Matt H.

New York Yankees Magazine

NYY BEST HITTERS AND PITCHERS

Have you ever wondered who the best hitters and pitchers were on the Yankee’s team in history?  I have and it is pretty cool.  Here are some of the things that I learned about some of the all time great sluggers.  The sluggers that I am referring to  are Babe Ruth, Joe  DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig.  One reason Babe Ruth is  an all time great hitter is because he hit 60 home runs in one season.  Also, you only hit on average 3 times each game.  Some people say he is the all time best slugger and a national hero.  DiMaggio is also an all time  great slugger.  One reason is because he hit 361 home runs in his whole career.  I don’t think that many people can hit 361 home runs in a career!  Lou Gehrig  was another all time great hitter who everyone will remember because of his great slugger stats at the end of the year. His batting average was .765.

Some all time  great pitchers on the Yankees were Whitey Ford, Mariano Rivera, Lefty Gomez, and Red Ruffing. Did you know that Mariano Rivera didn’t start pitching until he was 19?  Rivera learned how to throw the cutter fastball that  looks like a fastball but  changes into a cutter ball.  Lefty Gomez was known as The King Of Quotes because he amused reporters so much. He was 6 feet 2 and 170 pounds and the Yankees took him on their team for $50,000 annually.   At the end his pitching career, he had an earned run average of 2.67. Have you ever heard of Red Ruffing, the pitcher who lost 4 toes in a mining accident? After the accident, he went back to play the outfield but he couldn’t run as fast.  So he researched and found out that pitching uses only upper body movement.  After that, he got so into pitching that he became the 4th greatest pitcher on the Yankees team and he had the best earned run average which was 2.63.  The  best pitcher on the Yankees was Whitey Ford, he made winning look easy but he left the Yankees team for the Korean War but still won a Cy Young Award and still had an earned run average of 2.15 when he came back.  Those are the best hitters and pitchers of all time on the Yankees team.