Friday, April 30, 2010

Who is the Greatest Yankee?

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article, "Who is the Greatest Yankee"? (positional players only) For starters, I didn't know the Wall Street Journal had a sports section. Anyway, the first two selections are obvious: Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. At number three is Joe DiMaggio. That's open to much debate, but the most unusual choice was at number four. The WSJ selected Derek Jeter as the fourth "Greatest Yankee." Jeter? Number four? Clearly I don't understand this pick. What about Yogi? Heck, what about THE MICK? For the record, Berra is number five and Mantle is six. I'm not going to break out a bunch of stats that support my argument. I'm just not in the mood. But the primary criteria for a player's worth comes down to runs. Runs created. And unless I'm mistaken, Mickey Mantle created more runs than Derek Jeter. I know, Jeter has more time on the clock. Who knows? Maybe I'm wrong. After all, you can massage the numbers to fit your particular point of view. Make no mistake, Jeter is an all-time great Yankee. He's a first ballot Hall of Famer. I just don't put him in the same category as Mantle. Maybe I've watched too many Mantle "Yankeeography's." Maybe I've been influenced by all the sappy tributes that have been paid to Mantle over the years. Whatever the reason, I can't take this particular singles hitter (Jeter) over this particular power hitter (Mantle). I don't even see how you can make the argument.

3 comments:

  1. My dad.

    D'Maggio.

    Greatest I've ever seen play in person= Mattingly. Miss you Dan.

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