# 1995 New York Yankees season

The 1995 New York Yankees season was the 93rd season for the Yankees, and their 71st playing home games at Yankee Stadium. Managed by Buck Showalter, the team finished with a record of 79–65, seven games behind the Boston Red Sox, and returned to postseason play for the first time since the 1981 season. They won the first American League Wild Card. In the Division Series, they squandered a 2–0 series lead, losing three straight games at The Kingdome to succumb to the Seattle Mariners in five games.

## Offseason

* December 14, 1994: Jack McDowell was traded by the Chicago White Sox to the New York Yankees for a player to be named later and Keith Heberling, a minor leaguer. The New York Yankees sent Lyle Mouton (April 22, 1995) to the White Sox to complete the trade.
* December 15, 1994: Tony Fernández was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.

## Regular season

* On May 29, 1995, Derek Jeter made his major league baseball debut. It was in a game against the Seattle Mariners. Jeter had 5 at-bats and had 0 hits.
* On September 11, 1995, pitcher Jack McDowell threw exactly three pitches and recorded three outs. This was accomplished in the ninth inning.

### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Boston Red Sox | 86 | 58 | .597 | — | 42‍–‍30 | 44‍–‍28 |
| New York Yankees | 79 | 65 | .549 | 7 | 46‍–‍26 | 33‍–‍39 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 71 | 73 | .493 | 15 | 36‍–‍36 | 35‍–‍37 |
| Detroit Tigers | 60 | 84 | .417 | 26 | 35‍–‍37 | 25‍–‍47 |
| Toronto Blue Jays | 56 | 88 | .389 | 30 | 29‍–‍43 | 27‍–‍45 |

### Record vs. opponents

1995 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 4–9 | 9–4 | 6–1 | 2–10 | 8–5 | 4–5 | 7–5 | 3–6 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 4–1 | 7–6 |
| Boston | 9–4 | — | 11–3 | 5–3 | 6–7 | 8–5 | 3–2 | 8–4 | 5–4 | 5–8 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 3–4 | 8–5 |
| California | 4–9 | 3–11 | — | 10–2 | 3–2 | 6–2 | 5–7 | 5–2 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 6–7 | 8–2 |
| Chicago | 1–6 | 3–5 | 2–10 | — | 5–8 | 8–4 | 8–5 | 6–7 | 10–3 | 3–2–1 | 7–5 | 4–9 | 5–7 | 6–5 |
| Cleveland | 10–2 | 7–6 | 2–3 | 8–5 | — | 10–3 | 11–1 | 9–4 | 9–4 | 6–6 | 7–0 | 5–4 | 6–3 | 10–3 |
| Detroit | 5–8 | 5–8 | 2–6 | 4–8 | 3–10 | — | 3–4 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 5–8 | 2–3 | 5–5 | 4–8 | 7–6 |
| Kansas City | 5–4 | 2–3 | 7–5 | 5–8 | 1–11 | 4–3 | — | 10–2 | 6–7 | 3–7 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 8–6 | 7–5 |
| Milwaukee | 5–7 | 4–8 | 2–5 | 7–6 | 4–9 | 5–8 | 2–10 | — | 9–4 | 5–6 | 7–2 | 3–2 | 5–7 | 7–5 |
| Minnesota | 6–3 | 4–5 | 5–8 | 3–10 | 4–9 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 4–9 | — | 3–4 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 1–4 |
| New York | 7–6 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 2–3–1 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 7–3 | 6–5 | 4–3 | — | 4–9 | 4–9 | 6–3 | 12–1 |
| Oakland | 7–5 | 4–8 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 0–7 | 3–2 | 8–5 | 2–7 | 7–5 | 9–4 | — | 7–6 | 5–8 | 3–7 |
| Seattle | 7–6 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 9–4 | 4–5 | 5–5 | 5–7 | 2–3 | 8–4 | 9–4 | 6–7 | — | 10–3 | 3–4 |
| Texas | 1–4 | 4–3 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 3–6 | 8–4 | 6–8 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 3–6 | 8–5 | 3–10 | — | 9–3 |
| Toronto | 6–7 | 5–8 | 2–8 | 5–6 | 3–10 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 4–1 | 1–12 | 7–3 | 4–3 | 3–9 | — |

### Transactions

* April 12, 1995: Randy Velarde was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
* June 5, 1995: Josías Manzanillo was selected off waivers by the New York Yankees from the New York Mets.
* June 8, 1995: Kevin Elster was released by the New York Yankees.
* June 19, 1995: Darryl Strawberry was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
* July 1, 1995: Kevin Maas was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
* July 16, 1995: Dave Silvestri was traded by the New York Yankees to the Montreal Expos for Tyrone Horne (minors).
* July 28, 1995: David Cone was traded by the Toronto Blue Jays to the New York Yankees for Marty Janzen, Jason Jarvis (minors), and Mike Gordon (minors).
* July 28, 1995: Danny Tartabull was traded by the New York Yankees to the Oakland Athletics for Rubén Sierra and Jason Beverlin.
* August 5, 1995: Luis Polonia was traded by the New York Yankees to the Atlanta Braves for Troy Hughes (minors).

#### Draft picks

* June 1, 1995: Donzell McDonald was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 22nd round of the 1995 amateur draft. Player signed July 22, 1995.
* June 1, 1995: Future NFL quarterback Daunte Culpepper was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 26th round (730th pick) of the 1995 amateur draft. Culpepper was drafted out of Vanguard High School.

### Death of Mickey Mantle

Shortly before his death, Mantle videotaped a message to be played on Old-Timers' Day, which he was too ill to attend. He said, "When I die, I wanted on my tombstone, 'A great teammate.' But I didn't think it would be this soon." The words were indeed carved on the plaque marking his resting place at the family mausoleum in Dallas.
Mantle received a liver transplant at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, on June 8, 1995, after his liver had been damaged by years of chronic alcoholism, cirrhosis and hepatitis C. In July, he had recovered enough to deliver a press conference at Baylor, and noted that many fans had looked to him as a role model. "This is a role model: Don't be like me", he said. He also established the Mickey Mantle Foundation to raise awareness for organ donations. Soon, he was back in the hospital, where it was found that his liver cancer spread throughout his body.
Mickey Mantle died on August 13, 1995, at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. He was 63 years old. During the first Yankee home game after Mantle's passing, Eddie Layton played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on the Hammond organ at Yankee Stadium because Mickey had once told him it was his favorite song. The Yankees played the rest of the season with black mourning bands topped by a small number 7 on their left sleeves.
Phil Rizzuto, angered over the refusal of television station WPIX to give him a day off to attend his former teammate's funeral, abruptly resigned from his play-by-play announcing job with the station on August 19. He would return to call a partial schedule for the station in 1996 before retiring for good.

## Game log
### Regular season

1995 regular season game log: 79–65–1 (Home: 46–26–1; Away: 33–39) :
April: 3–1 (Home: 1–0; Away: 2–1)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ Streak :
May: 10–16 (Home: 6–5; Away: 4–11)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ Streak
5May 17:40 p.m. EDTRed SoxW 5–3Howe (1–0)Lilliquist (0–1)Wetteland (3)2:3017,4124–1W1
6May 27:36 p.m. EDTRed SoxL 0–8Eshelman (1–0)Hitchcock (0–1)–2:2513,6944–2L1
7May 37:36 p.m. EDTRed SoxW 4–3 (13)Wickman (1–0)Pierce (0–1)–4:0619,9905–2W1
8May 47:36 p.m. EDTRed SoxW 5–3Ausanio (1–0)Johnston (0–1)–3:0118,9946–2W2
15May 127:07 p.m. EDT@ Red SoxW 12–2Hitchcock (1–2)Sele (2–1)–3:0832,75410–5W1
16May 131:07 p.m. EDT@ Red SoxL 4–6Eshelman (3–0)Wickman (1–1)Ryan (2)3:1032,69510–6L1
17May 141:07 p.m. EDT@ Red SoxL 2–3Peña (1–0)Howe (1–1)–2:4932,52610–7L2
18May 167:35 p.m. EDTIndiansL 5–10Nagy (2–0)Key (1–2)–3:0018,24610–8L3
22May 23@ AngelsL 0–1012–10L1
23May 24@ AngelsL 1–312–11L2
24May 25@ AngelsL 2–1512–12L3
28May 298:07 p.m. EDT@ MarinersL 7–8 (12)Ayala (1–0)Bankhead (1–1)–4:0518,94813–15L1
29May 3010:05 p.m. EDT@ MarinersL 3–7Nelson (2–0)Pérez (2–2)–3:0810,70913–16L2
30May 3110:36 p.m. EDT@ MarinersL 9–11Wells (2–3)MacDonald (0–1)Ayala (8)3:3813,03513–17L3 :
June: 13–14 (Home: 8–8; Away: 5–6)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ Streak
31June 2AngelsL 2–313–18L4
32June 3AngelsL 2–413–19L5
33June 4AngelsW 11–314–19W1
38June 97:35 p.m. EDTMarinersL 1–11Belcher (3–0)Pérez (3–3)–2:4919,65015–23L2
39June 101:37 p.m. EDTMarinersL 2–3Nelson (3–0)Howe (1–2)Ayala (9)3:0325,27915–24L3
40June 111:37 p.m. EDTMarinersW 10–7Howe (2–2)Frey (0–3)Wetteland (7)3:3326,03716–24W1
45June 167:05 p.m. EDT@ IndiansW 4–2Wickman (2–1)Poole (1–3)Wetteland (8)3:0441,64319–26W1
46June 171:05 p.m. EDT@ IndiansL 4–7Black (3–1)Pettitte (1–4)Mesa (17)2:5341,66219–27L1
47June 188:05 p.m. EDT@ IndiansW 9–5McDowell (3–4)Nagy (4–3)Wetteland (9)3:1341,66720–27W1 :
July: 17–11–1 (Home: 9–4–1; Away: 8–7)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ Streak
66th All-Star Game in Arlington, TX
72July 178:06 p.m. EDTWhite SoxT 1–1 (7)–––2:1622,70733–38–1T1 :
August: 14–17 (Home: 9–6; Away: 5–11)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ Streak
96August 10 (1)4:37 p.m. EDTIndiansL 9–10Poole (2–3)Wetteland (1–2)Mesa (31)2:58–49–46–1L2
97August 10 (2)8:06 p.m. EDTIndiansL 2–5Ogea (6–3)Hitchcock (5–7)Mesa (32)3:0948,11549–47–1L3
98August 117:35 p.m. EDTIndiansL 4–5Tavarez (7–1)Wetteland (1–3)Mesa (33)3:5933,73949–48–1L4
99August 128:07 p.m. EDTIndiansW 3–2McDowell (10–8)Martínez (9–3)–2:5335,79550–48–1W1
100August 131:43 p.m. EDTIndiansW 4–1Cone (13–6)Clark (6–5)–2:2745,86651–48–1W2
101August 147:09 p.m. EDT@ Red SoxL 3–9Hanson (11–4)Kamieniecki (3–4)–3:0434,31951–49–1L1
102August 157:08 p.m. EDT@ Red SoxW 9–2Hitchcock (6–7)Cormier (5–3)–2:5734,61652–49–1W1
103August 161:08 p.m. EDT@ Red SoxL 4–7Gunderson (2–1)Wickman (2–4)Belinda (8)2:5834,30452–50–1L1
104August 18@ AngelsW 7–353–50–1W1
105August 19@ AngelsL 3–553–51–1L1
106August 20@ AngelsL 5–1053–52–1L2
110August 246:37 p.m. EDT@ MarinersL 7–9Nelson (5–1)Wetteland (1–4)–3:3017,59253–56–1L6
111August 2511:07 p.m. EDT@ MarinersL 4–7Bosio (9–6)Pettitte (6–8)–3:0128,13053–57–1L7
112August 2610:05 p.m. EDT@ MarinersL 0–7Johnson (13–2)Hitchcock (6–9)–2:4941,18253–58–1L8
113August 274:36 p.m. EDT@ MarinersW 5–2Kamieniecki (4–5)Belcher (8–9)Wetteland (23)3:3224,91354–58–1W1
115August 29AngelsW 12–455–58–1W2
116August 30AngelsW 4–156–58–1W3
117August 31AngelsW 11–657–58–1W4 :
September: 21–6 (Home: 13–3; Away: 8–3)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ Streak
121September 41:05 p.m. EDTMarinersW 13–3Pettitte (8–8)Torres (3–9)–3:0024,88560–60–1W1
122September 57:35 p.m. EDTMarinersL 5–6Wolcott (3–1)Rivera (5–3)Chalton (6)3:0815,34060–61–1L1
123September 67:35 p.m. EDTMarinersW 4–3McDowell (13–10)Belcher (9–10)–2:3815,42661–61–1W1
124September 88:08 p.m. EDTRed SoxW 8–4Cone (15–7)Wakefield (15–4)Howe (2)2:4035,89662–61–1W2
125September 91:36 p.m. EDTRed SoxW 9–1Pettitte (9–8)Smith (7–8)–2:3947,71963–61–1W3
126September 108:07 p.m. EDTRed SoxW 9–3Hitchcock (8–9)Hanson (13–5)–2:4727,52764–61–1W4
127September 117:05 p.m. EDT@ IndiansW 4–0McDowell (14–10)Martínez (10–5)–2:5241,83565–61–1W5
128September 127:45 p.m. EDT@ IndiansW 9–2Kamieniecki (5–5)Hill (8–8)–3:1841,27666–61–1W6
129September 138:52 p.m. EDT@ IndiansL 0–5Nagy (14–5)Cone (15–8)–2:2941,70866–62–1L1
141September 268:07 p.m. EDT@ BrewersW 5–4Hitchcock (10–10)Karl (5–7)Wetteland (30)2:578,61875–65–1W1
142September 272:07 p.m. EDT@ BrewersW 6–3Cone (18–8)Givens (5–7)–2:598,63576–65–1W2
143September 298:06 p.m. EDT@ Blue JaysW 4–3Pettitte (12–9)Castillo (1–5)Wetteland (31)2:5040,31877–65–1W3
144September 301:35 p.m. EDT@ Blue JaysW 6–1Kamieniecki (7–6)Leiter (11–11)–2:4049,23378–65–1W4 :
October: 1–0 (Home: 0–0; Away: 1–0)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceRecordBox/ Streak
145October 11:35 p.m. EDT@ Blue JaysW 6–1Hitchcock (11–10)Hentgen (10–14)–2:5547,18279–65–1W5 :
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement Bold = Yankees team member :

### Postseason game log

1995 Postseason game log: 2–3 (Home: 2–0; Away: 0–3) :
AL Division Series: vs. Seattle Mariners 2–3 (Home: 2–0; Away: 0–3)
#DateTime (ET)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceSeriesBox/ Streak
1October 38:07 p.m. EDTMarinersW 9–6Cone (1–0)Nelson (0–1)–3:3857,1781–0W1
2October 48:07 p.m. EDTMarinersW 7–5 (15)Rivera (1–0)Belcher (0–1)–5:1257,1262–0W2
3October 68:07 p.m. EDT@ MarinersL 4–7Johnson (1–0)McDowell (0–1)Chalton (1)3:0457,9442–1L1
4October 77:07 p.m. EDT@ MarinersL 8–11Charlton (1–0)Wetteland (0–1)Risley (1)4:0857,1802–2L2
5October 87:07 p.m. EDT@ MarinersL 5–6 (11)Johnson (2–0)McDowell (0–2)–4:1957,4112–3L3 :
Legend:        = Win        = Loss      Bold = Yankees team member :

## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### Batting
#### Starters by position

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 | Mike Stanley | 118 | 399 | 107 | .268 | 18 | 83 |
| 1B | Don Mattingly | 128 | 458 | 132 | .288 | 7 | 49 |
| 2B | Pat Kelly | 89 | 270 | 64 | .237 | 4 | 29 |
| 3B | Wade Boggs | 126 | 460 | 149 | .324 | 5 | 63 |
| SS | Tony Fernández | 108 | 304 | 94 | .245 | 5 | 39 |
| LF | Luis Polonia | 67 | 238 | 62 | .261 | 2 | 15 |
| CF | Bernie Williams | 144 | 563 | 173 | .307 | 18 | 82 |
| RF | Paul O'Neill | 127 | 460 | 138 | .300 | 22 | 96 |
| DH | Rubén Sierra | 56 | 215 | 56 | .260 | 7 | 44 |

#### Other batters

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 |
| Randy Velarde | 111 | 367 | 102 | .278 | 7 | 46 |
| Jim Leyritz | 77 | 264 | 71 | .269 | 7 | 37 |
| Dion James | 85 | 209 | 60 | .287 | 2 | 26 |
| Danny Tartabull | 59 | 192 | 43 | .224 | 6 | 28 |
| Gerald Williams | 100 | 182 | 45 | .247 | 6 | 28 |
| Russ Davis | 40 | 98 | 27 | .276 | 2 | 12 |
| Darryl Strawberry | 32 | 87 | 24 | .276 | 3 | 13 |
| Derek Jeter | 15 | 48 | 12 | .250 | 0 | 7 |
| Dave Silvestri | 17 | 21 | 2 | .095 | 1 | 4 |
| Kevin Elster | 10 | 17 | 2 | .118 | 0 | 0 |
| Robert Eenhoorn | 5 | 14 | 2 | .143 | 0 | 2 |
| Rubén Rivera | 5 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Jorge Posada | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | GS | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Jack McDowell | 30 | 217.2 | 15 | 10 | 3.93 | 157 |
| Andy Pettitte | 26 | 175.0 | 12 | 9 | 4.17 | 114 |
| Sterling Hitchcock | 27 | 168.1 | 11 | 10 | 4.70 | 121 |
| David Cone | 13 | 99.0 | 9 | 2 | 3.82 | 89 |
| Scott Kamieniecki | 16 | 89.2 | 7 | 6 | 4.01 | 43 |
| Mélido Pérez | 12 | 69.1 | 5 | 5 | 5.58 | 44 |
| Jimmy Key | 5 | 30.1 | 1 | 2 | 5.64 | 14 |

#### 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 |
| Mariano Rivera | 19 | 67.0 | 5 | 3 | 5.51 | 51 |
| Brian Boehringer | 7 | 17.2 | 0 | 3 | 13.75 | 10 |
| Dave Eiland | 4 | 10.0 | 1 | 1 | 6.30 | 6 |

#### 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 |
| John Wetteland | 60 | 1 | 5 | 31 | 2.93 | 66 |
| Bob Wickman | 63 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4.05 | 51 |
| Steve Howe | 56 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 4.96 | 28 |
| Bob MacDonald | 33 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4.86 | 41 |
| Joe Ausanio | 28 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5.73 | 36 |
| Scott Bankhead | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6.00 | 20 |
| Josías Manzanillo | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.08 | 11 |
| Dave Pavlas | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.18 | 3 |
| Jeff Patterson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.70 | 3 |
| Rick Honeycutt | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27.00 | 0 |

## ALDS

| Game | Score | Date |
| 1 | Seattle 6, New York 9 | Oct 3, 1995 |
| 2 | Seattle 5, New York 7 | Oct 4, 1995 |
| 3 | New York 4, Seattle 7 | Oct 6, 1995 |
| 4 | New York 8, Seattle 11 | Oct 7, 1995 |
| 5 | New York 5, Seattle 6 | Oct 8, 1995 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Columbus Clippers | International League | Bill Evers |
| AA | Norwich Navigators | Eastern League | Jimmy Johnson |
| A | Tampa Yankees | Florida State League | Jake Gibbs |
| A | Greensboro Bats | South Atlantic League | Trey Hillman |
| A-Short Season | Oneonta Yankees | New York–Penn League | Rob Thomson |
| Rookie | GCL Yankees | Gulf Coast League | Héctor López |