Does Derek Jeter Belong on the Yankees’ Mount Rushmore of Immortal Stars?
September 25, 2014 · Jason Catania · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Wednesday’s 9-5 loss to the AL East champion Baltimore Orioles eliminated the New York Yankees from the postseason, bringing an end to any chance that Derek Jeter‘s Hall of Fame career would be extended into October. Thursday’s 6-5 win—and dramatic walk-off single from the man himself—brought yet another inevitability: the final home game at Yankee Stadium for Jeter.
And so the shortstop’s final year has turned into the final months, the final weeks and now the final days, even hours. But before The Captain says goodbye to his playing days for good, let’s celebrate and put into context his memorable 20-year career by answering a fun question:
Does Derek Jeter belong on the Yankees’ Mount Rushmore?
Given just how much Jeter has been front and center in 2014, you may be tempted to go ahead and shout “Yes!” without giving it a second thought. But before you do, let’s start by considering two important factors:
- There are only four faces on Mount Rushmore.
- There are a lot of iconic New York Yankees.
Heck, you don’t have to be Keith Olbermann to know that there’s no shortage of Yankees greats from which to choose for such rarefied air. Or chiseled rock, as it were.
Chances are, if you’re reading this, you should be able to come up with a batch just off the top of your own noggin, right? Because each of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra fall into that no-duh territory as far as their standing as all-timers not only in Yankees history but baseball’s.
With that in mind, let’s start by approaching this mountain-size endeavor from a statistical standpoint to see where Jeter fits in the Pinstripe Pantheon in the all-encompassing, across-era-comparing metric that is wins above replacement, via FanGraphs (fWAR).
Pretty much what you expected, right? It’s the big names we reeled off just before at the very top. Jeter? He’s right in the mix but just outside our Mount Rushmore standard at No. 5.
For what it’s worth, the Baseball Reference version of WAR (rWAR) has exactly the same players in the exact same order in the top six among position players.
The biggest difference comes with the pitchers, as legendary closer Mariano Rivera actually sports the highest rWAR among arms at 56.6. (Rivera wouldn’t necessarily crack the Yankees’ Mount Rushmore, but a carving of his face certainly would be on a rock featuring the top relief pitchers ever.)
In other words, the numbers show there’s a pretty clear distinction between the top six players in Yankees lore—let’s call them the Spectacular Six: Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, DiMaggio, Jeter and Berra—after which it starts to get a little more murky.
We’re getting somewhere.
What about measuring up the Spectacular Six by the number of World Series won as a Yankee?
Same result here: Jeter fits in rather well with his peers of pinstripes past. Again, however, he checks in at No. 5. Hey, the Yankees’ Mount Rushmore is tough to crack. Really, really tough.
How ’bout one last attempt to quantify whether Jeter can make the mountain? While counting All-Star Game appearances isn’t the most scientific process, it does provide a sense of a player’s reputation and standing in the sport.
Finally, Jeter has a claim to a top-four position among the Spectacular Six. But not so fast!
Of course, this isn’t fair at all to Ruth, who only played in two Midsummer Classics because the inaugural event was held in 1933—two years before his 22-year career came to an end.
It’s safe to say, though, that Ruth—who is widely regarded as the best player in baseball history—would have made it to the All-Star Game just about every season from 1915 (as a pitcher) through 1934, given both his production and popularity.
That would be upward of 20 appearances total for Ruth—or 15 with the Yankees, whom he played for from 1920-34—putting him right up there for the most ever and ahead of Jeter as a member of New York.
Same goes for Gehrig, whose period of dominance as one of the sport’s best players spanned from 1926 through 1938. If we count Gehrig’s appearance* in 1939, his final season, he would be right at 14 along with Jeter.
(*Note: Gehrig’s 1939 All-Star appearance was as an honorary captain because the event was in New York. He only played in eight games that year due to the advancement of his ALS.)
And DiMaggio, who made it to 13 Midsummer Classics, also would have had enough to surpass Jeter had he not missed three entire seasons smack in the middle of his prime (1943-45) because of military service in World War II.
So even if Jeter technically places third in the All-Star category, realistically he almost certainly would be outside the top four—the lofty standard required—yet again.
If you’ve been keeping score along the way, that’s three strikes against Jeter. And in baseball, that means you’re out.
As great as Jeter has been in two glorious decades with the Yankees, he comes up shy of having his mug etched into the side of a make-believe Yankees Mount Rushmore.
Jeter versus Berra is an intriguing argument because they’re close in a number of measures, but the four faces that belong in the Pinstripe Pantheon are clearly those of Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle and DiMaggio.
Now, if we were to determine this based on whose faces would look best carved out of rock…
Statistics are accurate through Sept. 24 and are courtesy of MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs, unless otherwise noted.
To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11
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