<P> The history of the New York Yankees Major League Baseball (MLB) team spans more than a century . Frank J. Farrell and William Stephen Devery bought the rights to an American League (AL) club in New York City after the 1902 season . The team, which became known as the Yankees in 1913, rarely contended for the AL championship before the acquisition of outfielder Babe Ruth after the 1919 season . With Ruth in the lineup, the Yankees won their first AL title in 1921, followed by their first World Series championship in 1923 . Ruth and first baseman Lou Gehrig were part of the team's Murderers' Row lineup, which led the Yankees to a then - AL record 110 wins and a Series championship in 1927 under Miller Huggins . They repeated as World Series winners in 1928, and their next title came under manager Joe McCarthy in 1932 . </P> <P> The Yankees won the World Series every year from 1936 to 1939 with a team that featured Gehrig and outfielder Joe DiMaggio, who recorded a record hitting streak during New York's 1941 championship season . New York set a major league record by winning five consecutive championships from 1949 to 1953, and appeared in the World Series nine times from 1955 to 1964 . Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Whitey Ford were among the players fielded by the Yankees during the era . After the 1964 season, a lack of effective replacements for aging players caused the franchise to decline on the field, and the team became a money - loser for owners CBS while playing in an aging stadium . </P>

When did the yankees become a baseball team