1985 New York Yankees season

The 1985 New York Yankees season was the 83rd season for the Yankees. The team only played 161 games, came in second place in the American League East with a record of 97–64, and finished 2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees did not qualify for the postseason. New York was managed by Yogi Berra and Billy Martin. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium.

Offseason

November 5, 1984: Matt Keough was released by the Yankees.
December 4, 1984: Ray Fontenot and Brian Dayett were traded by the Yankees to the Chicago Cubs for Ron Hassey, Porfi Altamirano, Rich Bordi, and Henry Cotto.
December 5, 1984: Rick Cerone was traded by the Yankees to the Atlanta Braves for Brian Fisher.
December 5, 1984: Stan Javier, Jay Howell, José Rijo, Eric Plunk, and Tim Birtsas were traded by the Yankees to the Oakland Athletics for Rickey Henderson, Bert Bradley and cash.
December 20, 1984: Steve Kemp, Tim Foli, and cash were traded by the Yankees to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jay Buhner, Dale Berra and Alfonso Pulido. Berra became the first player since 1925, when Earle Mack played for his father Connie Mack for the Philadelphia Athletics, to play for his father as manager.
December 27, 1984: Ed Whitson was signed as a free agent by the Yankees.
February 27, 1985: Toby Harrah was traded by the Yankees to the Texas Rangers for Billy Sample and a player to be named later. The Rangers completed the deal by sending Eric Dersin to the Yankees on July 14.

Regular season

Rickey Henderson set a new club record by stealing 80 bases in one season. The previous mark had stood since 1914.

Henderson also scored 146 runs. It was the most in the Major Leagues since Ted Williams scored 150 runs in 1949. In addition, Rickey Henderson became the first player since Lou Gehrig in 1936 to amass more runs in a season than games played.

Don Mattingly became the first Yankee since Joe DiMaggio to have back to back 200 hit seasons.
Mattingly's 48 doubles were the most since Lou Gehrig hit 52 in 1927.
Mattingly was the AL MVP and RBI leader with 145. Mattingly hit for a.324 average with 35 home runs.
Dave Winfield became the first Yankee since Yogi Berra to achieve four straight 100 RBI seasons. Berra did it from 1953 to 1956.
On April 28, the Yankees fired Yogi Berra as manager 16 games into the season, only hours after being swept by the Chicago White Sox in a three-game series at Comiskey Park. Owner George Steinbrenner did not fire Berra personally, but instead dispatched general manager Clyde King to deliver the news. Berra was replaced by Billy Martin, whom he replaced as manager after the 1983 season. It became the fourth of Martin's five stints as Yankee skipper. Berra vowed after the slight to never again set foot in Yankee Stadium as long as Steinbrenner owned the team
On September 22, while at a hotel bar in Baltimore, Maryland, pitcher Ed Whitson broke manager Billy Martin's arm after a heated argument that spread to other parts of the hotel. Whitson's Yankee tenure was also memorable for constantly being heckled and booed during home games.
On October 5, the Yankees entered the next-to-last game of the season against the division-leading Toronto Blue Jays trailing them by two games. However, the Jays, led by pitcher Doyle Alexander, triumphed 5–1, clinching their first division title in franchise history.
On October 6, Phil Niekro shut out the Blue Jays 8-0 for his 300th major league win. He did not throw his trademark knuckleball until the final pitch of the game, striking out Jeff Burroughs.

Notable transactions

June 3, 1985: Shane Turner was drafted by the Yankees in the 6th round of the 1985 Major League Baseball draft.
August 24, 1985: Jim Leyritz was signed by the Yankees as an amateur free agent.
September 13, 1985: Bernie Williams was signed by the Yankees as an amateur free agent.
September 15, 1985: Jim Deshaies and players to be named later were traded by the Yankees to the Houston Astros for Joe Niekro, who joined his brother Phil Niekro in the rotation. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Neder Horta to the Astros on September 24 and Dody Rather to the Astros on January 11, 1986.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

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

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	R	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
C	Butch Wynegar	102	309	69	27	.223	5	32	0
1B	Don Mattingly	159	652	211	107	.324	35	145	2
2B	Willie Randolph	143	597	137	75	.276	5	40	16
3B	Mike Pagliarulo	138	380	91	55	.239	19	62	0
SS	Bobby Meacham	156	481	105	70	.218	1	47	25
LF	Ken Griffey, Sr.	127	438	120	68	.274	10	69	7
CF	Rickey Henderson	143	547	172	146	.314	24	72	80
RF	Dave Winfield	155	633	174	105	.275	26	114	19
DH	Don Baylor	142	477	110	70	.231	23	91	0

Other batters

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

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Ron Hassey	92	267	79	.296	13	42
Dan Pasqua	60	148	31	.209	9	25
Billy Sample	59	139	40	.288	1	15
Andre Robertson	50	125	41	.328	2	17
Dale Berra	48	109	25	.229	1	8
Omar Moreno	34	66	13	.197	1	4
Henry Cotto	34	56	17	.304	1	6
Rex Hudler	20	51	8	.157	0	1
Scott Bradley	19	49	8	.163	0	1
Juan Bonilla	8	16	2	.125	0	2
Juan Espino	9	11	4	.364	0	0
Victor Mata	6	7	1	.143	0	0
Keith Smith	4	0	0	----	0	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
Ron Guidry	34	259.0	22	6	3.27	143
Phil Niekro	33	220.0	16	12	4.09	149
Joe Cowley	30	159.2	12	6	3.95	97
Ed Whitson	30	158.2	10	8	4.88	89
Marty Bystrom	8	41.0	3	2	5.71	16
Joe Niekro	3	12.1	2	1	5.84	4

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
Bob Shirley	48	109.0	5	5	2.64	55
Dennis Rasmussen	22	101.2	3	5	3.98	63
John Montefusco	3	7.0	0	0	10.29	2

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
Dave Righetti	74	12	7	29	2.78	92
Brian Fisher	55	4	4	14	2.38	85
Rich Bordi	51	6	8	2	3.21	64
Neil Allen	17	1	0	1	2.76	16
Mike Armstrong	9	0	0	0	3.07	11
Don Cooper	7	0	0	0	5.40	4
Rod Scurry	5	1	0	1	2.84	17
Dale Murray	3	0	0	0	13.50	0

Awards and honors

Don Baylor – Roberto Clemente Award
Ron Guidry – Gold Glove
Rickey Henderson – American League Leader Stolen Bases
Rickey Henderson – Major League Baseball Leader Runs Scored
Rickey Henderson – Silver Slugger Award
Don Mattingly – American League Most Valuable Player
Don Mattingly – American League Leader RBI
Don Mattingly – Gold Glove
Don Mattingly – Silver Slugger Award
Dave Winfield – Silver Slugger Award
Dave Winfield – Gold Glove

All-Star Game

Don Mattingly, first base
Dave Winfield, outfield
Rickey Henderson, outfield

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Oneonta, GCL Yankees