Pinstripe Alley poses the following question:
Mariano Rivera or Derek Jeter? Which of these two current New York Yankee icons is higher on the franchise’s list of all-time greats?
For me, the answer is simple. Rivera. No contest.
As great as Jeter is, and as much as he has meant to the Yankees, the last 15 years of Yankee baseball have been about one thing, and one thing only. Get the ball to Rivera with a lead, then wait for John Sterling to start screeching “Yankees win … Theeeeeeee Yankees win.”
Jeter is the Captain. Rivera has been, and still is, the Most Important Yankee.
I think the question needs to be defined more clearly. If you were making a list of all-time greats based on rating players relative to their peers and considering their position, Mariano may rank higher. Unlike Jeter, Mo is peerless, and is clearly the greatest of all time at his position. However, it is hard for a closer to have anything approaching the value of an everyday player. Therefore, if you were ranking the list in terms of value provided to the Yankees, you would likely have Jeter ahead of Mo.
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What is your position? Who would you take if forced to choose one?
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Jeter hands down the more valuable player during the season. I say during the season because it’s hard to argue with Mo’s value in the post season. Still, you have to get to the post-season and actually score runs in the game before Mo’s post season value means anything.
I have another interesting question, will Jeter go down as the greatest offensive shortstop not named Honus Wagner when he’s done? I mean say he ends up with 4,000 hits, 300 homeruns, 400 steals and a .840 OPS. Just for comparison, Ripken is at 3184, 431, 36 and .788
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The Iron Horse followed by Joe D followed by Mo is how I see the classiest Yankees.
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jeter and the only reason mo is close is because he’s just been sick in the limited amount of innings he’s pitched but jeter provided value every waking moment he’s been playing for the yankees since 1995.
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In a game filled with stars, the Yankees have their own galaxy. I’ve been privileged to see many Yankee greats play – Thurm, Goose, Gator, Reggie, Donnie, Dave, etc.
However, there have always been 4 giants who stood out among even the Yankee greats – Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Mantle. These are not the stars but the legends, and while I have seen many great Yankees in their most recent dynasty, only one seems to stand above and apart the way these 4 did, and that is Mo.
That said, if putting a team together, I’d have to concede that a shortstop is more vital to the team than a closer, no matter how awesome that closer is. Forced to choose, I’d put Jeter on my team first.
Thank God the Yankees never had to choose.
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