The Yankees Have a Secret Dynasty | Baseball Bits

this video is sponsored by tops MLB bunt tops MLB bunt is an officially licensed MLB card trading app and they're currently running a limited time Derek Jeter event featuring unique video and motion cards that celebrate his career and include his own commentary you can download tops and will be bunt for free using my link in the description it's April 14th 1920 opening day at Shibe Park home of the Philadelphia Athletics the visiting New York Yankees have a new look in centerfield stands their star acquisition from the Boston Red Sox that offseason Babe Ruth in the coming years he'll fundamentally changed the way baseball is played and become the first modern celebrity in the process but for now he simply tries to navigate his responsibilities in centerfield while collecting two singles at the plate the success of Ruth and the many greats and pinstripes who followed him led to championship after championship after championship for the Yankees 27 in total the first of which came in 1923 and the most recent of which was achieved in 2009 but that's not actually what this video is about well the Yankees have created multiple dynasties across vastly different eras of the game I want to talk about their 100-year dynasty that began on that fateful opening day in 1920 in the centuries since Babe Ruth made his Yankee debut and Center the evil empire has dominated the centerfielder position unlike anything Major League Baseball has ever seen and there's no end in sight [Music] [Applause] of course Babe Ruth wasn't a centerfielder by trade as he quickly settled into a corner outfield spot with the Yankees the early 20s Yankees used primarily elmer miller followed by whitey Witt and center to forgettable careers but I'm now going to repeat their names so you'll remember them for the rest of your life elmer miller and whitey Witt on April 14th 1925 exactly five years after Ruth made his Yankee stay beautiful center fielder played his first game in pinstripes his name was Earl Combs Combs quickly established himself as one of the premier outfielders on the American League's best team in 1927 he was part of the murderer's row Yankees that is basically the default answer for the greatest baseball team ever assembled how good was that lineup well in MLB history there have been just 20 individual seasons of at least 1200 oh PS that's on-base plus slugging Babe Ruth did it six times Barry Bonds did it four times in a row in the early 2000s and Ted Williams did it with 16 years and two wars in between and a few others managed at once so what made the 1927 Yankees so special lightning struck twice and it's easy to focus on what Gehrig and Ruth did that season but batting in front of them was Earl combs with a whopping 231 hits combs was a hit machine he had 200 more knocks than any other centerfielder from 1925 to 1935 in 1936 the Yankees had a new rookie outfielder in town through his first 81 games a youngster by the name of Joe DiMaggio took the baseball world by storm hitting 344 and slugging over 600 and it was on his 82nd game that he first played centerfield for the Yankees the position he would call home for the rest of his illustrious career the following season he became just the second centerfielder to hit 40 home runs in a year DiMaggio's most famous accomplishment his 56 game hit streak is occasionally downplayed in sabermetric circles he won MVP that year despite Ted Williams hitting over 400 and hitting better than DiMaggio during joltin Joe's owns but as a numbers man myself I also can't deny that Joe DiMaggio has more name drops in famous Simon and Garfunkel songs it's a draw obsessing over the triple slash lines aside the Yankees won ten pennants and nine World Series with DiMaggio the last of which came in 1951 against the New York Giants who sported a 20 year old wunderkind named Willie Mays in Game two of that series Mays hit a fly ball toward the right-center field gap DiMaggio playing Center began to chase down the ball and so did the Yankees young right fielder what followed next was disastrous [Music] DiMaggio caught the ball the right fielder pulled up recognizing it was DiMaggio's play to make but in doing so he tripped over an exposed drainpipe completely destroying his knee in the process that right fielder was Mickey Mantle he was only 19 years old the injury required multiple surgeries it has since been posited that mantle torus meniscus ACL and MCL on the play and that given the lack of medical knowledge in 1951 mantle played his entire career on an unrepaired ACL such a traumatic injury definitely slowed him down but it didn't stop him Mickey Mantle was Mike Trout Mike Trout was Mickey Mantle in some ways trout seems incomparable to anyone yet mantle put up shockingly similar numbers at the same ages they both shared a prodigious ability to control the strike zone the converse comet had eight seasons with at least a hundred walks and the Millville meteor currently sits at four in 1956 and 1957 Mantle put together arguably the two greatest seasons by any centerfielder back to back 11 war campaigns each culminating in an MVP award and when we adjust for the run environment with o-p-s plus those two seasons remain the greatest offensive seasons by any centerfielder in MLB history that to bag mantle played his last game in centerfield in 1966 ending an unprecedented streak of success for the Yankees with the exception of a couple World War two seasons the Yankees smoothly transitions from combs to DiMaggio to mantle all Hall of Famers in that 42 years stretch the average Yankee centerfielder had a 303 batting average 388 on-base percentage slugged 511 and was worth five point six wins Above Replacement just four players reached all those marks in 2019 Christian Yelich Cody Bellinger Anthony Rendon and Ketel Marte imagine that quality of play for 42 years we're nearly halfway through the Yankees 100-year centerfield dynasty but we've already covered the big obvious names in DiMaggio and mantle you didn't need me to tell you they were good at baseball that was a given but now we're entering a period that created flashes of elite talent with zero continuity this video is about to get way more interesting [Music] [Applause] Joe Pepitone I hope that's how you say his name that's the man who was asked to fill Mickey Mantle centerfield role in 1967 he was already a three-time all-star with the Yankees but it mostly played first base for them now he was going to play one of the most difficult spots on the diamond and mr. Pepitone could hit but he was ultimately not cut out for the defensive responsibilities generating seasons of negative nine and negative six total zone defensive runs Ron woods took over the spot in 1969 he could field but he couldn't hit reaching exactly 200 plate appearances to fulfill the requirements for a Mathis still his defense kept him around replacement level then came an answer Bobby Murcer a smooth hitting lefty who patrolled Center in Yankee Stadium from 1970 to 1974 his 1971 campaign proved to be his best effort as he led the American League in o-p-s and among the league's center fielders during this five-year stretch of that position for the Yankees he finished first in homers and second in o-p-s behind Willie Mays who I guess was like 63 years old at the time following Mercer's trade to the Giants next in line was Elliot Maddox who performed admirably for two seasons in the mid 70s heated up being traded to the Orioles the Chern continued in the form of Mickey rivers rivers batted 299 in four seasons as the Yankees main centerfielder and served as the leadoff hitter for the Bronx Bombers World Series championships in 1977 and 1978 but he too was traded midway through the 1979 season opening the door for Jerry mumphrey and although Mercer Maddox rivers and mumphrey aren't legends of the game they all did great things during their tenures Yankee centerfielder combining to receive MVP votes nine times but Steinbrenner needed his superstar and in December 1984 he got him via trade this player had always played left field but obviously had the speed to play the premium outfield position Rickey Henderson was about to play centerfield for the New York Yankees Rickey immediately challenged the idea of Yankees exceptionalism the bright lights the big market the rabid media it's overwhelming for some but Rickie's first season in New York turned out to be perhaps the second best of his entire career sharing only his 1990 MVP campaign with Oakland he roams centerfield in all but two games and excelled there to the tune of plus 13 total zone runs above average of course that wasn't going to stop Ricky from being Ricky he wished only to be managed by Billy Martin whom the Yankees fired after the 1985 season when Martin returned to the club in 1988 Henderson responded by swiping 93 bags a franchise record but Martin was fired again halfway through that season typical and Ricky was traded back to Oakland midway through 1989 in total he played just over half his Yankees career in center field and that 9.9 war season in 1985 was the highest by any center fielder since mantle retired nobody would top 10 wins Above Replacement until 20-year old Mike Trout was like hey ever wonder what Mickey Mantle would look like on two good knees well now you know the Yankees center fielders didn't lack talent in the 70s and 80s but they did lack continuity no one had been the Yankees main centerfielder for more than four years since 1966 the Year Mickey Mantle last played the position that was about to change the Yankees were soon blessed with a permanent fixture in center in 1990 one of their top prospects had an impressive year in double-a racking up an on-base percentage over 400 and swiping 39 bags it was Bernie Williams Bernie split time between triple-a in the majors between 1991 and 1992 but established himself as an everyday player in 93 the Yankees came into that year having suffered four consecutive losing seasons they began to turn things around in 1994 the Yankees had a six and a half game lead over the Orioles before the strike cut their season short in 1995 they made the playoffs but ran into the documentarians dream Seattle Mariners a team that was playing for their very existence would follow next was quite simply a return to form in an eight-year stretch from 1996 to 2003 the Yankees won six pennants and for World Series and although this new Yankee dynasty was headlined by the likes of Jeter and Rivera they were also guided by the elite hitting of Bernie Williams he wasn't a great defender by the advanced metrics although he still won four gold gloves so maybe I just don't know anything but the man ranked his front lawn and also was good at hitting during the new Yankee dynasty Bernie led MLB center fielders and hits batting average and on-base percentage was second and RBI third and slugging and fifth and homers keep in mind he shared this terrific stretch with other great center fielders like ken griffey jr. Johnny Damon Andruw Jones Kenny Lofton Jim Edmonds and Steve Finley and even if he wasn't a terrific defender he occupied Center deep into his career starting over 1800 games there Bernie Williams had over 2,000 hits and games when he was specifically playing centerfield as well as an 866 o-p-s the only other players with 2,000 hits and an 800 o-p-s in games Lee played centerfield our Joe DiMaggio Willie Mays and ken griffey jr. and then there's Bernie this factoid best sums up his career he was a center fielder through and through since 2005 it has been a mixed bag for the Yankees and Center they signed a shockingly shave and Johnny Damon after Bernie Williams retired but he really only played one season of centerfield for them Melky Cabrera somehow played center for their 27th World Series in 2009 and Jacoby Ellsbury I don't even have to say anything about that one but there's also been a dose of greatness Curtis Granderson gave the Yankees some of the best years of his wonderful career in 2011 and 2012 he became just the fifth centerfielder with back-to-back 40 homer seasons putting him in pretty elite company 2018 Erin Hicks made a case for being the second best centerfielder in the American League behind trout and franchise mainstay Brett Gardner did a wonderful job in center with Hicks injured last year the end result is a hundred seasons of fantastic centerfield play from the Yankees of the 16 franchises that existed in 1920 Yankees center fielders lead those teams in pretty much every category you can imagine and while the likes of mantle and DiMaggio certainly do some heavy lifting here it has been a composite effort from everyone who ever stood in centerfield for the Yankees that includes legends like Babe Ruth Rickey Henderson and even Ichiro they're all part of that history there's also the possibility of more greatness on the horizon this is Jason Dominguez a 17 year old prospect with a super hero physique the Yankees signed this actual teenager for five million dollars out of the Dominican Republic and his sheer size and strength has already earned him comparisons to Bo Jackson yasiel Puig and Mike Trout Dominguez hasn't played pro ball yet but his out-of-this-world tools have earned him the nickname L Marciano the Martian and he may very well be a franchise cornerstone in centerfield for the yankee someday so that's it we've talked about Yankee center fielders past present and even future but there's one more story to tell it was October 1st 1961 the final game of the regular season Mickey Mantle was injured he often was so another mainstay in the Yankees outfield slid over to a spot in center that day his name was Roger Maris and he hit this home run [Music] [Applause] number 61 to this day it's the most homeruns anyone has hit in a season without having to testify to Congress about it later and it was a milestone reached by someone playing centerfield for the New York Yankees next time you watch the Yankees take note of who's standing in centerfield it could be a club legend flashy young prospect or even just a simple utility player but in the very act of standing in centerfield at Yankee Stadium they are part of something much greater than themselves and they're building upon a legacy that began when the Bambino himself took center field on opening day a hundred years ago elmer miller and whitey win this episode of baseball bits was brought to you by tops MLB bunt tops MLB bunt is a baseball card app that allows you to rip open packs featuring your favorite players as well as trade with baseball fans around the world the app gives out constant freebies you can even spin the wheel multiple times a day to win guaranteed prizes on top of this unwanted cards can be crafted into rare pools tops is currently running an exclusive Derek Jeter event in honor of his MLB debut 25 years ago and you won't want to miss out on these special limited time cards you can install tops MLB bunt using my link in the description take care [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Foolish Baseball

Views: 350,691

Keywords: centerfield, yankees centerfielders, yankees 27 world series, babe ruth, earle combs, joe dimaggio, rickey henderson, rickey henderson yankees, bernie williams, jasson dominguez, mlb best centerfielders, yankees cf, curtis granderson, bobby murcer, baseball, baseball bits, foolish baseball, mlb, The Yankees Have a Secret Dynasty, murderer's row yankees, yankees dynasty, derek jeter, brett gardner

Id: foqyfGGOWig

Length: 16min 30sec (990 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 06 2020