Yikes!!!

Yankees at risk to mirror downward spiral that followed infamous 1965 season


Dear 2023 Yankees:

I have been waiting for you.

There have been previous years when I thought you would show up. I am still not sure how the 2013 and 2014 version remained in playoff competition deep into September. It was as if the organization was addicted to winning, as if that was part of its DNA, even if Jayson Nix or the ghost of Derek Jeter were getting lots of at-bats.

But annually, I have been waiting for 1965 to show up again and it hasn’t — until now.

Let me backtrack. The Post and Newsday had side-by-side seats at the old Yankee Stadium, and I loved when the terrific columnist Steve Jacobson would come out on Sunday afternoons. Steve had been a Yankees beat writer in the 1960s, and I was fascinated by the 1965 club and could not ask enough questions about it.

Why?

Because of how out-of-nowhere it was.

The Yankees did not have a losing record from 1926 through 64 — the personnel changed, but not the success. In those 39 seasons, they played in 26 World Series and won 19. That included playing in five straight World Series from 1960-64. How could that team fall so hard, so fast? They finished at 77-85 in 1965, then were 10th in the 10-team AL in 1966 (70-89) and ninth in 1967 (72-90).

The collapse was so sudden, unexpected and dramatic that I could not get enough about why and how it happened — it was like trying to make peace with the sports version of the Roman Empire falling. So I called Steve again this week, and also Al Downing and Roy White, who played on the 1965-67 Yankees. Because it is no longer guesswork. It is in front of me.

[nypost.com]