This afternoon, the remaining members of the Yankees 2009 World Series Championship team will have the honor of meeting President Barack Obama at the White House. For the core four Yankees (Jeter, Posada, Rivera and Pettitte), this will be the third sitting President with whom they have visited to celebrate a championship (Bill Clinton three times and George W. Bush once). However, the visit to Bush resulted from a victory during the Clinton administration. Over the last 50 years, the Yankees have thrived under Democrat administrations, but come up empty when a Republican was in the White House. The Yankees last championship under the GOP dates all the way back to 1958, when Dwight Eisenhower was the commander in chief. Since then, all nine of the Yankees World Series victories have come with a Democrat leading the nation. I never like to mix politics and sports, but perhaps that’s something to keep in mind the next time you enter a polling booth during a presidential election.
| W | L | T | Pct | R | RA | AL | WS | |
| Democrats | 4426 | 3164 | 44 | 0.583 | 37531 | 30930 | 23 | 20 |
| Republicans | 5161 | 4136 | 49 | 0.555 | 45171 | 40354 | 17 | 7 |
| Yankees Record By Administration | ||||||||
| W | L | T | Pct | R | RA | AL | WS | |
| Barack Obama | 115 | 65 | 0 | 0.639 | 1011 | 820 | 1 | 1 |
| Warren Harding | 257 | 146 | 0 | 0.638 | 2227 | 1706 | 2 | 0 |
| John Kennedy | 309 | 176 | 1 | 0.637 | 2358 | 1839 | 3 | 2 |
| Franklin Roosevelt | 1156 | 677 | 17 | 0.631 | 10355 | 7705 | 7 | 6 |
| Dwight Eisenhower | 761 | 468 | 4 | 0.619 | 6140 | 4695 | 6 | 3 |
| Herbery Hoover | 375 | 240 | 4 | 0.610 | 4030 | 3157 | 1 | 1 |
| Harry Truman | 747 | 483 | 3 | 0.607 | 6279 | 4860 | 5 | 5 |
| Jimmy Carter | 392 | 255 | 0 | 0.606 | 3120 | 2567 | 2 | 2 |
| George W. Bush | 775 | 518 | 2 | 0.599 | 7048 | 5994 | 2 | 0 |
| Calvin Coolidge | 493 | 331 | 5 | 0.598 | 4522 | 3680 | 4 | 3 |
| Bill Clinton | 724 | 504 | 1 | 0.590 | 6738 | 5659 | 4 | 4 |
| Gerald Ford | 215 | 156 | 0 | 0.580 | 1644 | 1344 | 1 | 0 |
| Ronald Reagan | 677 | 562 | 0 | 0.546 | 5854 | 5345 | 1 | 0 |
| Richard Nixon | 468 | 444 | 2 | 0.513 | 3526 | 3419 | 0 | 0 |
| William McKinley | 60 | 59 | 2 | 0.504 | 67 | 69 | 0 | 0 |
| Lyndon Johnson | 401 | 406 | 6 | 0.497 | 3010 | 2945 | 1 | 0 |
| Woodrow Wilson | 582 | 598 | 16 | 0.493 | 4660 | 4535 | 0 | 0 |
| Theodore Roosevelt | 504 | 535 | 21 | 0.485 | 4876 | 5172 | 0 | 0 |
| William Taft | 288 | 318 | 9 | 0.475 | 2529 | 2709 | 0 | 0 |
| George H.W. Bush | 288 | 359 | 0 | 0.445 | 2708 | 3064 | 0 | 0 |
Presidential Performance
- Best Winning Percentage: Barrack Obama (.639, from 2009-Present)
- Worst Winning Percentage: George HW Bush (.445, from 1989-1992)
- Most AL Pennants: Franklin Roosevelt (7, from 1933-1944)
- Most World Series Victories: Franklin Roosevelt (6, from 1933-1944)
- Best Season (By Win%): Calvin Coolidge (1927, 110-44)
- Worst Season (By Win%): William Taft (1912, 50-102-1)
- Best Run Differential: Franklin Roosevelt (1939, +2.70 runs/game)
- Worst Run Differential: Theodore Roosevelt (1908, -1.63 runs/game)
- Lyndon Johnson and Woodrow Wilson are the only two Democrats under whose administration the Yankees have not won a World Series. The Yankees have failed to win a championship under nine different Republican presidents.
- There have been three presidential successions during a Yankees season: McKinley to Roosevelt in 1901; Harding to Coolidge in 1923; and Nixon to Ford in 1974.
- Yankee pitchers have thrown eight no-hitters under a Democrat president and four no-hitters under a Republican.
- Yankee batters have hit for eight cycles under a Democrat president and seven cycles under a Republican.
- Of the Yankees five Cy Young award winners, three came under a Democrat president and two came under a Republican.
- Of the Yankees 20 MVPs, 11 came under a Democrat president and nine came under a Republican.
I’m no “Democrat” but as if we needed any MORE reasons NOT to vote Republican..you’ve just added to the list! 🙂
PS: Sun Rays have a +50 run differential after one month’s play..I am officially afraid of them now..
It’s hard weighing the good of the nation against the good of the universe 🙂
The Rays are for real, but they have had a much easier schedule. They’ve played Baltimore 6 times! The Yankees, meanwhile, have only played 6 home games, and 9 of their 12 road games against Boston, TB and the Angels.
It’s really Boston who should be worried.
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