50 Fun Facts About 1998 New York Yankees

Which Yankees left-hander retired all 27 batters he faced at Yankee Stadium on May 17, 1998?

David Wells threw the 15th perfect game in major league history, and the first by a Yankee in the regular season.

The Yankees pitcher who threw a perfect game in May 1998 later said he did it in what condition?

With a hangover, by his own account: he made the claim in his 2003 autobiography, a book whose remarks earned him a $100,000 fine from the Yankees.

Yankees rookie Orlando Hernández, El Duque, fled which country by boat on Christmas Day 1997?

Cuba had banned him from baseball after his half-brother defected; ten months after his own escape he started a World Series game.

Which ballpark hosted a Yankees home game in April 1998 after a 500-pound beam fell in the Bronx?

Shea Stadium took the third game of the Angels series after the support beam landed on a seat before a game; the first two games were postponed.

Yankees slugger Darryl Strawberry missed the 1998 World Series after which diagnosis during the ALDS?

Colon cancer was found on October 1, and he had surgery two days later; the club still issued him a championship ring.

Which Yankees closer threw 13⅓ scoreless innings and saved six games during the 1998 postseason?

Mariano Rivera saved three of those six in the World Series, in the season he made the cutter one of his primary pitches.

Whose streak of 2,632 straight games ended when he sat out against the Yankees in September 1998?

Cal Ripken Jr. took himself out of the lineup before the game; Ryan Minor replaced him at third base and New York won 5–4.

The pitcher of the Yankees' 1998 perfect game idolized which legend, whose 1934 cap he bought for $35,000?

Babe Ruth was why the Yankees were his favorite team; he wore the cap on the mound in June 1997 and has a tattoo of the slugger.

Which Padres great hit his first postseason home run off Yankee Stadium's upper deck in October 1998?

Tony Gwynn, never a power hitter, put San Diego ahead in Game 1 with a two-run shot, but New York scored seven runs in the seventh to win 9–6.

Which Brooklyn-born manager guided the 1998 Yankees to 114 wins and was named AL Manager of the Year?

Joe Torre was in his third year in the Bronx; his team started 46–13 and never looked back.

Which Yankees third baseman, acquired as a player to be named later, was the 1998 World Series MVP?

Scott Brosius hit .471 with two home runs in the sweep, a year after finishing last among qualified hitters in batting average.

Which Yankee led the American League with 127 runs in 1998 and finished third in the MVP vote?

Derek Jeter did it on a salary of $750,000, then hit .353 in the World Series.

Which Yankee won the 1998 AL batting title at .339 and is also a classically trained guitarist?

Bernie Williams became the first player to win a batting title, a Gold Glove and a World Series ring in the same year.

Which Yankees first baseman hit an upper-deck grand slam in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series?

Tino Martinez connected one pitch after a borderline 2–2 delivery was called a ball, turning a 5–5 tie into a 9–5 lead.

Which team did the 1998 Yankees sweep in the AL Division Series, allowing one run in three games?

Texas Rangers hitters had scored 940 runs that season, yet managed only five hits in each of the first two games.

Which AL East rival won 92 games in 1998 yet finished 22 games behind the Yankees?

The Boston Red Sox still reached the postseason as the wild card, then lost their Division Series to Cleveland.

Which expansion team joined the Yankees in the American League East for the 1998 season?

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays arrived as Detroit moved to the Central; New York beat them 8–3 on the final day for win number 114.

The Yankees' 24th title in 1998 tied which NHL club for the most by a major North American franchise?

Montreal Canadiens teams had won 24 Stanley Cups; New York passed them by sweeping another World Series the very next October.

Which reigning Cy Young winner did the Yankees get in 1999 by trading away their 1998 perfect-game pitcher?

Roger Clemens had asked Toronto for a move to a contender; the Blue Jays also received Homer Bush and Graeme Lloyd in the deal.

Which former intern, aged 30, became Yankees general manager in February 1998 when Bob Watson resigned?

Brian Cashman had joined the club as an intern in 1986 while in college; the first team he ran as GM won 114 games.

Which visiting club was on the wrong end of the Yankees' perfect game in May 1998, losing 4–0?

The Minnesota Twins sent 27 men to the plate in front of 49,820 fans, in a game that lasted two hours and 40 minutes.

The Yankees' 1998 perfect-game pitcher went to the same high school as which earlier Yankee who threw one?

Don Larsen pitched his in the 1956 World Series; both men graduated from Point Loma High School in San Diego.

Which Yankees catcher, in his first season of regular playing time, caught the May 1998 perfect game?

Jorge Posada hit 17 home runs that year; Joe Girardi, who shared the job, caught the club's next perfect game in 1999.

Which future Yankees slugger's two-out single in the seventh spoiled the team's second perfect-game bid of 1998?

Jason Giambi's hit came on September 1; the left-hander on the mound settled for a two-hit shutout and a 7–0 win.

Which club traded the eventual 1998 World Series MVP to the Yankees in exchange for pitcher Kenny Rogers?

The Oakland Athletics had drafted him in the 20th round in 1987 and used him at third base and in the outfield.

Which Yankees outfielder hit three grand slams in ten days in September 1998, then homered twice in the ALDS?

Shane Spencer, a 26-year-old rookie drafted in the 28th round, hit 10 home runs in only 67 at-bats that season and made the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Which Yankees second baseman argued with an umpire while the ball rolled free in Game 2 of the 1998 ALCS?

Chuck Knoblauch wanted an interference call as the go-ahead run scored from first in the 12th inning; Cleveland won 4–1 to level the series.

Which 1998 Yankees starter became the first Japanese-born player to win a World Series ring?

Hideki Irabu was the American League's Pitcher of the Month for May 1998 and finished with a career-best 13 wins.

Which former Yankee, a 1996 no-hit pitcher, started Game 4 of the 1998 ALCS for Cleveland against El Duque?

Dwight Gooden gave up a first-inning home run to Paul O'Neill and lost 4–0 as the rookie threw seven shutout innings.

Which Cleveland slugger hit four home runs, including a Game 6 grand slam, against the Yankees in the 1998 ALCS?

Jim Thome's slam cut a 6–1 deficit to 6–5 in the Bronx, but New York pulled away to win 9–5 and take the pennant.

Which Padres ace started twice against the 1998 Yankees, then signed baseball's first $100 million contract?

Kevin Brown lost the clincher 3–0 despite allowing three runs in eight innings, then joined the Dodgers for seven years and $105 million.

Which Padres closer, who saved 53 games in 1998, gave up a go-ahead three-run homer to the Yankees in October?

Trevor Hoffman had begun entering home games to AC/DC's Hells Bells that summer; the eighth-inning blast turned a 3–2 lead into a 5–3 deficit.

Which manager lost the 1998 World Series to the Yankees, then won three titles with the San Francisco Giants?

Bruce Bochy had been a backup catcher on the Padres' only previous pennant winner, in 1984.

David Cone's 20 wins for the 1998 Yankees were his first 20-win season since 1988 with which club?

The New York Mets saw him win 20 a decade earlier; the gap set a major league record for the longest span between 20-win seasons.

Which Yankees rookie replaced Darryl Strawberry on the 1998 playoff roster and hit .600 in the World Series?

Ricky Ledée reached base in eight straight plate appearances and drove in four runs, including the first two of the Series.

Which Orioles reliever sparked a brawl at Yankee Stadium in May 1998 by drilling a batter in the back?

Armando Benítez drew an eight-game suspension, and his own manager apologized to New York for the pitch.

Which slugger, the 1998 AL MVP, scored the only run the Yankees allowed in that year's Division Series?

Juan González doubled and came home on a single in Game 2; he had driven in 157 runs during the regular season.

Which California venue hosted both a Super Bowl and the final game of the Yankees' World Series sweep in 1998?

Qualcomm Stadium was the first to stage both in the same year; Game 4 turned out to be the last postseason baseball game played there.

Todd Stottlemyre lost Game 1 of the 1998 ALDS to the Yankees, for whom his father Mel held which job?

Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre was a five-time All-Star for the club; his son threw a complete game that night and lost 2–0.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who won his fourth title in 1998, was widely known by which nickname?

The Boss earned the name as a famously hands-on owner; he owned the club from 1973 until his death in 2010.

Which team broke the 1998 Yankees' American League record of 114 wins by going 116–46 in 2001?

The Seattle Mariners topped a mark that New York had itself taken from the 1954 Cleveland Indians, who won 111 games.

Which team did the Yankees sweep in the 1999 World Series, a year after their 125-win 1998 season?

The Atlanta Braves had also lost to New York in 1996; the Yankees became the first club to win back-to-back Series by sweeps since their own 1938–39 teams.

The Yankees' 1998 World Series win was the first presided over by which official Commissioner of Baseball?

Bud Selig had presented the trophy in 1995 and 1997 as interim commissioner before being named to the post officially in 1998.

Which 1998 Yankees coach, in professional baseball since 1949, was sometimes called Popeye for his looks?

Don Zimmer spent 65 years in the professional game across eight decades, and coached in the Bronx from 1996 to 2003.

Which future All-Star joined the Yankees in 1998 after starting out with Japan's Hiroshima Toyo Carp?

Alfonso Soriano, a Dominican trained at the Carp's academy, had left Japan after the club denied him a raise.

Ramiro Mendoza, who went 10–2 for the 1998 Yankees, came from which Central American country?

Panama also produced the team's closer; Mendoza, nicknamed El Brujo, later pitched for his country in the World Baseball Classic.

Graeme Lloyd, a reliever who won a second ring with the 1998 Yankees, was born in which country?

Australia had no World Series winner until he earned his first ring in 1996; he never allowed an earned run in 13 postseason appearances.

Before 1998, the Yankees had last swept a World Series in 1950 against which National League club?

The Phillies lost four straight in 1950; across baseball, nobody had swept a World Series since Cincinnati in 1990.

Which future Cubs ace did the Yankees draft in the first round in 1998, only for him to choose college?

Mark Prior turned down a bonus of about $1.5 million after a summer of talks, then went second overall to Chicago three years later.

The left-hander who threw the Yankees' 1998 perfect game was known by which nickname?

Boomer even appears in the title of his 2003 autobiography, a book that stirred controversy before that season began.