Bronx Zoo ’90: Crime, Chaos and Baseball director believes disastrous Yankees team paved way to ‘greatness’

You may think you know the New York Yankees, but do you really? The perception of the Yankees franchise is baseball Americana, the very epitome of the sport since its inception, with 27 World Series titles to prove it. However, there was a time when the Yankees’ reputation was as flawed as a scuffed baseball, seemingly on the verge of being cast aside. Thanks to DJ Caruso, the director and executive producer of the upcoming Peacock three-part docuseries, Bronx Zoo ’90: Crime, Chaos and Baseball, we will be reminded of a forgotten period in Yankees lore.

Synopsis for Bronx Zoo ’90: Crime, Chaos and Baseball

Here’s how this docuseries is described by Peacock: “Bronx Zoo ’90: Crime, Chaos and Baseball is the astonishing true story of the 1990 New York Yankees, chronicling the team at a crossroads in their storied history. The season went on record as one of the worst and was made even more infamous by the drama that ensued off the field.

Based on a series of articles from New York Post columnist Joel Sherman, the docuseries covers team owner George Steinbrenner’s removal from baseball for trying to buy information on Dave Winfield from a notorious gambler. Adding to the chaos, beloved team captain Don Mattingly was caught in a contentious contract dispute, a top free agent signee went missing, rookie Deion Sanders wavered between two sports and a controversial outfielder pursued a relationship with a local high school girl. Despite it all, the 1990 Yankees laid the groundwork for one of the greatest dynasties in sports history.”

Whenever you think of the storied history of the pinstriped team from the Bronx, it’s easy to instantly gravitate toward names like Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, and a laundry list of others. But what about Mel Hall, Kevin Maas, Pascual Perez, or even Howard Spira, who said in part two of the docuseries, “I did more for the New York Yankees than anyone who’s ever picked up a baseball bat.”

For those who don’t remember or have never heard about the 1990s Yankees, it was a team of infamy. The Yankees finished the 1990 season at 67-95, last in the American League East in seventh place, their first last-place finish in 24 years. It was also the first time they finished in last place since the inception of the division era. If not for that year’s Atlanta Braves team, which finished 65-97, they would have officially been the worst team in all of baseball that season.

That was an appeal to Caruso. At least one of them.

DJ Caruso drew inspiration for Bronx Zoo ’90 from Yankees reporter

During the middle of the pandemic, Caruso started reading articles from the New York Post by Joel Sherman, who back in 1990 was a beat reporter for the Yankees. With the rest of the world coming to a complete stop, including sports, Sherman was living in reflection like most were, reminiscing about when life was normal and baseball was still being played — albeit about the most abnormal Yankees team in history.

It didn’t take long for Caruso to be intrigued by the cast of misfit characters Sherman wrote about, that went beyond a five-man rotation or nine-man lineup. They were spread throughout the Yankees organization and beyond, starting with the owner himself, George Steinbrenner, to his arch-enemy, outfielder Dave Winfield, and even to Deion Sanders, who we now know as Coach Prime.

“He [Sherman] has a great perspective, you know, because he was in there in the middle of all this,” Caruso said. “And he has this great perspective from hindsight to look back and say, ‘I really believe if all this didn’t happen, I don’t know if we get to 1995.’

The 1995 season was the Yankees’ first appearance back in the postseason in 13 years after losing the 1981 World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers. They lost the 1995 ALDS to the Seattle Mariners, but starting the very next season they would win four out of the next five World Series titles (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000). Since then, they’ve won one more World Series (2009) and missed the playoffs only five times. Now the Yankees, estimated to be worth over $7 billion (per Forbes), are one of the biggest brands not just in sports but in the world.

“It’s one of those things where the Yankees are just this incredible, global brand,” Caruso, who has directed 12 feature films, said. “They have their own network and they’re the Yankees. I was in Morocco making a movie last summer and people were wearing Yankee hats and they don’t even know why. New York Yankees history sort of erases this [1990] part of history. It’s not something they can be really proud of.”

As shown in the trailer, the story of the 1990 Yankees is large in scope, with more impactful narratives than any 162-game season would or should allow for a single team. But aside from things like panthers in the locker room, gambling, extortion, suspended owners, or a player openly dating an underage girl, Caruso chronicles this time in Yankees history to show not only how low things can go but also how they can rise.

“There was a real parallel between how bad that 1990 season was on and off the field and the fact that by 1995 the Yankees were on top of the world and the best team in baseball,” Caruso said. “So, I think it was a real look behind the curtain, a look under the hood about how this disastrous season on and off the field led to such greatness … and there we were, sitting in the pandemic, all of us, and I’m thinking, ‘What a great parallel.’ Where are we going to be in five years? Where are we going to come out in five years?”