Who is the greatest Yankee of all time at each position?

Well first let's set the criteria. I'm only going to consider what a player did with the Yankees. For example Alex Rodriguez's seasons with the Mariners and the Rangers don't come into play when considering his place among the all time great Yankees.

The New York Yankees All Time Team (With Stats As A Yankee)

First Base - Lou Gehrig (.340 AVG, 493 HR, 1995 RBI, .447 OBP, 632 SLG)

This is no a brainer. Gehrig is arguably the greatest first baseman to ever play the game. He played his entire career with the Yankees. He was nicknamed the "Iron Horse" because of playing in 2,130 consecutive games. This was the major league record for over 50 years until Cal Ripkin broke it in the 1990s.

Choosing Gehrig's greatest season is difficult because he had so many great years but I have to go with 1927 as Gehrig's greatest. In 1927 he won the MVP over Babe Ruth with a .373 batting average and a .765 slugging percentage.

Gehrig was a Yankee from 1923 to 1939. 17 Seasons. He won 6 World Series with the Yankees. In 34 World Series games he hit .361 with 10 home runs and a .731 slugging percentage.

Second Base - Tony Lazzeri (.293 AVG, 169 HR, 1154 RBI, .379 OBP, .467 SLG)

Lazzeri had his best season in 1929 when he hit .354 with 18 home runs. Lazzeri was a Yankee from 1926 to 1937. 12 Seasons. He won 5 World Series with the Yankees.

I also considered Willie Randolph for this position. Randolph had a .275 batting average for the Yankees while playing in the 10th most games in Yankees history with 1694. Randolph is also second in Yankees history with 251 stolen bases.

Shortstop - Derek Jeter (.317 AVG, 183 HR, 863 RBI, .388 OBP, .462 SLG)

Jeter has become a modern legend of Yankees baseball. He is rapidly climbing the all time Yankee leader board in multiple categories. His greatest season so far was 1999 when he hit .349 with 24 home runs and a .552 slugging percentage.

Jeter has been a Yankee his entire career which began with a short stint in 1995. This year is his 13th in the major leagues. He's won 4 World Series titles with the Yankees. He's hit .302 in the 6 World Series he has been a part of.

Third Base - Alex Rodriguez (.301 AVG, 127 HR, 378 RBI, .398 OBP, .560 SLG)

Yes this is based on the three years (and the helluva start he's had this year) A-Rod has played for the Yankees. 3B has not been a very strong position for the Yankees compared to the other positions. In fact if it wasn't A-Rod I might have gone with Wade Boggs here who is of course much more known for his work with the Red Sox. Boggs did hit .313 in 2600 plate appearances for the Yankees.

Rodriguez's best season with the Yankees so far has been 2005 when won the MVP hitting .321 with 48 home runs. Although many Yankees fans seemed to immediately forget how good he was all year due to his poor post season.

This is Rodriguez's 4th year with the Yankees, as is well known among New Yorkers he has yet to appear in the World Series. Although he is well known for his post season failures, his career post season batting average of .280 isn't that bad. It's his recent lack of success going 3 for 29 combined in the '05 and '06 postseasons that has hurt his reputation.

Outfield - Babe Ruth (.349 AVG, 659 HR, 1975 RBI, .484 OBP, .711 SLG)

Well this was a really difficult selection? Babe Ruth's numbers speak for themselves. He holds many Yankees records and as you probably know he even "built" Yankee Stadium.

Ruth's best year stat wise was probably his first with the Yankees in 1920. He took advantage of Polo Grounds with an .849 slugging percentage which stood as the single season record for 81 years until Barry Bonds broke it in 2001. He also broke his own record for home runs in a season with 54, this record would only last until next season when he would break it again with 59 home runs. Finally in 1927 he would break the record again with 60 home runs. This record stood until another Yankee Roger Maris broke it in 1961 with 61.

Just to add to his ridiculous resume he also won 5 games without a loss as a pitcher with the Yankees.

Ruth played 15 seasons with the Yankees from 1920 to 1934. He won 4 World Series with the Yankees. He hit .344 with 15 home runs in the 7 World Series he played in for the Yankees. (He also won three World Series with Boston in 1915, 1916, and 1918 before the Red Sox wisely sold him to the Yankees.)

Outfield - Mickey Mantle (.298 AVG, 536 HR, 1509 RBI, .421 OBP, .557 SLG)

Mantle played his entire career with the Yankees. He won 3 MVP awards with his best seasons coming in 1956 & '57. '61 was a really good one too although that year he finished second in the MVP voting to his teammate Roger Maris.

Mantle played 18 seasons from 1951 to 1968. Mantle played in 12 World Series for the Yankees and won 7. He hit 18 World Series home runs.

Outfield - Joe DiMaggio (.325 AVG, 361 HR, 1537 RBI, .398 OBP, .579 SLG)

DiMaggio also played his entire career for the Yankees. His best year statistically was probably 1939 when he hit .381 with 30 home runs but his most famous season is 1941 when he hit safely in 56 consecutive games which is of course still the record today for longest hitting streak.

DiMaggio was out of action from 1943 to 1945 because of World War II. He was in the prime of his career at the time.

DiMaggio won an astounding 9 World Series championships in his 13 seasons with the Yankees.

Catcher - Yogi Berra (.285 AVG, 358 HR, 1430 RBI, .348 OBP, .483 SLG)

Berra won 3 MVP awards but his best offensive season came in 1950 when he finished 3rd in the voting. In 1950 he hit .322 with 28 home runs and 124 RBI.

Berra played all but 4 games of his career for the Yankees. In '65 he played 4 games for the Mets. His career for the Yankees spanned from 1946 to 1963 for a total of 18 seasons. During that period he played in an incredible 14 World Series and won 10. He hit 12 World Series home runs during his career.

DH - Don Mattingly (.307 AVG, 222 HR, 1099 RBI, .358 OBP, .471 SLG)

Mattingly only played 76 games as a DH, I am including him at this position because I think he's the most deserving Yankee hitter that I was not able to include among the "regular" positions.

Mattingly played his entire career for the Yankees. His best year was either 1985 when he hit 35 home runs and had 145 RBI or 1986 when he hit .352 with 31 home runs. He won the MVP in '85 and finished second in '86.

Mattingly played 14 seasons from 1982 to 1995. The Yankees did not make it to the World Series during these years.

Other Yankee hitters I considered for this position include Earle Combs, Bill Dickey, Bob Meusel, Paul O'Neil, Bernie Williams, Ricky Henderson, and Reggie Jackson.

Starting Pitcher - Whitey Ford (236 Wins, 2.75 ERA)

Ford's best years came in 1963 (24-7, 2.74) & 1964 (17-6, 2.14) or perhaps 1958 when he had a 2.01 ERA. Maybe most impressive is that he won his only Cy Young award in 1961 when he had one of his highest single season ERAs at 3.21, in fact the only year he was higher than that was his last full season in the majors in 1965 when he had a 3.24 ERA. When your career worst single season ERA is 3.24 you know you are a good pitcher. He has the 3rd highest career winning % of any pitcher in the modern era with at least 100 wins at .690.

Ford was a Yankee for his entire 16 year career from 1950 to 1967. He missed two seasons in '51 and '52 due to military service in Korea.

Ford pitched in 11 World Series, the Yankees winning 6 of them. He went 10-8 with a 2.71 ERA in his World Series career.

Starting Pitcher - Lefty Gomez (189 Wins, 3.34 ERA)

Gomez's best year came in 1934 when he went 26-5 with a 2.33 ERA.

He spent his entire career except for one game he started for Washington in 1943 with the Yankees. He pitched for the Yankees for 13 seasons from 1930 to 1942.

He won 5 World Series with the Yankees and went 6-0 with a 2.86 ERA in 7 World Series starts.

Starting Pitcher - Red Ruffing (231 Wins, 3.47 ERA)

Ruffing was with the Yankees from 1930 to 1946. He had four 20+ win seasons and they were right in a row from 1936 to 1939. His best season coming in 1939 when he went 21-7 with a 2.93 ERA.

He won 6 World Series with the Yankees and went 7-2 with a 2.63 ERA in 10 World Series starts. Had 8 complete games in those 10 starts.

Starting Pitcher - Mel Stottlemyre (164 Wins, 2.97 ERA)

Stottlemyre's best year came in 1968 when he went 21-12 with a 2.45 ERA along with 19 complete games and 6 shutouts.

Stottlemyre pitched his entire 11 year career with the Yankees. He played from 1964 to 1974. The Yankees only went to the World Series one time during that period, his rookie season in 1964. The Yankees lost that World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals. Stottlemyre was 1-1 with a 3.15 ERA in 3 World Series starts.

Starting Pitcher - Spud Chandler (109 wins, 2.84 ERA)

Chandler won the MVP (the only Yankee pitcher to ever do so) in 1943 with a 20-4 record and a 1.64 ERA

Chandler was with the Yankees for his entire career which was from 1937 to 1947. Chandler turned 30 years old during his rookie season because he went to college and then spent 5 years in the minor leagues. He missed most of 1944 and 1945 due to joining the army to fight in World War II. His best three seasons were '42, '43 and '46 so one has to wonder what great years he missed in '44 and '45. Those missed seasons along with his very late start makes Chandler an interesting "What If?" As he seemingly could have had a hall of fame career if things had worked out a little differently.

Chandler holds the record for the highest career winning percentage of all time for any pitcher with more than 100 wins.

He won three World Series with the Yankees. He had a 2-2 record with a 1.61 ERA in World Series play.

Relief Pitcher - Mariano Rivera (413 Saves, 2.31 ERA)

Rivera has spent his entire 13 year career with the Yankees from 1995 to present day. His best year so far was in 2005 when he had a minuscule 1.38 ERA to go along with 43 saves. His high year for saves came in 2004 with 53. Rivera has been one of the few relief pitchers in the history of baseball who has been able to perform consistently over a long period.

He's won 4 World Series with the Yankees and his overall post season stats are incredible. He has 34 post season saves with a 0.80 post season ERA.

Labels: All Time Team, New York Yankees