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Post by desousa on Mar 8, 2021 16:11:52 GMT -5
If I were picking an all-time team, Ruth, Mantle and Dimaggio would be the outfield. My grandfather told me the best pitcher he ever saw was Satchel Paige in his prime. The best position player was Dimaggio, even though the was a Red Sox fan.
I had a hard time keeping Pettite and Cone off my team. Loved to watch them pitch.
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Post by inger on Mar 8, 2021 16:28:57 GMT -5
If I were picking an all-time team, Ruth, Mantle and Dimaggio would be the outfield. My grandfather told me the best pitcher he ever saw was Satchel Paige in his prime. The best position player was Dimaggio, even though the was a Red Sox fan. I had a hard time keeping Pettite and Cone off my team. Loved to watch them pitch. I enjoyed David Wells, too. I guess we could both rework our teams 100 x and still need more roster positions. Jim Bouton? He was just a two-year wonder for us, but I was a little boy then. Wide-eyed boys think everything will remain the way is forever. Al Downing was going be one of the best lefties ever, and Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich would never look at each other’s wives, much less each other’s, houses and dogs... |
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Post by chiyankee on Mar 8, 2021 19:00:21 GMT -5
It’s amazing to me that Babe Ruth has trouble making this team. Also that Gehrig plays second fiddle to Donnie, Bernie often pushes Mantle away. I don’t think anyone selected one time cult favorite Tom Tresh. I had Ryne Duran for a while but dropped him when I felt the roster had become too swollen. Blomberg was a favorite of mine, too. But with Reggie around, how could I take a DH with only 52 career HR? I only picked Yankees that I actually saw play for my favorites list, with my starting point being the late 70's. |
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Post by inger on Mar 8, 2021 19:05:47 GMT -5
It’s amazing to me that Babe Ruth has trouble making this team. Also that Gehrig plays second fiddle to Donnie, Bernie often pushes Mantle away. I don’t think anyone selected one time cult favorite Tom Tresh. I had Ryne Duran for a while but dropped him when I felt the roster had become too swollen. Blomberg was a favorite of mine, too. But with Reggie around, how could I take a DH with only 52 career HR? I only picked Yankees that I actually saw play for my favorites list, with my starting point being the late 70's. Completely reasonable approach, Chi. I started to go in that direction, but I got sooo much of my early baseball information from reading that I did pick up some favorites that way in my early years... |
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Post by rizzuto on Mar 8, 2021 19:21:01 GMT -5
If I were picking an all-time team, Ruth, Mantle and Dimaggio would be the outfield. My grandfather told me the best pitcher he ever saw was Satchel Paige in his prime. The best position player was Dimaggio, even though the was a Red Sox fan. I had a hard time keeping Pettite and Cone off my team. Loved to watch them pitch. What a treat that must have been to watch Satchel Paige - a true legend of the game. For people who saw DiMaggio, a couple things they said always stuck with me: Defensively, covering all that ground in center and those deep alleys, they were amazed that he got to balls initially thought to be hits without diving. Supposedly, no one got better jumps or took better angles. Every play seemed effortless. Offensively, DiMaggio’s penchant for the big hit was legendary. My good friend who passed away a year ago, used to listen to games on the radio as a kid. He said, time after time, in a crucial spot, he would think, “There’s no way he can come through again?” Yet, DiMaggio would get the big hit, again. He said it was absolutely amazing how often it happened. |
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Post by inger on Mar 8, 2021 22:31:06 GMT -5
If I were picking an all-time team, Ruth, Mantle and Dimaggio would be the outfield. My grandfather told me the best pitcher he ever saw was Satchel Paige in his prime. The best position player was Dimaggio, even though the was a Red Sox fan. I had a hard time keeping Pettite and Cone off my team. Loved to watch them pitch. What a treat that must have been to watch Satchel Paige - a true legend of the game. For people who saw DiMaggio, a couple things they said always stuck with me: Defensively, covering all that ground in center and those deep alleys, they were amazed that he got to balls initially thought to be hits without diving. Supposedly, no one got better jumps or took better angles. Every play seemed effortless. Offensively, DiMaggio’s penchant for the big hit was legendary. My good friend who passed away a year ago, used to listen to games on the radio as a kid. He said, time after time, in a crucial spot, he would think, “There’s no way he can come through again?” Yet, DiMaggio would get the big hit, again. He said it was absolutely amazing how often it happened. DiMaggio. I looked up his situational hitting. You know, leading off, I put no one on, two outs runners 2nd and third and all that. Here we see a guy that hit .325 for his career, and in NO situation did he he under .311, nor above .336. He was just going to hit, no matter what. It was crazy. And his RBI were always there. By the tons. Unlike Mantle, Ruth, Gehrig he was more like Mattingly. He was patient and aggressive at the same time. He wanted to hit... |
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Post by chiyankee on Mar 9, 2021 19:01:45 GMT -5
If I were picking an all-time team, Ruth, Mantle and Dimaggio would be the outfield. My grandfather told me the best pitcher he ever saw was Satchel Paige in his prime. The best position player was Dimaggio, even though the was a Red Sox fan. I had a hard time keeping Pettite and Cone off my team. Loved to watch them pitch. Seriously, could any other MLB franchise could come close to Mantle-DiMaggio-Ruth in the OF? The Giants had Mays and Bonds but Barry spent half of his career in Pittsburgh. |
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Post by rizzuto on Mar 9, 2021 20:07:05 GMT -5
If I were picking an all-time team, Ruth, Mantle and Dimaggio would be the outfield. My grandfather told me the best pitcher he ever saw was Satchel Paige in his prime. The best position player was Dimaggio, even though the was a Red Sox fan. I had a hard time keeping Pettite and Cone off my team. Loved to watch them pitch. Seriously, could any other MLB franchise could come close to Mantle-DiMaggio-Ruth in the OF? The Giants had Mays and Bonds but Barry spent half of his career in Pittsburgh. Tough to come close to those three. If you include the New York Giants, then you add Mel Ott to Mays and Bonds. |
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Post by chiyankee on Mar 9, 2021 22:36:10 GMT -5
Seriously, could any other MLB franchise could come close to Mantle-DiMaggio-Ruth in the OF? The Giants had Mays and Bonds but Barry spent half of his career in Pittsburgh. Tough to come close to those three. If you include the New York Giants, then you add Mel Ott to Mays and Bonds. Bonds-Mays-Ott is pretty elite. |
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Post by rizzuto on Apr 14, 2021 10:31:00 GMT -5
Bumping this, hoping Pipps will share his favorites at each position!  |
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Post by pippsheadache on Apr 15, 2021 15:13:12 GMT -5
Bumping this, hoping Pipps will share his favorites at each position! Ask and ye shall receive. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I don't think my views are radically different from anyone else, with maybe a few different wrinkles. I agree that the players of our youth have a particularly strong hold on our affection. I think that's true for most fans. In my case, Mantle and Ford will always be one and two, even if I live 50 more years. So I could just take the 1961 Yankee roster and get all misty-eyed and have those players as my lineup. Like it is for some of you with the teams of the late 70s or late 90s, which I also loved. Anyway, first is my all-time team irrespective of whether or not I saw them. Although in each case I either did see them or knew many people who did and who I questioned mercilessly about their play. First Base -- Lou Gehrig Second Base -- Joe Gordon Shortstop-- Derek Jeter Third Base -- Alex Rodriguez (I know) OF -- Babe Ruth OF -- Joe DiMaggio OF -- Mickey Mantle Catcher -- Yogi Berra DH -- Reggie Jackson SP -- Whitey Ford SP -- Ron Guidry SP -- Lefty Gomez SP -- Spud Chandler Others on the team would be Bill Dickey, Don Mattingly, Tony Lazzeri,Phil Rizzuto, Gil McDougald, Aaron Judge and Charlie Keller. That leaves five more pitching spots. This team doesn't need more than ten pitchers. So let's start with the undisputed GOAT Mariano Rivera and throw in Goose Gossage, Dave Righetti and two more starters who can be swing men, Andy Pettitte and Red Ruffing. Joe McCarthy will manage this group-- he had great success everywhere he managed, from the minors to the Cubs, most famously with the Yankees, and later with the Red Sox. He was born to win. Like Scotty Bowman in hockey for the few who follow it. Now when this team gets to the post-season, A-Rod will be diagnosed with a mysterious ailment and be replaced by Graig Nettles. And maybe we'll add an extra pitcher in David Wells, who elevated his high stakes game as much as anyone this side of Curt Schilling. Maybe we drop Judge or Rizzuto or McDougald. General Manager George Weiss will have to make that decision. Charlie Keller is the most underrated great Yankee of them all IMO. He is fourth all-time for OBP, behind only that well-known trio of gods Ruth, Gehrig and Mantle. And for OPS+ he is fifth behind the quartet of gods Babe, Lou, Mick and Joe D. Pretty good company I would say. Spud Chandler was whack. Tied with Whitey Ford for the best adjusted ERA+ among starters at 132. And I know we aren't supposed to care about winning percentage, but he has the highest in baseball history-- not just for the Yankees-- for any pitcher with over 100 wins at .717. His problem was that he wasn't called to the big leagues until he was 29, and even at that he was constantly going down with elbow injuries (how modern) and he missed two years to WWII. He had that nasty Bob Gibson attitude on the mound and was generally unpleasant at game time. Bill Dickey said he had the best location ability of any pitcher he ever saw. In any event, it's easy to put together a great Yankee team. The hard part is leaving people off. I set a minimum bar of five years with the team to qualify. |
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Post by pippsheadache on Apr 15, 2021 15:16:11 GMT -5
I just realized I left off a fifth SP. Make that Mike Mussina.
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Post by kaybli on Apr 15, 2021 15:27:13 GMT -5
Bumping this, hoping Pipps will share his favorites at each position! [img src="//storage.proboards.com/6828121/images/oBooKhQgDwbw0VxoHmAe.gif" alt=" " class="smile"] Ask and ye shall receive. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I don't think my views are radically different from anyone else, with maybe a few different wrinkles. I agree that the players of our youth have a particularly strong hold on our affection. I think that's true for most fans. In my case, Mantle and Ford will always be one and two, even if I live 50 more years. So I could just take the 1961 Yankee roster and get all misty-eyed and have those players as my lineup. Like it is for some of you with the teams of the late 70s or late 90s, which I also loved. Anyway, first is my all-time team irrespective of whether or not I saw them. Although in each case I either did see them or knew many people who did and who I questioned mercilessly about their play. First Base -- Lou Gehrig Second Base -- Joe Gordon Shortstop-- Derek Jeter Third Base -- Alex Rodriguez (I know) OF -- Babe Ruth OF -- Joe DiMaggio OF -- Mickey Mantle Catcher -- Yogi Berra DH -- Reggie Jackson SP -- Whitey Ford SP -- Ron Guidry SP -- Lefty Gomez SP -- Spud Chandler Others on the team would be Bill Dickey, Don Mattingly, Tony Lazzeri,Phil Rizzuto, Gil McDougald, Aaron Judge and Charlie Keller. That leaves five more pitching spots. This team doesn't need more than ten pitchers. So let's start with the undisputed GOAT Mariano Rivera and throw in Goose Gossage, Dave Righetti and two more starters who can be swing men, Andy Pettitte and Red Ruffing. Joe McCarthy will manage this group-- he had great success everywhere he managed, from the minors to the Cubs, most famously with the Yankees, and later with the Red Sox. He was born to win. Like Scotty Bowman in hockey for the few who follow it. Now when this team gets to the post-season, A-Rod will be diagnosed with a mysterious ailment and be replaced by Graig Nettles. And maybe we'll add an extra pitcher in David Wells, who elevated his high stakes game as much as anyone this side of Curt Schilling. Maybe we drop Judge or Rizzuto or McDougald. General Manager George Weiss will have to make that decision. Charlie Keller is the most underrated great Yankee of them all IMO. He is fourth all-time for OBP, behind only that well-known trio of gods Ruth, Gehrig and Mantle. And for OPS+ he is fifth behind the quartet of gods Babe, Lou, Mick and Joe D. Pretty good company I would say. Spud Chandler was whack. Tied with Whitey Ford for the best adjusted ERA+ among starters at 132. And I know we aren't supposed to care about winning percentage, but he has the highest in baseball history-- not just for the Yankees-- for any pitcher with over 100 wins at .717. His problem was that he wasn't called to the big leagues until he was 29, and even at that he was constantly going down with elbow injuries (how modern) and he missed two years to WWII. He had that nasty Bob Gibson attitude on the mound and was generally unpleasant at game time. Bill Dickey said he had the best location ability of any pitcher he ever saw. In any event, it's easy to put together a great Yankee team. The hard part is leaving people off. I set a minimum bar of five years with the team to qualify. Great list pipps! I was an A-rod fan before the full extent of his antics were known. Now he disgusts me enough to leave him off my list. |
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Post by pippsheadache on Apr 15, 2021 15:40:18 GMT -5
It hardly needs to be said, but every once in awhile when looking at stats Babe Ruth's other-worldly achievements jump off the page. Even with a franchise as crammed with baseball immortals as the Yankees, he is operating in a separate universe.
For example, career WAR -- Babe Ruth is first at 142.8. Then comes Gehrig at 114.1 and Mantle at 110.2 before we get to DiMaggio at 79.1, Jeter at 71.3, then a drop off to Yogi ar 59.7, Dickey at 57.2. The top ten winds up somewhat surprisingly with Randolph 54.0, A-Rod 54.0 and Bernie 49.6.
Likewise OPS+, Babe towers over this august crew at 209. Gehrig is next at 179, then Mantle 172, DiMaggio 155, Keller 153, Judge 151, Reggie 148, Giambi 143. Then shockingly to me Oscar Gamble at 141 (although a very brief career with the Yankees, so a definite outlier) and rounding it up is Roger Maris at 139.
Maybe I missed it because I was out of the country and then came the year of the lockdown, but I don't recall the Yankees making much of a noise about the 100th anniversary of the signing of Babe Ruth in January 2020.
No Babe, no Yankee dynasty. He changed the course of the game and he most emphatically changed the trajectory of the franchise. It should have been a bigger deal for the team. Virus or not.
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Post by pippsheadache on Apr 15, 2021 15:46:11 GMT -5
I hear you on A-Rod Kaybli and basically agree. I wavered on including him. So I compromised and left him off the post-season roster. I do think he was the most talented third baseman the Yanks have had, albeit with inflated numbers through dishonest means.
I could toss him off the team and not lose any sleep over it. In that case Nettles to third and McDougald stays as backup.
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