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Saturday, July 27, 2013

All Time All Stars - Yankees pitchers

In the previous post I went over the All Time All Star roster for the Yankees.  The original lineup had sixteen hitters and nine pitchers. Per the new rules, I'm changing the dynamics a bit for the new rosters so we'll be adding a pitcher this time around. This is what the pitching staff looked like in the original game:
The greatest Yankee hurler of them all.

This is a pretty good bunch but I know more than a couple of these guys will be bumped off since the Yankees have had two mini dynasties in the last forty years. Plus we need to add at least one full time reliever (I wonder who that could be?).  Below I've broken down the pitchers into three distinct groups. 

Original Locks: Whitey Ford, Lefty Gomez, Red Ruffing, Waite Hoyt
All four of these guys are Hall of Famers and all but Hoyt rank in the top four in career wins in a Yankee uniform. Hoyt pitched in 365 games in a Yankee uniform and was a member of six World Series teams.

New guys that are locks: Mariano Rivera (RP), Goose Gossage (RP), Andy Pettitte, Ron Guidry
Rivera is not only the greatest reliever of all time, he's also the greatest Yankee pitcher of all time. Gossage is another HOF reliever and easily makes this team.  Andy Pettitte is third all time in Yankee wins with Guidry fifth. This leaves two spots open.


Guys on the bubble:

  • Sparky Lyle (RP) - Lyle was one of the first great full time relief pitchers. Like Gossage, he was used as a multi-inning reliever and his 35 saves in 1972 were the second most ever recorded in a single season. He also won the 1977 AL Cy Young award.
  • Jack Chesbro - Happy Jack set the single season record for wins as a Yankee (41) in 1904 that still stands today. Went 128-93 as a Yankee with an ERA+ of 109 (9% better than league average).  
  • Allie Reynolds - Superchief excelled as a swingman late in his career. In 1952 he led the league in ERA and shutouts while also earning six saves.  He made five all star teams.
  • Herb Pennock - Pennock was the ace of the Ruth teams in the 1920's. In eleven years he went 162-90 with an ERA+ of 114. He was inducted into the HOF in 1948.
  • Bob Shawkey - Shawkey ranks 7th all time in WAR as a Yankee pitcher. He won 20 games five times and led the league in ERA once. His ERA + in pinstripes is 117.
  • Mel Stottlemyre - I'm surprised Mel didn't make the original team but he was a member of some mediocre Yankee squads. He won 20 games three times but also led the league in losses twice. His ERA+ as a Yankee is 112 and he's 8th in team history in pitcher WAR.

I'll put a poll up on the home page. Pick the two pitchers you feel should make the team.

Updated poll results: Herb Pennock and Jack Chesbro were the top two vote getters thus earning the final two spots on the Yankee pitching staff.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

All Time All Stars - NY Yankees

Before the days of Nintendo, kids (and adults) had to find ways to entertain themselves during the rainy days of summer and the cold days of winter. In the 1970's my dad and uncle gravitated to two specific games.  Sports Illustrated created a board game for college football and for Major League Baseball.  The MLB version had two formats: the single season and the All Time All Stars.  The single season games were nice but playing as the All Time All Stars could be really fun.  Imagine how cool it was to play as the Yankees.  Try building a lineup where you get to include Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Mickey Mantle. Joe DiMaggio too. Yogi Berra! Well, a lot of time has passed since SI put out this game and I've begun doing a little exercise where I update the rosters for each team and maybe even add the expansion teams.
I started with the Yankees and for roster spots that I'm having trouble with I'll put a poll up asking for input.  The guidelines for roster construction are:

  • Each team must be composed of fifteen (15) position players and ten (10) pitchers.
  • At least one pitcher must be a relief pitcher
  • Each position must have at least two players on the roster who can capably fill it.  Think of this as having a starter and a backup. 
  • At least one player chosen to represent a position must have played that position as their primary defensive position.  For instance, Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth cannot be chosen as the only two representatives at first base since neither played there for the majority of their career.
  • Players must have been active no earlier than 1901.  I chose 1901 since that was the first year of the American League.  We need a cutoff at some point and this seemed logical to me. If a player accumulated stats prior to 1901 (Cy Young for instance) these stats will be disregarded.
  • To be eligible for a position a player must have played one full season as a starter there or 10% of his career games.  The same goes for starting and relieving.
  • The team a player represents should be the one that makes the most sense for that player. For instance, Alex Rodriguez has played for three teams but he's played 300 more games as a Yankee than a Mariner. He won an MVP as a Yankee and has more career WAR as a Yankee.  Therefore, he's going to be on the Yankee roster.
  • Batter handedness should not impact the players chosen.
With those guidelines set, let's get started.