They may not have won much on the field, but they sure won the back page.
The 1990 Yankees, the franchise’s worst team in the past 100 years but a roster that sure kept things interesting, took centerstage Thursday with the release of the three-part docuseries “Bronx Zoo ‘90: Crime, Chaos and Baseball” on NBC’s Peacock, in conjunction with The Post.
Directed by veteran filmmaker DJ Caruso, the docuseries is based off New York Post sports columnist and then-Yankees beat writer Joel Sherman’s eight-part series in June 2020 that relived the true nadir before the birth of the dynasty in 1996 as chaos engulfed a 67-95 team.
This inside look at the Bronx Zoo includes first-hand accounts of that season from Yankees legends such as Don Mattingly and Bernie Williams, former manager Buck Showalter, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, Sherman, Yankees announcer Michael Kay and plenty more.
“I don’t think there’s ever been another team like the 1990 New York Yankees,” Caruso told NBC.
The 1990 Yankees hold the dubious distinction of owning the fourth-worst winning percentage in franchise history and the second-worst winning percentage since the franchise following the Highlanders days.
It’s not often that such a team would be memorable, but this Yankees group kept things quite interesting.
“I covered the team when free agents used the Yankees to bid themselves up with no plan whatsoever to sign with them,” Sherman told Decider. “Who wanted to play there when the owner might target you, like he did to Dave Winfield and others?… It was it was the worst show on on Earth, and nobody wanted to be part of it.”
The docuseries covers all the unbelievable moments, including manager Bucky Dent’s stunning firing in Boston — home of his greatest moment as a player.
“When Bucky got fired, he’s willing to talk and he said, ‘I just can’t believe he fired me in Boston,’” Kay says in the series. “Because it was the ultimate insult. This was Bucky-bleeping-Dent from 1978, the MVP.
“He got fired in Boston, which was, I mean, probably the unkindest kick in the cubes you could have.”
Other memorable moments from that season include George Steinbrenner being suspended after paying gambler Howie Spira — who is interviewed — for dirt on Winfield, a star outfielder.
There’s Mel Hall’s penchant for bringing two cougars into the clubhouse, along with his scandalous relationship with 15-year-old Chastity Easterly.
In 2009, Hall landed in jail on a 45-year sentence for raping a 12-year-old girl, and both he and Easterly –the former from prison, the latter for the first time — are interviewed in the series.
“It was really eye-opening for me to kind of go there and interview Mel in jail,” Caruso told NBC. “It wasn’t what I expected. I expected someone to kind of maybe have a little bit more remorse, but he didn’t really seem to have that. It was interesting. He sort of was still portraying himself as the victim in his own story.”
Some notable on-the-field lowlights include Andy Hawkins throwing a no-hitter but the Yankees somehow losing the game and Deion Sanders’ attempt to mirror Bo Jackson as a two-sport star.
And who could forget Pascual Perez, who signed a three-year, $5.7 million contract in the offseason, no-showing the start of camp and being summoned for a workout before lasting just three starts.
There’s a reason Showalter is quoted in the docuseries saying: “I’ve been trying to forget that team.”
“Think about how arms are trying to be protected these days, especially guys you spend a lot of money on,” Sherman said. “Here they were, they rolled this guy out to throw a bullpen at night to punish him in front of the media. And I’m picking out something crazy from a year of cougar cubs and the owner being suspended and a guy throwing a no-hitter and losing a game.”
Through all the craziness, that season did help pave the way for the Yankees’ run of four titles in five years, spearheaded by general manager Gene Michael.
“It just became to me, thematically, a look under the hood or look behind the curtain of this dynasty that emerged in the ’90s,” Caruso told NBC. “How could a team that was so bad on the field and off the field in three years turn this thing around and become the greatest franchise in the history of all sports?”
He added: “Like all good stories, whenever you go through these periods of darkness, it’s how you come out of it on the other end. So, you’re going to see that this franchise rose from this dark period and came out with great light. But within the darkness, there are so many great interpersonal stories. Some are tragic, some are mind-boggling.”
