Derek Jeter
 

Greatest Yankee ever! :clap:

You obviously never saw Horace Clark play! :rolling:

But seriously...and I love Jeter! Two words...

The Babe!

O' Captain My Captain

Who is this Jeter, and what is a Yankee?

That's tennis, isn't it? Three strikes and you're out? Or is that football? :)

I think that's bowling. :rolling:

Has Don Mattingly's star fallen a notch ?

Never!
Mattingly is still my favorite,
but Jeter is the greatest Yankee ever!

...next to Bernie! ;)

As with many other teams, (including that one from Beantown) you could create a very formidable top nine list of "greatests" of the Yankees. Certainly Jeter has taken over #1 at shortstop. He is also captain and has played superbly over these 13 years. Is he the greatest Yankee that ever lived? You might have an argument from the Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio or Mantle contigents.

As a Yankee fan I would say he is one of the greatest Yankees and one of several I've had the privilege of watching play firsthand.

OK, Judge. I'll bite. I have stuck with players who played all or most of their career as a Yankee.

Catcher - Yogi
1B - Gehrig
2B - Tie (Bobby Richardson, Willie Randolph)
3B - Clete Boyer (could be surpassed by A-rod, if he plays long enough as a Yankee)
SS - Jeter
LF - Dimaggio (he and Bernie Williams, both center fielders, top any left fielder I can recall the Yankees ever having)
CF - Mantle
RF - Ruth
LHP - Whitey Ford
RHP - Mel Stottlemyre (played on lousy teams most of his career); Catfish deserves consideration, but was not a longtime Yankee
Reliever - Rivera (would have selected Gossage if he had spent more time as a Yankee)

At risk of roaming off subject, I'll also bite. I've taken the opportunity to add some backups in the event of injury and to rub the noses of Sawks fans in it.

C: Berra (2.Dickey, 3.Munson, 4.Posada, 5.Howard)
1B: Gehrig (Mattingly, and Texiera?)
2B: Stirnweiss (2.J. Gordon, 3.Randolph, 4.Richardson, and Cano?)
SS: Jeter (Rizzuto)
3B: Nettles (soon to be A Rod 2.Boyer, 3.Dugan)
OF: DiMaggio, Mantle, Ruth (3.Williams, 4.Selkirk, 5.Jackson-too HUGE impact for short time)

LHP: Ford (2.Gomez, 3.Petite, 4.Guidry)
RHP: Red Ruffing (2.Reynolds, 3.Stottlemeyre-too bad might have beens don't count)

Relief-LHP: Rivera (Gossage-Fu Manchu was a psychological plus)
Relief-RHP: Lyle

Greatest closer of all time: Rivera

I've included some oldsters who's accomplishments are incredible but the fog of time has obscured. I've also tried to exclude personal favorites and others who just don't make it for one reason or another: Lazzari(OF), Maris(OF), O'Neill(OF), White(OF), Selkirk(OF), Raschi(RHP) etc. I also acknowledge the contribution of Wikpedia and Baseball-Reference.com in compiling this list. There was a time in my life when I probably could have done it from memory, but I getting too flipping old.

Idiots, everyone knows he plays Hockey!

Thread Bump
 

Farewell Captain!
Again, arguably the greatest Yankee ever!

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5...o/DSCN1242.JPG

Gehrig 340 Career batting average to 309 for Jeter.
493 Career Home runs to 260 for Jeter
1995 RBI's to 1307 for Jeter
On base percentage of 447 - 337 for Jeter
slugging percentage of 632 - to 440 for Jeter
6 World Series Championships to Jeters 5

Gehrig 2,130 consecutive games, AL Batting Champion, 1 Triple Crown, 3 Time AL Home Run Champion,

It's really tough to put Jeter over Gehrig, considering the fact that according to sportswriters, he is considerd the greatest player of all time and was know as "The Iron Horse" because of his durability.

I think of both Jeter and Gehrig as all time greats. However, IMHO it’s difficult to not put George Herman Ruth as the greatest player of all time. 12 home run titles with 714 career homers. His career batting average, OBP, and SLG percentages were .342, .474, and .690 respectively. He was also a HOF caliber pitcher….a career 2.28 ERA including 3-0 and .87 ERA World Series Record. A fun debate.

All time Yankee leader in Games, At Bats, Hits, Doubles, Runs, and Stolen Bases is not too shabby. Not to mention 6th on the all time MLB Hits list.
What a way to end his career at home too, with a walk-off RBI single!

Thank you Derek Jeter!

I'm not a baseball fan, never have been since Walter O'Malley moved the Dodgers from Brooklyn to LA. So I guess I'm objective when it comes to baseball.

It's almost impossible to classify a "best ever" anywhere in baseball. Different eras, different conditioning, change in the baseball itself, etc.

Jeter is a great player and more important a class act in an age where most highly paid professional atheletes ("superstars") have no class.

The reason I give Gehrig the nod over Ruth is because he worked hard to be in condition. Who knows what Ruth would have accomplished had he kept in shape and trained hard. Dimaggio and mantle were also great examples.

My choice of Gehrig is based on his humility as much as his performance.

Only 5 guys in the whole history of baseball ( think of how many that actually is) have more hits than Jeter who sits and number 6 all time.

Add that to "The Flip", "The Dive", The "Mr. November" home run, the 5 Titles, most hits by a Yankee, and then add the fact that the guy played hard, clean and scandal free for 20 years for ONE Team, and you gotta say he was pretty damn good!

The end of last nights game really was a storybook ending for a great Yankee.

I don't even follow baseball and have to agree. Felt compelled to watch last night's game.

Who?

No one mentioned Roger Maris. He was an unsung hero and one of my favorites when I was a kid. But none was better than Mickey, IMO. Better than Ruth or Jeter.

I am from Michigan and enjoy this forum because I like canoes and backcountry skiing. I really don't care about the Yankees, but I would watch them to see Derek Jeter. He was the best all around shortstop I remember seeing. He was key to those World Series championships.

I saw this stat come up on Fox during the Yankees - Red Sox game yesterday...
All time Yankee Hits at Fenway Park:
Lou Gehrig 193
Babe Ruth 173
Mickey Mantle 165
Derek Jeter 164
Joe DiMaggio 159

Jeter has a chance to tie and pass Mantle on that list during the final game today, so even if you don't consider him the greatest Yankee ever, I don't think that anyone can argue that he is definitely up there as one of the greatest Yankees ever!

I'm with you buddy. Just look at the names this kid is up with on every top 5 or 10 list he's on. It was an incredible career and one we'll never see again in the modern sports era.

Capt. Clutch was simply one of the greatest to ever play.

Jeter has been my favorite Yankee for a long time. He's had a tremendous, sustained, hall of fame career. The "intangibles" or "baseball smarts" are hard to quantify, and he had them in spades!

That said, IMHO, he's not in the same class of player as a significant handful of Yankee greats: Gehrig, Ruth, DiMaggio, Mantle, Berra. For all of those guys they were considered the best at their position for a significant part of their careers, with the possible exception of Mantle who had the misfortune of playing during the Willie Mays era.

Jeter, on the other hand, probably only approached that benchmark in one or two seasons. He had the benefit of playing on a great team, so he was more visible than many others, and he had more durability than most of them, except Ripkin. He has many Yankee records, but some of them are in the "compiler" category. You bat lead-off for a team that scores a lot and you stay healthy, you will get many at bats and hits and walks and runs. Same for all his post-season records. (I understand you still have to hit the ball and run the bases.) Not taking anything away from him. Great ball player, and first-round HOF-er.

Agreed, this is a fun conversation. And I'll miss Derek's play and his presence. (Although he is about the worst interview in sports!) Now I have no reason to watch the Yankees.

I remember when Tom Seaver was elected to the Hall of Fame. There were but a couple of voters who did not choose him. I believe he still has the greatest percentage of votes ever. Several of those voting " no" stated that they wanted to guarantee Seaver wasn't a unanimous selection. When asked why, they stated if Gehrig didn't deserve to be unanimous, no one deserves it.

I believe Jeter will be the first. :thumbs:

I agree with the holdouts.

Frankly RedHawk, so do I, but I think Jeter will overcome it.

You might be right.

No reflection on Jeter, but in this age the bar has been lowered.

While I agree with the presumption that if Gehrig wasn't unanimous, no one deserves it, I disagree with the rationale that I (or some really smart HOF voter should withhold my vote for that reason). Essentially the voter's rationale is "some voter 70 years ago was an idiot, so I will be an idiot today."

Agreed.