In his post yesterday about the potential batting order for 2010, Steve posted an image of a lineup card for what appears to be an All-Time Yankee team. Obviously, that team is just stacked. So stacked, in fact, that it got me thinking–what would my all time Yankee batting look like and how many runs could they score in a 162 game season?
For the first part, my team would look just like Steve’s, except I’d have Alex Rodriguez starting at third; don’t worry Nettles fans, he’d be on my bench. The rest of the bench would be rounded out by Jorge Posada (sorry, Thurman), Bernie Williams, and Don Mattingly. But, what we’re really concerned about here is the starting lineup and just how prolific it would be on offense.
Using the ever awesome Lineup Analysis tool from Baseball Musings, we can estimate how many runs this team would score by punching in each player’s OBP and SLG. Since this is an all-Yankee team, I’ll be using their Yankee numbers only.
The average lineup containing these players would score 7.385 runs per game. In a 162 game season, that means 1,197 runs. The modern record for runs scored in a season was set by the 1931 Yankees, who scored 1,067. This team would beat that tally by 130 runs. That’s disgusting. Words cannot describe the awesomeness of this lineup.
The best projected lineup would be Ruth/Gehrig/Lazzeri/DiMaggio/Mantle/Jackson/Rodriguez/Berra/Jeter, which would score 7.499 per game (1,215 per 162).
The worst projected lineup was Berra/Lazzeri/Rodriguez/Jeter/Jackson/Mantle/Gehrig/Ruth/DiMaggio and even that scored 7.004 runs per game (1,135). So even the “worst” lineup consisting of these nine guys would break the runs scored record.
This gargantuan lineup is a testament to one thing: the Yankees have had some incredible players over the years. As I said previously, we as Yankee fans have been blessed to have seen such great players don the uniform of our favorite team.
If there is one thing to sum up this lineup, it would be this: Total Domination.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
10 Responses to The Run Scoring of an All-Time Lineup
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
Ruth, Gehrig, Lazzeri, DiMaggio, Mantle, Jackson, Rodriguez, Berra, Jeter…with Munson, Matingly, Henrich and Billy Martin as the bench players. Henrich is the OBP, Slg champ of the 2nd bunch. Billy was the hardest guy to get out in a high clutch situation on the Yankees. Munson and Matingly are who they were…top flight players.
Ruth and Lou batting 1/2? Is that because of those high BAs?
BAs have nothing to do with it; you only enter in their OBPs/SLGs.
Well, when your BA is .340, your OBP is likely to be pretty high too. So, do you see the Babe as the quintessential leadoff man?
The Babe was a very fast and good base-runner in his younger days. People keep thinking of him as a big fat guy that could hit the ball a long way…he was a very fine RF until he aged and gained weight.
So, yes! He could have been a lead-off hitter but, why waste his power one time a game as a lead-off man.
Well, with Babe you’d get two things: a lot of walks and a lot of homers. So, a lot of the time, you’d either be starting with a man on or a run in. Sounds good to me.
Also keep in mind that Jeter and Berra will be hitting in front of him. I don’ t think you’d have to worry about guys not being on for him.
I think the line-up tool doesn’t take into account the effect of facing one really good hitter after another. The ’31 line-up scored 1,067 with some pretty ordinary bats: Lazzeri hit only 267 with 8 HR, Lary and Sewell were both under 800 OPS, and the bench didn’t have much-especially compared to Mattingly et al.
With no place for the opposing pitcher to turn around (especially if Ruffing is pitching) and so many guys who walked a lot (especially Mantle, Gehrig, and Ruth) and had that much power, starters would be gone by the 4th or 5th instead of the 6th or 7th.
Terrific piece, Matt. You can’t help but wonder what a team like that would actually produce. They would be the Harlem Globetrotters of Baseball. And of course you’re right that Alex plays over Nettles. Graig was the best defensive 3B the Yanks have ever had, but A-Rod’s bat blows him away.
One quibble, my bench would have Yogi Berra as the backup Catcher, with Bill Dickey as the starter. Posada’s close, but those two are ahead of him.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dickebi01.shtml
How about gehrig DH and donny baseball at first?