I got the idea for this post when I was talking to my friend about the last time the Yankees won the World Series. It’s almost going to be nine years, but nine years isn’t that long. If I ever complained about a nine-year World Series drought to a Cubs fan, I would more than likely get a smack in the face…and it would be completely warranted.
However, when I think back to where I was the 2000, it seems like ages ago. The last time the Yankees won it all I was a freshman in High School. It feels like I graduated from H.S. ages ago; forget about actually being a freshman. The bottom line is we all follow our team with one goal: to see them win it all at the end. Don’t get me wrong, you can still enjoy the season, but you are never fully satisfied unless your team is the last one standing. Unless you root for the Phillies, Red Sox or Cardinals, the last time your team won it all can seem like a lifetime ago.
So let’s take a little trip down memory lane and see what life was like the last time your team were World Champions. Sorry to all Washington, Milwaukee, Houston, San Diego, Colorado, Tampa Bay, Texas, and Seattle fans. You need to have won at least one to qualify.
National League
New York Mets (1986) – This year a little-known woman from Mississippi started broadcasting her own TV show nationally. The woman: Oprah Winfrey. The Oprah Winfrey Show is a staple of late-afternoon TV viewing. But when the Mets won it all, the show wasn’t even a year old.
Philadelphia Phillies (2008) – In 2008 Barack Obama was elected President. I know! That’s crazy! There is really nothing that I can say to make 2008 seem like a long time ago. Enjoy it Philly. If I ever get around to doing a football version, it’s not going to be pretty.
Atlanta Braves (1995) – 1995 marked the release of the first ever wholly computer generated film. The same year the Braves won it all was the same year Toy Story was released. Toy Story is set to mark its 15th anniversary with the release of Toy Story 3. Fifteenth anniversary!! That makes me feel old.
Florida Marlins (2003) – The Governator is born! This was the year Arnold Schwarzennegger stopped being a movie star and became the Governor of California.
Chicago Cubs (1908) – OK there a million and one things I could put here to make you all realize exactly how long 1908 was. But you already know that. It’s 1908! My Grandparents weren’t even alive in 1908. But I’ll give you a little tidbit anyway. 1908 was the year Henry Ford developed the first Model T automobile. And the car was selling for a whopping $850.
Cincinnati Reds (1990) – Remember Milli Vanilli? “Girl you know its true, ooh, ooh, ooh, I love you.” OK, moving on. Well in 1990 they were a big story in the news. This was the year the duo admitted to lip-synching and had to hand over their Grammy.
St. Louis Cardinals (2006) – Realistically 2006 is not that long ago. While I’m sure Cards fans would love to see their team win it all, they aren’t exactly dying for a championship. 2006 may be the last year St. Louis won it all but it also marks the last year Pluto was considered a Pluto. In 2006, poor little Pluto was deemed too small to be a real planet. Scientists can say what they want, Pluto is still a planet in my heart.
Pittsburgh Pirates (1979) – This is the year that ESPN came out. Yep, the same year the Pirates won it all, ESPN was an up-and-coming, all-sports network. Now it is just an affected, biased station. 1979 was a better time for not only Pittsburgh but all of us.
San Francisco Giants (1954) – OK Giants fans, 1954 was a long time ago. I mean this is back when the team was still the New York Giants. But this was a very special World Series. It was the first time the World Series was broadcast in color. That’s gotta make you feel a little better…right?
Los Angeles Dodgers (1988) – Prior to 1988, the World was a much sadder place. 1988 marked the year the antidepressant Prozac was introduced to the public.
Arizona Diamondbacks (2001) – Arizona fans may have been happy seeing their team win the World Series, but overall 2001 was a pretty crappy year. Bush was sworn in as President, 9/11 happened, the anthrax attacks. It was also a crappy year in New York sports: the Giants lose the Super Bowl and the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees, officially ending their dynasty. However, there is one bright spot in this year: the introduction of Wikipedia. Wikipedia was a fine invention; helped me put this post together.
American League
Boston Red Sox (2007) – In 2007, the first Transformers movie came out and they are already up to the second one…OK as hard as I tried, there really is no way to make 2007 seem like a long time ago.
New York Yankees (2000) – 2000 marked the boom of Reality TV. Survivor debuted on CBS the same year the Yanks won it all. Survivor was such a success that many networks launched their own reality shows. Now it seems like every other show on TV is reality. With shows like Rock of Love, I Love New York, and Charm School, I think it’s about time this trend die. And the Yankees win another one. (Wishful thinking!)
Baltimore Orioles (1983) – You know how every year the numbers come in for the amount of viewers who watched the Super Bowl? It’s always a large number but they can never seem to beat the series finale of M*A*S*H. This was the year that episode aired and a record-breaking 125 million people tuned in. Maybe in order for this record to be broken the Orioles need to win another World Series. If that’s the case, the cast of M*A*S*H can rest easy. This record isn’t going to be broken anytime soon.
Toronto Blue Jays (1993) – Michael Jackson is accused of fondling a 13-year-old boy. He will adamantly deny these charges in court and not be convicted. Actually, this doesn’t seem like a long time ago. I should probably clear things up. 1993 was the year Michael Jackson was accused for the FIRST time of molesting little boys. This was back in the day when he used to have sleepovers with Macaulay Culkin. For some light-hearted 1993 news, this was also the year Beavis and Butthead debuted.
Cleveland Indians (1948) – OK here is another year where you really do not need any reminding of how long ago it was. 1948 was 61 years ago. Sorry Indians fans! In 1948, the cost of a movie ticket was 60 cents and the cost of gas was 16 cents a gallon. Those were truly simpler times.
Detroit Tigers (1984) – 1984 was not only the year the Tigers last won it all, it was also a pretty sweet year for movies: Gremlins, Ghostbusters, The Karate Kid, Splash, and The Terminator were all released this year. If I were alive, I would have been spending a lot of time at the movie theaters. And it wouldn’t have broken the bank. The cost of a movie ticket back then was only $2.50.
Kansas City Royals (1985) – The 80s were definitely a long time ago, but all those teams who last one it then sure did it in fun times. Everything cool came out in the 80s. That’s why I had to have a whole list of movies that came out when the Tigers won the World Series. And here’s a list of things that came out in 1985: Both the Golden Girls and Growing Pains premiered, Back to the Future came out, and Elmo was introduced to Sesame Street! 1985 was also the year Madonna was still “normal”. She launched her first road show, the Virgin Tour.
Chicago White Sox (2005) – So I praised the 80s before because it seemed that so many awesome things came out that decade. Well the millennium seems to be the complete opposite. It seems that everything bad occurred these last few years. The last time the White Sox won it all Bush was sworn in for his second term and Hurricane Katrina happened. This also marked the birth of obnoxious celebrity super-couples: Brad Pitt dropped Jennifer Aniston for Angelina Jolie and Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes got engaged.
Minnesota Twins (1991) – 1991 was a pretty eventful year for both Minnesota baseball fans and pop culture. This was the year Nirvana released “Smells Like Teen Spirit” off their Nevermind album. Pee Wee Herman was arrested for enjoying himself a little too much at a movie theater. Also, Sonic the Hedgehog was released for Sega Genesis. I loved my Sonic the Hedgehog video games when I was younger.
Los Angeles Angels (2002) – American Idol seems like it has been around forever. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know who Simon Cowell was or exactly how crazy Paula Abdul was. Well 2002 was the first season of the show, with Kelly Clarkson winning it all.
Oakland A’s (1989) – “If you see me walking by, and the tears are in my eyes, look away, baby look away.” I could keep going, but I’ll spare you. The last time the A’s won it all Chicago’s “Look Away” spent the most time at the top of the US charts.
So by now most of us are pretty depressed (those who actually read this entire post…I salute your will) realizing exactly how long it’s been since our team last won it all. But there is a bright side: Come October, some team’s year will become a little more up-to-date or some team might find themselves finally making the list. Good luck!
Ladies... 
I graduated HS in 2000, and it seems like that was another lifetime. Weird.
Pam, I’m with you. I also graduated in 2000, and that seemed like a lifetime ago.
I was alive (barely) the last time the O’s won the World Series. Apparently my mom mom put me in my stroller and wheeled me down to the victory parade after they won. I have a World Series pennant flag from that day and a picture of me in my stroller with the parade passing by in the background. lol
I would love an updated version of that picture! haha
Your mention of Detroit’s last win dreged up this random memory I had of this Detroit TV affiliate that had this song to promote Tigers games that year, set to the tune of “Thriller”. Anyone remember that?
Let’s just say I graduated from high school pre-Joe Torre years. Yeah.
When the Jays won last, they were using “Whoops, There It Is” as their theme song. Well, the ’92 team was and I’m pretty sure I remember it carrying over. When Mighty Joe hit his homer, I was living in my first apartment and working in a job I hated. The friends I watched the game with I haven’t seen in years. And I was 30 pounds lighter. :)
I couldn’t remember The Series in 82, because I was only two when The Cardinals won that one. 2006, I can remember. Adam getting the last out, thing of beauty.
1991: I was in college in St. Louis when the Twins beat the Braves that year. The Twins beat St. Louis in the 1987 Series, and it was still pretty fresh in people’s minds. Needless to say, I was on the receiving end of more than one Tomahawk Chop.
This post is awesome! Well, also depressing. But mostly awesome!
Very interesting post! As a native Washingtonian, I must point out that the last time a Major League Baseball team in Washington won the World Series, Calvin Coolidge was president. The year was 1924, and the Washington Senators defeated the New York Giants in seven games. As for the Nationals…I’m thinking they’ll win their first World Series in…oh, probably 2022 or so…maybe……
It’s not quite true that “scientists” decided Pluto is too small to be a planet or that 2006 is the last year Pluto was considered a planet. Only four percent of the IAU voted on the controversial demotion, and most are not planetary scientists. Their decision was immediately opposed in a formal petition by hundreds of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto. One reason the IAU definition makes no sense is it says dwarf planets are not planets at all! That is like saying a grizzly bear is not a bear, and it is inconsistent with the use of the term “dwarf” in astronomy, where dwarf stars are still stars, and dwarf galaxies are still galaxies. Also, the IAU definition classifies objects solely by where they are while ignoring what they are. If Earth were in Pluto’s orbit, according to the IAU definition, it would not be a planet either. A definition that takes the same object and makes it a planet in one location and not a planet in another is essentially useless. Pluto is a planet because it is spherical, meaning it is large enough to be pulled into a round shape by its own gravity–a state known as hydrostatic equilibrium and characteristic of planets, not of shapeless asteroids held together by chemical bonds. These reasons are why many astronomers, lay people, and educators are either ignoring the demotion entirely or working to get it overturned.
As a never-won here in Milwaukee, this post makes me very, very bitter. I’m just sayin’….