Comments on: Best Yankee OFr since Mantle?

By: Jgeller

Jgeller — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:06:31 +0000

I did a search on all players who spent 50%+ of their careers at OF, and sorted by RC since 1970. Bernie ranks 16th. Here is a list of players above him who spent a part of their career as a Yankee: Rickey Henderson, Gary Sheffield, Dave Winfield, Tim Raines, Reggie Jackson. Winfield is the only one of those who played half as many games for the Yankees as Bernie did. So from that perspective, it looks strongly like Bernie was the best Yankee OF since Mantle.
There's another point though i'd like to make. Perhaps I am biased as a Yankee fan, but Bernie in my mind is sorely undervaled as a great OF. He's not a Hall of Famer in the least. But for over a decade, he was a very important player on a very good team and consistantly contributed. Only 25 players in history have 2250+ hits, 1250+ runs, 1250+ rbi's, 250+ HR, and 100+ SB. Mays, Griffy Jr. Mantle, and Bernie are the only players who were primarly CF to acomplish this.

By: Raphy

Raphy — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:44:02 +0000

Its amazing how similar the per game numbers for Bernie, O'Neill and Matsui are.

By: birtelcom

birtelcom — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:26:19 +0000

Winfield, Roy White and Bernie all averaged just about 20.5 Win Shares per 600 PAs during their respective Yankee tenures. All just about the same quality of performance overall (Win Shares includes fielding and baserunning as well as hitting in the evaluation). So yes among that group I would give Bernie the nod on pure quantity of contribution. But Bobby Murcer also had a very substantial career with the Yanks though not nearly as long as Bernie's, for sure) and he averaged over 22 Win Shares per 600 PAs during his time with the Yanks. I think you can argue that Murcer (who was very underrated, playing as he was after Mantle and in a relatively low-hitting era) may have been a stronger all-around player for the Yankees than Bernie, though he admittedly did not stay with the Yanks nearly as long.