“The Core Four”
Posted by Raphy on November 8, 2009
One of the themes in the media during last week's World Series was the "core four" , the four players who linked the Yankees championships of the '90s to this year's team. Several of those players moved up the charts for playing time in the World Series and I thought it might be interesting to see whom they passed and who is still in the lead.
Derek Jeter is the only player to have the opportunity to play in every Yankees World Series game since 1996. In fact, with his six World Series games this year, Jeter has now become the all-time leader in World Series games played since divisional play started in 1969. Here are the leaders:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Derek Jeter 38 Ind. Games David Justice 36 Ind. Games Pete Rose 34 Ind. Games Bernie Williams 32 Ind. Games Lonnie Smith 32 Ind. Games Jorge Posada 29 Ind. Games Steve Garvey 28 Ind. Games Tony Perez 27 Ind. Games Terry Pendleton 27 Ind. Games Paul O'Neill 27 Ind. Games Reggie Jackson 27 Ind. Games
Overall, Jeter is tied for 16th, behind a leader that surprises no one.
Yogi Berra 75 Ind. Games Mickey Mantle 65 Ind. Games Elston Howard 54 Ind. Games Gil McDougald 53 Ind. Games Hank Bauer 53 Ind. Games Phil Rizzuto 52 Ind. Games Joe DiMaggio 51 Ind. Games Frankie Frisch 50 Ind. Games Pee Wee Reese 44 Ind. Games Babe Ruth 41 Ind. Games Roger Maris 41 Ind. Games Carl Furillo 40 Ind. Games Bill Skowron 39 Ind. Games Gil Hodges 39 Ind. Games Jim Gilliam 39 Ind. Games Jackie Robinson 38 Ind. Games Derek Jeter 38 Ind. Games Bill Dickey 38 Ind. Games
Jeter's teams have been very successful in the World Series, winning 5 out of 7 series and "pushing" the other 2 to six and 7 games. Therefore, it is no surprise, when we look at the list of players who have played in the most World Series games in which their team won, Jeter moves up the chart:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Yogi Berra 43 Ind. Games Joe DiMaggio 37 Ind. Games Phil Rizzuto 32 Ind. Games Hank Bauer 32 Ind. Games Mickey Mantle 31 Ind. Games Bill Dickey 29 Ind. Games Gil McDougald 28 Ind. Games Lou Gehrig 27 Ind. Games Babe Ruth 26 Ind. Games Elston Howard 26 Ind. Games Derek Jeter 25 Ind. Games
Mariano Rivera has also been climbing the charts, taking over the lead in World Series games pitched. I wasn't surprised by the pitcher he passed for the lead, but the one with whom had been tied for second place.
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Mariano Rivera 24 Ind. Games Whitey Ford 22 Ind. Games Mike Stanton 20 Ind. Games Jeff Nelson 16 Ind. Games Rollie Fingers 16 Ind. Games Bob Turley 15 Ind. Games Allie Reynolds 15 Ind. Games Clay Carroll 14 Ind. Games Mark Wohlers 13 Ind. Games Andy Pettitte 13 Ind. Games Clem Labine 13 Ind. Games
Andy Pettitte won both of starts of this year's World Series. His 13 career World Series starts are now second overall:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Whitey Ford 22 Ind. Games Andy Pettitte 13 Ind. Games Christy Mathewson 11 Ind. Games Waite Hoyt 11 Ind. Games Red Ruffing 10 Ind. Games Chief Bender 10 Ind. Games
His 5 wins tie him for 7th:
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Whitey Ford 10 Ind. Games Red Ruffing 7 Ind. Games Bob Gibson 7 Ind. Games Waite Hoyt 6 Ind. Games Lefty Gomez 6 Ind. Games Chief Bender 6 Ind. Games Allie Reynolds 5 Ind. Games Vic Raschi 5 Ind. Games Andy Pettitte 5 Ind. Games Herb Pennock 5 Ind. Games Christy Mathewson 5 Ind. Games Jack Coombs 5 Ind. Games
Jorge Posada has caught 29 World Series games, good for 7th all-time. However, if he can get into just 1 more series, he could push himself up to number 3.
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Yogi Berra 63 Ind. Games Bill Dickey 38 Ind. Games Elston Howard 33 Ind. Games Wally Schang 32 Ind. Games Roy Campanella 32 Ind. Games Mickey Cochrane 31 Ind. Games Jorge Posada 29 Ind. Games Johnny Bench 23 Ind. Games Steve Yeager 21 Ind. Games Johnny Roseboro 21 Ind. Games Tim McCarver 21 Ind. Games
November 8th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Love or hate the Yankees, the achievement of having 4 home-grown players around for World Series wins that were 14 years apart is incredible. If any other team has ever done it, it certainly must be from before the age of free agency. That Pettitte left and came back taints it a bit, but nevertheless it's an amazing feat.
I've often chortled a bit over the last 20 years to hear Steinbrenner talk about "the Yankee way" since team-player loyalty is at an all-time low, but he gets the last laugh, having owned a team that made it to 7 World Series in 15 season built with many home-grown players.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
So the Yankees only won 31 of the 65 World Series games in which Mickey Mantle played? That's surprising.
November 8th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Players appearing in the 2009 World Series for the Yankees that were originally drafted by them (or signed as free agents with the Yankeeas as their first MLB-affiliated organization, e.g. minor-league free agent like Melky Cabrera)
Melky Cabrera
Robinson Cano
Joba Chamberlain
Phil Coke
Brett Gardner
Phil Hughes
Derek Jeter
Hideki Matsui
Andy Pettitte
Jorge Posada
Mariano Rivera
David Robertson
So out of 23 players, that's 12, or just over half. Admittedly, Matsui and Pettitte are both cheats since Matsui was an established star playing at a high level and was not discovered or developed by the Yankees, and Pettitte left as a free agent before coming back.
I wonder how many past World Series champs have developed at least half of the players appearing in the Series?
November 8th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Ramiro Pena made the team after Cabrera was removed (but did not play). Alfredo Aceves was signed out of the Mexican League; B-R shows he was originally signed by Toronto in 2001, but shows no record of him ever playing in their system. Not sure what the circumstances were there but I think he could count as well.
November 8th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
According to wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfredo_Aceves
Aceves was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays as an amateur free agent in 2001. He made ten starts in the Dominican Summer League that year. However, Aceves felt isolated, and when the Blue Jays assigned him to stay in the DSL for 2002, Aceves stayed in Mexico, and his contract was purchased by the Yucatán Leones of the Mexican League.[2] Aceves pitched for Yucatán and Sultanes de Monterrey for the next six seasons.
Yankees scout Lee Sigman followed Aceves in the Mexican League, feeling he could achieve similar success as Teddy Higuera, who Sigman had signed for the Milwaukee Brewers.[2] Feeling that he had developed well in the Mexican League, the Yankees purchased Aceves, along with other players, for $450,000 during the 2007-08 offseason.[2] He began 2008 with the Single-A Advanced Tampa Yankees. He was quickly promoted to the Double-A Trenton Thunder and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. He was named Eastern League pitcher of the week for the week ending May 25, 2008.[3]
November 8th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Gerry - I agree it is surprising. However, the Yankees only won 7 of the 12 series Mantle played in and a lot of those were seven game series. During those years, the Yankees were also 8-3 in World Series games in which Mantle did not play.
1951: Yankees 4-2 Mantle 1-1
1952: Yankees 4-3 Mantle 4-3
1953: Yankees 4-2 Mantle 4-2
1954: none
1955: Yankees 3-4 Mantle 0-3
1956: Yankees 4-3 Mantle 4-3
1957: Yankees 3-4 Mantle 2-4
1958: Yankees 4-3 Mantle 4-3
1959: none
1960: Yankees 3-4 Mantle 3-4
1961: Yankees 4-1 Mantle 2-0
1962: Yankees 4-3 Mantle 4-3
1963: Yankees 0-4 Mantle 0-4
1964: Yankees 3-4 Mantle 3-4
November 8th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Reggie Jackson missed the 7-game 1972 World Series due to injury. If he had played in all 7 games, he would have been tied at 34 with Pete Rose for 3rd on that first list up there. Now, if his presence had caused Oakland to win at least one of the games it lost, thus causing that Series to go fewer than 7 games, he'd still be tied with Rose, because that would have been that many fewer World Series games for him, too! (The games that Oakland lost were games 3, 5, and 6. Games 3 and 5 were one-run losses, while Game 6 was the only game won by either team that year that was not a one-run game. Like 1960, this was a 7-game World Series in which the losing team out-scored the winning team. So, Reggie would have more likely made a difference in game 3 or game 5. Therefore, there would not only have not been a game 7, there would also not have been a game 6. So, Reggie would have had 32 World Series games, and Rose would have also only had 32 such games. This would have tied both of them with Bernie Williams and Lonnie Smith.)
Don't forget that one of Andy Pettitte's World Series starts was with Houston in 2005, getting a no-decision in his only start, one of the four losses in the sweep by the White Sox. He left in a situation to be the winner, a lead after six innings. The lead changed hands a few times after he left, with the winning run surrendered, not in a save situation because the game was tied, by someone else who did the same thing in a 2009 World Series game.
November 8th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
The Yankees best run of WS Success was 1927-53 where they went 15-1. Before Murder's Row, Ruth had gone 1-3 with the Yankees (though he was 3-0 with the Sox). After the five-peat, the Mantle-era Yankees went 4-5. The Nettles-Randolph group went 2-2 and the Jeter-Rivera group is now 5-2.
Ruth 4-3 (7-3 total)
Gehrig 6-1
Dickey 7-1
Gomez 5-0
Ruffing 6-1
DiMaggio 9-1
Rizzuto 7-2
Berra 10-4
Reynolds/Raschi 6-0 (Lopat 5-0)
Ford 6-5
Mantle 7-5
Howard 4-5 (4-6 total)
Richardson 3-5
Terry 2-3
Tresh 1-2
Bouton 0-2
Nettles/Randolph 2-2 (both 2-3 total)
ReJackson 2-1 (4-1 total)
Hunter 2-1 (5-1 total)
Cone 4-0 (5-0 total)
O'Neill 4-1 (5-1 total)
BeWilliams 4-2
Jeter/Pettite/Rivera 5-2
Posada 4-2
... not sure if I have a point, but I looked all that up so I might as well post it. 🙂
November 8th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Mike Mussina's career with the Yankees ended up directly coinciding with the championship drought. 123-72 record. 12th most winningest Yankee pitcher ever. Only Stottlemyre and Chesbro have more without winning a WS.
Jason Giambi's the batter whose career most fills the drought (he only missed 2001). His 209 HR's is 12th on the Yankee list. #11 is Mattingly who also has no championship (no pennants either) while the top 10 all have championships.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:54 am
Thanks, Raphy, for posting all that Mantle stuff. 1955 - Mantle almost at his peak - the Yankees go 0-3 with him, 3-1 without - hard to believe. One more proof, if any were needed, that strange things can happen in short series.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Obviously the Yankees have appeared in numerous World Series, and as ridiculous as it sounds, you can actually make a case that they SHOULD have been in a few more (not even including the ALCS loss the Red Sox in 2004).
If you look at the timeframe from 1929 to 1935 (7 seasons), The Yanks were in only 1 World Series (1932). Look at the list of players that were on those 1929-35 teams:
C - Bill Dickey (1929-35) HOF
1B - Lou Gehrig (1929-35) HOF
2B - Tony Lazzeri (1929-35) HOF
SS - Frankie Crosetti (1932-35)
3B - Joe Sewell (1931-33)/Red Rolfe (1935)
LF - Bob Meusel (1929)/Ben Chapman (also 3B/CF 1930-35)/George Selkirk (also RF 1934-1935)
CF - Earl Combs (1929-33) HOF
RF - Babe Ruth (1929-34) HOF
P - Red Ruffing (1930-35) HOF
P - Lefty Gomez (1931-35) HOF
P - Herb Pennock (1929-31) HOF
P - George Pipgras (1929-31)
P - Johnny Allen (1932-35)
P - Waite Hoyt (1929) HOF
There are A LOT of great names on that list (HOF, All-Stars, guys that played in other WS). Those Yankee teams probably should have won some more Pennants.
Maybe you can understand 1929-31 a little bit because the pitching may not have been 100% there and the great 1929-31 Philadelphia Athletics were one of the all-time teams (although the yanks still could have gotten at least 1 during those seasons). But there isn't much of an excuse for the years 1933 to 1935. They should have been able to beat out the Senators/Tigers those years.
Thanks for reading,
Tom
November 9th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Tmckelv, the A's did indeed have great teams from 29-31 and I think you underestimate the 34-35 Tigers as well, who match up pretty favorably against the 34-35 Yankees on paper.
Could the Yankees have won a pennant or two in there? Sure. But in my opinion the amazing thing about the 20s-60s era Yankees is that they won as many pennants as they did. Stringing together four-peats and five-peats means you can't have an off year (like 1940 or 1959) and another team can't catch lightning in a bottle (like 33-WAS or 54-CLE).