The Yanks were horrible during the latter part of the 60's till CBS sold them to the Steinbrenner group. What was known as the Horace Clark Era. CBS was not known for plowing money into the team.
And again, you don't know, it's just your guess.
And from the stats I could find in a quick search, from 1989-1998 the Yanks only had the top payroll twice ('94&'96), with the sox having a higher payroll several times over that span.