Ranking the Top 10 Yankees Players of All Time

Babe Ruth is arguably the greatest baseball player who ever lived, and despite not playing a 162-game season with the Yankees, he’s still their all-time leader in home runs (659). He walked more than he struck out and averaged 47 home runs per 150 games as a member of the Bronx Bombers. The most iconic player in franchise history, it really isn’t a debate of who should be their top spot.

2) Mickey Mantle

Affectionately known as “the Mick,” injuries kept him from being the best player of all time, as he would miss game after game with brutal injuries. Even still, he had multiple monstrous seasons in the integration era and was Mike Trout before Mike Trout came along in recent years. His 170 wRC+ and over 500 home runs as a switch hitter are remarkable, and one can only dream of what the numbers would look like without the injuries.

3) Lou Gehrig

Lou Gehrig always had to play in the shadow of the boisterous and dominant Babe Ruth, quietly putting together one of the greatest careers we will ever see from a first baseman. An iron man on the field, he crushed 493 home runs with an astonishing .447 OBP, flashing an elite ability to hit for contact while also doing plenty of damage on contact, and the team success as well certainly helps his case.

4) Joe DiMaggio

Joe DiMaggio is an interesting what-of story, because just as he hit his prime with a four-year stretch where he averaged over 8 WAR and an OPS over 1.000, he missed his age 28-30 seasons fighting in World War II. Had he played those three years at a similar pace to what he did in his three years leading up to that one, perhaps his counting stats look a lot better, but that doesn’t diminish the career 151 wRC+ and 361 home runs while playing a strong centerfield.

5) Mariano Rivera

It may seem weird to have a reliever at the fifth spot, but he is the best closer of all time, and being the best at your position by a country mile means a lot. According to Win Probability Added, he is the third-most impactful pitcher on winning since the stat began being tracked in 1974. More men have walked on the moon than scored against Rivera in the postseason, and that kind of dominance deserves to be respected.

6) Derek Jeter

Derek Jeter is often criticized for having -162 Defensive Runs Saved but is never praised enough for being one of the best offensive shortstops in baseball history. He ranks fourth all-time among all shortstops in offensive runs according to FanGraphs (332.7) and the sixth-most HRs ever (260). He was an excellent baserunner, had an excellent approach at the plate, and continued to play great in the postseason, it’s pretty hard to argue against him being a great player.

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7) Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra had an OPS over .800 as a catcher, three MVPs, 18 All-Star Appearances, and 10 World Series Titles in his playing career, a resume not many players can size up to. It’s tough to handle the workload of being an everyday catcher, but he has the fifth-most fWAR for a catcher ever (63.2) and the fourth-most home runs (356), having a relatively underrated career in the modern conversations of all-time great catchers

8) Whitey Ford

Whitey Ford has a career 2.75 ERA across over 3,000 innings, improving in the postseason to a 2.71 ERA while also having the volume for it. Widely considered the greatest starting pitcher in franchise history, he was a consistent ace, never sporting an ERA above 3.24 in his career, as even in his final two seasons as a reliever and starter, he still pitched to a 2.15 ERA across 117 innings.

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9) Alex Rodriguez

Despite the PEDs, Alex Rodriguez is easily one of the most dynamic and dominant Yankee hitters we’ve ever seen. He hit 351 homers with the Yanks and 696 in his career. Fun fact: I was actually at his 600th HR game. I prayed he wouldn’t hit one until that game. I believe he went seven straight without launching one, so it was a miracle! Nonetheless, A-Rod was must-watch television and will go down as one of the best to ever play the game.,

10) Andy Pettitte

Andy Pettitte deserves far more love than he gets in modern starting pitching conversations, as he should go down as one of the best left-handed starters of the last 50 years. Since 1975, only Randy Johnson and Clayton Kershaw have had more fWAR than the five-time World Series Champion among left-handed starters because of his workload. He is one of the last true bulldogs we’ll see as the game has evolved towards shorter bursts of better stuff, and he should be considered for the Hall of Fame.