Were the Yankees hated this much pre-Steinbrenner?

Question

As in,before 1976.

Funny Icarus,funny.

Answer 1

Once the Yankees stopped winning in the early 1960's they were pretty much irrevelant to baseball fans---no different than any other team. CBS bought the team as an investment and did not care if they won or not as long as the team made money.

The Yankees started to become relevant again when George Steinbrenner fired Bill Virdon and hired Billy Martin the first time. It was the same time that Jim "Catfish" Hunter first joined the Yankees. It was at this time that it became known that losing was no longer an acceptable option.

Answer 2

Probably not, but Steinbrenner himself is only part of the issue. Steinbrenner bought the team from CBS in 1973, shortly after MLB was forced to allow free agency.

Steinbrenner quickly made moves to corner the market on high priced talent, a trend which continues to this day. He overpays for players, driving up the cost teams must pay for all players, not just at the top end. This, in turn, has meant that teams can't hang on to their internally developed stars, that they must pay more for the players they do get, and that these costs are passed on to the fans. Ever wonder why it costs so much to see a game?

Steinbrenner and the Yankees are figureheads for this kind of unrestrained (and ill-advised) spending. Free Agency has ruined baseball for many fans and turned players into mercenaries. Steinbrenner is simply the most visible, and therefore most hated, person behind escalating baseball salaries.

Answer 3

Maybe even more so, because their rivarly with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1950's was more tense than any of these so-called important Red Sox-Yankees games were today. While Dodger fans may not have been as vehement as the Red Sox , or other fans today, people aorund at that time have told me the frustration of the Yankees winning all of those pennants and world series at that time grated just as many nerves as they do today.

Answer 4

The Yankees have always been hated because they are winners. And when a winner gets off to a slow start the Yankee haters come out of the woodwork. Once they start winning you won't even see these kinds of questions any longer. And this answer is coming from a Dodger fan.

Answer 5

In the 1950's the steel industry was extremely profitable, and it was said "Cheering for the Yankees is like cheering for US Steel."
Times change, so today you might say "Cheering for the Yankees is like cheering for Exxon-Mobil."
The Yankees were in the world series at least `10 times between 1949 and 1961.

Answer 6

well up to the the early 60's they were really hated, every other team in MLB hated them. they had half of the World Series winners. then from the early in the 70's til mid 90's they weren't so bad.

Answer 7

absolutely!

Answer 8

or pre-Iraq?