We can analyze this team until the middle of next week's cows come home, but here's all you need to know:
When Aaron Judge hits, everybody hits.
Judge may not have the rings of past Yankee captains. But in game production, he's the best captain in the history of the modern team.
That's right. I said it. The best captain in modern history.
Sorry, Thurman. Sorry, Donnie. Sorry, Jeet.
Here's the list in our lifetimes.
Great players. Great Yankees. He's the best of them.
Change my mind...
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69 comments:
What I don't know if the off-the-field presence. I once read that Jeter would take rookies out to eat -- early -- and explain things (the Yankee Way?) to them. I admit, I don't know if this was truth or BS, and whether it happened @ Spring Training or in July.
And I've not read about what Judge does or does not do with his teammates. Perhaps the Jeter thing was horsedung and Judge treats them to ice cream after every win.
I love Judge as much as anybody, but here's my cold, harsh metric: count the rings.
Judge on pace for 139 homeruns. Just needs to stay focused.
I'm liking the martian so far.
Tough to get away from that one, bitty. It'd be a shame if Judge ends up passing Donnie as the best of the rest.
Judge is certainly the best player on the team and a leader in the clubhouse. The number of rings certainly means a lot. But bungling, incompetent or off-mission front office can deny anyone those rings. Donnie was a great captain who ground it out until there was nothing left. But he has no rings to show for his effort. Not his fault. Jeter was lucky. Very, very lucky.
Judge is clearly a leader in the clubhouse. Worthy of his title as captain. Is he the best captain ever? I dunno. But he is one of the best to don pinstripes and a class act, to boot. Whether they win a ring or go home looking foolish, has more to do with the manager, owner and who is in the front office.
Boone, Cashman, Levine, Trost, Hal and their smug sycophants are arrogant flaming incompetents, despite throwing money at the problem like drunkards in a casino.
Tough to do, because it comes across as petty to compare great player’s deficiencies to make a point. Also, players get defined by the era they play in. Example: what if Jeter played for the team in the 80’s and early 90’s, and Mattingly was part of the core four?
In the end, there is really no answer in a debate of this kind. You can’t definitely compare players from different eras. In my time as a devoted Yankee fan, Mattingly was the best hitter I ever saw, and Jeter was the best player. Judge’s final legacy has yet to written, but he is very close to attaining that semi-legendary type of status. A World Series win with him leading the way could cement that.
So who is the greatest Yankee Captain of the modern era? In this lifelong fan’s opinion, it’s Derek Jeter.
Other great Captains in my life time
Captain Kirk
Captain Picard
Captain Jack McCarthy
Captain Kangaroo
Captain Crunch
Captain Steubing
and
Captain America
I humbly submit these additional captains to your list ;
Captain Jack Sparrow
(Horray for) Captain Spaulding
Captain Hook
Captain Morgan
and
Captain and Tennille
Perhaps I should've stuck with my first guess in early spring training that Judge would hit 85 homers this year. (I ended up predicting 65 because I thought he'd get off to a terribly slow start. So much for no spring training for him. Perhaps he was working with pitching machines. I hear they're incredibly good now.)
Captain Jack will get you high at night
And take you to your special island
Sorry, couldn't resist, I don't even like Billy Joel.
I wonder how high you can dial up the pitching machines these days. I think I heard Yankee hitters turn 'em up to 100 mph. Do they go up to ten or eleven?
Jeet was fortunate enough to have been surrounded by a stellar supporting cast that was assembled when there wasn't a steinbrenner in charge, and The Intern was a little boy in the company of men. Nowadays, it has been, and always will be, impossible for the current incompetent bean counters and sycophants to understand anything about assembling a truly ascendant baseball team. They care about the bottom line more than winning.
But, ED, you're right in one sense: Judge is the apex of Yankee captains but only for his hitting, a monster of hitting, whereas Jeet had a special something few ballplayers are capable of: he had incredible all-round baseball instincts, something even Judge and others (like Soto et all) do not possess.
Judge is still getting better. He hasn't peaked yet. Everybody develops at their own pace. As long as he doesn't get hurt crashing into a fence or stealing a base or getting hit by a pitch, he's going to take it up to another level this year. He is the best player in baseball right now. Has been the best player for a few years now. Perhaps this year he will finally solve his problems in the post-season. (It's mostly to do with his mental approach
Perhaps he takes 'em to Viscount Victoria's in midtown for a special treat they'll never forget.
13 B....I think that had to do more with George running the team versus Hal's aloof stewardship.
Judge's fielding and base running are pretty good too. As for intangibles, DJ has got everyone beat.
DJ seemd to do something in every game to help his team win. It was a very rare game where he didn't. Every time people brought up who was the best shortstop (A-Rod, Garciaparra or DJ), I always thought you can't overvalue the intangibles that DJ brought to the table. How many of those five World Series do the Yankees win without DJ? Nobody can say for sure, but it could've been zero.
But even so, the last five Yankee championship teams have been real teams. Judge hasn't had that championship caliber group to work with (courtesy of Dumbass Cashman), so he's come up short every time.
Not to forget, Captain Jack Harkness of Doctor Who and Torchwood fame.
And Queeg. And Captain Philip Francis, who had them because of the strawberries and geometric logic.
My opinion of Jeter was damaged by his bland, always "correct" answers to reporters and also by the gift baskets. The second is major asshole material, and the first smacks of robotic corporatism and boring PR.
But it would be nice to have him on the field these days.
Nobody has hit like Judge since Mantle. Nobody. And his defense is pretty damn good, too. But when you compare the greats, it's a losing game. They were all great.
Boone, however, is an idiot.
One thing nobody mentioned so far, Judge threw away almost $100 million to re-sign with the Yankees. It was an incredibly generous gift to HAL and Yankee management, though they're obviously not worthy of it. Would Jeter (or anyone other Yankee) have done the same? It was an incredibly generous gift to us Yankee fans. Are we worthy of it? Would we have done the same if we were in his shoes?
Judge's team spirit in contract negotiations is only matched by Shohei Ohtani, who deferred almost his entire contract to be paid 11-20 years from now. Hey Shohei, how's that 68 mill in year 20 looking now? Think 68 mill can get you a steak dinner 20 years from now? Hahahahaha!
Hey, nobody's perfect! But he sure knew how to pick 'em, eh? He must've banged a good truck full of hotties. More power to him! I'm still waiting for El Duque to introduce me to Ms. Bixby.
Who's Queeg?
The only "Q" I can think of is Queequeg from "Moby Dick". But he was a harpooneer.
I'm sorry, I meant to say...
Not to forget, Captain Jack Harkness of Doctor Who and Torchwood fame.
And Queeg, who had them because of the strawberries and geometric logic. The Caine Mutiny, Hammer.
Wonder how much his wife will get after the divorce? Ohtani, that is. Judge is married for life, like the Scooter.
Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea. . .
What were in those gift baskets anyway....?
A special kind of dildo (made in USA, of course) to make those ravishing hotties with holes squeal with pleasure!
Son of a gun! How could I forget Mr. Pebble in Mouth Humphrey Bogart as Captain Queeg? What an apt comparison to Boone. We have to start calling Jackass "Commander Queeg Boone" of the U.S.S. Yankee Titanic.
Doug K: I am astounded that you omitted Captain Renault and Captain Spaulding.
Greatness = Stats. GOATness = rings
Hammer -- https://johnsterling.blogspot.com/search?q=sinking+ship
Joe FOB - Yes! Particularly Captain Spaulding.
@ Doug.....Capt. Jack M. was often drunk and babbled nonsense as host of the Popeye Show on WPIX. As a pre-teen, I knew something was really off with the guy, but I didn't know anything about alcoholism.
Well Popeye was often drunk and babbled nonsense too so they were a good match.
@ JM...I thoroughly agree with you about Jeter. He was a great player but a complete phony. Breaking up with a girlfriend via text with an accompanying crappy gift basket is so cowardly and completely detached emotionally. His answers to reporters were always rehearsed and lacked spontaneity or real feeling. Plus, he's notorious for his parsimoniousness and poor tipping.
It must have been the spinach in vodka sauce that he craved so much.
So given Jeter's parsimoniousness, perhaps those gift baskets only contained a small bottle of Poland Springs water, a gift card for a free Carvel ice cream cone and a tiny bag of after Jeter mints . . .
one close call goes against stroman and he totally falls apart and gives up four runs. This is why no matter how well he does in a given start he can not be trusted
Grisssssssssssssssssss
Grizzum be liftin wates
. . . looks as though the Pittsburgh pitcher is starting to live up to his name . . .
HA - Falter replaced with Holderman - entertaining names
Who had Chisholm, Volpe and Grisham as HR stat leaders behind Judge in the office betting pool?
Uhm, uh, like, you know . . .
MY GAWD - THEY'RE SCORING RUNS WITHOUT THE LONG BALL AS WELL
the balls be juiced
Theory on drunken sailors :
On the ocean, you get sea legs after a day or so, where you constantly shift your feet to offset the rocking of the boat. When you get back on land, you continue doing it for a few days. But alcohol offsets it, so they walk straight drunk. Until they get REALLLY drunk.
My balls have been juiced since grade school.
Not a fan of his
Is Grisham born again hard?
Here comes the math teacher
Idk how Grisham be hitting them hom runs everytime they replay em if looks like the ball is nowhere near the sweet spot
Just to note, we were Stromanized today. Our bats got us out of it so far, but we won't always be playing bad teams. (See: Diamondbacks series)
seriously the balls are travelling really far on marginal contact from bad swings
I think I am psychologically destroyed from leaving New York. This sucks so far, and I'm only 150 or so miles away.
Shitfuck. Or if you prefer, fuckshit.
. . . could be all those super balls you previously wrote about have somehow found their way inside the baseballs . . .
So you only moved to Providence, RI, JM?
Gotta give it time. Especially since circumstance dictated the move. Why don't you pretend you're just travelling for a couple of months and view it like a tourist of sorts. takes the pressure off and invites you to enjoy it.
And C L E A R L Y we are all here to support you.
Here's an example:
Knock, Knock
Who's there?
Boone
Boone Who?
BOONE IS AN IDIOT
Yarbrough not sucking.
Good advice, Doug. I'll try that.
AA, Boone IS an idiot, as you well know.
1,2,3
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
The YANKEES won
Arguments that posit a players' "greatness" should be measured by Rings are ridiculous. The Media used to talk about how it was a shame that Ernie Banks' great career was wasted on a team that never won a tittle. In the eighties that narrative morphed into using Rings as some kind of defining metric. But riddle me this. Who would you rather have your team acquire (ages are the same) a player with three rings or three MVPs? I rest my case.
hey Kevin
Ted Williams was truly great. Won how many rings? Fuck him. I rest my case.
Hey AA, still busting balls, eh?!
Can't see the logic, but if that's how you feel...
it's a team sport. I love Judge and his stats, but he has not earned the GOAT label. A championship would help, just like it helps you get into the HOF.
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