“This is not that New York Yankees story,” a narrator says in the trailer. “This is the story they don’t want you to hear.”
“I’m still trying to forget that team,” adds former skipper Buck Showalter, a solemn look on his face. Why would anyone ever want to forget anything about baseball’s most legendary, storied team, the New York Yankees?
A new, wonderfully captivating docuseries from filmmaker D.J. Caruso offers the full story. Based off of a series of columns by the Post’s Joel Sherman in 2020, Bronx Zoo ’90: Crime, Chaos, Baseball pulls back the curtain on a season that seems truly too awful and bizarre to be real.
Granted, ask any fan about the 1990 Yankees and they’re more likely to remember owner George Steinbrenner being banned from baseball. It was an almost perfect coda to his feud with star Dave Winfield and paying compulsive gambler Howie Spira to “dig up dirt” on the Hall of Famer.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, and not in a good way.
How did the Yankees pitch a no-hitter and still lose a game 4-0? Moreover, which future Yankees postseason hero played a pivotal role in that same contest?
The cast of characters in this soap opera season add more to the story. Pitcher Pascual Perez, a man with Pedro Martinez potential who behaved more like Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. Captain Don Mattingly, who could only watch in sadness as the season torpedoed along with his balky back.
And then there’s the dark tale of alleged star outfielder Mel Hall. If you want more, watch the series.
The irony is that out of one of the Yankees’ all-time lows came the team and organizational infrastructure we know today. George left, Gene Michael stepped up, and that isn’t lost on Caruso.
“It’s hard to believe that all of this happened in one season,” he told me as we discussed Bronx Zoo ’90. “In hindsight, you look back and you realize the dynasty might not have been restored if this didn’t happen.”
Bronx Zoo ’90: Crime, Chaos, Baseball is available to stream on Peacock.
FOR FULL STORY ON STANDARD WEBSITE: New Yankees docuseries highlights season of team’s dark underside | Elite Sports NY