“If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research.”
- Albert Einstein

Summary

As part of a general theory of Natural, Social and Medical phenomena, we are proposing that the performance of the New York Yankees over at least a 70-year period correlates with the warm and cool phases of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), which are known to correlate with the frequency of intense hurricanes. We are suggesting that the putative correlations involve Phi, the Golden Mean and Divine Proportion, and could enhance our understanding of, for example, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, Lou Gehrig's dis-ease).

Fig. 1  Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation

Figure 1 shows the correlation of the warm and cool phases of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) with both (a) Intense (category 3,4 or 5) Hurricanes that made landfall in the USA (probably incomplete data), and with (b) New York Yankees' World Series wins.

(click to enlarge)
Fig. 2  Annual Occurrence of Intense Hurricanes and Yankees' World Series Wins

Figure 2 shows the annual occurrence of Intense (category 3,4 or 5) Hurricanes that made landfall in the USA (probably incomplete data) and NY Yankees' World Series Wins.

Indeed, during the 38 years 1927-1964 in the warm phase of the AMO, the Yankees won the World Series 19 times or in 50% of the years. During the 30 years 1965-1994 of the cool phase of the AMO, the Yankees won the World Series only twice. In the next warm phase, 1995 to the present, the Yankees won the World Series four times.

In addition to the above correlations, in 1965-1966 near the end of the 40-year warm phase of the AMO, the “bottom fell out” of both intense hurricanes and the Yankees. In 1965, the Yankees finished in the second division for the first time in 40 years, and in 1966, they finished in last place for the first time since 1912.

In 1990, during the cool phase of the AMO, the Yankees had the worst record in Major League baseball and their first last-place finish since 1966.

At the start of the next warm phase of the AMO in 1994, the Yankees rebounded and won the World Series four out of the five years 1996-2000.

Indeed, the annual winning percentage of the New York Yankees also appears to correlate with the warm and cool phases of the AMO:

Fig. 3   NY Yankees Win Percentage and the Phases of the AMO

Comparisons with Other Major League Baseball Teams

In terms of World Series wins, since their first win in 1923, the Yankees have won the World Series 26 times. No other Major League baseball team has come even close to that number. The St. Louis Cardinals have won 10 World Series, and (since 1923) no other team has more than six World Series wins (list of World Series winners).

Of three Boston professional sports teams, the 16 NBA championships of the Celtics - 1957, 1959-1966, 1968, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1981, 1984, 1986 - do not correlate with the phases of the AMO. The two recent 2004 and 2007 World Series wins of the Red Sox - the first since 1918, virtually coincide with the three recent 2000, 2004 and 2005 New England Patriot wins of the Superbowl (which was first played in 1967).

The New York Yankees as a Unique Sports Phenomena

The Yankees have been Major League Baseball's most successful franchise with 26 World Series championships and 39 American League Pennants. They are also the most successful franchise in North American professional sports history, passing the Montreal Canadiens' 24 titles in 1999. They are the only team represented in the National Baseball Hall of Fame at every position. Notably, they have faced every winner of the National League pennant in the World Series except for the Houston Astros, and Colorado Rockies, both of which have only won one pennant. No other team has come close to this feat. [from Wikipedia]

Yankee owner, George Steinbrenner, has said, “Owning the New York Yankees is like owning the Mona Lisa.”

The “Warm” versus the “Cool” Yankees

During the two warm phases of the AMO (1926-1969 and 1995-2007), the Yankees won the World Series 19/44 = 43% and 4/13 = 31% of the time, respectively, for a combined total of 23/57 = 40% World Series wins during both warm phases of the AMO.  During the cool phase of the AMO (1970-1994), the Yankees won the World Series only twice or 2/23 = 8.7%. The difference between the World Series wins in the warm versus the cool phases of the AMO is statistically significant (chi square = 8.58, p < 0.01).

Our findings suggest that only during the warm phases of the AMO are the New York Yankees the vastly superior baseball team mentioned above.

Connecting the Dots: The Florida Connection

The putative correlation between the phases of the AMO, intense hurricanes and the performance of the New York Yankees might not be as far fetched as it first seems. Of all the recorded hurricanes to hit the US since 1851, 36 percent have made landfall in Florida. The most affected area in Florida – the so- called magnet of hurricanes - are the (five) counties surrounding Orlando, Florida.

For many decades the New York Yankees and their longstanding owner, George Steinbrenner, have had very close community ties to nearby Tampa, Florida.

In addition, the AMO affects the climate of New York City (Wikipedia).

A Deeper Understanding of the AMO

There is absolutely no reason to believe that the meteorological features of the warm (or cool) phase of the AMO -or the resulting frequency of intense hurricanes - would be causative factors in the performance of the New York Yankees, or vice versa.

Thus, the putative correlation of the warm phases of the AMO and the resulting increased frequency of intense hurricanes and the increased (also intense) performance of the New York Yankees could all be coming from a deeper, as yet unidentified, source.

Finding one social phenomenon that appears to correlate with the warm and cool phases of the AMO suggests looking for other social –especially group warrior – activity that might also correlate. The search could provide a deeper understanding of the AMO and of group social behavior.

Perhaps it is worth remembering what the late Nobel Prize physicist, Richard Feynman said about the rules of the game, a deeper understanding of phenomena and it’s the thing that does not fit that is the most interesting. See Rules of the Game.

Another thing that “doesn’t fit” is why over an approximate 70 year period, the New York Yankees have far surpassed any other Major League baseball team. Understanding the Yankees might also help understand hurricanes and the AMO.

The Phi Proportion

We suspect that the possible correlations between the phases of the AMO, the frequency of intense hurricanes, and the performance of the New York Yankees (as a warrior group) relate to Phi, the Golden Mean and Divine proportion. Phi is known to describe many natural physical, growth and social phenomena, such as the stock market. Indeed, hurricanes are phi spirals:

Another possible Phi – hurricane connection involves the structure of water. In the water molecule, the angle, which can vary, between the two hydrogen atoms is about 104 degrees. One half of 104 degrees is 52 degrees, and the cosine of 52 degrees is 0.618, which is the reciprocal of phi = 1.618. [Water is basically two symmetric 3-4-5 triangles that are in the phi proportion.]
 

Semper Phi Warrior Sequence

We suspect that a relevant phi sequence is what we are calling the Semper Phi Warrior Sequence - 0, 4, 4, 8, 12, 20, 32, 52, 84, 136, 220,..., which we have shown describes recurrent cycles of group warrior activity as well as other social and medical phenomena.

For more on this aspect, see the Phi Sunflower Warrior diagram and the Phi Group Warrior section.

In this connection, (a) intense hurricanes that made landfall in the US, (b) Cape Verde hurricanes and (c)Yankees World Series wins show 20, 32 and even a few 52 year repeats, among other cycles.

Indeed, of the 26 Yankee World Series wins, 17 are associated with 20 (or 40) year repeats: 1923/1943; 1927/1947; 1932/1952; 1936/1956/1996; 1937/1977; 1938/1958/1978/1998; and 1941/1961.

[These Semper Phi repeats might be an example of the old saying from medical school, "You see what you look for, and you look for what you know."]

We are suggesting that as Phi Spirals, hurricanes, recur, in part, according to the Semper Phi Warrior Sequence.

Symmetry and the Re-pairing (paring again) of Time

The Phi Proportion also shows symmetry (see Phi Symmetry diagram), which suggests looking for symmetric patterns within the warm phase of the AMO. Furthermore, as to the symmetry of going "forward" or "backward" in time, in modern Hindustani, the adverb "kal" means both "yesterday" and "tomorrow;" "parson" means both "the day before yesterday" and "the day after tomorrow;" and "atarson" means both "three days ago" and "three days from now." The meaning can be determined only through context. [This linguistic symmetry sounds like the symmetry of the paired advanced and retarded waves of electromagnetism and quantum mechanics.] Perhaps a precedent for the re-pairing (pairing again) of time is the classic dripping faucet problem of Chaos Theory (see excerpt from Trialogues at the Edge of the West).

Of the 19 Yankee World Series wins between 1925 and 1965, 14 show symmetry around 1945: 1943/1947, 1941/1949, 1939/1951, 1938/1952, 1937/1953, 1932/1958 and 1928/1962. Our incomplete data of intense hurricanes that made landfall in the US appear to show symmetry around 1979/1980 -the approximate midpoint of the cool phase of the AMO.

Figure 4 replots the data of Figure 2 in order to show these symmetries. The cool phases of the AMO are toward the left, and the warm phases of the AMO are toward the right. In the replot, "time" is paired and goes both "forward" and "backward".

We are raising the possibility that for both intense hurricanes and the New York Yankees, going "forward in time" from a symmetry (turn-around) point mimics going "backward in time" from that point. (or "spinning out" of a symmetry point reverses "spinning into" that point.)

 

A General Theory of Natural, Social and Medical Phenomena

The above findings and correlations are part of a more general theory of Natural, Social and Medical phenomena that involve water (and proteins and DNA) and their dipole, hydrogen bonding and diamagnetic properties (see General Theory diagram).

The Natural phenomena would be hurricanes, the Atlantic Multidecal Oscillation (AMO), tornadoes and floods.  This is the organization of water dipole molecules in the air, ocean and by the wind.

The Social phenomena would be group warrior activity on the battlefield (as in wars) or on the athletic field as in baseball. Here, the organizing unit would be individual persons, who are about 80% water.

The Medical phenomena would involve the dipole and hydrogen bonding properties of proteins and DNA. One example is protein misfolding as in the SOD1 protein that can be involved in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s dis-ease). A second example would be gene silencing of paternal genes (DNA) that can occur in cancers – the silencing of tumor suppression genes in, for example, breast and prostate cancer – and of  genes of the nervous system as in manic depressive illness (bipolar disorder), schizophrenia or autism.

We are proposing that the Phi Proportion and, in particular, the Semper Phi Warrior Sequence are relevant to these Natural, Social and Medical phenomena – as if they were a “symphony in Phi” (see Phi Systems; and Facets of Phi).

The New York Yankees appear connected to all three classes of phenomena.  As a group of warriors on the athletic field, they are a Social phenomena whose performance, we are proposing, correlates with the Natural phenomena of the phases of the AMO and intense hurricanes. The Medical connection, albeit weak, would be to ALS or Lou Gehrig’s dis-ease. Gehrig, of course, played for the New York Yankees, as did the other very famous major league baseball player who died of ALS, Jimmy “Catfish” Hunter. For more, see:  A Metaphysical Approach to ALS.

More Than Just a Game

The performance of certain groups of athletes - warriors on the athletic field - might be relevant to certain medical dis-eases, such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS - also in the USA called Lou Gehrig's disease).

Recent studies show that ALS is more prevalent in warriors on the battlefield (veterans of World War II, the Korean, Vietnam and Gulf wars - at about a 1.5 to 2 fold increased risk) and in warriors on the athletic field (varsity athletes - 1.7 times; Italian professional soccer players - 6 fold increased risk, and a recently reported nearly 40 fold increased risk in American professional NFL football players).

We are proposing that prior group warrior memories are one environmental trigger of ALS, and that these memories recur in the Semper Phi Warrior sequence (see A Metaphysical Approach to ALS).

A deeper understanding of hurricanes, the AMO and the performance of the New York Yankees might also deepen our understanding of, for example, ALS - at present, an incurable dis-ease.