New York Yankees Mount Rushmore
coolstanley
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in Sports Talk
One of the greatest franchises in sports. Who is your Yankees Mount Rushmore?
Mine.
Ruth
Gehrig
Mantle
Dimaggio
Terry Bradshaw was AMAZING!!
Ignore list -Basebal21
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Pretty much end of thread
Since I am a Yankee hater, that would one statue I won’t miss. Still Ruth and Gehrig were interesting personalities. Mantle was a bit less so, but he was a very good player and a first class hell raiser, like Ruth.
DiMaggio was an overrated jerk. In the grand scheme of things, his stats were at a Hall of Fame level, but not among the very best. If he hadn’t played in New York, he won’t have become the big name that he is. As for his personality, that was strictly bush league.
The interesting thing about the Yankees is that they have had some interesting players. It’s the franchise I despise.
@BillJones
Joe DiMaggio is probably underrated, at this point.
America was in love with the man because of his baseball prowess. His image was a lie, sure; that is true of many a public figure. It was also his meal ticket and Joe did things on Joe’s terms to control his image and earn. Nothing wrong with that.
I can see you disparaging him if you hate the Yankees, though; his time in pinstripes - without a doubt - is what made the Yankees into the Yankees - the single greatest franchise in American sport. During his 13 seasons, they won 10 pennants and 9 WS titles - a third of their current total of 27. Everyone who played against him said he was up there with Ruth and Cobb. Everyone who played with him said he was far and away the best player on the team. The writers of the time were voting for him as a Hall of Famer when he was still active!
The Streak
Marilyn
“The greatest living ball player”
Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio!
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But he was interesting.
The Yankees had so many great players you could build a Mt. Rushmore for several eras.
http://www.unisquare.com/store/brick/
Ralph
An answer in high resolution for the OP...
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@1951WheatiesPremium
When you play in New York, the sportswriters blow you up to three times your normal size. New York is the news media capital, and the writers there are almost all New York sports fans.
DiMaggio hit 361 lifetime homeruns, had a lifetime batting average of .325 when averages were higher than they are today. He holds no all time records. He played on good teams so that you couldn’t pitch around him. In the old Baseball Encyclopedia I have, he has one “black number.” He is 6th all time for slugging average.
Ted Williams had far better batting statistics, had a longer career and played half his games in a stadium that was not kind to left handed hitters. Williams lost four prime years in the military. DiMaggio mostly got to duck it.
Willie Mays, in his prime, could play circles around him Ditto for Hank Aaron.
If DiMaggio had played in Cleveland or Chicago, he would have been remembered as a very good player, but there would have been no talk of “Mount Rushmore.”
@BillJones
There’s no one running circles around Joe DiMaggio, my friend.
Of the three guys you mentioned, Ted Williams was every bit the hypocrite DiMaggio was off the field and image driven on it. Great pilot, great fisherman, great hitter. The ‘great’ list ends the list. Extremely sub par and disinterested fielder - half of your responsibility as a ball player is defending your position. And Yankees Stadium was tough on righties just like Fenway was tough on lefties. I’m not one for taking shots at the records of people who served but feel free. I feel similar for personality and off the field lifestyle.
Joe DiMaggio is widely considered the single best defensive centerfielder all time in the AL, with Mays as his NL counterpart. Both played outfield but neither Hank nor Ted played up the middle or with any of the same renown.
Joe DiMaggio had a career that was a little more half the length of Mays’ (22) and Aaron’s (23). There ‘162 game averages’ from baseball-reference.com suggests they’re closer than you’d surmise and per season WAR is remarkably close.
Let’s face it. How overrated can he really be when you have to go to Teddy Ballgame, Hammerin’ Hank and the Say Hey kid to make your case?
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I’d take Teddy over Joltin’ Joe because I’m a Sox guy. If I were a Yankee guy I’d probably take Joe. Your not losing regardless
I don't recall baseball history all that well. I thought Ruth played for the Boston Red Sox.
Interesting that no one brings up any pitchers. Mariano and Whitey would be possible picks.
I agree with pretty much everything you posted, but not that.
Williams was quite verbally abusive to those who criticized him, and in moments of calmness he admitted it and said he just couldn't help it. That's really the only bad thing I have ever read about him.
He was actually quite charitable (especially towards children) and didn't want that publicized. He supported the "Jimmy Fund".
"During and after his long playing career, Williams routinely met one-on-one with young cancer patients being treated at Dana-Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic and its pediatric care partner, Boston Children’s Hospital – both a short walk from the Red Sox’ Fenway Park home. His only caveat about such visits was that they be done with no media fanfare; if cameras or reporters showed up, he said, the visits would stop.
They never did, and neither did he. One night, the documentary recounts, a young patient fell asleep holding his finger – and Williams stayed up all night making sure not to let go. And after famously ending his Red Sox career with a home run in his last at-bat at Fenway, he marked the occasion not with a party but with a trip to see a Dana-Farber patient."
Ted could be a very crude person, but I think you short changed him here.
I think BillJones should stick to coins.
Anyone batting .406 lately??
You're going to have to explain this comment to me. DiMaggio lost what are, for very many players, the three prime years of his career to WWII - ages 28-30.
And as for playing in Cleveland or Chicago, there is no team on which DiMaggio would not be among the four best players in their history. It is only on the Yankees where he falls as low as 4th. He would be the best player on the Chicago Mt. Rushmore (either one of them), and on Cleveland's (unless we give Speaker credit for his Boston years, maybe), as he would be the top player on most teams' Mt. Rushmores.
If the DiMaggio bashing is all just to say that he wasn't as good as Ted Williams, then that's fine - he wasn't - but that's a bar only a few players can clear. I know that some here like to hallucinate that 700 of Babe Ruth's 714 HR just barely cleared the wall in that "short porch" in right field (Ruth actually hit more HR on the road than at home), but the truth is that Yankee Stadium was one of the toughest hitter's parks in baseball, and it was absolutely brutal on righties like DiMaggio. Joe D. hit nearly 50% (!!!) more HR on the road than he did at home, one of the greatest home/road disparities in history. Had Joe. D played in most any other park, and had he not lost three years to the military, he'd be a career .340 hitter, with 500+ HR and 2,700+ hits.
^Well said^
@JoeBanzai
I’m not looking to knock Ted Williams but if read more I think you’ll find more. That’s enough on that.
I came more to defend Joe; the further removed from his passing in 1999, the more marginalized he’s become. That’s a shame since the popularity of the sport itself owes a great debt to Joe. The impact of Joe DiMaggio - regardless of stats - can never be overstated.
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I have read two or three books on Williams and all I have found is he swore a lot and was OCD.
Agree on DiMaggio's greatness. I would say Him and Mays the best "Baseball Players" ever, with Musial and Aaron right behind. Mantle and Williams were better hitters though.
Mantle without injury would have been very interesting.
lol @BillJones
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I appreciate whenever @BillJones chimes in.
I always feel the need to defend the Yankee Clipper, don’t know why.
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Joe Pepitone- best hair
Yogi Berra -best mind
Wally Pipp - best name
Reggie Jackson*- biggest jerk
*My fourth pick was a toss-up between Mr. October and the Clipper. I had the fortunate(?) experience of being in the same room with Clipper at the 1980 All Star game at Dodger Stadium. He was a pioneer at dropping the "F-Bomb" before it became so fashionable. Giving Clipper the benefit of the doubt,......I figured maybe he was just having a bad day,.....I went with Mr. October in the #4 slot. No brainer.