The 1988 New York Yankees season was the 86th season for the Yankees. The team finished with a record of 85–76, finishing in fifth place, 3.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox. New York was managed by Lou Piniella and Billy Martin, with the latter managing the team for the fifth and final time. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium.

Offseason November 2, 1987: Lenn Sakata was released by the New York Yankees. December 11, 1987: Darren Reed, Phil Lombardi, and Steve Frey were traded by the Yankees to the New York Mets for Rafael Santana and Victor Garcia (minors).Rafael Santana page at Baseball Reference December 18, 1987: Rich Bordi was released by the New York Yankees. December 22, 1987: Steve Trout and Henry Cotto were traded by the Yankees to the Seattle Mariners for Lee Guetterman, Clay Parker, and Wade Taylor.Steve Trout page at Baseball Reference January 15, 1988: John Candelaria was signed as a free agent by the Yankees.John Candelaria page at Baseball Reference

Regular season

Opening Day starters

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions March 30, 1988: Orestes Destrade was traded by the Yankees to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Hipólito Peña.Hipólito Peña page at Baseball Reference April 4, 1988: Rick Cerone was released by the Yankees.Rick Cerone page at Baseball Reference April 4, 1988: Jerry Royster was released by the New York Yankees. May 7, 1988: Chris Chambliss was signed as a free agent by the Yankees.Chris Chambliss page at Baseball Reference May 10, 1988: Chris Chambliss was released by the Yankees. June 1, 1988: 1988 Major League Baseball draft Andy Cook was drafted by the Yankees in the 11th round.Andy Cook page at Baseball Reference Frank Seminara was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 12th round. Deion Sanders was drafted by the Yankees in the 30th round. Player signed June 22, 1988.Deion Sanders page at Baseball Reference July 15, 1988: Luis Aguayo was traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to the New York Yankees for Amalio Carreno. July 21, 1988: Jay Buhner, Rich Balabon (minors), and a player to be named later were traded by the Yankees to the Seattle Mariners for Ken Phelps. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Troy Evers (minors) to the Mariners on October 12.Ken Phelps page at Baseball Reference August 30, 1988: Cecilio Guante was traded by the Yankees to the Texas Rangers for Dale Mohorcic.Dale Mohorcic page at Baseball Reference

Roster 1988 New York Yankees Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders

Other batters Manager

Coaches

Game log Regular season

|- style="background:#cfc;" | 1 || April 5 || 1:10pm EDT || Twins || W 8–0 || || || || || 55,802 || 1–0 || W1 || |- style="background:#cfc;" | 2 || April 6 || 1:10pm EDT || Twins || W 5–3 || || || || || 32,756 || 2–0 || W2 || |- style="background:#bbb;" |–|| April 7 || || Twins || colspan="9"|Postponed (Rain) (Makeup date: August 5) |- style="background:#cfc;" | 3 || April 8 || 7:35pm EDT || Brewers || W 6–4 || || || || || 20,927 || 3–0 || W3 || |- style="background:#cfc;" | 4 || April 9 || 7:36pm EDT || Brewers || W 4–1 || || || || || 27,021 || 4–0 || W4 || |- style="background:#cfc;" | 5 || April 10 || 1:36pm EDT || Brewers || W 7–6 || || || || || 36,214 || 5–0 || W5 || |- style="background:#fcc;" | 6 || April 11 || 1:45pm EDT || @ Blue Jays || L 9–17 || || || || || 45,185 || 5–1 || L1 || |- style="background:#cfc;" | 7 || April 12 || 7:36pm EDT || @ Blue Jays || W 12–3 || || || || || 24,116 || 6–1 || W1 || |- style="background:#cfc;" | 8 || April 13 || 7:35pm EDT || @ Blue Jays || W 5–1 || || || || || 24,105 || 7–1 || W2 || |- style="background:#cfc;" | 9 || April 14 || 12:36pm EDT || @ Blue Jays || W 7–3 || || || || || 24,524 || 8–1 || W3 || |- style="background:#cfc;" | 10 || April 15 || 2:35pm EDT || @ Brewers || W 7–1 || || || || || 55,887 || 9–1 || W4 || |- style="background:#fcc;" | 11 || April 16 || 4:08pm EDT || @ Brewers || L 2–9 || || || || || 24,972 || 9–2 || L1 || |- style="background:#fcc;" | 12 || April 17 || 2:30pm EDT || @ Brewers || L 3–6 || || || || || 22,199 || 9–3 || L2 || |- style="background:#cfc;" | 13 || April 18 || 8:09pm EDT || @ Twins || W 18–5 || || || || || 30,442 || 10–3 || W1 || |- style="background:#cfc;" | 14 || April 19 || 8:05pm EDT || @ Twins || W 7–6 || || || || || 23,724 || 11–3 || W2 || |- style="background:#cfc;" | 15 || April 20 || 8:05pm EDT || @ Twins || W 7–6 || || || || || 22,369 || 12–3 || W3 || |- style="background:#fcc;" | 16 || April 22 || 7:39pm EDT || Blue Jays || L 4–6 || || || || || 33,314 || 12–4 || L1 || |- style="background:#fcc;" | 17 || April 23 || 7:38pm EDT || Blue Jays || L 2–3 || || || || || 24,046 || 12–5 || L2 || |- style="background:#cfc;" | 18 || April 24 || 1:38pm EDT || Blue Jays || W 5–3 || || || || || 52,073 || 13–5 || W1 ||

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

Player stats = Indicates team 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 Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C Don Slaught 97 322 91 .283 9 43 1B Don Mattingly 144 599 186 .311 18 88 2B Willie Randolph 110 404 93 .230 2 34 3B Mike Pagliarulo 125 444 96 .216 15 67 SS Rafael Santana 148 480 115 .240 4 38 LF Rickey Henderson 140 554 169 .305 6 50 CF Claudell Washington 126 455 140 .308 11 64 RF Dave Winfield 149 559 180 .322 25 107 DH Jack Clark 150 496 120 .242 27 93

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 Joel Skinner 88 251 57 .227 4 23 Gary Ward 91 231 52 .225 4 24 Luis Aguayo 50 140 35 .250 3 8 Bob Meacham 47 115 25 .217 0 7 Randy Velarde 48 115 20 .174 5 12 Ken Phelps 45 107 24 .224 10 22 José Cruz 38 80 16 .200 1 7 Roberto Kelly 38 77 19 .247 1 7 Jay Buhner 25 69 13 .188 3 13 Wayne Tolleson 21 59 15 .254 0 5 Hal Morris 15 20 2 .100 0 0 Bob Geren 10 10 1 .100 0 0 Álvaro Espinoza 3 3 0 .000 0 0 Chris Chambliss 1 1 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

Starting 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 Rick Rhoden 30 197.0 12 12 4.29 94 Tommy John 35 176.1 9 8 4.49 81 Richard Dotson 32 171.0 12 9 5.00 77 John Candelaria 25 157.0 13 7 3.38 121 Al Leiter 14 57.1 4 4 3.92 60 Ron Guidry 12 56.0 2 3 4.18 32 Dave Eiland 3 12.2 0 0 6.39 7

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 Charles Hudson 28 106.1 6 6 4.49 58 Scott Nielsen 7 19.2 1 2 6.86 4 Pat Clements 6 8.1 0 0 6.48 3

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 Dave Righetti 60 5 4 25 3.52 70 Cecilio Guante 56 5 6 11 2.88 61 Neil Allen 41 5 3 0 3.84 61 Steve Shields 39 5 5 0 4.37 55 Tim Stoddard 28 2 2 3 6.38 33Lee Guetterman 20 1 2 0 4.65 15 Hipólito Peña 16 1 1 0 3.14 10 Dale Mohorcic 13 2 2 1 2.78 19

Awards and records Rickey Henderson, Yankees Single Season Record, Stolen Bases in a Season (93 in 1988)

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Albany-Colonie, Oneonta, GCL YankeesJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References

External links 1988 New York Yankees at Baseball Reference 1988 New York Yankees team page at www.baseball-almanac.com