(This post has been updated from its initial publication on April 26, 2010).
At the risk of getting too political, President Barack Obama’s second term has been a disaster…for the Bronx Bombers. After racking up an impressive .602 winning percentage during his first term, the Yankees have struggled after President Obama’s re-election. Not only have the pinstripes posted a mediocre .522 winning percentage over the last two years, but they’ve also been outscored in each season, something that hasn’t happened to the Yankees since George H.W. Bush was in the White House.
Although President Obama hasn’t been kind to the Yankees during his second term, the Bronx Bombers have still done better under a Democrat commander-in-chief. Since 1901, the franchise’s winning percentage is nearly 30 points better when the President has been a Democrat. The Yankees have also won nearly three times as many World Series when the oval office was Blue instead of Red. This advantage has been particularly evident over the last half century. Since the Eisenhower administration, the Yankees have not won a World Series when a Republican has resided at 1600 Pennsylvania, but have claimed nine championships with Democrats in charge, including at least one in every administration but Lyndon Johnson’s.
I never like to mix politics and sports, but perhaps the Yankees’ drought under the GOP is something to keep in mind the next time you enter a polling booth during a presidential election. Then again, if President Obama doesn’t get his act together, it just might be time for an Independent.
Yankees Record by Political Party
| W | L | T | Pct | R | RA | AL | WS | |
| Democrats | 4870 | 3512 | 44 | 0.581 | 41248 | 34216 | 23 | 20 |
| Republicans | 5161 | 4136 | 49 | 0.555 | 45171 | 40354 | 17 | 7 |
Yankees Record by Presidential Administration
| W | L | T | Pct | R | RA | AL | WS | |
| 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 |
| Barack Obama | 559 | 413 | 0 | 0.575 | 4728 | 4106 | 1 | 1 |
| 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: Warren Harding (.638, from 1921 to August 2, 1923)
- 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)
Presidential Trivia
- 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.
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