How Long It's Been: The Yankees Won a Pennant Without the "Core Four"

Jorge Posada has retired. Mariano Rivera missed most of this season, and will be back for 1 more season at most. Derek Jeter is injured for the rest of the postseason. The only one of the 1996-2003 "Core Four" who has made any real contribution in the 1st 2 games of the 2012 American League Championship Series is Andy Pettitte -- which is ironic, since he's already left the Yankees twice (2003-04 and 2010-11), and come back.

With them, the Yankees won AL Pennants in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2009. Something they almost certainly will not do in 2012.

Without them, the Yankees haven't won a Pennant since October 15, 1981. On that night, they completed a 3-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics, managed by once-and-future Yankee manager Billy Martin, at the Oakland Coliseum. The clincher was a 4-0 Yankee win, but was only 1-0 going into the 9th inning, so Dave Righetti, that night's Yankee starter, needed to pitch well, and he did. Willie Randolph hit a home run, and also caught a looper for the final out behind 2nd base.

October 15, 1981: 32 years ago today.  How long has that been?

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We didn't know it yet, but the Yankees were at the end of the 1st George Steinbrenner dynasty that began to be built in 1973, won the Pennant in 1976, won the World Series in 1977 and 1978, and won the AL Eastern Division in 1980.

From the 1976-78 teams, Thurman Munson was already dead. Catfish Hunter and Roy White were retired. Chris Chambliss, Mickey Rivers, Ed Figueroa and Sparky Lyle had been traded. So had Fred "Chicken" Stanley, who was across the field in the A's dugout with Billy. Oscar Gamble, Rudy May, and manager Bob Lemon had left and returned. So had Bobby Murcer, if you want to extend it back to 1974. Randolph, Reggie Jackson, Graig Nettles, Lou Piniella, Bucky Dent, Ron Guidry and Rich "Goose" Gossage remained. Righetti, Tommy John, Ron Davis, Rick Cerone, Bob Watson and Jerry Mumphrey had been added.

In spite of the Pennant, the Yankees averaged only 15,804 fans per home game at the original Yankee Stadium. This was partly due to the South Bronx having deteriorated into an urban nightmare -- the Paul Newman cop drama Fort Apache, The Bronx was released in February of that year. Nobody wanted to go to The Bronx -- unless that's where your drug dealer wanted to meet and you really, really needed a fix.

It had been an awful regression for New York City, and it could be seen in film: From the style and sophistication of Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1961, to the funky seediness of Midnight Cowboy in 1969, to the desolation of Taxi Driver in 1976, to Fort Apache, The Bronx in 1981.

Two recent period pieces, the TV show Life On Mars (set in 1973) and the miniseries The Bronx Is Burning (about 1976-77 in New York, including the Yankees, the Mayoral election and the hunt for the Son of Sam), did not exaggerate. I remember: It really was that bad, no matter how much Mayor Ed Koch and Governor Hugh Carey tried to talk the City up, no matter how much people in tourism commercials sang, "I Love New York." (That campaign was more for the State than the City, anyway: One even had a guy obviously in a rural area, possibly the Catskills or the Finger Lakes, saying, "I live in Brooklyn, but I love New York!")

But the low attendance was also partly due to the baseball strike, which split the season into 2 halves. The teams that were in 1st place in their Divisions when the strike began -- the Yankees, the A's in the AL West, the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the AL West -- were guaranteed spots in the Playoffs, and thus had nothing to play for when the season resumed. So none of them won the 2nd half Division titles: These were won by the Milwaukee Brewers, the Kansas City Royals, the Montreal Expos and the Houston Astros.

Thus began the 1st-ever Division Series, and those wouldn't happen again until the 3-divisions-and-wild-card setup began in 1995 (after meaning for it to begin in 1994, but another strike wiped that out). The Yankees won the 1st 2 games in Milwaukee, but the Brewers took the next 2 in The Bronx.

After Game 4, Steinbrenner barged into the locker room and went on a tirade, yelling at the players, saying they were disgracing the Yankee uniform, the Yankee tradition, the City of New York and Yankee Fans everywhere.  Murcer tried to tell him, "Now is not the time, George." George yelled, "It is the time, goddamn it!" and went on, until finally Cerone stood up, and, like a Newark boss, pointed his finger at The Boss, and said, "Fuck you, George!" and walked out. The Yankees won Game 5, sparked by back-to-back home runs by Reggie and Gamble, and another homer by, of course, Cerone.

The A's beat the Royals, the Expos beat the Phils, and the Dodgers beat the Astros. In the NLCS, Rick Monday's 9th-inning homer won the decisive Game 5 in Montreal, and the Dodgers won the Pennant. The Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals franchise hasn't been that close to a Pennant since.

Then came the World Series. A banner hung at Yankee Stadium during Game 1 emphasized the fact that the Yankees had beaten the Dodgers in '77 and '78: "DON'T THE DODGERS EVER LEARN?" They did: Although the Yankees won Games 1 and 2 in New York, the Dodgers took the next 4, and won their 1st World Championship since 1963. I was nearly 12 years old, and this Yankee postseason defeat still sticks in my craw more than most of the 2001-12 October losses.

Rivera was 11 years old, Posada 10, Pettitte 9, Jeter 7, Alex Rodriguez and R.A. Dickey 6, David Ortiz 5, Jimmy Rollins nearly 3, Albert Pujols nearly 2, and Robinson Cano, David Wright, Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander weren't born yet.

Baseball legends Satchel Paige, Stan Coveleski, Waite Hoyt, Joe Cronin, Smoky Joe Wood, Red Ruffing, Ted Lyons and Hank Greenberg were still alive.

There had never been a Major League Baseball game in Florida or in the Rocky Mountain States. The San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays had never made the Playoffs. The Padres, Rangers, Blue Jays, the aforementioned Brewers and Astros, and the team then known as the California Angels had never won a Pennant. The Atlanta Braves hadn't won a Pennant since they were still in Milwaukee. The Blue Jays, the Braves since moving to Atlanta, the aforementioned Royals, the San Francisco Giants since they were still in New York, the Minnesota Twins since they were the Washington Senators all the way back in 1924, the Boston Red Sox since 1918, and the Chicago White Sox since 1917 had not won the World Series. All of those facts are no longer true.

Only 6 teams are still using the same ballparks they were using in 1981: The 2 Los Angeles-area teams, the Red Sox, the Royals, the A's and the Chicago Cubs. Only 7 NFL teams (Buffalo, Green Bay, Kansas City, New Orleans, Oakland, San Diego and San Francisco), 2 NBA teams (the Knicks and the Golden State Warriors), and 4 NHL teams (the Rangers, the Islanders, the Detroit Red Wings and the Edmonton Oilers) are using the same venues they were using in October 1981. Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, Giants Stadium and the Meadowlands Arena have all been replaced.

There was an NFL team in Baltimore, but it was the Colts, not the Ravens. There was one in St. Louis, but it was the Cardinals, not the Rams. There was one in Houston, but it was the Oilers, not the Texans. The NFL was still a League where the high-profile teams were the Oakland Raiders, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Miami Dolphins and the Dallas Cowboys, but the San Francisco 49ers were about to begin their dynasty.

The Philadelphia Phillies were defending World Champions. The Oakland Raiders had won the most recent Super Bowl. The Boston Celtics were defending NBA Champions, having beaten the Houston Rockets in the Finals. The Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers would be back, however. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Julius "Dr. J" Erving were the big names. Michael Jordan was about to play his 1st game at the University of North Carolina. The Knicks and Nets were both nondescript teams.

The New York Islanders were in the middle of their Stanley Cup dynasty (stop laughing), and the Edmonton Oilers of Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier hadn't won any yet. The Rangers were an aging team in transition, and the Devils were still the NHL version of the Colorado Rockies. The heavyweight champion of the world was Larry Holmes.

Bobby Carpenter of the Boston suburb of Needham, Massachusetts played his 1st NHL game a few days earlier, becoming the 1st U.S. hockey player to go directly from high school to the NHL, and both scored a goal and collected an assist for the Washington Capitals, who lost to the Buffalo Sabres anyway.

"The Wave" -- or, as it's known in Europe, since most people there first saw it on TV during the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, "The Mexican Wave" -- was first noticed nationwide on the day in question. "Krazy George" Henderson claims to have invented it at an NHL game in Edmonton a year earlier. He led it during the 7th Inning Stretch of Game 3 of the 1981 ALCS. Robb Weller, later a co-host of Entertainment Tonight, claimed he invented it at the University of Washington, during their October 31, 1981 game against Stanford. But that was 2 weeks after Krazy George's nationally televised demonstration, so he's lying.

Current Yankee manager Joe Girardi was in high school in Peoria, Illinois. Terry Collins of the Mets had just finished his 1st managing job, with the Lodi Dodgers of the Class A California League. Tom Coughlin of the Giants was the quarterbacks coach at Boston College. Mike Woodson wasn't coaching the Knicks, he was playing for them. Rex Ryan of the Jets was attending Southwestern Oklahoma State University. John Tortorella of the Rangers was attending the University of Maine. Avery Johnson of the Nets was in high school in New Orleans, Jack Capuano of the Islanders in Kent, Connecticut. Peter DeBoer of the Devils was in junior high school in Dunnville, Ontario.

The Olympic Games have since been held in America 3 times, in Canada twice, and once each in Bosnia, Korea, France, Spain, Norway, Japan, Australia, Greece, Italy, China and Britain. The World Cup has since been held in America, Spain, Mexico, Italy, France, Japan, Korea, Germany and South Africa.

There were then 26 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The President of the United States was Ronald Reagan. George H.W. Bush was his Vice President. Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, their wives, and the widows of Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson were all still alive.

Bill Clinton was out of office, having been defeated for re-election as Governor of Arkansas the year before -- but was already planning one of his occasional comebacks. George W. Bush was running Arbusto Energy -- running it into the ground. Barack Obama had just transferred from Occidental College in Los Angeles to Columbia University in New York. Mitt Romney was a vice president with Bain Capital. None of the Justices then on the U.S. Supreme Court are still on it.

The Governor of the State of New York was Hugh Carey, the Mayor of the City of New York was Ed Koch, and the Governor of New Jersey was Brendan Byrne, with Tom Kean and Jim Florio running to replace him. Kean would win the closest election in the office's history. Eight years later, Florio would try again, and win in a landslide. Andrew Cuomo was in law school, and was helping his father, then Lieutenant Governor Mario Cuomo, set up his run for Governor the next year. Mike Bloomberg had just been fired from brokerage firm Salomon Brothers, and things weren't looking good for him.

The Nobel Peace Prize was about to be awarded to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The Pope was John Paul II. The current Pope, Benedict XVI, then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, was the Archbishop of Munich. The Prime Minister of Canada was Pierre Trudeau, and of Britain, Margaret Thatcher. The monarch of both nations was Queen Elizabeth II -- that hasn't changed. There have since been 5 Presidents of the United States, 5 Prime Ministers of Britain and 2 Popes.

There were still living veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Campaign, the Boxer Rebellion, the Boer War, the Potemkin Mutiny, the Russo-Japanese War and the Mexican Revolution.

Aston Villa of Birmingham, the West Midlands, had won the Football League for the 1st time in 71 years (still their only title in the last 112 years). Liverpool FC had won the European Cup. In the season now in progress, they would switch. Tottenham Hotspur were in the middle of back-to-back FA Cup wins; his was a rare period when they were definitively better than the real team in North London, Arsenal.

James Clavell published Noble House, Frank Herbert God Emperor of Dune, John Irving The Hotel New Hampshire, Gabriel Garcia Marquez Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Toni Morrison Tar Baby, Martin Cruz Smith Gorky Park, Paul Theroux The Mosquito Coast, and Joseph Wambaugh The Glitter Dome.

John Gardner restarted the James Bond novels, which had been exhausted following the last unpublished stories of the character's creator Ian Fleming, with Licence Renewed. Thomas Harris published Red Dragon, which introduced the character of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. George R.R. Martin published Windhaven, deftly using science fiction and a restart of technology to meld the future with the past on a distant planet occupied by the descendants of Earthmen. J.K. Rowling was in high school in Tutshill, Gloucestershire, England.

No one had yet heard of Celie Harris, Kinsey Millhone, Jack Ryan, Forrest Gump, John McClane, Alex Cross, Bridget Jones, Robert Langdon, Bella Swan, Lisbeth Salander or Katniss Everdeen.

Major films released in the middle of Autumn 1981 included My Dinner with Andre, All the Marbles, Looker, Halloween II, Time Bandits and The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper. Earlier in the year, Roger Moore had played James Bond in For Your Eyes Only, and Christopher Reeve had starred in Superman II. Batman was still in the interregnum between Adam West and Michael Keaton; the best Batfans could do was the comic books and Olan Soule's voiceover in the Saturday morning cartoon Super Friends. Peter Davison had recently become the Fifth Doctor.

In television, the previous spring's Dallas cliffhanger was resolved: J.R. Ewing had not gotten revenge on his sister-in-law/former mistress/baby mama Kristin Shepard for shooting him a year earlier. He didn't push her over the railing and into the pool to her death; she fell because she had a drug overdose.

Luke Spencer and Laura Webber were about to get married on General Hospital. Chuck Woolery was about to leave his post as host of Wheel of Fortune, handing it over to Pat Sajak. And both turned out to be right-wing maniacs, a fact they kept hidden even during the Reagan Revolution.

Entertainment Tonight, Lee Majors' post-Six Million Dollar Man series The Fall Guy, Tony Randall's post-Odd Couple series Love, Sidney, Nell Carter's Gimme a Break, Simon & Simon and Falcon Crest all debuted, or soon would, in the TV season that had just begun. So did the U.S. version of the cartoon The Smurfs, and new cartoons featuring comic book characters Captain Marvel (a.k.a. "Shazam!") and Spider-Man. Charlie's Angels, The Waltons and Eight Is Enough had recently aired their final first-run episodes.

In the week in question, the following panelists were on Match Game: Love Boat bartender Ted Lange, regular Brett Somers, regular Charles Nelson Reilly, actress Audrey Landers, former M*A*S*H star McLean Stevenson, and actress Edie McClurg.

Robert Kardashian was working in the music business. He was married to the former Kris Houghton. Their daughter Kim had been born almost exactly a year before. Bruce Jenner was still an actor, and not winning any medals for it.

The Number 1 song in America was "Arthur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)," by Christopher Cross, from the Dudley Moore film Arthur that came out in the preceding Summer. MTV had gone on the air at that time. Were they actually airing music at the time? Yes. Was it good music? For the most part, no.

Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel had a reunion concert in front of half a million people in Central Park. Prince released his album Controversy, and got booed off the stage at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, as the opening act on the Rolling Stones' tour for their album Tattoo You.

In the course of 1981, The Buzzcocks, Steely Dan and the Bay City Rollers broke up. 10,000 Maniacs, Anthrax, The Bangles, The Blow Monkeys, The Beastie Boys, The Butthole Surfers, Culture Club (these last 2 definitely not to be confused with each other), Katrina and the Waves, Metallica, Ministry, Mötley Crüe, Pet Shop Boys, Queensrÿche, Patti Smyth's band Scandal, Slayer, Sonic Youth and Suicidal Tendencies all formed.

George Harrison released "All Those Years Ago," his tribute to John Lennon, who had been killed nearly a year earlier. Bob Dylan was in his Christian rock phase. Michael Jackson was following Off the Wall up with writing the songs that would go on Thriller. Priscilla Presley had taken over Elvis Presley Enterprises, and made Elvis more money than he ever had while he was alive. Frank Sinatra just kept on touring.

Inflation has been such that what $1.00 would buy then, $2.48 would buy now. A U.S. postage stamp was 18 cents, and a New York Subway token was 75 cents. The average price of a gallon of gas was $1.35, a cup of coffee $1.04, a McDonald's meal (Big Mac, fries, shake) $2.00, a movie ticket $2.75, a new car $5,743, and a new house $83,700. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed that day at 851.69.

The tallest building in the world was the Sears Tower in Chicago. Desktop computers and mobile telephones had been developed, but they were still very bulky and very slow. Nordic Mobile Telephone set up the 1st cellular telephone system, in Sweden. There was not much of an Internet. The 1st space shuttle, Columbia, had been launched earlier in the year. The Atari VCS (later renamed the Atari 2600) and the Mattel Intellivision were battling it out to be the leading home video game system.

There were heart transplants, liver transplants and lung transplants, and artificial kidneys, but the 1st artificial hearts wouldn't be tried until the next year. The birth control pill was long-established, but there was, as yet, no Viagra.

In the mid-Autumn of 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamic militants, beginning the 31-year dictatorship of the man who had been his Vice President, Hosni Mubarak. For a long time, Mubarak seemed like an enlightened leader and an ally to America, but eventually the truth came out. Moshe Dayan, a leading figure in early Israeli history, also died, but of complications of cancer.

The hunger strike at Maze Prison in Northern Ireland was ended. The last Triumph TR7 rolled off the assembly line. France abolished capital punishment, and developed their first high-speed rail system, the TGV. The Central American colony of British Honduras gained its independence, becoming the independent nation of Belize, remaining in the British Commonwealth. So did the newly-independent nation of Antigua & Barbuda. The Sydney Tower opened in Australia.

In America, Sandra Day O'Connor was confirmed and sworn in as the 1st female Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Reverend Sun Myung Moon was indicted for tax evasion, a charge on which he would be convicted and serve 18 months in prison. The Boeing 767 went into service. And John Shoecroft and Fred Gorrell flew Super Chicken III from Costa Mesa, California to Blackbeard Island, Georgia. The 55-hour-25-minute trip was the 1st nonstop crossing of America by hot-air balloon.

In the Autumn of 1981, songwriter Harry Warren, and Baseball Hall-of-Famer Freddie Lindstrom, and legendary Liverpool Football Club manager Bill Shankly died. Alexis Bledel, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Serena Williams were born.

October 16, 1981. The New York Yankees won a Pennant. And Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada had nothing to do with it.

From here on out, the 2012 postseason will only involve Pettitte -- and then only if the Yankees can somehow get this series to a Game 5.

I'm not optimistic. The Yankees' record without Numbers 2, 20, 42 and 46 has not been good since the Fall of '81.