Ranking the 10 Best New York Yankees Players of All Time
Babe Ruth was the greatest player in New York Yankees history, and he has a lot of great company on the list of the franchise's all-time best.
Since officially becoming the New York Yankees in 1913, this team has won more than 9,400 games, 40 pennants and 27 World Series. A total of 22 players (and managers) have had their number retired by the Yankees.
As such, there were quite a few candidates for best of the best, and it was challenging to whittle this list down to just 10 players.
Because we're comparing starters, relievers, batters and fielders across different eras, wins above replacement (WAR)—via both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference—was the primary metric used to rank these legends from the Bronx. However, it's far from a precise ranking based on that one data point.
Also worth mentioning: Players were evaluated exclusively on the Yankees portion of their careers. For guys like Lou Gehrig and Mariano Rivera, who spent their entire career in pinstripes, that little nugget of information is irrelevant. But there are a few players who would have ranked much higher if we weren't disregarding a significant number of years played.
Bernie Williams (1991-2006): .297 AVG, 287 HR, 1,257 RBI, 49.6 WAR
Williams was the "Always the bridesmaid, never the bride" among great Yankees. He never finished top-five in the MVP race and only played in five All-Star Games. But he did bat at least .305 for eight consecutive seasons, and he was an indispensable piece of some outstanding teams. Williams also batted .275 with 22 home runs in 121 career postseason games.
Andy Pettitte (1995-2003; 2007-13): 2,796.1 IP, 2,020 K, 219 W, 3.94 ERA, 51.4 WAR
Similar to Williams, Pettitte was never the best player on the roster, but he was always an important one. He is one of just three players in Yankees history to log at least 2,700 innings pitched, and we would be remiss if we didn't at least mention the man who started 40 postseason games and played a part on five World Series winners. However, among the 16 Yankees with at least 1,500 IP, his 3.94 ERA is the worst.
Red Ruffing (1930-46): 3,168.2 IP, 1,526 K, 231 W, 3.47 ERA, 46.6 WAR
Ruffing played on six World Series champions, making 10 postseason starts with a 2.63 ERA. But as far as WAR is concerned, there were only a couple of years where he was anything close to the best in the league. He finished top-10 in the AL MVP in 1937, 1938 and 1939, winning at least 20 games in each season.
Phil Rizzuto (1941-56): .273 AVG, 38 HR, 563 RBI, 40.8 WAR
Most of the best Yankees are renowned for their slugging, but Rizzuto was a legend because of his fielding at shortstop. The Gold Glove Award didn't become a thing until the year after Rizzuto retired, but Scooter undoubtedly would have won a bunch of them. The one award he did win was AL MVP in 1950, when he caught fire at the plate and batted .324. He was a five-time All Star and a seven-time World Series champion.
Jorge Posada (1995-2011): .273 AVG, 275 HR, 1,065 RBI, 42.8 WAR
For just about any other franchise, Posada would be the greatest catcher ever. With the Yankees, though, he was a damn good player who wasn't quite as great as Bill Dickey or Yogi Berra. He had one heck of a run through the 2000s, hitting at least 20 home runs in eight of 10 seasons.
Don Mattingly (1982-95): .307 AVG, 222 HR, 1,099 RBI, 42.4 WAR
Early-career Mattingly was incredible. He was one of the few bright spots during the franchise's longest postseason drought since World War I, winning the AL MVP in 1985 and finishing top-seven in that race in 1984, 1986 and 1987. But more than half of his career home runs came during that four-year stretch, as chronic back problems kept him from ever returning to that level of dominance. He still had one heck of a glove at first base, though, winning nine Gold Gloves in his career.
Reggie Jackson (1977-81): .281 AVG, 144 HR, 461 RBI, 17.2 WAR
Jackson only spent five seasons in pinstripes, but that was enough time for him to become Mr. October. In 34 postseason games, he batted .328 with 12 home runs, eight of which came in the World Series.
Career with Yankees (1928-46): .313 AVG, 202 HR, 1,209 RBI, 55.8 WAR
Bill Dickey is one of the best hitting catchers in the history of Major League Baseball.
Not so much from a power perspective, as he didn't even hit half as many home runs as Mike Piazza did (427). But among the 23 catchers who have logged at least 7,000 career plate appearances, Dickey's .313 batting average reigns supreme.
From 1929-38, Dickey batted at least .310 in nine of 10 seasons, including a remarkable 1936 campaign in which he hit .362 with an OPS of 1.045.
One of the biggest reasons Dickey was so successful at the plate is he hardly ever struck out. His strikeout percentage in those 10 seasons was a mere 3.37. In 1935, he had just 11 strikeouts in 491 plate appearances.
Granted, the 1930s were when the league average was consistently in the .270s, so Dickey didn't stand out from the crowd all that much. 1938 was the only year he finished top-four in the AL MVP race, and he was a distant second behind Jimmie Foxx that season. Even if we just look at Yankees during that 10-year stretch, Dickey was a far cry from Lou Gehrig and only marginally better than Tony Lazzeri.
Regardless of era, though, any catcher who can consistently bat better than .300 is quite all right in our book. The 11-time All Star was also a key part of seven World Series championships.
Career with Yankees (2004-16): .283 AVG, 351 HR, 1,096 RBI, 54.2 WAR
Between the performance-enhancing drugs, a propensity for vanishing in the postseason and the fact that his best three-year stint was with the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez will undoubtedly be the most controversial inclusion. But for a guy who didn't even join the Yankees until his 11th season in the big leagues, A-Rod did some remarkable things in pinstripes.
Prior to wearing down in a hurry once he reached 35 years of age, Rodriguez began his career with the Yankees with seven consecutive seasons of at least 30 home runs and 100 RBI. Most notable were the 2005 and 2007 campaigns, when he had a combined total of 102 home runs and 286 RBI while winning his second and third AL MVP honors.
Overall, he batted .296 and averaged 38 home runs and 120 RBI per season from 2004-10.
And let's not forget that Rodriguez had to switch from shortstop to third base in order to play for the Yankees because Derek Jeter was already cemented as the everyday SS. He never won a Gold Glove at the hot corner, but he was more than serviceable in the field for a guy who was forced to make a major defensive change at the midway point in his career.
Career with Yankees (1950-67): 3170.1 IP, 1,956 K, 236 W, 2.75 ERA, 53.5 WAR
For some reason, the Yankees haven't had many all-time great starting pitchers. They got snippets of Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson. They had nice careers from Andy Pettitte, Red Ruffing, Mel Stottlemyre, Ron Guidry and Lefty Gomez. But there's little doubt that Whitey Ford was the best starter the Yankees had for a decade or more.
Ford is the franchise leader in career wins with 236. Sure, he had Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra providing run support for a lot of those victories, and Roger Maris' 61-homer season was a big reason Ford won 25 games (and the Cy Young Award) in 1961. But he was much more than just a beneficiary of the Bronx Bombers.
He had a sub-3.25 ERA in every season of his career, including a four-year stretch from 1955-58 with a cumulative 2.41 ERA.
He was just as good during the postseason, posting a 2.71 ERA in 22 career starts in the World Series. As a result, the Yankees won six titles, with Ford making multiple starts in five of them. Between the 1960 and 1961 World Series, he pitched 32 scoreless innings and won all four of his starts.
And to think his career could have been even more impressive if not for his time in the Korean War. Ford missed his age-22 and age-23 seasons while serving in the U.S. Army.
Career with Yankees (1995-2014): .310 AVG, 3,465 H, 1,311 RBI, 358 SB, 72.4 WAR
For 20 years, Derek Jeter was Yankees baseball. Great players came and went, but No. 2 was a staple in the top third of the lineup, flashing his leather at shortstop on a daily basis.
Beginning with his 1996 AL Rookie of the Year campaign, Jeter played in at least 148 games and registered at least 179 hits, 10 home runs and 11 stolen bases in 14 of 15 seasons. Were it not for a dislocated shoulder that sidelined him for six weeks at the start of the 2003 season, he easily would have hit those marks in all 15 years.
In other words, he was consistently well above the league average for a decade-and-a-half. As a result, he finished his career in sixth place on the all-time hits list.
He never won an MVP, but he did finish in the top 10 of the voting eight times. The closest call was in 2006 when Jeter batted .343 and finished just 14 votes behind Justin Morneau for the honor. He was rewarded for his stellar play with 14 All-Star appearances, five Gold Gloves and five Silver Sluggers.
Like so many others on this list, Jeter was also a postseason legend. "The Flip" in the 2001 American League Division Series against Oakland was undeniably his most memorable moment, but he was outstanding at the plate as well. In what equated to essentially a full season, he batted .308 with 200 hits and 20 home runs in 158 career playoff games, including being named the 2000 World Series MVP.
Career with Yankees (1946-63): .285 AVG, 358 HR, 1,430 RBI, 59.5 WAR
In addition to being the most quotable person to ever set foot on a baseball diamond, Yogi Berra was quite the player.
He was an All-Star every season from 1948-62, accumulating 10 World Series rings over the course of his career. And he was no passive bystander in those postseasons, batting .274 in 75 games with a dozen home runs.
Berra was only 5'7", but he packed quite a wallop in his bat. Among catchers, only Mike Piazza, Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk hit more home runs than Berra. And his 1,430 RBI still stand as the most in MLB history by a catcher.
Berra had a seven-year peak from 1950-56 in which he was consistently one of baseball's elite. He finished top-four in the AL MVP race in all seven years, winning the award in 1951, 1954 and 1955. He batted .295 during this time, averaging 27 home runs and 108 RBI.
Career with Yankees (1995-2013): 1,283.2 IP, 1,173 K, 652 SV, 2.21 ERA, 56.3 WAR
Whitey Ford was a great starting pitcher, but you'll never find him in the top five of a list of the greatest starters of all time.
Mariano Rivera, on the other hand, should be the unanimous best closer in MLB history.
The 13-time All Star had a cut fastball that gave opposing players nightmares. He broke more than his fair share of bats en route to four top-three finishes in the AL Cy Young race. Rivera also finished in the top 15 of the AL MVP vote six times. Though he never won either award, it's a testament to his value added in the ninth inning that he was routinely considered for them.
The regular-season statistics listed above are impressive, but what Rivera did in his postseason career is almost incomprehensible.
In 141 innings of work, he had a 0.70 ERA and 0.76 WHIP. Per Baseball Reference, he has the lowest career postseason ERA and the fourth-lowest WHIP, despite pitching at least twice as many innings as eight of the other nine players in those top 10s. And on the career list of postseason saves, there isn't even a close runner-up. Rivera has 42, and Brad Lidge is in second place with 18.
He gave up just two home runs and only suffered one loss in 96 appearances. Granted, that one loss was Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, but it's because Rivera was so unhittable for so long—and because Mo was the World Series MVP in 1999—that Luis Gonzalez's game-winning hit off him will be remembered forever.
Career with Yankees (1936-51): .325 AVG, 361 HR, 1,537 RBI, 78.1 WAR
World War II took Joe DiMaggio away from baseball for three years during his prime (ages 28-30), yet he still managed to become one of the best there ever was.
As a rookie, DiMaggio batted .323 with 29 home runs and 125 RBI. And he was just getting warmed up. He proceeded to belt at least 30 HR with 125 or more RBI in each of the next five seasons. He inexplicably did not win the MVP in 1937 while batting .346 with 46 home runs, but he did win the vote in 1939, 1941 and 1947.
DiMaggio was an All-Star in every season that he played, and he finished top-10 in the MVP vote 10 times.
Despite only playing 13 years, DiMaggio was part of nine World Series champions. However, he only hit .271 in his postseason career, and there wasn't a single year in which he simply dominated October. With so little separating the top four Yankees, that was enough reason to put DiMaggio at No. 4.
Career with Yankees (1923-39): .340 AVG, 493 HR, 1,995 RBI, 112.4 WAR
Long before becoming the namesake of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Lou Gehrig was an unstoppable force of nature.
He played in 2,130 consecutive games and dominated most of them. From 1927-38, the Iron Horse had 12 straight seasons of at least 27 home runs and 114 RBI. In five of those years, he topped 40 home runs. He also had seven seasons with at least 150 RBI.
Gehrig won the AL MVP in 1927 and 1936. He finished in the top five in six other occasions. And if World Series MVP honors had been awarded when he was playing, he certainly would have won it in 1928 and 1932. He batted .545 with four home runs and nine RBI in the former and .529 with three dingers and eight RBI in the latter. For his career, he hit .361 in the postseason, pacing the Yankees to six championships.
This all-time great played during an era when batting numbers were astronomical, but Gehrig was beyond remarkable even compared to players at that time. His WAR was at least 6.8 for 12 consecutive seasons.
Career with Yankees (1951-68): .298 AVG, 536 HR, 1,509 RBI, 110.3 WAR
Mickey Mantle's peak wasn't quite as long as some of the all-time greats.
For eight years, though, The Mick was something else. From 1955-62, Mantle batted .315 and averaged 40 home runs and 101 RBI per year. He finished top-five in the AL MVP race seven times during that stretch, including winning in 1956, 1957 and 1962. In both 1960 and 1961, he finished fewer than five votes behind teammate Roger Maris for the honor. He also finished in the top three in 1952 and 1964, so he did have some great years outside that eight-year window.
1956 was the unforgettable season. The greatest switch-hitter in the history of the game batted .353 with 52 home runs and 130 RBI, leading the American League in all three categories. He is one of just four players in the last seven decades to achieve the Triple Crown, and he is the most recent player to do it while leading the majors in all three categories.
The 16-time All-Star also had quite the career in the postseason. Per Baseball Reference, Mantle is the career leader in runs, home runs and RBI in the World Series, putting up 42, 18 and 40, respectively, in 65 games. Mantle played in 12 World Series, helping the Yankees win seven of them.
He accomplished all this despite suffering through a career plagued by injuries. Mantle dealt with leg problems in high school and suffered a gruesome knee injury during the World Series in his rookie season. He also endured a right shoulder injury in the 1957 World Series. But he still had plenty of speed and power to dominate until his early 30s.
Career with Yankees (1920-34): .349 AVG, 659 HR, 1,978 RBI, 142.6 WAR
The Sultan of Swat was the no-brainer choice for the top spot.
Babe Ruth only won one MVP, but that's because there was no award in 1920 or 1921, and there was a silly rule after that stating a player could not be voted for after winning once. Otherwise, he would have gotten a ton of hardware, because he hit at least 41 home runs in 11 of his first 13 seasons with the Yankees.
In his first five seasons after Boston sold his rights to New York and he abandoned his pitching career, Ruth batted .370 and averaged 47 home runs and 131 RBI. His on-base plus slugging (OPS) during that half-decade was 1.288, which is nothing short of outrageous.
Nearly half of The Bambino's Baseball Reference page is bold and italicized, as MLB's all-time leader in slugging percentage and OPS repeatedly paced the league in about a dozen categories.
He was just as formidable in the postseason, too. In 36 career games, Ruth batted .347 with 15 home runs, 30 RBI and a 1.285 OPS in the World Series. Extrapolated to a full 162-game season, that's a pace of 68 home runs and 135 RBI. Not too shabby for games played against the best that the National League had to offer.
Advanced statistics courtesy of FanGraphs and Baseball Reference.
Kerry Miller is a multisport writer for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @kerrancejames.
