirley 25 108.0 5 8 5.08 53
Jay Howell 19 82.0 1 5 5.38 61
Doyle Alexander 8 28.1 0 2 6.35 17

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Rich Gossage 57 13 5 22 2.27 90
George Frazier 61 4 4 8 3.43 78
Dale Murray 40 2 4 1 4.48 45
Rudy May 15 1 5 0 6.87 16
Roger Erickson 5 0 1 0 4.32 7
Curt Kaufman 4 0 0 0 3.12 8
Dave LaRoche 1 0 0 0 18.00 0

Awards and honors

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Ron Guidry and Dave Winfield represented the Yankees at the 1983 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

Gold Gloves were awarded to pitcher, Guidry and outfielder, Winfield.

Winfield also won the Silver Slugger Award.

Farm system

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See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Columbus Clippers International League Johnny Oates
AA Nashville Sounds Southern League Doug Holmquist
A Fort Lauderdale Yankees Florida State League Stump Merrill
A Greensboro Hornets South Atlantic League Carlos Tosca
A-Short Season Oneonta Yankees New York–Penn League Bill Livesey

[21]

Notes

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  1. ^ Bobby Ramos page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Don Baylor page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Fred McGriff page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ "Bobby Beacham: Career Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  5. ^ Lee Mazzilli page at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Ozzie Canseco page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Bert Campaneris page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Rowland Office page at Baseball Reference
  9. ^ John Mayberry page at Baseball Reference
  10. ^ "Yanks' Alexander Impressive in Win Over Jays". St. Petersburg Times. March 28, 1983. Retrieved June 19, 2009.
  11. ^ "Bobby Murcer Stats".
  12. ^ Murcer, Bobby; Waggoner, Glen (2008). Yankee for Life. New York: Harper Collins. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-06-147342-5.
  13. ^ "BoxScore: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox July 4, 1983 - baseball game statistics - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included". Baseball Digest. 2002.
  14. ^ Gross, Jane (August 6, 1983). "Winfield charges will be dropped". The New York Times. p. 1.29.
  15. ^ Doyle Alexander page at Baseball Reference
  16. ^ "18th Round of the 1983 MLB June Amateur Draft".
  17. ^ Rick Reuschel page at Baseball Reference
  18. ^ Matt Keough page at Baseball Reference
  19. ^ Dave Wehrmeister page at Baseball Reference
  20. ^ Mike York page at Baseball Reference
  21. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References

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