Get to know the Yankees for HRDX

Four of baseball’s most iconic teams are taking part in the first FTX MLB Home Run Derby X, an event that will bring a beloved American tradition to London – with a few twists. Some of the best players in the game’s long history spent their finest years in New York, and appropriately, many of them were notorious home run hitters. So as we gear up for the Yankees to compete in HRDX starting on July 9, here’s what you need to know about the franchise.

Franchise history
Today the Yankees play in the American League East, and Yankees franchise history goes all the way back to 1903, when the competing American and National Leagues merged to form Major League Baseball. Two National League teams already played in New York City – the Dodgers and the Giants – but as part of the agreement, the American League was permitted to add a New York-based franchise.

Now, if “Yankees” strikes you as a funny thing for an American sports team to call itself, you’re not wrong. The team played its first 10 seasons as the New York Highlanders, but as they were the third baseball team to take up permanent residence in New York, there was some displeasure with the “invasion” across the city. Local sportswriters gave them a number of mostly-derisive nicknames, including the “Americans," referencing their membership in the new American League. Eventually, this was shortened to “Yankees” or “Yanks." Derisive or not, the fans liked the sound of it, so when the team relocated in 1913, the club officially adopted the nickname.

World Series titles: 27
Years: 2009, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1978, 1977, 1962, 1961, 1958, 1956, 1953, 1952, 1951, 1950, 1949, 1947, 1943, 1941, 1939, 1938, 1937, 1936, 1932, 1928, 1927, 1923
We’ll concede that the Yankees have won a lot of championships. The most, in fact, and it isn’t close – the team with the second-most World Series titles in MLB history, the St. Louis Cardinals, has 11.

5 iconic players

Babe Ruth, OF, 1920-34: Even if you know nothing about baseball, there’s a chance you’ve heard of Ruth, who was the first true power hitter in Major League Baseball. Ruth also exists at the center of its most heated rivalry – more on that later.
Lou Gehrig, 1B, 1923-39: Gehrig is in the Hall of Fame not just for his unbelievable talent, but also for his durability – at one point in his career, he played 2,130 consecutive games without a day off, a record that stood unbroken until 1995. Unfortunately, Gehrig’s prolific career was cut short by ALS, a condition also often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Joe DiMaggio, CF, 1936-51: It's possible DiMaggio is most famous internationally for his brief marriage to Marilyn Monroe, but he was also a phenomenal baseball player. He made the All-Star team in all 13 of his seasons as a Yankee and won three Most Valuable Player Awards.
Mickey Mantle, CF, 1951-68: Mantle spent his entire 18-year career with the Yankees, winning seven World Series titles. He was named the American League's Most Valuable Player three times and ended his career with 536 home runs.
Derek Jeter, SS, 1995-2014: The player who defined a generation in New York, Jeter was one of the faces of Major League Baseball in his day, winning five World Series titles. Most central to his star power, though, was his flair for the dramatic.

Biggest current star: Aaron Judge
Judge is one of the game’s most prominent players, largely down to what a distinctive figure he is – he stands at six feet, seven inches and hits the ball exactly as hard as you would imagine, given his stature. Not to mention how much wordplay his name has enabled. Appropriately, Judge also won the traditional Home Run Derby as a rookie in 2017.

HRDX LEGEND: Nick Swisher
Swisher played for the Yankees from 2009-12 and was a member of the club’s most recent championship team. His exuberance made him a near-instant fan favorite in New York – so he was a natural candidate to be an HRDX Legend. He also took part in the 2010 Home Run Derby, although he was eliminated in the first round.

Biggest rival: Red Sox
The Yankees and Red Sox may have the most intense rivalry in American sports (although that sort of thing is always up for debate), and the root of the conflict in baseball is typically traced back to the trade that sent Babe Ruth from the Red Sox to the Yankees.

Early in his career, Ruth won three World Series with the Red Sox, the last in 1918, before he was sold to the Yankees in 1919. In New York, he became one of the best hitters the game had ever seen. So began the Yankees’ complete dominance over the American League, and a curse was born in Boston. That “curse” lived on for 86 years before the Red Sox finally won another World Series in 2004, and over that period, the bitterness between the two teams boiled over.

Aside from their lopsided success in the 20th century, these two clubs have at so many moments of heightened importance that their histories are inextricably linked. There are far too many notable clashes to name every one we’d want to – but we can recommend a more comprehensive list.

Ballpark: Yankee Stadium
The new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx hosted its first season in 2009, and while it replaced the original Yankee Stadium, constructed in 1923, the new version is modeled heavily after it, featuring the same iconic façade and utilitarian design. Also a holdover from the old ballpark is Monument Park, a section of the stadium filled with plaques honoring the greatest players in franchise history.

Uniforms
No matter where you live, you’ve probably seen a few caps with the Yankees’ interlocking “NY” in your day – they’re an accessory far removed from the team, at this point. Also iconic are the club’s home uniforms, which feature the navy blue pinstripes that have become synonymous with New York – despite the fact that the Yankees are not, in fact, the only team with pinstriped threads.