One of the things I treasure about getting older is that I can look back over almost five decades of baseball history, some of absorbed through the agate type in the sports pages, some delivered to my living room via the magic of satellite television, and some witnessed firsthand. My first visit to Old Yankee Stadium was in the summer of 1977, and my most recent trip to the current Yankee Stadium was last August. Maybe a thousand different players have worn the pinstripes during that stretch, so I thought it would be fun to make up a roster of my favorite firsthand Yankees.

Here are the rules. First of all, I’ve always loved the legends, but DiMaggio, Mantle, Gehrig, Berra, and the rest of the Ancient Ones don’t qualify. These have to be guys that I saw play with my own eyes, and this isn’t a list of the best players, so you can’t argue with me. These are my favorites, that’s all. Also, I’m being strict with myself — no platoons or any nonsense like that, just a straight lineup. So here we go…

C — Jorge Posada
Posada is a borderline Hall of Famer, but more than anything it’s his personality that lands him on this list. I remember him barking out at Pedro Martínez in and around that playoff brawl with the Red Sox, I remember him pumping both fist and bellowing from second base after tying Game 7 in the eighth inning in 2003, and I remember his dugout arguments with Orlando Hernández. Man, I miss him.

1B — Don Mattingly
If you’re anywhere near my age, Mattingly is on your list. I could write a thousand words about him here, but I did that a while back when our fearless leader was gathering favorite Yankee Stadium memories. Here’s mine, centered around Mattingly.

2B — Robinson Canó
This was a tough decision. I really wanted to go with Willie Randolph, and it would’ve been easy to dismiss Canó after he chased the cash to Seattle and then was suspended multiple times for PEDs, but his time in New York was too brilliant to ignore. Everything he did was smooth, and I’ll never forget how he would range to his right for a ground ball and then, without making any attempt to pivot or even slow down, casually flip the ball back against his body towards first base. It was like a magic trick. I just knew he was destined for the Hall of Fame, until he wasn’t.

3B — Alex Rodríguez
Here’s the first controversial choice. I fully understand why many Yankee fans would put him on the opposite version of this list, but his many warts were never enough to make me hate him. I wouldn’t even say that I loved him in spite of all the baggage; his flaws eventually became endearing. He was that rare image-conscious superstar who was completely at sea regarding how the public perceived him. He couldn’t understand that posing shirtless in Central Park would make him look like a fool, that opting out of a quarter-billion dollar contract would seem greedy, or that commissioning a painting of himself as a centaur (whether it happened or not) would be ludicrous. Some superstars craved the spotlight, but A-Rod needed validation the way the rest of us need oxygen. Watch highlights of any of his big home runs. He didn’t flip his bat or marvel at the arc of the ball. His head would immediately snap towards the Yankee dugout, desperately seeking the approval of his teammates. “They like me! They really like me!” So do I. (If you want more of this, here’s the piece I wrote when he announced his retirement in 2016.)

SS — Derek Jeter
Quite simply, he was my Mickey Mantle. Here are some of my favorite things I’ve written here, four essays about Jeter: my thoughts leading up to 3,000 hits, a recap of the game where he hit that milestone, the last game I saw him play out here in Anaheim, and, of course, his final game in Yankee Stadium. I just re-read all of them, and each brought me to tears.

LF — Rickey Henderson
His time in New York was short, but wasn’t it something? Here’s a piece I wrote when he passed away in December of 2024.

CF — Aaron Judge
Okay, maybe this is a bit of a hedge, but since Judge spent a full season in center, I think it’s okay. In at least three of those Jeter essays above I wrote about being sure I’d never have another favorite player, but Judge has changed all that. In fact, during the playoffs last season I was actually rooting harder for Judge than for the Yankees, if that makes sense. The ALDS loss to Toronto was painful, but Judge’s tying home run the night before had a greater absolute value for me. I’ll never forget it.

RF — Dave Winfield
I understand why Alex Rodríguez’s number isn’t retired, and I understand why George Steinbrenner would never allow Winfield to have that honor, but it’s simply unconscionable that the current regime hasn’t decided to right that wrong. From 1981 to 1990 Winfield existed for me in bits and pieces: highlights on This Week in Baseball, occasional appearances on NBC’s Game of the Week or ABC’s Monday Night Baseball, games against the Angels, and the All-Star game every summer. He was larger than life, he had a huge smile, and I loved him.

DH — Bernie Williams
This was the toughest decision for me. Hideki Matsui has always had a place in my heart, and Reggie Jackson is Reggie Jackson. (Here’s an account of the time I got Reggie’s autograph.) But it has to be Bernie, and not just because he was there for the World Series run from 1996-2000. Bernie was the coolest nerd I’ve ever seen, as good with a guitar as he was with a bat. Also, a few years after he retired I got a chance to talk to him in San Francisco before a Yankee game, and he couldn’t have been nicer. Afterwards my son said, “He was talking to you like you were friends!” He makes the list just for that.

SP1 — Ron Guidry
I can still recite his stat line from 1978: 25-3, 1.74 ERA, 248 strikeouts. He existed only in the boxscores for me, but it was enough to inspire me, at age eight, to dress up as Ron Guidry for Halloween that October.

SP2 — CC Sabathia
When the Yankees announced they’d be retiring CC’s number this season, Phil Mushnick of the New York Post, that venerable bastion of truth and journalistic integrity, denounced the decision. I couldn’t disagree more. CC is a legend.

SP3 — Andy Pettitte
I’ve got two strong memories of Andy Pettitte. The first is the 1996 World Series. After getting hammered in a disheartening Game 1, Pettitte sat on the bench for three long games looking as if his dog had just died. Then he had the outing of his young life in Game 5 to put the Yankees up three games to two. The other moment came after the 2003 when he decided to sign with the Astros. SportsCenter was on as I was getting ready for work that morning, and the news hit me hard. His return a few year later made up for it, and his current role with the team is even better. (Who among us would be upset with Posada as manager with Pettitte as his pitching coach?)

SP4 — David Cone
His perfect game is legendary, but it was actually a moment of failure that cemented his legacy for me. He arrived in New York at the trade deadline in 1995, and a few months later he was standing on the mound in Seattle with two outs in the eighth inning of the fifth game of the ALDS. Nursing a 4-3 lead, Cone walked the bases loaded, and then assured Buck Showalter that he could get one more out. I still remember the look on his face; he was absolutely spent, but Showalter left him in. On a full count, Cone refused to give in. Rather than grooving a fastball, his 147th pitch was a splitter for ball four. Cone walked off the mound defeated, but I’ve loved him ever since.

SP5 — Gerritt Cole
It’s tiresome how often we hear one athlete or another described as a great competitor, because aren’t they all at this level? But I’ll admit to buying the hype with Cole. I’ll never forget the afternoon in Houston when he simply refused to allow Aaron Boone to take him out, then close the game with a 100mph fastball, and I’ll never get tired of listening to his postgame interviews dissecting each start. I can’t wait until he’s back.

RP — Mariano Rivera
I mean, could there be anyone else here?

So that’s it. I suppose I could fill out the roster with some middle relievers (Ramiro Mendoza, Joba Chamberlain) or bench players to allow the near misses a bit of glory, but a lineup seemed like a better idea. Anyway, I’d love to see your lineups, so please drop them in the comments!

[Image courtesy of WikiCommons]