Taking the Time to Honor Cal Ripken Jr.

I know we usually run a "This Day in Yankees History" post every morning and I know this didn't technically happen until tomorrow, September 5th, but since we're set to face the Baltimore Orioles in a couple of hours I figured what the hell. Let's go for it and let's honor the great Cal Ripken Jr. here on the blog this morning.

It was 20 years ago today that Cal Ripken Jr. went out onto the field in Oriole Park at Camden Yards against the New York Yankees like he had for the better part of over 2,000 games. Ripken had played in 2,129 consecutive games in his career before heading out for the bottom of the fifth inning. When Ripken went out to take his position the game became official, his 2,130th consecutive game. This is significant because Cal would tie the Yankees legend and "Iron Horse" Lou Gehrig.

Ripken received a standing ovation for over five minutes from the sellout crowd when he tied the record. Love or hate the Orioles but you just can't hate Cal Ripken Jr. Have a good Sunday afternoon Yankees family and a nice, long weekend.

ESPN's Hall of 100 Ranks Derek Jeter All-Time

For much of the 20 season career of Derek Jeter many around the league thought of the Yankees shortstop as one of the best of our generation and definitely in the conversation among the greatest of all-time. ESPN worked on a list of the Top 100 players in Major League history and Jeter's name appeared on the list in the #31 position making him the 31st best player in Major League history.

Jeter won five World Series titles in his career and made the postseason 18 times, seven times making the World Series, while being named to 14 All-Star games. Jeter also won five Gold Glove Awards and was named the 1996 American League Rookie of the Year. For the entire list CLICK HERE but I will detail some of the Yankees on the list below as an excerpt, enjoy.

1.Babe Ruth

7. Roger Clemens

9. Mickey Mantle

11. Lou Gehrig

14. Rickey Henderson

19. Joe DiMiaggio

21. Randy Johnson

23. Alex Rodriguez

31. Derek Jeter

52. Mariano Rivera

56. Wade Boggs

57. Reggie Jackson

58. Yogi Berra

96. Tim Raines

100. Phil Niekro

All Time New York Yankees Team - The Bench

 Jorge Posada

 Willie Randolph

 Don Mattingly

 Phil Rizzuto

 Bill Dickey

Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto was easily the best Yankees short stop of all time before Derek Jeter came along so I decided that he had to be on the list.

Don Mattingly won the 1985 MVP Award and was the Yankees captain. While Don never won a World Series and only had one post season appearance in this career in 1995, a wild card series loss to the Seattle Mariners, Don made watching Yankees baseball bearable in the 80's and is one of the greatest Yankees of all time, mustache and all.

Willie Randolph? Really? Over Robinson Cano, Joe Gordon, and other Yankees second basemen? Yes, absolutely. Randolph did not have the best numbers but he did spend 13 of his 18 years with the Yankees including three co-captain years with Ron Guidry from 1986-1988. Randolph also owns the Yankees record for games played as a second basemen with 1,688 games and finished his career with 271 stolen bases, 1,239 runs scored, 2,210 hits, and was a six time All Star. Randolph drew over 80 walks a whopping seven times in his career, something Robinson Cano will probably never do, and never committed in an error in 46 post season games for his career. Randolph also won four World Series titles with the Yankees as a coach that many people do not remember. He may not have the stats as some of the others but he certainly deserved to be on this list.

The catching position was obviously a toss up so between the starting catcher and the bench I decided to include three catchers and I still feel like I am omitting someone. Yogi Berra starts for me, his 10 World Series rings says so. Jorge Posada I felt compelled to include because I watched him growing up and saw him win four World Series rings, although was a major contributor in three of them. Even with Bill Dickey being added as a bench option I still could have included Elston Howard and Thurmon Munson making this possibly the hardest position to choose from.

All Time New York Yankees Team - The Rotation

 Andy Pettitte

Whitey Ford

 Ron Guidry

 Red Ruffing

 Lefty Gomez

The New York Yankees have surprisingly not had as many huge starters in their history as you would think. After 27 World Series championships you would think that this would be a tough list to make but it really wasn't. Andy Pettitte leads the Yankees in strike outs, wins, and a ton of other stats and definitely has a place on this team. Andy passed Whitey Ford in many of those stats as Whitey has long been thought of as the greatest Yankees starter of all time so he was also an easy pick. Ron Guidry was a co captain along with Willie Randolph for the 1986-1988 seasons and was our one bright spot in the rotation for those long and terrible years in the 80's. After that the list got tough.

I originally had Jack Chesbro on the list as he enjoyed a 41 win season once but it was early in the 1900's and was for the Highlanders, not the Yankees, so I chose to leave him off. I also had Allie Reynolds on the list but he was versatile with him jumping back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen. I settled, for lack of a better word, for Red Ruffing and Lefty Gomez to finish out the rotation. Interesting fact is Red Ruffing currently has the highest ERA of any player in the Hall of Fame with a 3.80 ERA but he is in the hall nonetheless.

Here is my list, what's yours?

The All Time New York Yankees Team

The New York Yankees have one of the most storied histories in all of baseball including 27 World Series Championships, 17 more than any other team in Major League history, and some of the best players to ever play the game of baseball. The Yankees have the most history and the most tradition of any team in all of sports, not just baseball, and have the most retired jersey numbers than any other team. It is difficult in some positions to even pick a "best of all time" at that position but I will attempt to do my best here in a series of posts. Check back every day to see who I think makes the cut as a member of the all time New York Yankees team.

Mariano Rivera's New York Yankees Career Is Over

Mariano Rivera has been a pitcher for the New York Yankees for 19 years now, 17 of them as the Yankees closer, and his Yankees career is now over. Rivera finishes his career as the greatest closer to ever pitch in the game of baseball and spent his entire career doing so with the New York Yankees. This season did not end the way that the Yankees or Mariano wanted it to, with a World Series championship, but Mo went out on top with a healthy and productive season and I think that is all Mo wanted.

Thank you for everything you have done both on and off the field Mo and we wish you nothing but the best in all your future endeavors as long as it includes teaching those three sons of yours that cutter.

Here is Mariano's career stat line as his career comes to an end:

19 seasons played, all for the New York Yankees, and 1115 games played.

• 82-60 record with a major league record 2.21 ERA
• 8-1 record with a 0.70 ERA in the post season
• Most saves of all time with 652
• Most post season saves of all time with 42
• Most games finished in major league history with 652
• 78 games finished in the post season in 96 appearances
• Best ERA+ of all time with a 205 mark 
• 1.000 WHIP for his career (3rd lowest in major league history)
• 0.759 WHIP in the post season
• 12 men to walk on the moon, 11 earned runs against Rivera in the post season
• 56.6 career WAR
• SIX errors and has not made one since 2004 while never having more than two in a season
• 13 time All Star
• Five AL Rolaids Relief Awards, A World Series, All Star, and ALCS MVP award each, and a Babe Ruth award
• Nine times garnering an MVP vote and six times garnering a Cy Young Vote
• 5 World Series Rings in 7 chances
• Greatest of all time

Finished making $169,441,825 in his career, not bad for a fisherman's son from Panama.

Mariano went out like he wanted to on top and on the top of his game and that is really all you can ask for as a player. Thank you once again Mo for everything that you do and everything that you are, us Yankees fans do appreciate it and appreciate you.

For Mo's next trick he will install peace in the middle east.