(The following is being syndicated from The Captain’s Blog).
Instead of worrying about who will fill out the starting rotation or occupy the backend of the bench, Yankees’ fans seeking to predict the team’s performance in 2011 might better off considering who currently resides in the White House. Over the last 50 years, the Yankees have thrived under Democrat administrations, but come up empty when a Republican received his mail at1600 Pennsylvania. The Yankees last championship under the GOP dates all the way back to 1958, when Dwight Eisenhower was the commander in chief. Since then, all nine of the Yankees World Series victories have come with a Democrat leading the nation. I never like to mix politics and sports, but perhaps that’s something to keep in mind the next time you enter a polling booth during a presidential election.
Yankees Record by Political Party
| W | L | T | Pct | R | RA | AL | WS | |
| Democrats | 4509 | 3225 | 44 | 0.583 | 38294 | 31556 | 23 | 20 |
| Republicans | 5161 | 4136 | 49 | 0.555 | 45171 | 40354 | 17 | 7 |
Yankees Record by Presidential Administration
| W | L | T | Pct | R | RA | AL | WS | |
| Warren Harding | 257 | 146 | 0 | 0.638 | 2227 | 1706 | 2 | 0 |
| John Kennedy | 309 | 176 | 1 | 0.637 | 2358 | 1839 | 3 | 2 |
| Franklin Roosevelt | 1156 | 677 | 17 | 0.631 | 10355 | 7705 | 7 | 6 |
| Dwight Eisenhower | 761 | 468 | 4 | 0.619 | 6140 | 4695 | 6 | 3 |
| Barack Obama | 198 | 126 | 0 | 0.611 | 1774 | 1446 | 1 | 1 |
| Herbert Hoover | 375 | 240 | 4 | 0.610 | 4030 | 3157 | 1 | 1 |
| Harry Truman | 747 | 483 | 3 | 0.607 | 6279 | 4860 | 5 | 5 |
| Jimmy Carter | 392 | 255 | 0 | 0.606 | 3120 | 2567 | 2 | 2 |
| George W. Bush | 775 | 518 | 2 | 0.599 | 7048 | 5994 | 2 | 0 |
| Calvin Coolidge | 493 | 331 | 5 | 0.598 | 4522 | 3680 | 4 | 3 |
| Bill Clinton | 724 | 504 | 1 | 0.590 | 6738 | 5659 | 4 | 4 |
| Gerald Ford | 215 | 156 | 0 | 0.580 | 1644 | 1344 | 1 | 0 |
| Ronald Reagan | 677 | 562 | 0 | 0.546 | 5854 | 5345 | 1 | 0 |
| Richard Nixon | 468 | 444 | 2 | 0.513 | 3526 | 3419 | 0 | 0 |
| William McKinley | 60 | 59 | 2 | 0.504 | 67 | 69 | 0 | 0 |
| Lyndon Johnson | 401 | 406 | 6 | 0.497 | 3010 | 2945 | 1 | 0 |
| Woodrow Wilson | 582 | 598 | 16 | 0.493 | 4660 | 4535 | 0 | 0 |
| Theodore Roosevelt | 504 | 535 | 21 | 0.485 | 4876 | 5172 | 0 | 0 |
| William Taft | 288 | 318 | 9 | 0.475 | 2529 | 2709 | 0 | 0 |
| George H.W. Bush | 288 | 359 | 0 | 0.445 | 2708 | 3064 | 0 | 0 |
Presidential Performance
- Best Winning Percentage: Warren Harding (.638, from 1921 to August 2, 1923)
- Worst Winning Percentage: George HW Bush (.445, from 1989-1992)
- Most AL Pennants: Franklin Roosevelt (7, from 1933-1944)
- Most World Series Victories: Franklin Roosevelt (6, from 1933-1944)
- Best Season (By Win%): Calvin Coolidge (1927, 110-44)
- Worst Season (By Win%): William Taft (1912, 50-102-1)
- Best Run Differential: Franklin Roosevelt (1939, +2.70 runs/game)
- Worst Run Differential: Theodore Roosevelt (1908, -1.63 runs/game)
Presidential Trivia
- Lyndon Johnson and Woodrow Wilson are the only two Democrats under whose administration the Yankees have not won a World Series. The Yankees have failed to win a championship under nine different Republican presidents.
- There have been three presidential successions during a Yankees season: McKinley to Roosevelt in 1901; Harding to Coolidge in 1923; and Nixon to Ford in 1974.
- Yankee pitchers have thrown eight no-hitters under a Democrat president and four no-hitters under a Republican.
- Yankee batters have hit for eight cycles under a Democrat president and seven cycles under a Republican.
- Of the Yankees five Cy Young award winners, three came under a Democrat president and two came under a Republican.
- Of the Yankees 20 MVPs, 11 came under a Democrat president and nine came under a Republican.
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3 Responses to Hail to the Chiefs: Yankees Lean Left When It Comes to Championships
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Don’t forget that a lot of conservatives called Eisenhower’s administration “A dime-store New Deal.” So, by their definition, the Yankees haven’t won under a truly conservative President since Hoover in ’32. And if Robert Creamer is telling the truth, FDR was there, campaigning, when the Babe called his shot. So maybe his luck was transferred to the Yankees, and they really haven’t won under a conservative President since Coolidge in ’28. Fine with me!
I’m not sure I can prove this, but here’s my theory.
In America we have tended to elect Democrats during down economic times. The Depression years of the 40′s, the stagflation of the late 70s, and of course today. The Yankees always enjoy a financial advantage, but it becomes more pronounced in bad times. Yankee revenues are both larger and more stable during downturns. While teams in other cities are selling off assets to raise cash, the Yanks are there waiting as willing buyers. Or in the free agency era, the Yanks are still out there spending top dollar while teams in other cities are slashing their budgets. Its something that goes on all the time, but happens with greater frequency during a downturn. Allowing them to stockpile talent and take him more titles in bad times.
Thoughts?