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 BABE RUTH... He hit 60 homers for the 1927 Yankees --and he was just one of their superstars! |
Is there a team out there
better than the '27 Yanks?
of TheColumnists.com
The 1927 New York
Yankees have always been the Gold Standard of baseball.
They won 110 games with a .714 winning percentage, finished 19
games ahead of the second place Athletics, who went on to win
three straight pennants (1929-1931) under Connie Mack, then swept
the Pirates four straight in the Series and included six Hall
of Famers.
Babe Ruth hit his 60 homers that year, Lou Gehrig had 47 and
175 RBIs, Earl Combs, Tony Lazzeri, Waite Hoyt and Herb Pennock
added to their Cooperstown credentials. Add manager Miller Huggins
to the baseball shrine list.
The Yankees were so good, oldtimers say, they won the Series
in batting practice at Forbes Field when they drove dozens of
balls over the walls. They hit only two in the Series with Ruth
collecting both. Gehrig was slowed down by concerns about his
Mama, undergoing surgery that October back in New York. Wilcey
Moore, later renowned as the game’s first great relief pitcher,
won one, saved one and ended with an 0.84 ERA.
The four in a row Yankees from 1936-1939 and the five in a row
Yankees of 1949-1953 challenged the ’27 Yankees for greatness
but never quite equaled them. Then there were the 1976-1978 Yankees
as rivals. No chance.
Of course there were the St. Louis Cardinals of the 1940s, the
Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s, the Yankees again in the early
1960s, the Big Red Machine Cincinnati club in the middle 1970s
and the always boisterous Oakland A’s of Catfish Hunter,
Reggie Jackson and Charles O. Finley.
The Yankees won four World Series titles out of five under Joe
Torre from 1996-2000. Were any of those teams as good as the
1927 Bronx Bombers? No way, Jose.
Now we come to the 2009 Yankees. Now we can have a little disagreement.
As this is written the Yankees haven’t started their hunt
for 11 wins and the 40th team pennant and 27th World Series title
in post season baseball. I am certain they will get it.
The 2009 Yankees are the best baseball team I have seen in more
than a half century on the job and will make the 1927 Yankees
runners-up for all time honors by next month.
This team is better than Babe’s team for several reasons.
It is harder to win now with three playoff rounds instead of
just a Series title. A little mistake, especially in the early
division championship round, sends the boys home.
Babe never had to deal with night baseball, cross country flights,
enclosed stadiums, artificial turf and 100-mile an hour relief
pitching specialists.
How about the individual personnel?
Is there a Babe on this team or a Larrupin’ Lou? No. Was
there a DH on Babe’s team to add to the offense? No. Ok.
One for the 1920s guys.
Then the Yankees of Joe Girardi have it all over those 1927 Yankees.
Derek Jeter may be the best all around shortstop in baseball
history. A lifetime .300 hitter, a sensational fielder, a clutch
performer and a winner add up to future Hall of Fame recognition.
Sorry about that, Mark Koenig.
Jorge Posada, switch hitter, is in the Yogi Berra class as a
hitter. The 1927 Yankees were waiting for Bill Dickey’s
1928 arrival before they got bragging rights about a catcher.
Mark Teixeira is no Lou Gehrig. Nobody is. Teixeira is simply
the best fielding first baseman in the game (nobody ever talks
about Gehrig as a fielder who started his Yankee career known
as Tanglefoot) and as good a hitter as there is out there today.
He has incredible power, smart as a whip at the plate and a guy
who can work a walk or hit a double against the best throwers
in the game.
Robinson Cano at second, 26 years old, has been touted as a future
batting champion. Lazzeri never did that, either. Cano is a powerful
hitter, a high average batter and owns the strongest second base
arm since Bill Mazeroski, famous for his 1960 World Series homer
but the standard around the bag.
Alex Rodriguez, an admitted steroids user, will probably pass
Barry Bonds as the game’s all time home run hitter. A guaranteed
Hall of Famer who only has to help the Yankees gain a World Series
win to get his statue in Monument Park.
Johnny Damon, Melky Cabrera, Nick Swisher and DH Hideki Matsui
give the Yankees an incredible lineup top to bottom.
Then the pitching. It starts and ends with Mariano Rivera, the
best relief pitcher in the game. You want to start a baseball
team? Find another Rivera and build from there.
CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Joba Chamberlain, Phil
Hughes and assorted relievers give the Yankees the pitching depth
Miller Huggins could only dream about.
Girardi is no Huggins but he can write a lineup card with a star
at every position and millions of dollars worth of talent just
sitting on his bench.
Jeter passed Gehrig this year for total career hits by a Yankee.
After the Series is over the entire 2009 team will pass the legendary
1927 Yankees as baseball’s best ever. I’m a Brooklyn
Dodger fan but the truth is the truth.
©2009 by Maury Allen. The Maury Allen caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. The illustration is from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA. This column first posted Oct. 5, 2009.
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