“Bronx Zoo ‘90” is a reality check for Yankees fans

A documentary based on a series of articles by Joel Sherman of the New York Post, “Bronx Zoo ’90: Crime, Chaos, and Baseball” is a three-part Peacock original series chronicling the bizarre and tumultuous 1990 New York Yankees season. The series makes it clear that the story they’re remembering is one the Yankees don’t like to tell. From the death of Billy Martin to the banishment of George Steinbrenner from baseball, the last-place 1990 campaign was rock bottom for an organization with a rich history.

It is clear from the jump that these episodes will move quickly in an attempt to provide nuggets that will keep the audience wanting more. The well of events that needed to be covered was vast, and the series overall does a good job of not allowing the audience to get complacent, telling the story with a swiftness and pulsing momentum. However, that can make the story feel chaotic and slightly overproduced at times, making the viewer wish at times that there was more room to let certain plot points and ideas breath. That said. the sheer volume of stories highlighted is enough to draw you in as a viewer.

Photo by Vincent Riehl/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images

A heavy focus of this series is on the late George Steinbrenner, his feverish appetite to bring the Yankees back to prominence, and the faulty mindset he too often demonstrated while attempting to reach that goal in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. The majority of the series paints George in a negative light—and deservingly so—a narrative that sometimes gets lost among the success of the late ‘90s.

Brian Cashman sums it up perfectly in episode one, alluding to Steinbrenner micromanaging nearly every aspect of the team at the time. Sherman, who appears often throughout the docuseries, describes George’s free agency tactics by this point as getting the scraps at the end of a buffet, as the Yankees were no longer attracting premium free agents. It was a hard sell when every player could easily see just how poorly Steinbrenner was treating star Dave Winfield (another key topic). The series hammers home just how much the Yankee fanbase hated the owner at the time. Many felt that the Boss was the sole reason for a decade-long slump for a once proud franchise, which included a standing ovation by the Yankee Stadium crowd upon hearing that Steinbrenner had been banned from baseball during the 1990 season.

What led to that point was a series of calamities by Steinbrenner that eventually came to a head. The breakdown of Steinbrenner’s relations with convicted felon and gambling addict Howie Spira, which ultimately led to Steinbrenner’s ban by then-commissioner Fay Vincent, is enough to make this series a must-watch. From the instant Spira begins his interview with the producers, it is hard to understand how Steinbrenner would trust such a man, hinting at Steinbrenner’s sense of desperation during this era. Spira hilariously claims he did more for the Yankees than anyone who has picked up a baseball.

While the series sporadically highlights the on-field disaster that was the 1990 Yankees, including the Pascual Pérez saga, Andy Hawkins throwing a no-hitter only for the Yankees to lose 4-0, and the mutual embarrassment that was Deion Sanders’ short-lived stint with the Yankees, the 1990 Yankees were such a mess off the field that it overtakes the series. It felt like the proper direction to take the story as a whole.

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Unfortunately, the 1990 Yankees’ problems were not contained to a brash owner and putrid play. This series does not tiptoe around Mel Hall’s relations with an underage girl during his playing days and subsequent 45-year prison sentence for unrelated sexual assault charges. The story of these Yankees could not be told without delving into the darkest depths of that team, leaving viewers to process heart-wrenching stories from victims who lived under that dark cloud for far too long (not to mention Hall’s own unnerving comments from jail).

Hearing from former players, coaches, and media members at that time gives a clear picture of just how chaotic that team was, and what the late-’90s dynasty had to recover from. If that was the goal of this series, then they certainly accomplished it. I can see how Sherman’s storytelling throughout the episodes may not be for everyone, but his insights and columns were the driving force behind this series. He deserves his kudos.

If anything, these episodes leave you with abrupt reality checks. It is hard to tell if it is intentional, but quickly shifting from baseball-related misfortune to real-life horror stories keeps the viewer on edge. The unpredictability of the stories leaves the viewer wanting more. I think it is a must-watch for Yankees fans, particularly those who have lost touch with what bad baseball looks like. Witnesses to the mess of 1990 may have found it hard to believe that just six years later a dynasty would be born. Rock bottom was real, but it also set the foundation for what was to come.