VI.

Championship Parity

The Yankees' era of domination ended during the 1960s. One of the team's most dramatic losses came in the 1960 World Series, when it faced the Pittsburgh Pirates. The series extended to the seventh game, when Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski hit a game-winning home run at the end of the ninth inning, to give Pittsburgh its first championship since 1925. The Yankees also lost consecutive World Series in 1963 and 1964 to the Dodgers and the Cardinals.

World Series competition became more balanced after the mid-1960s. The NL and the AL each added new teams, and several existing clubs moved to new cities. The New York Mets, formed in 1962, became responsible for one of the biggest surprises to arise from baseball's expansion. In their first few years, the Mets gained a reputation as one of baseball's poorest teams. But in 1969, they shocked the baseball world by winning 100 regular-season games. They then proceeded to defeat the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles, 4 games to 1, in the World Series.

The Oakland Athletics emerged as one of baseball's best teams in the 1970s. Led by stars such as Rollie Fingers and Reggie Jackson, Oakland won the series in 1972, 1973, and 1974. After joining the Yankees, Jackson became the star of the 1977 World Series by hitting four consecutive home runs against the Dodgers during the fifth and sixth games. Jackson’s historic performance earned him the World Series most valuable player (MVP) award, an honor created in 1955. The Yankees repeated as champions the following season, defeating the Dodgers for the second straight year.

The 1980s saw a string of World Series champions. No team managed to win two in a row, and 11 different teams won from 1979 through 1991, with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Minnesota Twins each winning twice during the span. The St. Louis Cardinals made three World Series appearances in the 1980s, winning the championship in 1982. The leagues also were almost evenly represented—seven NL teams and six AL teams won during those years. In 1992 and 1993, however, the Toronto Blue Jays won consecutive World Series. Their victory in 1992 made them the first club based outside the United States to win the major league championship. Because of a strike by major league players that lasted from August 1994 to April 1995, no World Series was played in 1994.

In 1995 the Atlanta Braves won the series, their only victory in five World Series appearances during the decade. A year later the Yankees began a championship streak, winning four World Series titles in five years. The only interruption of this streak came in 1997, when the Florida Marlins won the series in only their fifth year of existence. In 2000 the Yankees and Mets squared off in a so-called Subway Series, the first series involving two teams from the same city since 1956. The Yankees won, giving the franchise its third straight title and 26th overall.