There was Mel Hall bringing two cougars into the clubhouse, Andy Hawkins throwing a no-hitter and the Yankees still losing the game, George Steinbrenner receiving a lifetime ban for paying a gambler to dig up dirt on Dave Winfield, and more.
And yet, the incident that was most fitting for the top-down dysfunction to come during the 1990 Yankees season happened in spring training, when reporters were told to come back to Fort Lauderdale Stadium at night for an impromptu bullpen session long after workouts had ended for the day.
The Yankees, who had become a laughingstock at the time, had signed right-hander Pascual Perez — who had a history of off-the-field issues — to a three-year, $5.7 million contract over the offseason. But when the lockout was lifted that March, Perez was nowhere to be found at Yankees camp.
Perez’s agency eventually tracked him down in his native Dominican Republic, drinking beers and playing dominoes with friends, before getting him to Florida on the eighth day of spring training. Steinbrenner was so irate at the situation that he made Perez, the club’s biggest offseason signing, throw a bullpen session the night he arrived in Fort Lauderdale. Reporters got notice to head back to the stadium, where they had to turn the lights on, and shortly after Perez and his agents arrived, he and pitching coach Billy Connors got dressed in full uniform for a bullpen session that began around 7 p.m.
Just three starts into the season, Perez suffered a shoulder injury and was out for the year.
“Think about how arms are trying to be protected these days, especially guys you spend a lot of money on,” said The Post’s baseball columnist Joel Sherman, who was then in his second year as a Yankees beat writer. “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.”
The publicity stunt gone wrong was just the beginning of a wild season for the Yankees, which was chronicled by Sherman in a 2020 New York Post series that has now become a three-part documentary coming to Peacock on May 16 titled, “Bronx Zoo: Crime, Chaos and Baseball.”
The series is directed by DJ Caruso, whose credits include feature films Disturbia, Eagle Eye and Two For the Money. In association with New York Post Entertainment, Bronx Zoo ’90 is produced by Emmy and Oscar-winning producers Believe Entertainment Group (Dear Basketball with Kobe Bryant, King of Queens:The RUN-DMC Story).
The trailer for the docuseries is being released today, May 1, with the exclusive first look running across the Post Digital Network.
While most fans remember the 1990s Yankees for their dynasty, winning World Series titles in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000, the dawn of that decade was at the other end of the spectrum.
“Here’s the thing: If you live in the zoo, you think the zoo is a normal place to live,” Sherman said. “I didn’t know anything else. I thought this is covering the game, this is normal. You only learn with time, ‘Oh no, no. This is the very definition of abnormal.’”
The documentary series dives into all the bizarre angles of the 1990 season. Among them:
- Steinbrenner’s public battle with Winfield, which led the owner to paying gambler Howie Spira $40,000 – with Spira later being convicted for trying to extort money from Steinbrenner – for dirt on Winfield. When news got out during a game that commissioner Fay Vincent banned Steinbrenner for life, Yankee Stadium broke out in a standing ovation.
- Hall, who was interviewed from jail where he is serving 45 years for the rape of a 12-year-old girl, bringing two cougars into the clubhouse that urinated on the carpet during a season in which the outfielder’s family photo in the team’s yearbook was Hall and his 15-year-old girlfriend at her prom.
- Buried beneath the misery that year was the Yankees signing Mariano Rivera, drafting Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada, and Gene “Stick” Michael taking over as GM in August to set in motion what would come later in the decade.
- Deion Sanders’ much-hyped attempt and ultimately epic failure at becoming a two-sport star after a tumultuous year in Pinstripes.
“The 1990s start with this utter failure on and off the field,” Sherman said, “and ends with utter triumph.”
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