The History Of The Yankees Captains

There have been 14 players named the team captain in the Highlanders/Yankees history. Some Yankees/Highlanders players are listed as captains but the first to be officially recognized as the Yankees captain was Hal Chase in 1910. Three of the first four Yankees "captains" were not officially recognized as Yankees captains but I have included them as well with the 11 official captains in our history.

Let's take a look at the complete list now.

(P) Clark Griffith 

Spent 1891-1914 as a Yankees player

Spent 1903-1905 as a Yankees captain

(SS) Kid Elberfeld 

Spent 1898-1914 as a Yankees player

Spent 1906-1909 as a Yankees captain

(1B) Hal Chase #1

Spent 1905-1919 as a Yankees player

Spent 1910-1912 as a Yankees captain

(1B) Frank Chance 

Spent 1898-1914 as a Yankees player

Spent 1913 as a Yankees captain

(SS) Roger Peckinpaugh #2 

Spent 1910-1927 as a Yankees player

Spent 1914-1921 as a Yankees captain

(OF) Babe Ruth #3

Spent 1914-1935 as a Yankees player

Spent 1922 as a Yankees captain

(SS) Everett Scott #4

Spent 1914-1926 as a Yankees player

Spent 1922-1925 as a Yankees captain

(1B) Lou Gehrig #5

Spent 1923-1939 as a Yankees player

Spent 1935-1939 as a Yankees captain

(C) Thurman Munson #6

Spent 1969-1979 as a Yankees player

Spent 1976-1979 as a Yankees captain

(3B) Graig Nettles #7

Spent 1967-1988 as a Yankees player

Spent 1982-1984 as a Yankees captain

(2B) Willie Randolph #8

Spent 1975-1992 as a Yankees player

Spent 1986-1988 as a Yankees co-captain

(P) Ron Guidry #9

Spent 1975-1988 as a Yankees player

Spent 1986-1988 as a Yankees co-captain

(1B) Don Mattingly #10

Spent 1982-1995 as a Yankees player

Spent 1991-1995 as a Yankees captain

(SS) Derek Jeter #11

Spent 1995-2014 as a Yankees player

Spent 2003- 2014 as a Yankees captain

Four Yankees captains have been elected into the Hall of Fame, and obviously it will be five when Derek Jeter is eligible, including Clark Griffith, Frank Chance, Babe Ruth, and Lou Gehrig. It is really amazing to think that players like Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford, Phil Rizzuto, or Catfsh Hunter to name a few have never been named a Yankees captain. It is also interesting to point out that Babe Ruth has only been a captain for a single season in 1922. George Steinbrenner kind of watered down the whole prestige behind being the Yankees captain, in my opinion, when he handed the honor out six times in his tenure as Yankees owner but Derek Jeter did his best to make the best of the situation and bring the prestige back to the most honored spot in all of baseball, the captain of the New York Yankees.