NY Yankees Clinch AL EAST: Why do they win all the time?
The New York Yankees clinched the American League East Division today, no big deal considering that they reached the AL championship series and lost in Game 7 the year before, and they won 100 games last year too only to give in to the then red-hot fiery arch rival Red Sox.
The Yankees had set their expectations from the beginning of spring training itself – Manager Aaron Boone stated his objectives for the club very vividly at that time – to secure the American League Title and then bring the 28th World Series championship in franchise history.
Aaron Judge, the revered poster boy and the explosive outfielder of Yankees said “You've got a team full of savages,” “when you've got a team of guys that come ready to play every single day and are hungry and excited to be here, it makes for a great environment like this.”
2019 was no mean feat for the Yankees. Despite setting a major league record for players on the injured list, the Yankees used modern baseball acumen to win the division with some clever management techniques, a lesson for all of us in general. Yankees were aided by the no nonsense approach of the ownership who had set a winning culture throughout the franchise history, using big moneys, best talent, great facilities and good leadership in GM Brian Cashman and Manager Aaron Boone, all termed wise investments. They are and have been the most successful franchises in the sports history.
So, what makes the Yankees tick so often the right way.
1. Culture, culture and culture enough cannot be said about the value of culture to an organization. The long standing GM Cashman said “It’s hard to measure culture,” “but it’s very important to create culture and constantly reinforce it in various ways — with the people you hire, and the staff that you bring in, and your messaging.” Culture is not easy to define but is easier to identify. Walk into any organization, shop, office and the smile from the front office desk or the outlet staff communicates what they are all about. You generally know it when you see it.
2. It is about Character. The ownership, management looks at their human resource investments through a detailed microscope, the braintrust looks at character on the roster always. Despite being the best skilled and presumably game heroes, many players have been traded away or not signed. If the Yankees saw certain guys that couldn’t be part of the environment, they were gone.
3. Work for the enterprise and its goals, not self. The players are only encouraged to perform as a team and for the team. The main message according to them is, you have to stay humble and realize there is always somebody doing something better than you, it is the team.
4. Adoption of modern techniques and technology. Although the Yankees admittedly fell behind the curve when it came to the implementation of analytics for a short period, they immediately saw the need with Houston and Boston running away in that department, they changed. Now they rank among the leaders in forward thinking and credit their analysts for pushing to acquire many wayside players who found stardom immediately. They changed and trusted the tools, AI and ushered in the modern era while other clubs are now playing catch up.
5. Yankees recruited leaders not for their personal brilliance, but for their strong and amiable personalities with ability to communicate, influence and motivate the team members. Pitching great of Yankees who will likely retire this year, CC Sabathia said, ‘My whole concern was the clubhouse. I had come from Cleveland and come from Milwaukee where that was first, more so than winning. And I felt like here, it was winning more so than the clubhouse. And the GM was like, ‘I need you to change that.’ CC went on to become the leader of the house, ripping and at the same time prodding on the young generation for the last 12 or so years.
6. The organization invested and never backtracked or cut corners. The management team hired the best staff, the greatest scouts, good managerial team and provided unmatched facilities. Today’s Yankees team, both the players and the whole staff, are the best paid in the industry.
7. Avoided Groupthink, a normal pitfall for any organization. Instead of blaming the common conditions and market challenges in a herd mentality meetings, Yankees encouraged their amateur scouts to be mindful of avoiding groupthink, so that they didn’t look at amateur players with preconceived notions, and this process in their development department resulted in a group of Baby Bombers playfully called for their Home Run hitting, the new breed of successful new age yanks were born.
Success is a combination of many factors, but sustained success is a result of great planning and can be found only with the elite few. For these few, every little thing matter, and everything affects something else, each component is crucial, and nothing can be ignored. Yankees was always a great story, is now a good story and will be a successful story for a while. The hunt for October begins and that coveted World Cup again, Houston is tough to beat with their great pitching and A’s with their strategies. Hope to see them lift the cup.
Interesting Yankee Note: None of the people in Yankee Organization are allowed long and facial hair. This policy was started in 1973 by former club owner George Steinbrenner, reportedly after seeing several players' hair covering their numbers during performance of the "Star Spangled Banner" and noting down their numbers (as he did not know their names) to instruct them to cut their hair. As a result, he introduced an appearance policy for the Yankees. The official policy states "All players, coaches and male executives are forbidden to display any facial hair (except for religious reasons), and scalp hair may not be grown below the collar. This was because Steinbrenner wanted the Yankees to adopt a corporate attitude. This policy has led to media speculation that when a player cuts his hair, he is going to sign with the Yankees.N