Ranking the All-Time Yankees

Pete Abraham again, this time contexualizing the miraculous Derek Jeter:

Derek Jeter tied Lou Gehrig for the most hits in franchise history last night. This raises an interesting question: Where does Jeter rank on the list of greatest Yankees?Here is my top 10: 1. Babe Ruth 2. Lou Gehrig 3. Joe DiMaggio 4. Mickey Mantle 5. Yogi Berra 6. Derek Jeter 7. Whitey Ford 8. Mariano Rivera 9. Bill Dickey 10. Lefty Gomez I did 1-9 easy. The last spot is a tough call. You could say Bernie Williams based on where he stands on the career lists. Maybe Don Mattingly or even Andy Pettitte. My criteria was years spent with the team, championships won and where the player stood in terms of the competition at the time. Reggie Jackson was a Yankee for five years, A-Rod for six. That’s not enough tenure in my book. A-Rod could get there, obviously.

The direct link isn't working.  Not sure why. Jonah Keri went over this topic a few weeks ago.  This was his list:

1 Babe Ruth 2 Mickey Mantle 3 Lou Gehrig 4 Joe DiMaggio 5 Yogi Berra 6 Derek Jeter 7 Bill Dickey 8 Jorge Posada 9 Bernie Williams 10 Earle Combs

I agree with a lot of what Keri has done here with maybe a few minor adjustments. No matter how you slice the numbers, the top four come out:

1. Babe Ruth

2. Lou Gehrig

3. Mickey Mantle

4. Joe DiMaggio

Of course, this is where it starts to get interesting.  Both Keri and Abraham put Yogi fifth, which is hard to argue.  Yogi put up better numbers compared to league average over less at-bats.  He also did it from the catcher position and was regarded for most of his career as a good to great defensive catcher. I think Jeter also falls just behind Yogi.  So far, our list looks similar to Keri's:

1. Babe Ruth

2. Lou Gehrig

3. Mickey Mantle

4. Joe DiMaggio

5. Yogi Berra

6. Derek Jeter

Here, Abraham enters Whitey Ford, which is a difficult choice to quantify.  Keri goes with Bill Dickey, another catcher, over Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada.  I think Keri's reasoning is the fact that Dickey is a catcher and was very good offensively. My issue with Dickey is that he basically averaged 115 games a season once he became a full time player.  True, he was a good catcher and a really good hitter, but only averaging 115 games is a bit low. Bernie Williams averaged 137 games per season once he became a fulltime player and his percentages were just about equal to Dickey's.  And, Bernie played centerfield decently for awhile and then not so decently during the end. Finally, Bernie had 2000 more plate appearances than Dickey, which pretty much clinches it for me.  I'll put Dickey just behind Bernie, making our list:

1. Babe Ruth

2. Lou Gehrig

3. Mickey Mantle

4. Joe DiMaggio

5. Yogi Berra

6. Derek Jeter

7. Bernie Williams

8. Bill Dickey

My number 9 has to be Jorge Posada.  Defensively, I don't know that he stacks up quite well as a catcher compared to some other, but his production at the position is hard to argue. It can be debated how much value should be put on position in this discussion.  If you're looking at pure production, the arguement could be made that a player's defense at whatever position they played is important, but the position itself does not.  Different positions have had different offensive renaissances throughout baseball history.  A weak position during one era could be strong during the next. Generally, though, up the middle positions like catcher, second base, shortstop, and centerfield have tended to be more grueling defensively.  Typically, the power hitting positions have tended to be the corners. It's a battle for my last spot, then, between centerfielder Earle Combs and second baseman Tony Lazzeri.  I want to give it to Lazzeri because he was a second baseman and we already have three centerfielders on this list. However, I think centerfield probably gets the edge as far as value for a position over second base.  Lazzeri will have to get honorable mention. So, our final list:

1. Babe Ruth

2. Lou Gehrig

3. Mickey Mantle

4. Joe DiMaggio

5. Yogi Berra

6. Derek Jeter

7. Bernie Williams

8. Bill Dickey

9. Jorge Posada

10. Earle Combs