# 1954 New York Yankees season

The 1954 New York Yankees season was the team's 52nd season. Having won an unprecedented fifth consecutive World Series title the previous year, the team came up short in its bid for a sixth straight world championship as their 103–51 record was only good enough for in second place in the American League. New York finished eight games behind the Cleveland Indians, who broke the Yankees' 1927 AL record by winning 111 games. New York was managed by Casey Stengel. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium.

## Offseason

* November 19, 1953: Ralph Terry was signed as an amateur free agent by the New York Yankees.

## Regular season

Bob Grim became the first rookie pitcher to win 20 games in one season but pitch less than 200 innings in the same season.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Cleveland Indians | 111 | 43 | .721 | — | 59‍–‍18 | 52‍–‍25 |
| New York Yankees | 103 | 51 | .669 | 8 | 54‍–‍23 | 49‍–‍28 |
| Chicago White Sox | 94 | 60 | .610 | 17 | 45‍–‍32 | 49‍–‍28 |
| Boston Red Sox | 69 | 85 | .448 | 42 | 38‍–‍39 | 31‍–‍46 |
| Detroit Tigers | 68 | 86 | .442 | 43 | 35‍–‍42 | 33‍–‍44 |
| Washington Senators | 66 | 88 | .429 | 45 | 37‍–‍41 | 29‍–‍47 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 54 | 100 | .351 | 57 | 32‍–‍45 | 22‍–‍55 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 51 | 103 | .331 | 60 | 29‍–‍47 | 22‍–‍56 |

### Record vs. opponents

1954 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CHW | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 11–11 | 7–15 | 3–19 | 8–14 | 5–17 | 10–12 | 10–12 |
| Boston | 11–11 | — | 5–17 | 2–20–2 | 14–8 | 9–13 | 15–7 | 13–9 |
| Chicago | 15–7 | 17–5 | — | 11–11 | 12–10–1 | 7–15 | 17–5 | 15–7 |
| Cleveland | 19–3 | 20–2–2 | 11–11 | — | 14–8 | 11–11 | 18–4 | 18–4 |
| Detroit | 14–8 | 8–14 | 10–12–1 | 8–14 | — | 6–16 | 13–9 | 9–13 |
| New York | 17–5 | 13–9 | 15–7 | 11–11 | 16–6 | — | 18–4–1 | 13–9 |
| Philadelphia | 12–10 | 7–15 | 5–17 | 4–18 | 9–13 | 4–18–1 | — | 10–12–1 |
| Washington | 12–10 | 9–13 | 7–15 | 4–18 | 13–9 | 9–13 | 12–10–1 | — |

### Notable transactions

* April 11, 1954: Bill Virdon, Mel Wright, and Emil Tellinger (minors) were traded by the Yankees to the St. Louis Cardinals for Enos Slaughter.
* May 11, 1954: Jim Brideweser was traded by the Yankees to the Baltimore Orioles for Neil Berry, Dick Kokos and Jim Post (minors).

### Roster
## 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 | Yogi Berra | 151 | 584 | 179 | .307 | 22 | 125 |
| 1B | Joe Collins | 130 | 343 | 93 | .271 | 12 | 46 |
| 2B | Gil McDougald | 126 | 394 | 102 | .259 | 12 | 48 |
| SS | Phil Rizzuto | 127 | 307 | 60 | .195 | 2 | 15 |
| 3B | Andy Carey | 122 | 411 | 124 | .302 | 8 | 65 |
| LF | Gene Woodling | 97 | 304 | 76 | .250 | 3 | 40 |
| CF | Mickey Mantle | 146 | 543 | 163 | .300 | 27 | 102 |
| RF | Hank Bauer | 114 | 377 | 111 | .294 | 12 | 54 |

#### 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 |
| Irv Noren | 125 | 426 | 136 | .319 | 12 | 66 |
| Jerry Coleman | 107 | 300 | 65 | .217 | 3 | 21 |
| Bill Skowron | 87 | 215 | 73 | .340 | 7 | 41 |
| Eddie Robinson | 85 | 142 | 37 | .261 | 3 | 27 |
| Enos Slaughter | 69 | 125 | 31 | .248 | 1 | 19 |
| Willy Miranda | 92 | 116 | 29 | .250 | 1 | 12 |
| Bob Cerv | 56 | 100 | 26 | .260 | 5 | 13 |
| Bobby Brown | 28 | 60 | 13 | .217 | 1 | 7 |
| Charlie Silvera | 20 | 37 | 10 | .270 | 0 | 4 |
| Lou Berberet | 5 | 5 | 2 | .400 | 0 | 3 |
| Frank Leja | 12 | 5 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 |
| Woodie Held | 4 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Ralph Houk | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Gus Triandos | 2 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 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 |
| Whitey Ford | 34 | 210.2 | 16 | 8 | 2.82 | 125 |
| Eddie Lopat | 26 | 170.0 | 12 | 4 | 3.55 | 54 |
| Harry Byrd | 25 | 132.0 | 9 | 7 | 2.99 | 52 |
| Tommy Byrne | 5 | 40.0 | 3 | 2 | 2.70 | 24 |

#### 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 Grim | 37 | 199.0 | 20 | 6 | 3.26 | 108 |
| Allie Reynolds | 36 | 157.1 | 13 | 4 | 3.32 | 100 |
| Tom Morgan | 32 | 143.0 | 11 | 5 | 3.34 | 34 |
| Jim McDonald | 16 | 71.0 | 4 | 1 | 3.17 | 20 |
| Bob Wiesler | 6 | 30.1 | 3 | 2 | 4.15 | 25 |
| Ralph Branca | 5 | 12.2 | 1 | 0 | 2.84 | 7 |
| Bill Miller | 2 | 5.2 | 0 | 1 | 6.35 | 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 |
| Johnny Sain | 45 | 6 | 6 | 26 | 3.16 | 33 |
| Tom Gorman | 23 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2.21 | 31 |
| Bob Kuzava | 20 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5.45 | 22 |
| Marlin Stuart | 10 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5.40 | 2 |
| Jim Konstanty | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.98 | 3 |
| Art Schallock | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.15 | 9 |

## Awards and honors

* Yogi Berra, American League MVP
All-Star Game

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Kansas City Blues | American Association | Harry Craft |
| AA | Birmingham Barons | Southern Association | Mayo Smith |
| A | Binghamton Triplets | Eastern League | Phil Page |
| B | Quincy Gems | Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League | Vern Hoscheit |
| B | Norfolk Tars | Piedmont League | Skeeter Scalzi |
| C | Modesto Reds | California League | Jack Graham and Jerry Crosby |
| C | St. Joseph Saints | Western Association | Bill Cope |
| D | Bristol Twins | Appalachian League | Walter Lance |
| D | Owensboro Oilers | KITTY League | Marvin Crater |
| D | McAlester Rockets | Sooner State League | Bunny Mick |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Quincy, Modesto