Let’s start spreading the news…New York sports are back!
The New York Liberty are the champions. The New York Yankees are in the World Series. The New York Mets played until late October. The New York Rangers are the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. The New York Knicks just finished their most anticipated season in decades. The New York Jets have Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, but forget about that for now.
Three out of four major sports aren’t bad.
The region’s 15-year championship drought — an eternity in the city that never sleeps for what it has done lately — ended Sunday as the Liberty won its first title in franchise history.
That same night, the city was two wins away from hosting a rare Subway Series before the Mets’ incredible run to the NLCS ended with a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Yankees will face the Dodgers in the World Series, seeking New York State’s last title in a major men’s professional sports league and its first since 2009.
So despite disappointing seasons for the Jets and Giants, this has been a memorable calendar year for New York. Ticker tape once again appears in the sky over downtown Manhattan during the victory parade down Heroes Canyon.
Here’s a look back at the best year in New York sports history.
Liberty’s WNBA title win marked the first basketball championship in New York City in decades. Plans are now underway for the party, which will include a parade through Heroes Canyon in Lower Manhattan on Thursday, followed by a ceremony at City Hall. Reported by Jessica Cunnington of NBC New York.
1927
Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton could be the 2024 postseason Murderer’s Row. But nearly 100 years ago, when he led the Yankees to the World Series, the team’s original Murderer’s Row featuring Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig also did the same thing on a regular basis.
The 1927 Yankees are remembered as one of the greatest baseball teams of all time, going 110-44 in the regular season and crushing the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series.
That year, the Giants went 11-1-1 with eight shutouts and won their first NFL championship.
In their second season in the NHL, the Rangers were 8-6-4 when the calendar turned to 1928, and would go on to win their first Stanley Cup that year.
1951
It wasn’t just gunshots heard around New York. It was “Shot Heard Round the World.”
That was the iconic nickname given to Bobby Thomson’s walk-off home run that gave the New York Giants a 5-4 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers at the Polo Grounds. In the 9th inning, with the Giants trailing by two runs, Thompson’s three-run home run produced the most iconic call in baseball history: “The Giants won the pennant! The Giants won the pennant!”
However, the Giants were unable to win the World Series. They went on to lose in six games to New York’s other team, the Yankees.
The Giants soccer team also had a strong season, finishing with 9 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw. Also that year, the Knicks started the season advancing to Game 7 of the 1952 NBA Finals, but lost to the Minneapolis Lakers.
1956
Two titles in the same stadium in the same calendar year? It doesn’t happen that often, but it happened in 1956. The Yankees defeated their crosstown rival Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games to win the World Series.
The Giants defeated the Chicago Bears 47-7 for the NFL Championship in their first season playing home games at Yankee Stadium.
1969
Joe Namath’s Super Bowl Guarantee. Miracle Mets. The Knicks’ journey to their first championship begins. It all happened in the same year.
Namath and the Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III, winning the team’s only championship.
After losing more than 100 games in five of their first seven seasons, the Mets surprised the baseball world by winning 100 games in the regular season and defeating the Baltimore Orioles in five games in the World Series.
The Knicks, who did not win a title in their first 23 seasons, tied the then-NBA record with 17 consecutive wins. On New Year’s Eve 1969, the team was in first place with 33 wins and 7 losses. That season then ended in 1970, when the team’s first championship flag was hoisted in the rafters of Madison Square Garden.
1986
It’s a well-known sports year thanks to the “’86 Mets.”
This beloved team’s wild exploits off the field are as well known as Mookie Wilson’s little roll-up first shot that went through the legs of Bill Buckner. The latter, of course, capped off the Mets’ thrilling comeback in the bottom of the 10th inning in Game 6 of the World Series against the Boston Red Sox. As a result, the Mets won Game 7, 8-5.
Earlier that year, the Giants won their first Super Bowl, capping off a 14-2 season with a 39-20 victory over the Denver Broncos for their first title in 30 years.
That January was also the closest New York came to a Super Bowl matchup between the Giants and Jets. The Jets went 10-6 and defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in the wild card game. They advanced to play the Cleveland Browns in the divisional round, but surrendered a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and lost on a field goal in overtime.
1994
The year New York nearly won two championships in the same week.
Madison Square Garden hosted the Stanley Cup Final and NBA Finals simultaneously in June 1994, with both series going to a decisive Game 7, resulting in one of the most memorable games in the city’s sports history. Ta.
The Rangers defeated the Vancouver Canucks at the Garden to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1940. The next night, in the same building, the Knicks defeated the Houston Rockets, 2-2, advancing to the NBA Finals. The Knicks then won Game 5 and were one win away from winning their first championship since 1973, but suffered two consecutive losses in Houston.
On the same night (June 22) that the Knicks lost in Game 7, the Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins to improve to 42-27. They remained in first place in the American League until August 11, when they had a record of 70 wins and 43 losses before playing their final season-ending game due to a players’ strike.
2000
Get your tokens ready! Yes, folks, before iPhone apps and MetroCards, you had to use tokens to ride the subway.
And because the Yankees and Mets played in their first and only World Series that October, New York needed a lot of tokens. The Yankees defeated the Mets in five games, winning the championship for the third consecutive year and the fourth time in five years.
The Knicks appeared in the 1999 NBA Finals and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Giants finished the season with a 12-4 record and advanced to the Super Bowl in January 2001.
So this was a strong start to the new millennium for New York sports.
Chopper 4 was in the sky over Yankee Stadium on Monday afternoon as the team practiced on the field ahead of the World Series against the Dodgers. The World Series sign was visible above the dugout.
