1965
Yankee ownership shocked their fans when they fired Yogi Berra and replaced him with the 1964 Cardinals World Series-winning manager Johnny Keane. Berra had won the pennant and 99 games in his only year as manager in ‘64, but he did not win the Series and Keane did. Keane came to New York believing he had secured baseball’s highest honor leading the fabled Bronx Bombers. But it did not happen as expected. Keane was at the helm in ‘65 for the beginning of the greatest slide in Yankee history. He was fired 20 games into the 1967 season with a record of 81 wins, and 101 losses and never managed again. Meanwhile, Berra joined cross-town rivals the Mets as a coach for 5 seasons and eventually as manager for 2 successful seasons, before returning to the Yankees as manager in 1972.