The Yankees Mount Rushmore 8/26/10

THE YANKEES MOUNT RUSHMORE

Michael Kay does the Yankee games for the YES Network here in New York. He is a nice enough guy, a bit of a groupie but whatever. So the other night he was asking who would be on a “Mount Rushmore” for the Seattle Mariners. He mentioned Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, Ichiro Suzuki, Jay Buhner, Alex Rodriguez (no way; he wasn’t there long enough), and maybe one day, Felix Hernandez. He would have kept going until John Flaherty, the ballplayer in the booth, politely reminded the guy with the fancy communications degree from Fordham that there are only four faces on Mount Rushmore.
I think any of the other 28 teams in baseball have an easy time finding their four greatest players, but when you are the greatest franchise in the history of sports, anyone you put up there would be open to debate. I think my four are just as good as anyone’s but I strongly doubt my first two are open to debate. So here is my Yankees Mt. Rushmore, feel free to add yours for the Yanks or any one of the lesser teams in baseball. And for you Mets fans, Casey Stengel and Gil Hodges don’t count, they never belonged to you, deal with it.

George Herman “Babe” Ruth (1914-1935). Batting Average: .342 Homeruns: 714 Runs Batted In: 2,271. Hits: 2,873. Really is there any debating this one? Forget the fact that he is the first athlete to ever transcend his sport. Forget the fact that he is the greatest total ballplayer ever. Forget the fact that even with his offensive numbers, he pitched 29 2/3rd consecutive scoreless innings in the World Series. Yes the World Series. Forget the fact that he is the reason for the greatest rivalry in sports. Having been traded to the Yankees from the Boston Red Sox so that their owner could finance “No No Nanette” a Broadway show, the dreaded “Curse of the Bambino” was thought to be the cause of the Red Sox failures to win a World Series for decades after.
He is the reason why people who knew little about baseball came to the ballpark; it was to watch him, not just the game. He is the reason why numbered uniforms are still used today because it was the first way fans could identify their favorite players. He has records that still stand even after nearly a century since he played his last game. He was the biggest star the game had ever seen, much less the Yankees. If baseball had a Mt Rushmore his is the first face on it, so the Yankees is a given.

Joseph Paul DiMaggio (1936-1942, 1946-1951). BA: .325 HR: 361 RBI: 1,537. H: 2,214. Had Babe Ruth not won 98 games as a pitcher, DiMaggio would probably have to be considered the greatest Yankee ever (The Babe never pitched for the Yankees, but still…).When I was in law school, I remember having a debate with a Professor about who was the greatest center fielder in the history of New York baseball. One of my friends said Mickey Mantle. I said, and I still believe I’m right, Willie Mays, to which the Professor responded to by saying “How old are you?” “25” I said, to which he replied “What do you know?” He said it was DiMaggio (for the record, no one in class picked The Dodgers' Duke Snyder). I argued that Dimaggio, great as he was, never made the spectacular catches in center field, to which the wise professor quietly replied, "He always knew where the ball was, so he never had to." One of the few times in my life, and I can count them on one hand by the way, that I was left without a qualified response. Remembering that The Clipper lost four of his prime years due to military service (something lost on today's ballplayers) he still put up amazing numbers. Numbers that year for year, are just as good as, if not overall better, than any other Yankee.

Mariano Rivera (1995- Present). Wins: 74 Losses: 54 Saves: 551 Earned Run Average: 2.21 Strikeouts: 1044. Look, this might be the first one that gets some debate, but can you argue with what he has done, and is continuing to do at a high level even after 15 years in the majors? Ask yourself this: is he the greatest ever at what he does? The answer is an unequivocal “Hell fucking yeah.” Traditionalists need to get over the fact that the closer is a relatively new phenomenon. The position is certainly not an easy one. When in a save situation, you can either get a save or lose the game. In order to even win you have to give up the lead. The pressure and tense atmosphere during a save situation is not one that can be handled by just anyone. And there is no greater pressure situation in baseball then having the outcome of a postseason game in your hands. Here are his numbers in those situations: W: 8 L: 1 SV: 39 ERA: 0.74 SO: 107. I think we can close the book on this argument on numbers alone. And to say the greatest starting pitchers in the game could have done what Rivera does is misguided. We will never know if Greg Maddux could have been a great closer because he was never in that situation. My point is that closing requires a different mindset. I don’t know who would have had it, but I certainly know who does have it.

Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra (1946-1963, 1965). BA: .285 HR: 358 RBI: 1,430 H: 2,150. 10 World Series rings. What Bill Russell is to the NBA, Yogi Berra is to baseball: simply, its greatest winner. Much in the same way that a point guard in basketball would control the game by always having the ball, Yogi would control the Yankee play on the field. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Dickey (back in the days where you trained your replacement out of loyalty) Berra was the greatest all around catcher ever. Once again, I never said he was their greatest player, but he certainly is their greatest winner, and winning with some shaky teams is not easy, particularly 1962 when only two everyday players were hitting over .300. Now in order to put his face on this mountain, I had to exclude some of the greatest players ever, much less some of the greatest Yankees; Lou Gehrig, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson and Derek Jeter to name a few. And the debate that any of these guys should be included is certainly not without merit. But I believe my choices to be the perfect balance between, talent, numbers, star power and championships.