Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 20

clear in 1953 when they moved to Milwaukee and instantly became the majors’ attendance leader with consistent season totals of around two million fans. Other woebegone franchises made geographic corrections by leaving weak two team markets and finding their own private Idaho, or Baltimore and Kansas City, in the case of the St. Louis Browns and Philadelphia A’s, respectively.

But the sonic boom heard around the baseball world occurred in 1958. Two of New York’s very own, the Giants and Dodgers, two teams never to be confused as major league beggars, left town

for the more lucrative green pastures of California, leaving behind millions of disillusioned, hardcore fans. Overnight, New York City was sapped of National League representation, and the Big Apple’s dominating grip on championship baseball was seriously weakened.

By 1957, the Yankees had won 15 of the last 21 AL pennants. The team's minor league system had been reduced to 10 teams from a peak of 22, and its scouting system was acclaimed by “Sports Illustrated's” Roy Terrell as "the best in all baseball." Instead of signing many players for their organization, the Yankees concentrated on acquiring a smaller number of highly

skilled players, according to head scout Paul Krichell. The club recruited players by selling them on the "fame, fortune and fat