# 1969 New York Yankees season

The 1969 New York Yankees season was the 67th season for the team. The team finished in fifth-place in the newly established American League East with a record of 80–81, 28+1⁄2 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. New York was managed by Ralph Houk. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium.

## Offseason

* October 15, 1968: Steve Barber was drafted from the Yankees by the Seattle Pilots as the 37th pick in the 1968 MLB expansion draft.
* October 21, 1968: Jim Bouton was purchased from the Yankees by the Seattle Pilots.
* December 2, 1968: Billy Cowan was drafted by the Yankees from the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1968 rule 5 draft.
* December 4, 1968: Andy Kosco was traded by the Yankees to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Mike Kekich.
* December 6, 1968: Charley Smith was traded by the Yankees to the San Francisco Giants for Nate Oliver.
* January 8, 1969: John Orsino was purchased by the Yankees from the Washington Senators.
* Prior to 1969 season: Merritt Ranew was acquired from the Yankees by the Seattle Pilots.

## Regular season

* August 8, 1969: Thurman Munson made his major league debut for the Yankees.

### Season standings

vteAL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Baltimore Orioles | 109 | 53 | .673 | — | 60‍–‍21 | 49‍–‍32 |
| Detroit Tigers | 90 | 72 | .556 | 19 | 46‍–‍35 | 44‍–‍37 |
| Boston Red Sox | 87 | 75 | .537 | 22 | 46‍–‍35 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Washington Senators | 86 | 76 | .531 | 23 | 47‍–‍34 | 39‍–‍42 |
| New York Yankees | 80 | 81 | .497 | 28½ | 48‍–‍32 | 32‍–‍49 |
| Cleveland Indians | 62 | 99 | .385 | 46½ | 33‍–‍48 | 29‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

1969 American League recordsvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEP | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 10–8 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 13–5 | 11–7 | 11–1 | 8–4 | 11–7 | 8–4 | 9–3 | 13–5 |
| Boston | 8–10 | — | 8–4 | 5–7 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 10–2 | 7–5 | 11–7 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 6–12 |
| California | 6–6 | 4–8 | — | 9–9 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 3–9 | 6–12 | 9–9–1 | 5–7 |
| Chicago | 3–9 | 7–5 | 9–9 | — | 8–4 | 3–9 | 8–10 | 5–13 | 3–9 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 4–8 |
| Cleveland | 5–13 | 6–12 | 4–8 | 4–8 | — | 7–11 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 9–8 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 3–15 |
| Detroit | 7–11 | 8–10 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 11–7 | — | 8–4 | 6–6 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 10–2 | 7–11 |
| Kansas City | 1–11 | 2–10 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 5–7 | 4–8 | — | 8–10 | 5–7–1 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 7–5 |
| Minnesota | 4–8 | 5–7 | 11–7 | 13–5 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 10–8 | — | 10–2 | 13–5 | 12–6 | 6–6 |
| New York | 7–11 | 7–11 | 9–3 | 9–3 | 8–9 | 8–10 | 7–5–1 | 2–10 | — | 6–6 | 7–5 | 10–8 |
| Oakland | 4–8 | 8–4 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 10–8 | 5–13 | 6–6 | — | 13–5 | 8–4 |
| Seattle | 3–9 | 6–6 | 9–9–1 | 8–10 | 5–7 | 2–10 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 5–7 | 5–13 | — | 7–5 |
| Washington | 5–13 | 12–6 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 15–3 | 11–7 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 5–7 | — |

### Opening Day lineup

* Horace Clarke 2B
* Jerry Kenney CF
* Bobby Murcer 3B
* Roy White LF
* Joe Pepitone 1B
* Tom Tresh SS
* Bill Robinson RF
* Jake Gibbs C
* Mel Stottlemyre P

### Notable transactions

* June 5, 1969: 1969 Major League Baseball Draft
** Ken Crosby was drafted by the Yankees in the 10th round. Player signed June 17, 1969.
** John Tamargo was drafted by the Yankees in the 15th round, but did not sign.
* June 12, 1969: John Orsino was traded by the Yankees to the Cleveland Indians for Rob Gardner.
* June 14, 1969: Tom Tresh was traded by the Yankees to the Detroit Tigers for Ron Woods.
* July 26, 1969: Billy Cowan was purchased by the California Angels from the New York Yankees.

### Mickey Mantle's retired number

On Mickey Mantle Day, June 8, 1969, in addition to the retirement of his uniform number 7, Mantle was given a plaque that would hang on the center field wall at Yankee Stadium, near the monuments to Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Miller Huggins. The plaque was given to him by Joe DiMaggio, and Mantle then gave DiMaggio a similar plaque, telling the crowd, "His should be just a little bit higher than mine." The televised ceremony, aired on WPIX, was hosted by the team's television analyst Frank Messer and long time radio broadcaster Mel Allen.

### 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 | Jake Gibbs | 71 | 219 | 18 | 49 | .224 | 0 | 18 | 3 |
| 1B | Joe Pepitone | 135 | 513 | 49 | 124 | .242 | 27 | 70 | 8 |
| 2B | Horace Clarke | 156 | 641 | 82 | 183 | .285 | 4 | 48 | 33 |
| 3B | Jerry Kenney | 130 | 447 | 49 | 115 | .257 | 2 | 34 | 25 |
| SS | Gene Michael | 119 | 412 | 41 | 112 | .272 | 2 | 31 | 7 |
| LF | Roy White | 130 | 448 | 55 | 130 | .290 | 7 | 74 | 18 |
| CF | Ron Woods | 72 | 171 | 18 | 30 | .175 | 1 | 7 | 2 |
| RF | Bobby Murcer | 152 | 564 | 82 | 146 | .259 | 26 | 82 | 7 |

#### 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 |
| Frank Fernández | 89 | 229 | 34 | 51 | .223 | 12 | 29 | 1 |
| Bill Robinson | 87 | 222 | 23 | 38 | .171 | 3 | 21 | 3 |
| Jimmie Hall | 80 | 212 | 21 | 50 | .236 | 3 | 26 | 8 |
| Bobby Cox | 85 | 191 | 17 | 41 | .215 | 2 | 17 | 0 |
| Tom Tresh | 45 | 143 | 13 | 26 | .182 | 1 | 9 | 2 |
| Len Boehmer | 45 | 108 | 5 | 19 | .176 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Thurman Munson | 26 | 86 | 6 | 22 | .256 | 1 | 9 | 0 |
| Jim Lyttle | 28 | 83 | 7 | 15 | .181 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| John Ellis | 22 | 62 | 2 | 18 | .290 | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| Tom Shopay | 28 | 48 | 2 | 4 | .083 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Billy Cowan | 32 | 48 | 5 | 8 | .167 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Frank Tepedino | 13 | 39 | 6 | 9 | .231 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Dave McDonald | 9 | 23 | 0 | 5 | .217 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Dick Simpson | 6 | 11 | 2 | 3 | .273 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Ron Blomberg | 4 | 6 | 0 | 3 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nate Oliver | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | BB | SO |
| Mel Stottlemyre | 39 | 303.0 | 20 | 14 | 2.82 | 97 | 113 |
| Fritz Peterson | 37 | 272.0 | 17 | 16 | 2.55 | 43 | 150 |
| Stan Bahnsen | 40 | 220.2 | 9 | 16 | 3.83 | 90 | 130 |
| Bill Burbach | 31 | 140.2 | 6 | 8 | 3.65 | 102 | 82 |

#### 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 |
| Al Downing | 30 | 130.2 | 7 | 5 | 3.38 | 85 |
| Mike Kekich | 28 | 105.0 | 4 | 6 | 4.54 | 66 |
| Ron Klimkowski | 3 | 14.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.64 | 3 |

#### 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 |
| Jack Aker | 38 | 8 | 4 | 11 | 2.06 | 40 |
| Lindy McDaniel | 51 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 3.55 | 60 |
| Steve Hamilton | 38 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3.32 | 39 |
| Ken Johnson | 12 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3.46 | 21 |
| Fred Talbot | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.11 | 7 |
| Don Nottebart | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 5 |
| John Cumberland | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 0 |

## Awards and honors

* Mel Stottlemyre, All-Star Game
* Roy White, All-Star Game

## Farm system

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