Top 15 New York Yankees of All-Time

Name the top 15 New York Yankee players of all time.
By wins above replacement, according to baseball-reference.com
Only includes stats accrued playing with the Yankees
Quiz by BaseballPunk
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Last updated: September 25, 2023
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First submittedMay 1, 2016
Times taken15,726
Average score53.3%
Rating4.03
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WAR
Years
Position
Player
142.7
1920–1934
OF
Babe Ruth
113.8
1923–1939
1B
Lou Gehrig
110.2
1951–1968
OF
Mickey Mantle
79.1
1936–1942, 1946–1951
OF
Joe DiMaggio
71.3
1995–2014
SS
Derek Jeter
59.6
1946–1963
C
Yogi Berra
57.1
1950, 1953-1967
P
Whitey Ford
56.9
1930–1942, 1945–1946
P
Red Ruffing
56.3
1995–2013
P
Mariano Rivera
56.3
1928–1943, 1946
C
Bill Dickey
54.0
1976–1988
2B
Willie Randolph
54.0
2004–2013, 2015–2016
3B
Alex Rodriguez
51.1
1995–2003, 2007–2010,
2012–2013
P
Andy Pettitte
49.6
1991–2006
OF
Bernie Williams
47.8
1975–1988
P
Ron Guidry
+3
Level ∞
May 4, 2021
Red Ruffing was someone I had never heard of. One reason for his high WAR was that he was a pitcher who could hit better than a typical position player, recording a career .269 average with 36 home runs.
+1
Level 83
May 4, 2016
Need one of these for every team (well, every team that has existed for more than, say, 49 years).
+1
Level ∞
May 5, 2016
I've thought about making some others, but many teams just haven't had enough stars. In any case, it'd be great if people would make one for other teams, but they probably won't be featured.
+2
Level 44
Jun 29, 2016
Here's a version for the Reds! (I figured there aren't too many fans of theirs around, so I'd go ahead and make it) http://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/103225/top-10-cincinnati-reds-of-all-time
+3
Level 72
Jul 10, 2016
Did one for the Angels, Astros and A's, will make the other 25 (except Yankees and Reds) soon.
+1
Level 88
May 6, 2016
WAR turns out to be a pretty good measure for this. Most commentators/journalists would largely agree although some might suggest Reggie Jackson rather than Dickey--but no one is old enough to remember him. Stats don't lie (much)!
+1
Level ∞
May 7, 2016
Reggie only played 5 years with the Yankees which is why he doesn't appear on the list. Career WAR of 73.8, but only 17.1 with the Yankees. Also, apparently his defense was below average - something I didn't know!
+1
Level 70
Jul 17, 2016
In his days in Oakland he was considered a good outfielder.
+1
Level ∞
May 7, 2016
Agree that WAR is a great measure!
+1
Level 54
Jul 10, 2016
What is WAR?
+5
Level 53
Jul 10, 2016
And what is it good for?
+4
Level 65
Jul 10, 2016
Absolutely nothin'!
+3
Level 75
Jul 10, 2016
Say it again!
+1
Level 44
Jul 12, 2016
Well played, gentlemen (or women). Well played.
+4
Level 67
Jul 10, 2016
It stands for "wins above replacement." It is an aggregate stat measuring how many more wins a player's team gets by virtue of his presence instead of the presence of a hypothetical, average ballplayer in his place. So in other words, the stat says that the Yankees won 142.7 more games with Babe Ruth than they would have with a hypothetical, average replacement. The stat is inclusive: it aggregates all the runs for which you are responsible on offense, including RBIs, runs scored, base running, sacrificing, etc., and all the runs you save with your defense. The stat gets a bit complicated, but a basic metric is that every 10 runs = 1 game. So, in all, Babe Ruth is measured to have contributed about 1,427 more runs (either scoring them or stopping them) than a replacement would have. This is not exactly how the stat works, but it should give you some idea.
+1
Level 88
May 4, 2021
An influential, early / mid-1970s funk-rock-soul band that for a while had the charismatic, gruff voiced, soulful ex-singer of The Animals, Eric Burdon. Their well know tunes include Spill The Wine, Why Can't We Be Friends? and Low Rider which is forever linked to Cheech and Chong.
+3
Level 75
Jul 10, 2016
"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio..." Can't believe I forgot him.
+1
Level 79
Jul 11, 2016
Got Dickey, Missed Gehrig...huh?
+1
Level 33
Jul 13, 2016
Ok. Derek Jeter is not that great. I would take 20 other shortstops from other teams today above him in a draft. Tulowitzki can do a better Jeter than Jeter can.
+2
Level 50
Mar 7, 2017
LOL
+2
Level 84
Jul 20, 2017
A player is of no use if he's on the DL, which is where Tulo usually spends half of each season.
+1
Level 63
Sep 20, 2017
I'm not a Jeter fan, but if he'd played his prime years in Colorado, his numbers would have been even better than they were. But then, maybe he would have been injured like Tulo.

Of course, on his worst day, Tulowitzki was a better fielder than Jeter on his best day.

+1
Level ∞
May 18, 2018
Career WAR is a counting stat and Jeter played for a long time. Sure he was a below-average fielder but any time you can get his level of offensive production from the shortstop position that adds a lot of value.
+3
Level 70
Feb 28, 2020
Go look in the record books where he ranks in all major categories. Add that to the fact that the Yankees won 5 WS titles while he was playing. It speaks for itself.
+1
Level 67
Jun 4, 2021
Don't know about "all major categories." He's right near the top in hits and runs (which usually go hand-in-hand), but he's nowhere near exceptional in any other offensive category and his defense was below-average. His being on the team for five championships is more a statement of the Yankees' overall dominance than Jeter's. Those teams from '98-2000 probably could have won with me playing shortstop. Jeff Nelson won four rings with the Yankees. It doesn't make him an all-time great. So, really, Derek Jeter was an exceptional contact hitter. He is a deserving Hall-of-Famer, but Yankee fans do overstate his significance by mythologizing him.
+1
Level 63
Sep 20, 2017
I got them in sequence. Extra points? Actually, as I answered, I was worried Whitey Ford didn't make it, but when I saw the years for the last player I knew it was Ford.

WAR, of course, is inexact and one's career WAR can be fattened by a relatively unproductive but lengthy end of career.

+2
Level 69
Apr 21, 2020
A-Rod's first year with the Yankees was 2004. Just in time to collapse to the Red Sox :)
+1
Level 27
Apr 25, 2021
doh !
+1
Level 82
Jun 4, 2021
Is this for one season? In 1920 the Yankees played 154 regular season games. Are they saying that if they had swapped out Babe Ruth for an average minor or major league player, they would have lost every game of the season but 11? And... with Babe Ruth on their team did they win every game but 11? (that would be a pretty astounding season) And all of those wins were solely attributable to him? I know Ruth is pretty overrated but that's kind of ridiculous still. Or is this based on his total career so 14 seasons of maybe 2156 games? Possibly more if this doesn't include playoff games? I guess if that's the case saying that Babe got them 143 wins in his career wouldn't be totally absurd. But I know almost nothing about baseball.
+2
Level 62
Jun 4, 2021
It's career WAR, so for Ruth it's all his value with the Yankees over the course of his career. Ruth's best season by WAR was 1923, in which he had 14. That is also the best season by WAR for any player, disregarding 19th century pitchers for which the model breaks down completely. Ruth also has the number two and three seasons for position players, and has the career record as well, although Barry Bonds edges him out if you exclude Ruth's pitching.

It's also worth noting that a teams total WAR rates them relative to a hypothetical team of minor league scrubs which would be expected to win 40-45 games in a season.

+1
Level 46
Mar 28, 2024
Who cares? Top Mets of all time. Strawberry...
+1
Level 46
Mar 28, 2024
I love the Mets❤️. Go Mets!