In 2015, the New York Yankees had only one player in the starting lineup under the age of 30 (shortstop Didi Gregorius). Now, however, their lineup card boasts some of the best young talent in the majors, including 6 ft. 7in. slugger Aaron Judge, who enjoyed a Ruthian year in 2017 with 52 home runs. This core of rising stars, whom author Bryan Hoch dubs the “Baby Bombers” (Judge, catcher Gary Sanchez, pitcher Luis Severino, and first baseman Greg Bird), has Yankee fans seriously dreaming about multiple championships. After all, the team barely missed out on playing in last year’s World Series, falling one win shy, and now, in addition to the quartet of Baby Bombers developed in the team’s farm system, the team has also signed Giancarlo Stanton, the game’s 2017 home run king with 59, away from the Miami Marlins.
Here’s an excerpt from The Baby Bombers:
“The Yankees repeatedly downplayed the suggestion that 2017 was intended to be a rebuilding year, but there was ample evidence of how young they were. [Manager] Joe Girardi’s lineup card for the April 2 season opener at Tropicana Field featured Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird, Ronald Torreyes, and Aaron Judge in the batting order – all of whom would still be subject to an under-twenty-five penalty fee if they had attempted to rent a car before leaving the Sunshine State.
“It was the third time in franchise history that the Opening Day lineup featured four players under the age of twenty-five. In 1932, the Yankees had sent out a batch of kids: pitcher Lefty Grove, catcher Bill Dickey, third baseman Frankie Crosetti, and right fielder Ben Chapman. It had also happened in 1914 (first baseman Harry Williams, third baseman Fritz Maisel, shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh, and center fielder Bill Holden), and at twenty-eight years and 334 days, the average age of the Yanks’ Opening Day roster was its youngest in at least twenty-five years.”
