Yankee Greats With Just One Ring
ALSO: THE 17-PLAYER TRADE THAT CAN'T HAPPEN AGAIN
Pregame Pepper
Condolences to the family of Bruce Froemming, who worked 5,163 games, second at the time of his retirement to Bill Klem's 5,373. Joe West umpired 5,460 games before retiring in 2021, topping both . . .
Slugging first baseman Rhys Hoskins had to settle for a minor-league contract and possible $1.5 million salary if he makes the power-starved Cleveland varsity, which is almost guaranteed . . .
Just days after learning Pablo Lopez needed season-ending elbow brace surgery, the Minnesota Twins discovered All-Star pitcher Joe Ryan has a back issue . . .
The frugal Tampa Bay Rays made nine off-season trades and a few cash deals while signing veteran free agents Cedric Mullins, Steven Matz, and Nick Martinez but their biggest acquisition figures to be the return of erstwhile ace Shane McClanahan from the IL . . .
Pitcher-outfielder Mike Lorenzen will like hitting in Coors Field a lot better than pitching there . . .
Mike Soroka, the former Atlanta prodigy, is now a projected bullpen piece for the Arizona Diamondbacks after inking an incentive-laden contract . . .
Speaking of trades, the Minnesota Twins moved 11 players at last July’s deadline but held onto Byron Buxton and Joe Ryan like grim death . . .
The Chicago White Sox got off on the wrong foot with Munetaka Murakami, spelling his name wrong on his spring training clubhouse cubicle . . .
Seeking to escape the AL Central cellar, the Sox signed more than a half-dozen other free agents while trading for versatile speed merchant Luisangel Acuna plus fireballing pitcher Jordan Hicks . . .
The $32 million combined salaries of Oriole acquisitions Zach Eflin, Chris Bassitt, and Shane Baz is less than the annual average Detroit gave Framber Valdez . . .
Aaron Sanchez (remember him?) is in Kansas City’s camp after winning Dominican Winter League pitcher of the year with a 1.55 ERA in 46 1/3 innings . . .
Royals catcher Sal Perez is captain of Team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic . .
Among the 20 team managers in the tournament are newly-minted Hall of Famer Andruw Jones (Netherlands), future Hall of Famer Dusty Baker (Nicaragua), and Ivy League grad Brad Ausmus (Israel), a Dartmouth grad . . .
Carlos Beltran, also a new Hall of Famer this year, is GM of Team Puerto Rico.
Leading Off
The Greatest New York Yankee With Only ONE Championship Ring
By Paul Semendinger
Among Yankees fans, there is a lot of talk about how, if the Yankees don’t win a World Championship soon, Aaron Judge will go down as the greatest Yankees player to never win a World Series. Right now, that dubious honor belongs to Don Mattingly.
If one were to look at the history of the New York Yankees, of the top 30 position players by WAR, only Mattingly (among retired players) never won a World Series. Of those top 30 players, only Roger Peckinpaugh (who was on the 1924 World Champion Senators) and Rickey Henderson (who was on two World Championship teams) didn’t win a championship in the Bronx.
It would be a shame if Aaron Judge (currently sixth all-time in WAR as a Yankee) joined Mattingly as the only great Yankees to never win a championship ring.
This made me wonder who was the greatest Yankees player to win only one championship. After all, most great Yankees won multiple titles. Winning championships used to be part of the Yankees’ DNA.
If one starts looking down the Yankees’ best players by WAR on Baseball-Reference, the greatest of the great stand out quickly:
Babe Ruth - 4 World Championships with the Yankees
Lou Gehrig - 7 World Championships
Mickey Mantle - 7 World Championships
Joe DiMaggio - 9 World Championships
Derek Jeter - 5 World Championships
Aaron Judge - he is still waiting for his first
Yogi Berra - 10 World Championships
Bill Dickey - 8 World Championships
Willie Randolph - 1 World Championship...
Wait. Willie Randolph, with one World Championship? That makes no sense. He was on two World Championship Yankees teams - 1977 and 1978.
As I worked on this project, I discovered a flaw in the way in which Baseball Reference “awards” championships. If a player wasn’t on the active World Series roster, he gets no credit for being part of the championship team. To me, that makes no sense.
Willie Randolph was, absolutely, positively a main part of the 1978 World Champion New York Yankees.
In 1978, Randolph had one of his best seasons ever. He put up 5.9 WAR, a number he exceeded only one time in his career. He earned MVP consideration after batting .279 with a .389 on base percentage as he played in 134 games.
That 5.9 WAR figure, is even more impressive than it looks at first glance. Randolph’s 5.9 WAR led the team. Willie Randolph led the 1978 Yankees in WAR.
Top 1978 Yankees Positional Players By WAR:
Willie Randolph - 5.9
Graig Nettles - 5.7
Lou Piniella - 3.7
Reggie Jackson - 3.5
Mickey Rivers 3.5
Thurman Munson - 3.2
Chris Chambliss - 3.2
Willie Randolph, absolutely, deserves to be considered a two-time Yankees World Champion. He rightfully deserves credit for being a main player on the 1978 Yankees.
I do not, in any way, consider Willie Randolph, a one-time World Champion.
In 1972, Reggie Jackson injured himself in the American League Championship Series. He didn’t play at all in the World Series, yet Baseball Reference credits Jackson for being on that World Series team - on crutches. (NY Times article - https://www.nytimes.com/1972/10/14/archives/doctors-rule-jackson-out-of-series-leg-injury-to-keep-oaklands.html)
This seems like a great inconsistency.
Willie Randolph didn’t play in the 1978 World Series because he was injured...
Which brings us, finally, to the 10th greatest New York Yankee by WAR, and the greatest Yankees position player with only one ring, Alex Rodriguez.
Following A-Rod, the next greatest Yankees with one World Series championship are Robinson Cano, Brett Gardner, and Wally Pipp.
Paul Semendinger’s newest book, The Greatest New York Yankees By Uniform Number, arrives in bookstores on March 17.
Cleaning Up
Yankees Fleeced Orioles In 17-Man Swap After 1954 Campaign
By Dan Schlossberg
This year marks the 50th anniversary of an 10-man trade between the Yankees and Baltimore Orioles. But that wasn’t even the biggest deal between the two clubs.
On Nov. 17, 1954, the teams made a 17-man trade that involved eight “players to be named later” and took three weeks to complete.
The biggest trade in baseball history, it could never happen again in this era of complicated contracts containing full or limited no-trade clauses — not to mention nine figures in some cases.
The oversized swap started a month after the 1954 World Series when the Yankees sent Harry Byrd, Jim McDonald, Willy Miranda, Hal Smith, Gus Triandos, and Gene Woodling to Baltimore for Billy Hunter, Don Larsen, and Bob Turley.
On Dec. 1, New York moved Bill Miller, Kal Segrist, Don Leppert, and Theodore Del Guercio to the newly-minted O’s — who had just finished their first year in Maryland after transitioning from the St. Louis Browns — for Mike Blyzka, Darrell Johnson, Jim Fridley, and Dick Kryhoski.
Not all those players were household names, even among rabid fans, but some became legendary.
Larsen, who had gone 3-21 for the 1954 Orioles, went on to pitch the only perfect game in World Series history for the Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers two years later. Before he quit after 17 seasons, Larsen reached the World Series five times, four with the Yankees and one against them — for the 1962 San Francisco Giants.
Two years after Larsen’s 2-0 perfecto, New York won another world championship when Turley bested the World Champion Milwaukee Braves — and capped his year with a Cy Young Award. He was part of three other world champions while in Yankee pinstripes.
Woodling, an outfielder who went back and forth between the Yankees and Orioles so many times he should have bought a lifetime Amtrak ticket, became a productive player who lasted 17 seasons, retiring just before he reached 40.
And Triandos developed into an All-Star catcher who not only hit home runs but learned to handle Hoyt Wilhelm’s Hall of Fame knuckleball. In fact, Wilhelm — a reliever with amazing longevity — once pitched a no-hitter against the Yankees as a starter! Triandos, his catcher that day, Sept. 20, 1958, knocked in the only run of the game with a solo home run.
Both sides liked the enormous trade so much that they made another one. Completed just before free agency made such swaps impossible, the teams got together on trade deadline day — June 15, 1976 — and moved some memorable names.
The Yankees sent Rick Dempsey, Tippy Martinez, Rudy May, Scott McGregor, and Dave Pagan to Baltimore for Doyle Alexander, Ken Holtzman, Jimmy Freeman, Grant Jackson, and Elrod Hendricks.
That time, the O’s got A’s for execution on their report card: McGregor was the top starter on the 1983 Baltimore team that won the World Series, while Martinez was the closer and Dempsey was their catcher.
Trades within the same division are rare, but the second mega-swap involving Baltimore and the Bronx certainly qualifies.
When free agency hit with full force after that season, most future deals involved teams raiding each other’s players on the open market.
It was a sad day for lovers of great baseball trades — especially for Orioles fans still gloating over their acquisition of future Hall of Famer Frank Robinson from the Reds for Milt Pappas, Dick Simpson, and Jack Baldschun after the 1965 season (Robinson promptly won a Triple Crown and led the O’s to another world championship).
HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for forbes.com, Memories & Dreams, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, and a myriad of other outlets. He’s also the author of 43 baseball books. Dan’s email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Extra Innings
After a winter of shedding veterans, the top-paid player on the St. Louis Cardinals is pitcher Dustin May at $12.5 million . . .
Woeful Washington spent just $5.5 million in free agency, adding pitcher Foster Griffin from the Yomiuri Giants . . .
Milwaukee spent even less ($1.25 million) to add Akil Baddoo to their payroll . . .
The Rockies, who lost 119 times last year, are hoping to avoid their fourth straight season of triple-digit defeats . . .
Josh Lowe, Nathaniel Lowe, and Brandon Lowe are all wearing new uniforms this spring . . .
For the first time in four years, the “Field of Dreams” game is back, with the Phillies facing the Braves . . .
What was Alex Bregman thinking? Fenway was the second-best home run park last year while windy Wrigley Field was next-to-last, according to Statcast.
Know Your Editors
Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.
I wrote a new entry in my 30-team cultural history I think the folks at IBWAA might enjoy: This edition is on The Yankees. It’s about legacy, inevitability, and mild national irritation.
https://substack.com/@slowmobster/note/c-220515869?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=7f0cm4
It's still wild to think that A-Rod only won one World Series (and only played in one too), though perhaps it fits. Also, you could talk about Dave Winfield in that Peckinpaugh/Rickey space too.