Such is the Yankees’ mystique and aura that even in a year when the club missed the playoffs — a wild, woolly and swashbuckling October that ended with a parade through Boston — their affiliates dominated a sizable chunk of the baseball headlines.
From their most revered player leaving the sport to their best player leaving for Seattle, to the many turns of the Alex Rodriguez saga, the pinstripes are well represented in our top MLB stories of 2013.
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1. A-Rod vs. The World
Getty Images A professional sport has never seen the sort of “player versus league” battle that Alex Rodriguez has engaged in with Major League Baseball. While appealing his 211-game suspension for alleged illegal performance-enhancing drug use and obstruction, A-Rod hired his own team of lawyers and investigators and impressively muddied up MLB — while also waging battle with the Yankees even as he played for them. The ruling should arrive from independent arbitrator Fredric Horowitz in January, yet if the news is bad for A-Rod (as expected), he hopes to attain justice in court.
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2. Rise of the Beards
UPI The Red Sox appeared a broken franchise in 2012, a big-market dynamo gone inexplicably bad. It took them just a year to accomplish a 180-degree turn, as they rallied behind first-year manager John Farrell (who followed Bobby Valentine’s one-year disaster) and a slew of successful acquisitions to win the World Series over the Cardinals. The team drew credit for its exceptional clubhouse chemistry, highlighted by the group’s decision to grow “Duck Dynasty”-style beards as a sign of solidarity.
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3. Closing Time
AP The game’s greatest closer ever, Mariano Rivera, didn’t simply retire. He announced his decision during spring training and went on a season-long appreciation tour — getting gifts from each opponent (and eventually the Yankees) and spending time with ballpark employees at every stop. He also pitched close to his standard stellar level, at age 43, as the Yankees struggled to stay in the playoff race. His Core Four buddy Andy Pettitte, pitching ace Roy Halladay and Rockies icon Todd Helton joined Rivera in retirement at season’s end.
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4. Evergreen State of Mind
Getty Images When Robinson Cano dumped Scott Boras for upstart agent Jay Z in April, it seemed like Cano was determined to stick with the club that signed and developed him, the one his agent referenced in his hit song “Empire State of Mind.” The Yankees weren’t as excited about retaining their homegrown second baseman as he hoped, though, and early in December, Cano jumped for a monumental, 10-year, $240-million contract from the downtrodden Seattle Mariners.
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5. The Dirty Baker's Dozen
AP Even if A-Rod had nothing to do with Biogenesis, the shuttered South Florida anti-aging clinic, its exposure still would have been a huge story in baseball. As A-Rod appealed his punishment, the other 13 suspended players — including 2011 National League Most Valuable Player Ryan Braun, All-Stars Nelson Cruz and Jhonny Peralta and dopey Met Jordany Valdespin — accepted their sentences, blowing up the naïve notion that MLB had become drug-free in the age of more serious testing.
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6. Cooperstown Shutout
UPI For the first time since 1996, the Baseball Writers Association of America elected no one on its Hall of Fame ballot, swirling up a storm of controversy and conversation. Obvious statistical candidates such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were undone by their alleged ties to illegal performance-enhancing drugs; longtime ballot occupant Jack Morris couldn’t quite reach the required 75-percent threshold due to advanced statistical analysis; and in some instances, voters ran out of room on the 10-place ballot. Though the debate will continue to be heated, first-year candidate Greg Maddux seems a slam dunk to get in on Jan. 8, thereby avoiding a second straight zero.
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7. October Ho!
AP The Pittsburgh Pirates carried a remarkable 20-year streak of losing records into the 2013 season. They ended that two-decade run of incompetence with flair, blowing past the 80-win mark en route to a 94-68 record and the National League’s top wild-card spot. The ride ended with a five-game, NL Division Series loss to St. Louis, yet their core of young talent, starting with NL Most Valuable Player Andrew McCutchen, provides hope that they’re more than one-year wonders.
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8. The Chavez Ravine Zoo
Getty Images With the Yankees missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008 and their attendance and television ratings plummeting in accordance with that, their historic rivals out West helped filled the void. The Dodgers, armed with a payroll to rival the Yankees’, nearly fired manager Don Mattingly as they staggered to a 30-42 start; they promoted Cuban rookie Yasiel Puig, who led them to a 42-8 surge; and they ended the season with a painful NL Championship Series loss to St. Louis that left Mattingly’s long-term future in limbo once again. More drama to come next season, for sure.
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9. The Rise and Fall (For Now) of Matt Harvey
Bill Kostroun The Mets’ sophomore right-hander replaced the traded R.A. Dickey as the team’s ace and provided a Dwight Gooden-esque aura of dominance and excitement each time he took the mound. He thrilled the Mets and their fans by earning the starting assignment in the All-Star Game at Citi Field. Alas, the Mets suffered yet another tough break when Harvey succumbed to a right elbow injury and underwent Tommy John surgery. He’s expected to miss the entire 2014 season and return in 2015.
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10. Changes at the Top
AP Michael Weiner, the Players Association’s executive director since 2009, died of brain cancer at age 51. He was replaced by former Yankee and Met Tony Clark, who became the first former player to assume that role. Commissioner Bud Selig, meanwhile, seemed more determined than ever to retire, putting out a statement of his intentions in September to confirm, yes, this time, he isn’t bluffing. Selig promoted Rob Manfred to MLB’s COO in an apparent endorsement of a successor, yet the team owners will have the final say as to who will join Clark in instituting important changes in the years to come. Advanced instant replay and the elimination of home-plate collisions are on the agenda.