Last night’s edition of Yankees Hot Stove– focusing on the Bronx Bombers’ acquisition of Japanese right-hand pitcher Masahiro Tanaka – was YES Network’s best this offseason.
The Jan. 22 telecast of Yankees Hot Stove drew a 0.79 household rating during the 6 p.m. hour in the New York DMA, according to Nielsen data. That delivery was the series’ best of the 2013-14 period, topping the 0.72 mark on Dec. 5, 2013.
Wednesday’s airing – featuring host Bob Lorenz and New York Times writers David Waldstein and Tyler Kepner, the New York Post’s Ken Davidofand phone interviews with Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman discussing the $175 million purchase of Tanaka -- helped lift Yankees Hot Stove to an average cumulative rating of a 0.66, 49,000 households and 53,000 viewers over 18 installments.
That’s up from last year’s cumulative average delivery for the show (then called Yankees Baseball Tonight), which scored a 0.27 rating, 20,000 households and 19,000 viewers.
Moreover, the current iteration of Yankees Hot Stove marks YES’s best ever with this kind of programming, eclipsing the 0.64 rating and 48,000 household averages during the 2010-11 span.
After finishing third in the American League East during an injury-marred 2013 campaign, the Yankees have been extremely busy this off-season. In addition to Tanaka, the club has retooled its roster with free-agent deals for cather Brian McCann and outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran.
Over the course of the off-season, Yankees Hot Stove, which will premiere more installments during the upcoming spring training period, has presented live, on-site shows from the General Managers and Winter meetings, which included interviews with Cashman, agent Scott Boras, former Yankee great and now Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly and ex-Yankees skipper and 2014 Hall of Fame honoree Joe Torre.
Programs have also included a two-part sitdown by reporter Jack Curry with Yankees manager Joe Girardi, and an interview with first baseman Mark Teixeira, who is recovering from a wrist injury, at the RSN’s Stamford, Conn. Studios. Yankees Hot Stove also featured conversations with outfielder Brett Gardner and pitchers CC Sabathia, David Robertson and Shawn Kelley.
YES also held a live Yankees Hot Stove from the Yogi Berra Museum in Montclair, N.J.
