The Yankees’ offense hasn’t been particularly great lately. Ahead of Wednesday’s game against the Mariners, in which they actually cracked double digits, they had averaged just 3.1 runs per game on their recent home stand. Yet in spite of that, they had also gone 4-3 through Tuesday, which is not what you’d expect in a run where a team puts up essentially a run and half less than the overall MLB average on the season.
The fact that the Yankees have managed to tread water despite getting that little offensive production got me thinking. I wanted to find the best run by a Yankees’ team from history despite not doing much scoring, and I think I might’ve found it.
The 1903 American League season was the first ever one for the team then known as the New York Highlanders. The 1903 team wasn’t bad, and they very nearly won the AL pennant the following year, but the pre-Babe Ruth Highlanders/Yankees teams aren’t particularly fondly remembered, as they didn’t exactly accomplish much. To be fair to them, this streak we’re about to talk about was also in the Dead Ball Era, so bad offensive stats now wouldn’t necessarily translate to bad then. However, they had one very odd run in June.
On June 9, 1903, the Highlanders were hosting the St. Louis Browns. Despite recording six hits, none of which went for extra bases, New York scored three runs and won 3-1, with St. Louis chipping in with a couple errors. That’s because Jack Chesbro — whose real opus was in 1904, but was also good in ‘03 — held St. Louis to one run on six hits, keeping them off the board for the final seven innings.
In the Highlanders’ next game, two days later, the Tigers opened up a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Meanwhile, it took until the fifth inning for New York to get on the board and they were trailing 3-1 going into the eighth. However, they scored two runs in the eighth, and walked it off in the ninth. The winning hit came courtesy of pitcher Jesse Tannehill, who went 3-for-4 on the day. Again though, all their hits were just singles, with none of the nine going for extra bases.
The next game came two days later, again against Detroit. Chesbro was back on the hill on just three days rest, because this was 1903. While this time around, New York took leads of 1-0 and 2-1, they again required a walk-off to win the game, with Willie Keeler providing it in the bottom of the ninth in a 3-2 victory. This particular game should not have required that, though. This time around, the Highlanders recorded eight hits, including two doubles and six walks. However, they managed to leave 10 runners on base before finally coming away with the win.
After two days off, the Highlanders then hosted the White Sox in games on June 16th and 17th. Both of those particular games finished 1-0 to New York, with Clark Griffith — also the team’s manager — and Barney Wolfe each pitching complete game shutouts. For the third time in four games, they also won via walk-off in the game on the 17th. Jimmy Williams hit an RBI single as one of just four Highlanders’ hits in the game.
The Highlanders continued their stretch of not scoring much in their next game, but the pitching couldn’t keep up, as they lost 7-0 to end the winning streak. They finally scored a decent amount of runs in the game following that, putting up six against Cleveland.
Over the course of the 1903 Highlanders’ five-game win streak from June 9-17, they scored just 12 runs on 33 hits and 10 walks. Collectively as a team, they hit .217/.270/.237. The current Yankees’ offense can be a bit of a chore to watch, but I’d prefer they not try and match the 1903 version’s exploits.