# 1970 New York Yankees season

The 1970 New York Yankees season was the 68th season for the franchise. The team finished in second place in the American League East with a record of 93–69, 15 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. The 93 wins were the most for the Yankees since 1964. New York was managed by Ralph Houk. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium.

## Offseason

* December 1, 1969: Tom Shopay was drafted from the Yankees by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1969 rule 5 draft.
* December 4, 1969: Joe Pepitone was traded by the Yankees to the Houston Astros for Curt Blefary.
* December 5, 1969: Al Downing and Frank Fernández were traded by the Yankees to the Oakland Athletics for Danny Cater and Ossie Chavarria.
* December 18, 1969: Mickey Scott and cash were traded by the Yankees to the Chicago White Sox for Pete Ward.

## Regular season

The Yankees went from a record of 80 wins and 81 losses in 1969 to a record of 93 wins and 69 losses.

### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Baltimore Orioles | 108 | 54 | .667 | — | 59‍–‍22 | 49‍–‍32 |
| New York Yankees | 93 | 69 | .574 | 15 | 53‍–‍28 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Boston Red Sox | 87 | 75 | .537 | 21 | 52‍–‍29 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Detroit Tigers | 79 | 83 | .488 | 29 | 42‍–‍39 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Cleveland Indians | 76 | 86 | .469 | 32 | 43‍–‍38 | 33‍–‍48 |
| Washington Senators | 70 | 92 | .432 | 38 | 40‍–‍41 | 30‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

1970 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 13–5 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 14–4 | 11–7 | 12–0 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 11–7 | 7–5 | 12–6 |
| Boston | 5–13 | — | 5–7 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 12–6 |
| California | 5–7 | 7–5 | — | 12–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 8–10 | 5–7 | 8–10 | 7–5 |
| Chicago | 3–9 | 4–8 | 6–12 | — | 6–6 | 6–6 | 7–11 | 7–11 | 6–12 | 5–7 | 2–16 | 4–8 |
| Cleveland | 4–14 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 6–6 | — | 7–11 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 7–5 | 11–7 |
| Detroit | 7–11 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 11–7 | — | 6–6 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 7–11 | 6–6 | 9–9 |
| Kansas City | 0–12 | 5–7 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 4–8 | 6–6 | — | 12–6 | 5–13 | 1–11 | 7–11 | 6–6 |
| Milwaukee | 5–7 | 7–5 | 6–12 | 11–7 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 6–12 | — | 5–13 | 3–9–1 | 8–10 | 5–7 |
| Minnesota | 7–5 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 13–5 | 13–5 | — | 5–7 | 13–5 | 6–6 |
| New York | 7–11 | 8–10 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 11–1 | 9–3–1 | 7–5 | — | 6–6 | 10–8 |
| Oakland | 5–7 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 16–2 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 5–13 | 6–6 | — | 10–2 |
| Washington | 6–12 | 6–12 | 5–7 | 8–4 | 7–11 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 2–10 | — |

### Opening Day lineup

* Horace Clarke 2B
* Thurman Munson C
* Roy White LF
* John Ellis 1B
* Danny Cater 3B
* Bobby Murcer CF
* Curt Blefary RF
* Gene Michael SS
* Mel Stottlemyre P

### Notable transactions

* September 22, 1970: Bobby Cox was released by the Yankees.

### Roster
## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
| Pos | Player | G | AB | R | H | Avg. | HR | RBI | SB |
| C | Thurman Munson | 132 | 453 | 59 | 137 | .302 | 6 | 53 | 5 |
| 1B | Danny Cater | 155 | 582 | 64 | 175 | .301 | 6 | 76 | 4 |
| 2B | Horace Clarke | 158 | 686 | 81 | 172 | .251 | 4 | 46 | 23 |
| 3B | Jerry Kenney | 140 | 404 | 46 | 78 | .193 | 4 | 35 | 20 |
| SS | Gene Michael | 134 | 435 | 42 | 93 | .214 | 2 | 38 | 3 |
| LF | Roy White | 162 | 609 | 109 | 180 | .296 | 22 | 94 | 24 |
| CF | Bobby Murcer | 159 | 581 | 95 | 146 | .251 | 23 | 78 | 15 |
| RF | Curt Blefary | 99 | 269 | 34 | 57 | .212 | 9 | 37 | 1 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
| Player | G | AB | R | H | Avg. | HR | RBI | SB |
| John Ellis | 78 | 226 | 24 | 56 | .248 | 7 | 29 | 0 |
| Ron Woods | 95 | 225 | 30 | 51 | .227 | 8 | 27 | 4 |
| Jake Gibbs | 49 | 153 | 23 | 46 | .301 | 8 | 26 | 2 |
| Jim Lyttle | 87 | 126 | 20 | 39 | .310 | 3 | 14 | 3 |
| Frank Baker | 35 | 117 | 6 | 27 | .231 | 0 | 11 | 1 |
| Ron Hansen | 59 | 91 | 13 | 27 | .297 | 4 | 14 | 0 |
| Pete Ward | 66 | 77 | 5 | 20 | .260 | 1 | 18 | 0 |
| Bobby Mitchell | 10 | 22 | 1 | 5 | .227 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Frank Tepedino | 16 | 19 | 2 | 6 | .316 | 0 | 2 | 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 |
| Mel Stottlemyre | 37 | 271.0 | 15 | 13 | 3.09 | 126 |
| Fritz Peterson | 39 | 260.1 | 20 | 11 | 2.90 | 127 |
| Stan Bahnsen | 36 | 232.2 | 14 | 11 | 3.33 | 116 |
| Bill Burbach | 4 | 16.2 | 0 | 2 | 10.26 | 10 |
| Rob Gardner | 1 | 7.1 | 1 | 0 | 4.91 | 6 |

#### 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 |
| Mike Kekich | 26 | 98.2 | 6 | 3 | 4.83 | 63 |
| John Cumberland | 15 | 64.0 | 3 | 4 | 3.94 | 38 |
| Gary Waslewski | 26 | 55.0 | 2 | 2 | 3.11 | 27 |
| Mike McCormick | 9 | 20.2 | 2 | 0 | 6.10 | 12 |

#### 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 |
| Lindy McDaniel | 62 | 9 | 5 | 29 | 2.01 | 81 |
| Ron Klimkowski | 45 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 2.65 | 40 |
| Jack Aker | 41 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 2.06 | 36 |
| Steve Hamilton | 35 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2.78 | 33 |
| Joe Verbanic | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.60 | 8 |
| Gary Jones | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |
| Loyd Colson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 3 |

## Awards and honors

* Ralph Houk, Associated Press AL Manager of the Year
* Thurman Munson, AL Rookie of the Year
* 1970 MLB All-Star Game
** Fritz Peterson, reserve
** Mel Stottlemyre, reserve
** Roy White, reserve

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Syracuse Chiefs | International League | Frank Verdi |
| AA | Manchester Yankees | Eastern League | Gene Hassell |
| A | Kinston Eagles | Carolina League | Alex Cosmidis |
| A | Fort Lauderdale Yankees | Florida State League | Lamar North |
| A-Short Season | Oneonta Yankees | New York–Penn League | George Case |
| Rookie | Johnson City Yankees | Appalachian League | Jerry Walker |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Syracuse