The top ten New York Yankees of all-time

Saturday 8/31/24

I had mentioned doing this many months ago, I believe, but I'm only getting around to doing it now, but here's my list of the top ten Yankees of all-time. This is not the same as the best players who have been on the Yankees. There is more to being a great Yankee than being the best player. I wouldn't have Alex Rodriguez, for instance, anywhere near this list. I'd put Charlie Keller and Tommy Henrich on this list before Rodriguez. They are not Hall of Fame ballplayers, but they were quintessential Yankees.

Aaron Judge is the best player in baseball right now. He's the best presumably steroid-free player this century. But he hasn't won a title yet, and I don't think you can be on a list of the all-time Yankees when you haven't won a World Series. Or a bunch of them.

Phil Rizzuto was tough to leave off. There's a regality, I'd say, to being a great Yankee. A kind of dignity. Suppleness. Iron nerve. Performing well under pressure in the biggest spots. Mariano Rivera cost the Yankees two World Series. If he does his job those two times (actually, three times, given that he blew two saves against the Red Sox in 2004), they win two more championships. For me, that means you're not in this group.

A great Yankee has a leonine quality. An attitude. A style of comportment and self-belief. They're ballplayers who feel like more than ballplayers. And they win. A lot.

Here we go, then.

1. Babe Ruth

The best ever. The only other player with any sort of a claim is Ty Cobb, but it's Ruth. Larger than the sport. Larger than all sports. Brawn and brains--as a player. Approached hitting as no one ever had. He is like the Declaration of Independence, Elvis, a man on the moon--one of those deeply American things that is so much more than an American thing.

2. Lou Gehrig

Conceivably the best run producer in the sport's history. More 150 RBI seasons than anyone. Truncated career scaled back his final numbers. There were years where he was about as good as prime--or near-prime--Ruth. Do you know how low the chances are of that? One of the half dozen best position players.

3. Mickey Mantle

One of the top ten position players--just--of all-time. Another player who was ahead of his time mentally. One of the great on-base men. Combined with his power, he played a form of the game that very few even thought to play back then. No weaknesses except lifestyle.

4. Joe DiMaggio

Smoothness and mega-numbers. Perhaps the best in the sport at making that which was not easy look so. Somewhat overrated because of his on-field grace and because he was so well-liked, whereas his rival, Ted Williams, was less so, despite being the better player. Also: national icon. His name remains iconic.

5. Yogi Berra

Unrivaled as a winner. War hero. Unfazed. People now don't understand the importance of the catcher position. A good catcher is potentially more valuable than anyone else on a baseball team. Berra was often that, even on stacked Yankees squads.

6. Derek Jeter

Has become, paradoxically, massively underrated as a hitter because people got so sick of him winning. Hardcore baseball forum people kick holes in his defense, but Jeter, along with David Ortiz, is modern baseball's greatest winner. As a Red Sox fan, I wanted no part of the guy.

7. Thurman Munson

Legit captain, legit grit, legit glue. On-the-field general, pugnacious spiritual leader. Toughness, balls, no fear.

8. Reggie Jackson

If you become known as Mr. October because of your October baseball heroics, you go on this list for that alone. Then there was everything else: the swagger, the drama, the power-suffused regular seasons, moonshots, swinging so hard he fell to his knees, talking the talk, walking the walk. Also a cultural icon in his time. Everyone had an opinion about the straw that stirred the drink, which remains one of the great sports quotes, however ill-advised.

9. Bill Dickey

First big-stick, big-pop catcher. Key man in the transition from the Ruth teams to the DiMaggio ones. Peak stats cause one to do a double-take. Might have had the best offensive prime of any pre-Piazza catcher.

10. Whitey Ford

Do you know how good Whitey Ford was in the postseason? Check out his stats. Money. Racked up the numbers during the regular season, then found another gear in many Octobers. The Yankees teams of his day weren't loaded with frontline pitching. The teams of the late 1950s and early 1960s wouldn't have done nearly what they did without Ford.