1 THE YANKEES ARE DRESSED TO THRILL IN NEW YORK The New York Yankees are famous for their success They have won more championships than any other Major League Baseball MLB team They also are famous for their uniforms For more than 100 years their look has changed very little Theirs are one of the best-known uniforms in US sports The Yankees often are called The Pinstripes In 1912 thin vertical stripes were added to the team’s white home uniforms These are called pinstripes Just a few years earlier the team had adopted an interlocking N and Y as its logo By 1912 that logo was displayed on the left chest of the uniforms It was added to the caps too The uniform changed slightly in the 1920s and 1930s But today Yankees players wear a uniform similar to the one from 1912 You say pinstripes and the first thing that comes to most people’s mind is the Yankees 4 Derek Jeter in 2008 said former New York shortstop Derek Jeter There’s just
Babe Ruth right and Lou Gehrig pose in their Yankees pinstripes in 1927 so much history there and tradition In 1929 the Yankees became the first MLB team to make numbers a permanent part of their uniforms Originally the numbers indicated where the player hit in the batting order The leadoff hitter was given No 1 That’s why slugger Babe Ruth who batted third wore No 3 All MLB teams have jersey numbers today But Yankees uniforms remain unique in another way The Yankees have the only uniforms that do not include the players names on the backs of their home or road jerseys THINK ABOUT IT Do you believe the Yankees have the best uniforms in baseball Is there a better uniform Write three or four sentences describing what makes a good uniform 19 Seasons from 1917 to 1935 in which the Yankees had no logo on their uniform That span included Babe Ruth’s entire Yankees career The Yankees had several different cap designs from 1903 to 1922 They have worn their current dark blue caps since 1922 5
2 THE BAMBINO CHANGES THE YANKEES Until the Yankees acquired George Herman Babe Ruth after the 1919 season they were just an average team The team had been born in 1903 yet had never finished in first place That finally changed when New York purchased Ruth from the Boston Red Sox Ruth had been a great pitcher and hitter in Boston In New York he became a full-time outfielder In his first season with the Yankees in 1920 he hit 54 home runs That broke his own record of 29 set the year before During the next three seasons Ruth hit 59 35 and 41 home runs respectively Meanwhile the Yankees won their first three American League AL championships During his 15 seasons as a Yankee the team won four World Series and seven AL pennants Ruth became baseball’s biggest star In 1927 he hit a record 60 home runs That record wasn’t broken until 1961 Ruth was so beloved by fans that even his nicknames had Babe Ruth in 1926 6
nicknames The Babe became known as The Bambino Fans also called him The Sultan of Swat Ruth retired during the 1935 season By then he was baseball’s all-time leader in home runs with 714 But he was more than just a slugger He won 94 games as a pitcher And he was a colorful personality He became a legend of the game Today a long home run is often described as Ruthian Ruth was part of the Baseball Hall of Fame’s first induction class in 1936 49 Average number of home runs hit by the seven other AL teams in 1921 Babe Ruth hit 59 Ruth led the AL in home runs 12 times Ruth also led the league in walks 11 times Babe Ruth was more than just the home run king said hall of fame president Dale Petroskey He really was larger than life Babe Ruth hits one of his 714 home runs 7
