The 1982 New York Yankees season was the 80th season for the Yankees. The team finished in fifth place in the American League East with a record of 79–83, finishing 16 games behind the AL Champion Milwaukee Brewers. As a result, the Yankees endured their first losing season since going 80–82 in 1973, the team's final season at the original Yankee Stadium before the 1976 renovations. The Yankees were managed by Gene Michael, Bob Lemon, and Clyde King. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium.

Mel Allen, the longtime Yankees play-by-play commentator, returned for the Yankees broadcasts on SportsChannel New York with Fran Healy, with former partner Phil Rizzuto alternating with him. Allen had been a familiar face to many for several years since his return to television in 1975 as the voice-over narrator and presenter for the hit program This Week in Baseball.

Offseason October 13, 1981: Eric Soderholm was released by the New York Yankees. October 21, 1981: Willie McGee was traded by the Yankees to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bob Sykes. November 4, 1981: Brian Ryder (minors) and a player to be named later were traded by the Yankees to the Cincinnati Reds for Ken Griffey, Sr. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Freddie Toliver to the Reds on December 9. November 17, 1981: Aurelio Rodríguez was traded by the New York Yankees to the Toronto Blue Jays for a player to be named later. The Toronto Blue Jays sent Mike Lebo (minors) (December 9, 1981) to the New York Yankees to complete the trade. February 22, 1982: Barry Evans was purchased by the Yankees from the San Diego Padres. March 30, 1982: Andy McGaffigan and Ted Wilborn were traded by the Yankees to the San Francisco Giants for Doyle Alexander.

Regular season April 6, 1982, Opening Day vs. the Texas Rangers was snowed out, as a blizzard brought more than a foot of snow to New York; additional games were also postponed due to the stadium not being cleared. The team finally began their season on April 11, with a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox. April 27, 1982, Reggie Jackson returned to Yankee Stadium with the Angels. He broke out of a terrible season-starting slump to hit a home run off former teammate Ron Guidry. The at-bat began with Yankee fans, angry at Steinbrenner for letting Jackson get away, starting the "Reg-GIE!" chant, and ended it with the fans chanting "Steinbrenner sucks!" By the time of Jackson's election to the Hall of Fame in 1993, Steinbrenner had begun to say that letting him go was the biggest mistake he made as Yankee owner. September 5, 1982: Roy Smalley hit home runs from both sides of plate for New York Yankees. Future NFL Hall of Famer John Elway played baseball for the New York Yankees' Oneonta single-A farm club in 1982. Elway posted a .318 average and knocked in a team-high 24 runs with no errors in 42 games.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Opening Day lineup

Notable transactions April 1, 1982: Bill Caudill was acquired by the Yankees from the Chicago Cubs to complete an earlier deal (the Cubs sent players to be named later to the Yankees for Pat Tabler) made on August 19, 1981. April 1, 1982: Bill Caudill, Gene Nelson and a player to be named later were traded by the Yankees to the Seattle Mariners for Shane Rawley. The Yankees completed the deal by sending Bobby Brown to the Mariners on April 6. April 5, 1982: Brad Gulden was traded by the Yankees to the Montreal Expos for Bobby Ramos. April 10, 1982: Ron Davis, Greg Gagne and Paul Boris were traded by the Yankees to the Minnesota Twins for Roy Smalley III. April 23, 1982: Bob Watson was traded by the Yankees to the Atlanta Braves for Scott Patterson (minors). May 5, 1982: Dave Revering, Tom Dodd, and Jeff Reynolds (minors) were traded by the Yankees to the Toronto Blue Jays for John Mayberry. May 12, 1982: Larry Milbourne, Pete Filsen, John Pacella and cash were traded by the Yankees to the Minnesota Twins for Butch Wynegar and Roger Erickson. August 8, 1982: Bucky Dent was traded by the Yankees to the Texas Rangers for Lee Mazzilli. August 31, 1982: Tommy John was traded by the Yankees to the California Angels for a player to be named later. The Angels completed the deal by sending Dennis Rasmussen to the Yankees on November 24.

Draft picks June 7, 1982: 1982 Major League Baseball draft Bo Jackson was drafted by the Yankees in the 2nd round, but did not sign. Dan Pasqua was drafted by the Yankees in the 3rd round. B. J. Surhoff was drafted by the Yankees in the 5th round, but did not sign. Jim Deshaies was drafted by the Yankees in the 21st round. Mike York was drafted by the Yankees in the 40th round.

Roster 1982 New York Yankees Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders

Other batters Manager

Coaches

Player stats = Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases Pos Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB C 89 300 29 68 .227 5 28 0 1B 69 215 20 45 .209 8 27 0 2B 144 553 85155 .280 3 36 16 3B 122 405 47 94 .232 18 55 1 SS 142 486 55 125 .257 20 67 0 LF 140 539 84 151 .280 37 106 5 CF 123 477 76 143 .300 9 68 11 RF 127 484 70 134 .277 12 54 10 DH 108 316 49 86 .272 18 57 6

Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases Player G AB R H Avg. HR RBI SB 111 348 41 88 .253 3 25 13 102 261 33 80 .307 6 37 0 63 191 27 56 .293 3 20 0 59 160 11 27 .169 0 9 0 65 141 12 32 .227 7 30 2 37 128 20 34 .266 6 17 2 44 118 16 26 .220 2 9 0 33 107 8 20 .187 2 4 0 30 58 2 10 .172 0 3 0 17 48 4 7 .146 0 2 0 14 40 2 6 .150 0 2 0 17 31 2 8 .258 0 2 0 14 27 2 4 .148 0 0 0 10 26 5 5 .192 0 0 2 7 17 3 4 .235 0 3 0 11 16 3 3 .188 1 1 1 7 12 0 2 .167 0 1 0 4 11 1 1 .091 1 2 0 3 9 2 3 .333 0 1 0 Juan Espino 3 2 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Dave Stegman 2 0 0 0 ---- 0 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 34 222.0 14 8 3.81 162 30 186.2 10 10 3.66 54 Dave Righetti 33 183.0 11 10 3.79 163 Mike Morgan 30 150.1 7 11 4.37 71 16 70.2 4 5 4.46 37 Doyle Alexander 16 66.2 1 7 6.08 26 Jay Howell 6 28.0 2 3 7.71 21 Stefan Wever 1 2.2 0 1 27.00 2

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 47 164.0 11 10 4.06 111 Rudy May 41 106.2 6 6 2.89 85 John Pacella 3 10.0 0 1 7.20 2

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 56 4 5 30 2.23 102 63 4 4 1 3.47 69 Dave LaRoche 25 4 2 0 3.42 31 Curt Kaufman 7 1 0 0 5.19 1 Lynn McGlothen 4 0 0 0 10.80 2 1 0 0 0 54.00 0

Awards and honors Ron Guidry, Goose Gossage and Dave Winfield represented the Yankees at the 1982 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Gold Gloves were awarded to pitcher, Ron Guidry and outfielder, Dave Winfield. Dave Winfield, Silver Slugger Award.

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Nashville, Fort Lauderdale, Greensboro, 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

Notes

References 1982 New York Yankees at Baseball Reference.com 1982 New York Yankees team page at www.baseball-almanac.com