The 1980 New York Yankees season was the 78th season for the franchise. The team finished with a record of 103–59, finishing in first place in the American League East, 3 games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles. The Kansas City Royals swept the Yankees in the ALCS. New York was managed by Dick Howser. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium.

Offseason November 1, 1979: Chris Chambliss, Dámaso García, and Paul Mirabella were traded by the Yankees to the Toronto Blue Jays for Rick Cerone, Tom Underwood and Ted Wilborn.Rick Cerone at Baseball Reference November 1, 1979: Jim Beattie, Rick Anderson, Juan Beníquez, and Jerry Narron were traded by the Yankees to the Seattle Mariners for Ruppert Jones and Jim Lewis.Jim Beattie at Baseball Reference November 8, 1979: Bob Watson was signed as a free agent by the Yankees.Bob Watson at Baseball Reference November 8, 1979: Rudy May was signed as a free agent by the Yankees.Rudy May at Baseball Reference November 14, 1979: The Yankees traded players to be named later and cash to the Texas Rangers for Eric Soderholm. The Yankees sent Amos Lewis (minors) and Ricky Burdette (minors) to the Rangers on December 13 to complete the trade.Eric Soderholm at Baseball-Reference December 10, 1979: Andre Robertson was purchased by the Yankees from the Toronto Blue Jays.Andre Robertson at Baseball Reference

Spring training The Yankees played two spring training exhibition games at the Louisiana Superdome over the weekend of March 15 and 16, 1980. 45,152 spectators watched the Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 9–3 on March 15, 1980. The following day, 43,339 fans saw Floyd Rayford lead the Orioles to a 7–1 win over the Yankees.

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Opening Day lineup

Notable transactions April 1, 1980: Jim Kaat was signed as a free agent by the Yankees.Jim Kaat at Baseball Reference April 4, 1980: Johnny Oates was signed as a free agent by the Yankees.Johnny Oates at Baseball Reference April 30, 1980: Jim Kaat was purchased from the Yankees by the St. Louis Cardinals. May 28, 1980: Paul Blair was signed as a free agent by the Yankees.Paul Blair at Baseball Reference July 1, 1980: Paul Blair was released by the Yankees. August 1, 1980: José Rijo was signed by the Yankees as an amateur free agent.José Rijo at Baseball Reference August 14, 1980: Ken Clay and a player to be named later were traded by the Yankees to the Texas Rangers for Gaylord Perry. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Marvin Thompson (minors) to the Rangers on October 1.Gaylord Perry at Baseball Reference

Roster 1980 New York Yankees Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Game log Regular season

|-style=background:#fbb | 1 || April 10 || 8:35 p.m. EST || @ Rangers || 0–1 || Lyle (1–0) || Underwood (0–1) || || 2:39 || 33,196 || 0–1 || L1 || -1 |-style=background:#fbb | 2 || April 11 || 8:35 p.m. EST || @ Rangers || 7–11 || Jenkins (1–0) || Davis (0–1) || Rajsich (1) || 2:18 || 21,424 || 0–2 || L2 || -1½ |-style=background:#bbb | – || April 12 || – || @ Rangers || colspan=9| Postponed (rain); Makeup: April 13 |-style=background:#bfb | 3 || April 13 (1) || 4:35 p.m. EST || @ Rangers || 9–4 || Tiant (1–0) || Comer (0–1) || || 2:39 || – || 1–2 || W1 || -½

|- style="background:#bbcaff;" | – || July 8 || ||colspan=10 |1980 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles

|- style="text-align:center;" | Legend:      = Win      = Loss      = PostponementBold = Yankees team member

Postseason Game log

|- style="text-align:center;" | Legend:      = Win      = LossBold = Yankees team member

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

= Indicates league leader

Batting

Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Bold indicates American League All-Star. Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C 147 519 144 .277 14 85 1B 130 469 144 .307 13 68 2B 138 513 151 .294 7 46 3B 89 324 79 .244 16 45 SS 141 489 128 .262 5 52 LF 116 321 92 .287 2 27 CF 137 412 107 .260 14 47 RF 143 514 154 .300 41 111 DH 95 275 79 .287 11 35

Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI 83 328 73 .223 9 42 100 297 80 .269 13 57 97 259 61 .236 13 43 78 194 54 .278 14 50 52 164 36 .220 3 14 74 150 34 .227 8 21 49 86 18 .209 0 5 34 75 13 .173 1 5 39 65 20 .308 3 12 39 64 12 .188 1 3 8 8 2 .250 0 1 2 6 1 .167 0 1 3 6 0 .000 0 0 4 5 0 .000 0 0 3 4 1 .250 0 0 2 3 1 .333 1 2 12 2 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Bold indicates American League All-Star. Player G IP W L ERA SO 36 22 9 3.43 78 37 17 10 3.56 166 38 187 13 9 3.66 116 41 15 5 2.46 133 25 8 9 4.89 84

Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO 15 58 3 3 6.98 16 13 54 2 4 4.83 25 10 4 4 4.44 28

Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO 64 6 2 33 2.27 103 53 9 3 7 2.95 65 22 3 0 1 2.66 17 14 1 0 2 3.34 13 4 0 1 0 7.20 1

ALCS

Game 1 October 8 Royals Stadium Team123456789RHENew York0200000002101Kansas City02200012X7100W: Larry Gura (1–0)  L: Ron Guidry (0–1)  HRs: NYY – Rick Cerone (1) Lou Piniella (1)   KCR – George Brett (1)

Game 2 October 9 Royals Stadium

Team123456789RHENew York000020000280Kansas City00300000X360W: Dennis Leonard (1–0)  L: Rudy May (0–1)  S: Dan Quisenberry (1)HRs: NYY – Graig Nettles

Game 3 October 10 Yankee Stadium

Team123456789RHEKansas City0000103004121New York000002000280W: Dan Quisenberry (1–0)  L: Rich Gossage (0–1)HRs: KCR – George Brett (2) Frank White (1)

Awards and honors Bucky Dent, Goose Gossage, Reggie Jackson, Tommy John, Graig Nettles and Willie Randolph represented the Yankees at the 1980 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

Randolph earned the inaugural Silver Slugger Award at second base.

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Columbus, Fort Lauderdale, Greensboro, Oneonta, Paintsville

Notes

References 1980 New York Yankees at Baseball Reference 1980 New York Yankees at Baseball Almanac