The All True Yankee Team

18 Responses to The All True Yankee Team

1. nick says:

   November 15, 2011 at 2:46 pm

   yogi played 4 games for the mets in 1965

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   • EJ Fagan says:

     November 15, 2011 at 3:26 pm

     Foiled! Yogi Berra is officially no longer a true Yankee.

     Luckily, the Yankees are deeper at catcher than any non-CF position.

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2. says:

   November 15, 2011 at 2:46 pm

   On the basis of Spud Chandler’s fantastic 1943 season, perhaps he’s one of the back-end starters? He pitched his entire career on the Yanks and was primarily used as a starter (187 of 211 games).

   It’s a damn shame that Andy spent those three years in Houston, otherwise he’d make a lovely #4 on this list…

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   • DPR says:

     November 15, 2011 at 4:04 pm

     agreed. I was just thinking about Chandler as soon as I saw the vacant spots.

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   • EJ Fagan says:

     November 15, 2011 at 4:46 pm

     I forgot about Chandler! I tend to ignore WWII teams, since the level of competition was so low. But he had a nice little True Yankee career. He’s in.

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3. Domenic says:

   November 15, 2011 at 3:02 pm

   Spud Chandler had a solid 26.0 bWAR as a ‘True Yankee.’ He missed time due to service in WWII and injuries, but that unimpressive career total would work out to be around ~4.8 WAR over a full season of IP.

   Lefty Gomez missed the cut by the slimmest of margins – he tossed 4.2 IP for the Senators in 1943. 99.81355% of his IP were with the Yankees.

   Oh, and it’s Gil McDougald. His career ended early, unfortunately, as the Yankees decided to cut ties with him and he did not want to play elsewhere.

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4. Eric says:

   November 15, 2011 at 3:18 pm

   It’s unfortunate the Yankees let Pettitte go to Houston…He’d fill one of those spots nicely.

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5. Joe G says:

   November 15, 2011 at 3:51 pm

   What are the defensive metrics on Dimaggio? Bernie never the greatest arm, I wonder if he’d do better in left. Then again less ground for him to cover in right, and all the stories I hear on DiMaggio was he was very agile in left. Then again that could be code for slow.

   Also was Gehrig that good at first? He obviously out hits Donnie, but Donnie’s defense was second to few. If Donnie can’t play first, I’d even consider Posada at DH over him.

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   • Mr. Furious says:

     November 15, 2011 at 4:18 pm

     If memory serves, Gehrig was kind of “meh” in the speed and defense departments. Not Eddie Murray awful or anything, but nowhere near the level of a Mattingly or a Teixiera.

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   • EJ Fagan says:

     November 15, 2011 at 4:44 pm

     I always remembered people saying that Gehrig was good at 1st, but it’s hard to tell with legends.

     At Yankee Stadium (especially ‘True Yankee Stadium’), I’d rather have DiMaggio, touted as the better defender, roaming the big side of the outfield, regardless of Bernie’s poor arm strength. But point taken, Bernie’s not much of a RFer.

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6. DPR says:

   November 15, 2011 at 4:06 pm

   I went through the B-R pages for Yankees pitchers from 1903 to 2000, and the only other few “true yankee” starter I can find with more than 5 WAR are Spud Chandler (as other people have already pointed out), Bill Bevens, Marius Russo, Jack Warhop and Atley Donald.

   Note: Warhop was technically also a Highlander besides being a Yankee.

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7. chriskeo says:

   November 15, 2011 at 5:41 pm

   Elston Howard was traded to the Red Sox in 1967 and played there in 1968 as well.

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8. Professor Longnose says:

   November 15, 2011 at 9:08 pm

   Frankie Crosetti would be a good utility guy. He could play second, short, and third.

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9. Vinnie says:

   November 16, 2011 at 2:20 pm

   Replace Elston with Thurman and definitely add Spud.

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   • fredweis says:

     November 18, 2011 at 12:26 pm

     Spud is a good call.

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10. fredweis says:

    November 18, 2011 at 12:25 pm

    Munson definitely trumps Posada. Thurm won an MVP award, ROY and multiple GG’s. No comparison.

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11. PortlandYankee says:

    November 19, 2011 at 4:14 pm

    Frankly, you should ignore the original author’s silly “100%” rule and use a more reasonable default, like 90% or 99%. It’s ridiculous that Lefty Gomez’s one game as a Senator no longer makes him a “True Yankee”.

    Using a simple 90% rule, we get:

    SS Derek Jeter
    LF Joe DiMaggio
    CF Mickey Mantle
    DH Lou Gehrig
    RF Bernie Williams
    C1 Yogi Berra
    1B Don Mattingly
    2B Tony Lazzeri
    3B Gil McDougald

    C2 Bill Dickey
    IF Robinson Cano
    IF Phil Rizzuto
    OF Roy White
    OF Earle Combs

    SP Whitey Ford
    SP Ron Guidry
    SP Lefty Gomez
    SP Mel Stottlemyre
    SP Spud Chandler

    RP Mariano Rivera
    RP David Robertson

    Problem solved.

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12. H yellow says:

    November 20, 2011 at 1:08 am

    Roy White played for the Yomiori Giants in Tokyo in the early 1980s. Should that disqualify him?

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