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Who are the top New York Yankees of all time? Here is our top 10 countdown:
10. Thurman Munson: before his untimely death in a plane accident, Munson was a 7x All-Star and 3x Gold Glove catcher who won two World Series titles and also won the 1976 AL MVP award while becoming the first Yankees captain since Lou Gehrig.
9. Bill Dickey: one of the great catchers of baseball’s Golden Era, Dickey was an 11x All-Star and won seven World Series titles in 17 MLB seasons en route to the Hall of Fame.
8. Whitey Ford: arguably the best starting pitcher in Yankees history, Ford was a 10x All-Star who won 236 career games and a Cy Young award as part of six World Series championship teams, including being named World Series MVP in 1961.
7. Mariano Rivera: the greatest closer ever, Rivera is baseball’s all-time saves leader (652 career saves) and led the Yankees to five World Series titles while becoming the first-ever unanimous Hall of Fame selection in his first year of eligibility.
6. Derek Jeter: the heart and soul of the Yankees for two decades, Jeter was a 14x All-Star at shortstop and 5x World Series champion who holds a number of Yankees records, including most games played, at-bats, hits, doubles, and stolen bases; his 3,465 career hits are tops among shortstops in MLB history.
5. Joe DiMaggio: best known for his legendary 56-game hitting streak in 1941, DiMaggio was a 3x MVP and All-Star every year of his career; he also won nine World Series titles, which is second-most in MLB history behind only Yogi Berra.
4. Yogi Berra: the winningest player in baseball history with 10 World Series titles, Berra was instrumental in the Yankees’ success – he won three MVPs in five years in the 1950s and hit 20+ home runs for 10 consecutive years to ensure his place as one of the greatest catchers in history.
3. Mickey Mantle: though injuries and alcohol would plague him throughout his career, at his peak Mantle had an unparalleled combination of power and average which resulted in three MVP awards and the 1956 Triple Crown; in terms of team success, he was part of seven World Series championship teams.
2. Lou Gehrig: known as the “Iron Horse” for playing in 2,130 consecutive games with the Yankees while winning six World Series titles, Gehrig was arguably the greatest run producer in baseball history – he hit 493 home runs (among them a record 23 grand slams), drove in nearly 2,000 runs (including three of the top six RBI seasons ever), and won both MVP awards (2x) and a Triple Crown (1934).
1. Babe Ruth: perhaps the greatest baseball player ever and one of the original five Hall of Fame inductees, Ruth was primarily a pitcher with the Boston Red Sox before being traded to the Yankees; as a Yankee, he was an MVP and 7x World Series winner who set a slew of single-season and career hitting records, including single-season home runs (60), career home runs (714), career runs batted in (2,214), career walks (2,062), career slugging percentage (.690), and career OPS (1.164), some of which still stand today.
Agree/Disagree? As always, debate/discuss, and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Note: All statistics as of time of publication.
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