Top 5 Yankees of All-Time

Just to show you how serious I am about these Top 5's, I'm kicking this off with this; an All Time Yankees Top 5.  As you Rioters fully know by now, I hate the New York Stankees.  Oh my, I think I like dental work more than I like the Yankees.  But I respect what they mean to the fabric of baseball, sports and America itself and they have been a part of my life from the beginning. So in honor of the newest Yankee legend claiming his spot in this grand lexicon called Yankee History, I've decided to list the Top 5 Yankees of All Time.  But this won't be about stats because that is way to difficult to narrow down.  Do you go by homers, RBI's, ERA, World Series title and appearances; what would the criteria be?  So I've decided to go with the most iconic Yankees of All Time; the ones that all Yankee fans, hardcore or casual, know about.  the ones that even my 10 year old son can say "I've heard of him." You know, ever generation has had great Yankees to talk about.  Here's a list of those players.

5- Derek Jeter - Maybe I'm a victim of the moment, but if you take a step back from Jeter and look at him through the eyes of history, he is a top 5 Yankee, hands down.  I debated between Jeter and Mariano Rivera, who comes in as a very close 6th here, but I went with the everyday player,  and because I'm a sap who has bought into the history I witnessed on Saturday.  But Jeter with 5 World Series titles in 7 appearances, was the face of this team when they came out of the darkness of the Mattingly era.  He was damn close to being on a team that might have brought a championship to Mattingly, Donny was one year to short for that.  But Jeter has been the steely faced Captain of this team since they started this latest Yankee dynasty, and he has been the most respected and respectful player in this league for 15+ seasons now. I love to hate Jeter as a fan of the other New York team, and that is because he is as clutch a hitter as there is in baseball, and he continuously rips the heart out of opponents and there fans. Congrats to DJ for #3,000.

4- Joe Dimaggio - Was there any doubt that Joltin Joe was going to be on this list?  The 56 game hitting streak, the nine World Series championships, the three MVP's and getting Marilyn Monroe nightly; if that's not an icon I don't know what is. He had a song written about him and he was the smoothest looking outfielder ever. Add into the baseball achievements the fact that he war hero and you have not only an iconic man to other men, but a superhero to kids all over the country. How many pro athletes do you think would voluntarily go to Iraq for a few years in the prime of their careers?

3- Mickey Mantle - "Mick" was the most hyped player possibly in baseball history.  Not to say he wasn't a great player; one of the greatest.  But he was just not as good as advertised because he came out as a God. Mantle was supposed to be the next coming of Ruth.  But an early knee injury slowed him enough not to be Ruth-ian, but it certainly did not derail what turned out to be a legendary career in it's own right. A 20 time All Star, 3 time MVP, 7 time World Series champion, and add in a triple crown and you have one of the greatest baseball players of All Time.  As an icon, Mantle had Ruth type legend.  Mantle used to hit monstrous home runs that are still talked about.  My father used to talk about the home run Mantle hit out of the old Tiger stadium which might be one of the biggest stadiums ever. Now i tell my boys that story, and I've never even seen it with my own eyes.

2- Lou Gehrig - "Today, i consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Perhaps one of the top 5 most recognizable quotes of all time. That phrase alone is iconic.  Add in the streak, the RBI's and the fact that the very disease that claimed him is now named after him, and you have yourself an icon, hands down.

1- Babe Ruth - The face of baseball forever. There is no more iconic player in all of sports.  You know you have an icon when the player in question hasn't stepped on a field in 77 years and has been dead longer than he was alive. When you say Babe Ruth men, women and children know at the very least what sport you are talking about.