The 1998 Yankees: The Inside Story of the Greatest Baseball Team Ever

by Jack Curry Narrated by Jack Curry

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A behind-the-scenes look at what was arguably the best team in baseball history. This is a deep dive into how they were constructed and how they were, in fact, indestructible.

Discover the inside story of the 1998 Yankees' unprecedented talent with this gripping account from a reporter who was there for the team's dominating 125 wins.¿*

The visiting clubhouse in San Diego was soggy, sweaty and sticky after the 1998 Yankees swept the Padres in four games and celebrated winning their 24th World Series title. The players raised bottles of Champagne, sprayed the bubbly on each other and reveled in a baseball season that might have been more memorable than any in history.

Jack Curry was part of that unforgettable scene as a reporter, navigating around the clubhouse to ask the same, pertinent question. After winning an unprecedented 125 games and pummeling teams along the way, were these Yankees, the Yankees of Jeter, Mariano, Posada, Pettitte, Bernie, O'Neill, Tino and so many other vital players, the best team ever?

“Right now, you would have to call them the best team ever,” said owner George Steinbrenner.

Twenty five years later, Curry revisits that season to discuss how that team was built and why the Yankees were such a talented, refreshing and successful club. This book includes new interviews with more than 25 players, coaches and executives, who revealed some behind-the-stories about the magical journey and who also discussed the depth of this historic squad.
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“From the first man to the 25th man on the roster, I don't think there's a team that had more talent and a team whose players knew their roles as well as our players did,” said pitcher David Cone. “If you're using that as a barometer for the best team of all-time, then I think you can call us the best team of all-time.”

During that wondrous season, Don Zimmer, a Yankee coach and a baseball lifer who began his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954, told associates there would never be another team like the 1998 Yankees. Zimmer was right. Twenty five years later, Curry describes how and why that Yankee team could be the best ever.

"The 1998 Yankees were a perfectly constructed team. Jack Curry does an amazing job of telling the tales of that phenomenal group."*-David Cone

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

I feel that my 1998 team was the best of all-time. After a tough opening week, I managed a team that wasn’t going to be denied following a disappointing ending in 1997. It was enjoyable to revisit that season with Jack Curry. In these pages, Jack reminds everyone what made that team so special.”—Joe Torre, Hall of Famer and Yankees’ manager for four World Series titles

“With fresh, insightful interviews of all the key characters and keen-eyed reporting, Jack Curry, like the 1998 Yankees, delivers one win after another. His book accomplishes a rare double play by bringing new perspective about a well-chronicled team while also unearthing never-before-told stories from that historic season. Consider this the 126th victory of that championship campaign.”—Joel Sherman, New York Post baseball columnist and MLB Network insider

“I don’t think there’s such a thing as a perfect team, but I do think the 1998 Yankees were a perfectly constructed team. Everyone knew his role and excelled at it. We had confidence in each other’s abilities to perform. Jack Curry covered that team’s journey and he does an amazing job of telling the tales of that phenomenal group. It was a great team back then and this is a great book now.”—David Cone, Five-time World Series Champion

“Are the 1998 Yankees the best baseball team ever? The question itself invites debate. What is beyond debate is that the ’98 Yanks are on the short list of teams with a legitimate claim to that distinction. A claim for which Jack Curry, in colorful and telling details, makes a compelling case.”—Bob Costas, Hall of Fame Broadcaster


“I highly recommend pre ordering this book!! I competed against this tough team out on the field but Jack Curry took me into their clubhouse and showed me why they were truly great!! I could not put the book down!”—John Flaherty, 14-year major league veteran and YES Network broadcaster

“Curry is strong on personality profiles, and it’s clear that he’s spent a lot of time in the dugout and locker room… Yankees fans will enjoy his paean.”—Kirkus Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

2023-06-07
Enthusiastic history of the baseball squad that Derek Jeter called the “greatest team ever.”

The 1998 New York Yankees, writes veteran baseball writer Curry, was a powerhouse team in every respect: Its bullpen was headed by Mariano Rivera, one of the most consistently productive pitchers in the game, with catching duties shared by Joe Girardi and Jorge Posada and talented players at every position. For the most part, the players got along, with the usual tensions, under the watchful gaze of manager Joe Torre. Not that all the season’s moments were blissful. As the author notes, “Posada was as passionate and as intense as any player I ever covered, a player who was never hesitant to tell a pitcher how he felt about a disappointing pitch or an awful outing. As Posada’s stature and playing time increased, he became as much of a leader as any Yankee. And, if he felt the need to get loud and demonstrative…he would.” He was particularly hard on pitcher David Wells, who had a few disastrous moments but who also pitched a rare perfect game that year. Curry is strong on personality profiles, and it’s clear that he’s spent a lot of time in the dugout and locker room. He chronicles a near-knockdown fight between Wells and fellow pitcher David Cone, and he records an all-too-public brawl between the Yankees and the Orioles after an Orioles pitcher threw a ball at left-handed batter Tino Martinez that “drilled [him] between the 2 and the 4 on his back.” The 1998 season, culminating in a World Series sweep of the San Diego Padres, had plenty of fine moments of vindication, including Rivera’s atoning for a previous season of allowing one homer too many. It was a season, writes the author, that was “as remarkable as any in their illustrious history.”

Buffs may quibble at Curry’s best-team-ever claim, but Yankees fans will enjoy his paean.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175184847
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	1,111,801

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