This list . . .  is embarrassing.  But it’s interesting—another trip down memory lane.  I didn’t like the Easler trade because at the time he and Mattingly had the same nickname (“the Hit Man”) and these things bothered me back when I was in my 40s.  I love the fact that Oscar Gamble shows up on SG’s lists at two different positions, and that here we have a sighting of the infamous Ken Phelps, the original “Moneyball” acquisition gone wrong.  (Before the Yankees made the Buhner/Phelps trade, Phelps—the 1986 version—used to mash on my Microleague team.)

Thanks, SG, once again, for these fun lists.  And thanks for the Righetti-as-starter conversion yesterday.  See, I knew the Boss cost us that ‘85 division title.

I was excited for this list, because it was the only one I didn’t have a good idea who was going to be on it. (Lou Gehrig dominates the 1B list? Unbelievable!) I’m glad Strawberry’s 98 campaign made it, but then again… where was the competition?

Who has the best DH season of any team?

plank, refresh the post and you’ll see the top 20 DH seasons ever.  #1?  Edgar Martinez in 1995.

Wow, that was fast.

Ken Phelps. Wow.

I think you should do the top HITTING season by Yankees pitchers. That would be fun. 

I am shocked that not a single pre-1973 player shows up here.

The all-time DH list entirely comprises post-1991 seasons until we get to Faux-HOFer Rice at 20.  My speculation:  this points toward the DH stigma.  Good players resisted being full-time DHs until Baines and Hal McRae and Molitor made that role respectable in the 80s. 

Furthermore, in the 70s and 80s teams resisted having full-time DHs, preferring to use the DH slot to rest regulars and get ABs for bench players.  It was with the 90s offensive explosion that FOs realized they were missing a chance at getting a full season in for 40-HR guys.

Thoughts?

I didn’t like the Easler trade because at the time he and Mattingly had the same nickname (“the Hit Man”) and these things bothered me back when I was in my 40s

I don’t recall it bothering me back then.  Of course, I was 10… 

The first Yankee DH I really remember playing was Don Baylor.

That was me as well.  My grandparents (Mets fans) had been vacationing in Florida during spring-training of 1985, and got a ball with signatures from Baylor and Mattingly, so I followed them both closely that year; also my first year really following baseball, other than just liking it.  Good year to start watching Mattingly.  Not so good to start watching Baylor.

I love the fact that in Big Papi’s 2 best years the same guy won the MVP over him.

No Chili Davis? How much did he miss by?

SG, is there any way to compare/compile best aggregate years for the DH position for the Yankees?  (That is, the total offensive line for all players who DHed in any given year.)  And how they compared to league-average for the DH position?

All this steroid stuff makes me wish the yankees biggest PR problem was still Daryl Strawberry.

Does anybody know where I can find a clip of the battle between the yanks and orioles where strawberry clotheslines armando benitez into the dugout and graeme lloyd and mike stanton came running out of the bullpen WWF style?

tino was never quite the same after that 98 mph fastball in the spine.

No Chili Davis? How much did he miss by?

Chili’s best season was 1991, which was 16 BRAA and ranks 47th.  I thought he’d rank higher too, but Edgar Martinez set a very high bar for the average DH.

SG, is there any way to compare/compile best aggregate years for the DH position for the Yankees?

There’s probably a way to do it using Retrosheet’s play by play data.  I’ll take a look and see how hard it is to do.

I meant Chili Davis as a Yankee.

Chili’s 1999 was 7 runs below average.  He hit .269/.366/.445 but the average DH hit .290/.374/.497 that year.

Eric Soderholm!!!!
Jim Spencer!!!!!!!

“All this steroid stuff makes me wish the yankees biggest PR problem was still Daryl Strawberry.”

I don’t think the Yankees are having a steroid-related PR problem.  None of the Yankee fans I know really care about what has been or will be revealed, or think that any of it taints the brilliant late-1990s legacy.  The dates don’t work out, first of all, and secondly, I think reasonable fans understand that in the late 1990s and early 2000s a huge proportion of players throughout MLB were injecting something, whether it helped them get stronger or stay healthier or not at all, and it’s therefore just shortsighted to disqualify any one team’s achievements because of the Mitchell Report.  Reporters who write about Yankee fans wringing their hands are just doing what reporters do: make a big deal out of nothing during the offseason.

That being said, Strawberry wasn’t a PR problem for the Yankees either, really.

“I think you should do the top HITTING season by Yankees pitchers.”
I second that motion
Pretty please, SG?

Thanks so much, SG, you did wonders with these lists!

And now we’re almost to the season! Huzzah!

Based on what I’ve read, Don Larsen and the recently-departed Tommy Byrne were both pretty decent with the bat for pitchers. Stengel, I think, used one or the other (or both?) as pinch hitters once in awhile too, if I’m remembering right.

tothejailer- Don’t forget Red Ruffing

Eric Soderholm? I thought he was the shady fella I purchased a Norsk Skaulkatt from back in 93.
On a semi serious note I have no memory of him in pinstripes.
I went thru my Topps collection and there he was.
I was in the service of the Uncle from 79 to 83 and never even saw Ron Davis pitch for the Yankees.
I still think Eric S   was Dh’ing just to cover his Forest Katt smuggling operation.
tothejailer, Mel could smack the ball around pretty well. I think it was Tommy Byrne that CS employed to PH.
Edgar was a nightmare. Just plain scary. He was like a righthanded Brett that could not field.

Good one Irv. Ruffing was a great hitter.

Thurm, just so you know - all those versions of The Deer Hunter were subtitled.  I used to speak Slovak quite well, but seeing the film dubbed into Slovak would have been something else entirely.

just looked up ruffing - he had a .269 lifetime avg. with 36 home runs…..too bad he wasn’t playing short in ‘86 instead of paul zuvella….in 1930 ruffing hit .364/.402/.582 in 110 AB…..crikey

Edgar Martinez used be on 1B against the Yankees before he even swung the bat.

One of the worst things about Martinez for me was that he was so darn hard to root against, as he seems like such a pleasant guy - such a total pro.

Yeah, I hated what Edgar did to the Yankees but I liked him a lot as a player.  Just an incredible hitter.  Wasn’t he 9 for 10 against Mo at one point?

Regarding that Oakland game & Strawberry that is linked here, I vividly remember watching that game in a bar.  A friend who was a Mets fan called Straw’s grand slam when he was sent up to pinch hit. 

When he connected, all the was left was a little cloud of dust hovering over the plate, where the ball used to be… There is a clip of this on the 1998 “Season of their Lives” video (?) that was put out after the World Series.

Straw had such a purty swing.

Chili Davis?

So, where would Matsui rank on this list after last year and this?