Yankees: All-Time Top Runs Producers in Franchise History

Yankees Stadium: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees greatest run producers of all time – who do you think they are? Take you best guess now, because profiles of five of the biggest run producers are coming up.

The Yankees have been fortunate to have many of the top position players who have ever played the game of baseball. Over the years, the talent they have managed to assemble has produced an unparalleled 27 World Championships and counting. Names of those Yankees greats roll easily from the mouths of Yankees fans around the globe.

But a distinguishing characteristic of baseball is that it is a finite sport. If you score more runs than the other team, your team wins. Which, in turn, has made all others characteristics of the game measurable as well. Which has, in turn, produced the avalanche of sabermetrics, which attempts to measure, for instance, the time it takes for an outfielder to take his first step in pursuit of a fly ball. Or, the angle launch of a batted ball, and all sorts of other goodies that are fun to look at, but completely extraneous from the only stats that matter.

A highly paid position player is measured by his ability to produce runs. And it doesn’t matter if the “launch angle” of the home run he hits is 45 degrees or 118 degrees, as long as the ball disappears over the fence, scoring three runs to win the game for his team. Likewise, a home run can travel 304 ft down the right field line at Yankee Stadium or 475 ft into “the black,” and it still counts the same.

And so, to measure the top Yankees All-Time Run Producers, I’ve taken four of the most common offensive categories (which are):
Career Runs Scored
Career Hits
Career RBI
Career On-Base Percentage

From there, it was a simple matter of checking each player’s ranking in each category, assigning them a number equal to their ranking, totally it all up and achieving a final ranking based on the lowest total.

But, as with anything that attempts to measure “the best,” my empirical study is subject to dispute. For instance, the method favors Yankees with long and continuous careers with the team, while players who played only a portion of their career with the Yankees, even while putting up some incredible numbers, they cannot compete with the ones who have a record of long service with the team.

So while outstanding Yankees like Bernie Williams and Don Mattingly finished in the top ten in total hits, they did not have enough “juice” to maintain that in the other categories. Williams, for example, finished in the top ten in runs, hits, and RBI, only to fall to 13th in OBP, eliminating him from the competition.

Others like Dave Winfield and Alex Rodriguez had some outstanding seasons during their tenure with the Yankees, but simply not enough time with the team to qualify.

With the understanding that I don’t claim to be Bill James, I think you will find these Yankees to be on the mark.

So with that, let’s begin our profiles with the fifth highest rated run producing Yankees, working our way to the top from there.

Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

#5 Derek Jeter

Derek Jeter finished with an overall score of 29 and could have finished higher if not for a 20th place finish in on-base percentage. With Jeter, though, the numbers barely begin to tell the story of his value to the Yankees over the span of a twenty-year career.

Appointed by former Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner, as Team Captain, Jeter led his team, by example, to five World Championships. As a first-round pick by the Yankees (sixth overall), Jeter arrived in the Bronx with widely acclaimed expectations for a cup of coffee in 1995, appearing in only fifteen games.

It was in the following year, though, that Jeter would put up was to become a trademark season for him. 1996 saw Jeter hitting .314 with 183 hits, 103 runs scored, and an on-base percentage of .370. Both the hits total and OPB would improve as the years went on. But under the tutelage and watchful eye of manager Joe Torre, Jeter would quickly acclimate himself to what is required to excel at the major league level, and perhaps just as importantly, what it takes to excel as a New York Yankee.

From there, he became a well-oiled machine in the Yankees lineup, ranking first in total hits as a Yankee (3,465) and second in runs scored (with 1,923). But again, that is not the actual measure of the player Jeter was because he was the type of player who always rose to the occasion with the big hit or the big play that turned a game around. Examples abound, but let’s just take a couple to make the point.

The first one, ironically, is not an example of his ability as a run producer, but as a run and game saver from the defensive side of the game. It’s included here because it shows the natural instincts Derek Jeter had for the sport of baseball. He had no business being where he was on the field when Jeter made this play in Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS against the Oakland A’s, but Jeter was there, and he made the play, now known as “The Flip.”

On the offense side, Jeter had many compelling run producing moments as well. The one that follows earned him the title as “Mr. November”. It was a takeoff on the title claimed by Reggie Jackson as Mr. October, stemming from his performance in the 1977-78 World Series victories by the Yankees.

The magic occurred on October 31, 2001, in Game 4 of the 2001 World Series when Jeter stepped to the plate just as the clock ticked past midnight to face Byung-Hyun Kim.

As you might guess, Derek Jeter is the only member of this top run producing team of Yankees who are not sluggers., although he still ranks as number nine in home runs and sixth in RBI. But, it is his ability to manufacture hits and score runs that catapult him to this level.

That, together with all the intangibles he brought to the team as a leader, marks him as one of the greatest Yankees of all-time. He is on the ballot for election to the Baseball Hall Of Fame in 2020.

#4 Joe DiMaggio

Whenever the name of Yankees great Joe DiMaggio comes up in conversation, the talk is almost always about one of two things; The Streak or Marilyn Monroe. However, when the talk makes a turn to baseball and overall career numbers, Dimaggio lacks a hold on any one of those numbers which typically catches your eye. And that’s because he was good at everything.

Joe DiMaggio took the number four spot in this ranking of all-time runs producers with a score of 21. He’s currently fifth in runs scored, sixth in hits, third in RBI, and seventh in on-base percentage. A treasure trove of less visible aspects of his career indicate the power of his greatness:

***DiMaggio was an All-Star in every season of his 13-year career.

***He lost three years of playing time at the peak of his prime (28-30 years of age) to join the armed forces of the United States during World War II from 1943-1945.

***He finished in the top ten in the MVP vote in 10 of his 13 seasons with the Yankees, winning the award three times outright.

***DiMaggio finished in the top 5 in assists for outfielders six times

***He won 9 World Series titles as a Yankee.

***His highest salary was a mere $100,000 (1949-1950). In today’s dollars, that’s equivalent to a fraction over $1 million (Dollar Times)

***In 7,672 plate appearances, DiMaggio struck out only 369 times. Broken down, this represents a strikeout in about 4.8% of his at-bats, or about once in every 20 at-bats.

The son of a fisherman, a story in the Boston Globe recalls that:

“DiMaggio was shy, backward and hardly spoke at all. Traveling in a car across country in 1936 to his first spring training as a Yankee with fellow San Franciscans Tony Lazzeri and Frank Crosetti, Joe never uttered a word, until he was asked if he would like to share the driving, whereupon he said he didn’t drive.”

Tom Boswell, the writer for the Washington Post, once described DiMaggio as “regal.” A more apt description, however, might be untouchable. Dimaggio, for instance, took great care in cultivating friendships with the great sportswriters of his day, such as Jimmy Cannon and Murray Kempton, often having dinner with them at the famed Toots Shor restaurant in New York City. Few, if any, stories about DiMaggio were critical.

In that same vein, DiMaggio rose to the level that Babe Ruth had in New York. While Ruth had a candy bar named after him, DiMaggio’s following took to songs to celebrate his celebrity. In 1941, famous bandleader Les Brown had a number one hit with a song titled, “Joltin Joe,” which you can give a listen to the song here. In later years, of course, Paul Simon would forever immortalize DiMaggio with the line from his song for the movie “The Graduate,” “Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you.”

Often compared to his arch rival as a player, Ted Williams, DiMaggio always appeared in public superbly dressed, almost always in a suit and tie, while Williams was more down to earth and casual. DiMaggio preferred nightclubs and Hollywood, while Williams often got lost for several days fishing, his whereabouts known to no one. Williams used profane language regularly, DiMaggio was never ejected from a game in his entire career.

Perhaps best described as an enigma, DiMaggio appeared to be aloof and mysterious. Catch him at a good time, and he could shower a fan with attention and good will. On another day, though, he’d be wearing that “look” that told everyone, just stay away. Following his retirement, DiMaggio took his fame to another level when he married Marilyn Monroe who, using the language of the times, was the “sex symbol” of American culture.

A definitive biography of Joe DiMaggio and highly recommended is written by Richard Ben Cramer and is available to buy or read excerpts in Google Books.

#3 Mickey Mantle

When you consider that Mickey Mantle played almost his entire career on one leg, due to an injury he suffered when his cleats caught in a drain pipe during a World Series game, on a ball that most say Joe DiMaggion should have snared easily, the numbers he put up become even more remarkable.

Those numbers, which we’ll get to in a minute, reflect only an insignificant portion of what Mantle represented to the Yankees and the City of New York. Mickey Mantle was Joe Namath even before Namath could think of becoming Broadway Joe. Throughout the entire decade of the fifties and well into the sixties, Mantle owned New York.

Together with his pals, Whitey Ford and Billy Martin, they formed a clique of fun loving friends (and teammates) that roamed the streets of the city until all hours of the night. Which was much to the consternation of their manager, Casey Stengel, who more often than not, didn’t have the heart to fine them for missing curfew (Yes, they had a curfew in those days).

Fueled by alcohol, the trio would descend on Manhattan like they owned it. Which, in many respects, they did, as it was hard to find an owner of a bar or restaurant who wouldn’t welcome them with open arms and a nod to the waitress to send their check his way.

In later years, of course, the high living would catch up to them, causing multiple divorces, terminal illnesses, or as in the case of Billy Martin, a deadly automobile crash that would end his life in Binghamton, New York. Whitey Ford, however, managed to escape and remains a guest of the Yankees at the annual Old Timers Day celebration, coming into the Bronx from his quiet home on Long Island.

Mickey Mantle finished third in the ranking of the Yankees All-Time Top Run Producers with sixteen points. He finished his career fourth among all Yankees in runs, hits, and RBI while ending up third in on-base percentage.

Just 5’11’ and 195 lbs, he was lithe and strong. He could, as the saying goes, run like a deer and was once clocked at 3.1 seconds from home to first, according to the Baseball Historian. He hit mammoth home runs too, once smashing a fastball from Washington Senators pitcher Chuck Stobbs, a guesstimated distance of 565 ft. from home plate.

Often, he appeared to be lunging at the ball causing his legs out of the power producing equation. But, the sheer strength of his upper body which carried the ball to the opposite field as a right-handed hitter well into the bleachers at the Old Yankees Stadium. From the left side, he was equally as dangerous, once just missing hitting a ball completely out of the Stadium, a feat that no one ever did achieve.

Just for kicks, let’s take a minute to list a few of Mickey Mantle’s perhaps lesser known stats:

***Mantle led the American League in runs scored five times.

***He led the league in base on balls five times, while playing in the same league as Ted Williams, who probably still claims he never swung at a ball.

***He led his league in OPS six times, and in OPS+ a remarkable eight times

***Mantle is also one of just 17 players to have won a Triple Crown, accomplishing the feat in 1956. The most recent winner was in 2012, by Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera’s was the first since 1967 when Carl Yastrzemski accomplished the feat.

Mickey Mantle is one of those larger than life players, who captures the spirit of Yankees baseball and the imagination of fans. One can begin to surmise the feats he might have accomplished if not for one drainage ditch in right center field at Yankee Stadium, one October afternoon.

#2 Lou Gehrig

Ironically, it is the above video that most of us alive today remember Lou Gehrig . The “Iron Horse,” the man of steel who played in 2.130 consecutive games as a Yankee. A record that would stand the test of time until a young man by the name of Cal Ripken came along to surpass Gehrig’s record.

The speech, delivered by a man frail from a disease that is even today known as “Lou Gehrig Disease.” The man who offered solace to those who wished to give him the same by saying that he consider(ed) himself to be the luckiest man on the face of the earth.

Lou Gehrig collected 8 points to finish second in the ranking of the Yankees Top All-Time Run Producers. He finished no lower than third in all four categories and finished 1st in runs batted in. But as with the others, it far more than simply about the numbers.

Overshadowed by “The Babe,” Gehrig was content in reporting for work every day, taking the field and doing all he could to secure a Yankees win that day. Arriving from nearby Columbia University as a free agent, Gehrig made his debut in June of the same year at the age of nineteen.

He became a regular in 1925 and did not surrender his position in the lineup until he became afflicted with illness. A glance at his page in Baseball Reference shows it to be littered in black, the color used for league leaders. He won six World Series title as a Yankee, batting .361 in the Fall Classic. By the numbers, his best season occurred in 1934, when he led the American League in eight of the prime offensive categories, including a .363 BA, 49 Hr, and 166 RBI.

All of this for a top salary of $39,000 that he earned at the end of his career in 1940. It’s worthy to note that according to Dollar Times, that sum is the equivalent of $672,000 in today’s money, a mere $200,000 over the major league minimum salary today.

A member of the famed “Murderer’s Row” lineup, Gehrig teamed with his fellow Yankees to form what many consider to be the best team of all-time, the 1927 Yankees. In addition to the Babe, the famed lineup included such stars as Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Bob Meusel, and Tony Lazzeri. All of which are names that appear as a footnote in Yankees history, but were instrumental in their supporting roles of the three and four hitters in the lineup.

Most of us live in darkness about Gehrig’s playing career. Having never had the opportunity to see him play, we can only rely on the numbers and the plaque that hangs in Cooperstown, attesting to the fact that this man was indeed a Hall Of Famer, and something very special. And that would be true not only in the annals of Yankees history but also in all of Major League Baseball.

#1 Babe Ruth

George Herman Ruth, The Bambino, the Sultan Of Swat, aka Babe Ruth. The man of legend and fame, who has a plausible story behind every facet of his life and career as a baseball player., including a story about how he got his nickname.

It seems that he was visited one day, while he was living as an orphan at St. Mary’s Industrial School in Baltimore, by a man named Jack Dunn (St.Mary’s School still stands today and is visible from the upper reaches of Camden Yards). Dunn was there to sign Ruth to a contract to play professional baseball.

Once the contract was signed, it was time to go on the road. A novice at living on his own at age 19, Ruth took to following Dunn around wherever he went. A teammate noticed the two together one day and said, “There goes Jack with his newest babe,” and the name stuck. Or so, we are led to believe.

Did he point, or didn’t he (video above)? Did he wolf down five hot dogs between innings? Is Yankee Stadium (really) “The House That Ruth Built?” To most, answers don’t matter. What is important is that Babe Ruth played baseball like no one ever had before him. And it is no stretch of the imagination to claim that he changed the game of baseball forever when he introduced power to the game, putting up home run numbers that no one previously could even fathom.

In 1927, for instance, the year that he hit 60 home runs, his total was more than any other team’s total in the American League and was exceeded by only one team in all of baseball (Philadelphia hit 64). Unimaginable. Freakish. Exciting. Wherever he went, fans flocked to see him play. And more often than not, he could be seen smack in the middle of the adoring crowd surrounding him, relishing contact with his fans. No, check that. Make it enjoying contact with people because that is the essence of Babe Ruth.

As for the numbers, they overwhelm you in the same way that he did as a personality. For this exercise, he finished first in runs scored and on-base percentage, second in RBI, and third in hits as a Yankee. But to get a visual on his career numbers, you need to peruse his page on Baseball Reference for a minute. Don’t look at the numbers, just look for black, which is the color reserved for league leaders.

Once you’ve digested that, scroll down a bit further to Ruth’s stats as a pitcher, which mostly earned while he was with Boston and before he was sold to the Yankees by a financially challenged Red Sox owner. In turn, this created another legend surrounding Ruth when the cash deal became labeled as the “Curse Of The Bambino” laid on the Red Sox.

Case closed. This man is the greatest baseball player who ever lived. Others followed him, and maybe that’s the point. They followed him. Ruth was, and remains, the standard bearer of greatness. His home records have fallen, at first tainted with an asterisk when Roger Maris hit one in the right field stands in 1962. And then again, when a bulked up steroid user hit whatever he hit to shatter Ruth’s career record of 714 home runs. But, Barry Bonds is not the stuff legends are made from.

And much like his teammate, Lou Gehrig, for most of us, Ruth remains a shadow only to seen in the baseball record books, or in grainy video clips preserved in time. A time when it was different in America. Because Babe Ruth, over his entire career, would earn less than one million dollars – $850,850 to be exact (research provided by the Society For American Baseball Research). Which in today’s dollars is about $14 million, or roughly the same as Mark Trumbo will earn in 2017.

It goes without saying that Babe Ruth fits nicely into the storied history of the New York Yankees. Conversations about Yankees greats die quickly as soon as someone brings up Ruth’s name, and usually, the next thing you hear is, “Yeah well, besides Ruth.” Besides Ruth, there is no one else.

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This concludes the segment on the Top Five All-Time Yankees Run Producers. I invite you to weigh in with your thoughts and comments. Next up, we’ll take a look at the other side of scoring runs – preventing runs – and a look at Yankees pitchers who excelled in doing exactly that.