Counting Down: Comparing Two Lists of the Top Yankees by Uniform Number

by Paul Semendinger

February 2, 2024

***

I started my long series of counting down the best Yankees at each uniform number on November 12, 2020.

On December 1, 2021, Bryan Hoch ran a similar article where he did the same exercise (albeit in much shorter form).

I saved Mr. Hoch's article, but I never read it. Now that my series is over, I want to compare our lists to see where we agree and where we differ. (I have been waiting years to do this.)

My articles are all linked in the chart below so readers can research any number in more detail. Please note, some of the older articles need a little re-formatting. When we moved to WIX as our platform, some of the formatting of the old articles changed. I am (slowly) working on cleaning these articles up and making them more presentable.

The Countdown Comparison:

(Note blanks were not issued at the times we wrote our articles.)

Uniform Number	Semendinger	Hoch	Notes
99	Aaron Judge	Aaron Judge
98	Hoy Jun Park
97
96
95	Trey Amburgey
94
93
92	Chris Gittens
91	Alfredo Aceves	Alfredo Aceves
90	Thairo Estrada	Thairo Estrada
89	Michael Yajure	Miguel Yajure
88	Ryan Thompson	Josh Outman
87
86	Clarke Schmidt	Clarke Schmidt
85	Luis Cessa	Luis Cessa
84	Albert Abreu	Albert Abreu
83	Deivi Garcia	Deivi Garcia
82	Brooks Kriske	Brooks Kriske
81
80
79	Nick Nelson	Nick Nelson
78
77	Clint Frazier	Clint Frazier
76
75	David Hale	David Hale
74	Ronald Torreyes	Ronald Torreyes
73	Michael King	Michael King
72	Slade Heathcott	Juan Miranda
71	Stephen Tarpley	Stephen Tarpley
70	Breyvic Valera	Luis Avilan
69	Alan Mills	Alan MIlls
68	Dellin Betances	Dellin Betances
67	Nestor Cortes	Dale Mahorcic
66	John Ryan Murphy	John Ryan Murphy
65	Phil Hughes	Phil Hughes
64	Garret Cooper	Garret Cooper
63	Jonathan Albaladejo	Mike Morgan
62	Joba Chamberlain	Joba Chamberlain
61	Ben Heller	Ted Lilly
60	Chris Dickerson	Mike Lowell
59	Luke Voit	Luke Voit
58	Dooley Womack	Dooley Womack
57	Chad Green	Steve Howe
56	Jim Bouton	Jim Bouton
55	Hideki Matsui	Hideki Matsui
54	Goose Gossage	Goose Gossage
53	Bobby Abreu	Bobby Abreu
52	C.C. Sabathia	C.C. Sabathia
51	Bernie Williams	Bernie Williams
50	Jamison Taillon	Jay Howell
49	Ron Guidry	Ron Guidry
48	Andrew Miller	Andrew Miller
47	Luis Arroyo	Ivan Nova
46	Andy Pettitte	Andy Pettitte
45	Stan Bahnsen	Rudy May	It's now Gerrit Cole
44	Reggie Jackson	Reggie Jackson
43	Jeff Nelson	Jeff Nelson
42	Mariano Rivera	Mariano Rivera
41	Jake Gibbs	Joe Collins	Collins also wore other numbers
40	Chien-Ming Wang	Lindy McDaniel
39	Roberto Kelly	Darryl Strawberry
38	Johnny Blanchard	Matt Nokes	Both were lefty hitting catchers
37	Gus Niarhos	Casey Stengel	I didn't pick managers
36	David Cone	David Cone
35	Mike Mussina	Mike Mussina
34	Brian McCann	A.J. Burnett
33	David Wells	David Wells
32	Elston Howard	Elston Howard
31	Dave Winfield	Dave Winfield
30	Willie Randolph and Mel Stottlemyre	Willie Randolph
29	Catfish Hunter	Catfish Hunter
28	Sparky Lyle	Sparky Lyle
27	Giancarlo Stanton	Giancarlo Stanton
26	Orlando Hernandez	Orlando Hernandez	DJ LeMahieu someday?
25	Tommy John	Mark Teixeira
24	Robinson Cano	Robinson Cano
23	Don Mattingly	Don Mattingly
22	Allie Reynolds	Roger Clemens	Allie > Roger
21	Paul O'Neill	Paul O'Neill
20	Jorge Posada	Jorge Posada
19	Dave Righetti	Dave Righetti
18	Didi Gregorius	Scott Brosius
17	Vic Raschi	Mickey Rivers	It's not really close
16	Whitey Ford	Whitey Ford
15	Thurman Munson	Thurman Munson
14	Moose Skowron	Lou Piniella	It's not really close
13	Alex Rodriguez	Alex Rodriguez
12	Gil McDougald	Wade Boggs	McDougald shouldn't be forgotten
11	Lefty Gomez	Lefty Gomez
10	Phil Rizzuto	Phil Rizzuto
9	Graig Nettles	Roger Maris
8	Yogi Berra	Yogi Berra
7	Mickey Mantle	Mickey Mantle
6	Roy White	Joe Torre	White over a manager
5	Joe DiMaggio	Joe DiMaggio
4	Lou Gehrig	Lou Gehrig
3	Babe Ruth	Babe Ruth
2	Derek Jeter	Derek Jeter
1	Bobby Murcer	Billy Martin	Murcer was better

Final Notes -

I think Bryan Hoch did a good job, but I feel his list suffers a little from recency bias. There were players from the past, some mostly forgotten, that were better than the Yankees' more recent (and more famous) contemporaries (see #12 as an example).

Hoch also simply accepted the Yankees' retired numbers as the standard, which, on numeous occasions, proved to be inaccurate. IN short, the Yankees' awarding of retired numbers, and who the select for Monument Park is arbitrary at best and has little to do with the most deserving player or players.

Monument Park's standards are arbitrary, often changing, and always inconsistent. THis is also true for players who get their numbers retired. I believe this tarnishes the whole purpose of Monumenmt Park - and it hurts Yankees history as a whole. In short, to take the Yankees' perspectives on who their greatest players were is to take a false and often inaccurate history.

On the other hand, our standards were probably slightly different. In my articles, I looke, as best as I could at how each player performed in a certain number. I only considered their performance while wearing that number. A good example of this is the article on Uniform Number One. Earle Combs had a more distinguised career than Bobby Murcer, but comparing only when they each wore Number One, I feel Murcer was the better player. I sense that Bryan Hoch took the better overall player, so for uniform Number 12, it makes sense to take Wade Boggs over Gil McDougald, even though as a Yankee in uniform Number Twelve, McDougald was the better player. The same holds true for #22 where I took Allie Reynolds over Roger Clemens.

Of the 87 numbers we both looked at, we agreed on 61 (70%).

Have some fun with the above. Where Hoch and I differ, please read my article, and his, do some research of your own, and let me know who you believe is correct. Looking back on a project that lasted years, I'm still happy with my choices.

A quick final note, I still have to update the series to take into account the last few seasons, but since Bryan Hoch wrote his list a few years ago as well, it was only fair that I did this analysis before considering the most recent seasons - all taking place after Boch wrote his article.