Greatest Lineup Ever! Now Playing Off Broadway!

Wednesday, February 18 2004 @ 11:31 AM EST

Contributed by: Mick Doherty

Now, I'm as big a Yankees fan as you'll find anywh ... well, here on Da Box, anyway. And in just over a month, I'll post the 2004 "Yankees Season Preview" as part of that ongoing Box series.

In the meantime, can someone please stop this "Is this the greatest offensive lineup ever put together?" hoo-ha? Or is there some chance that it actually might be?

Let's take a look, with a nod to what is generally considered the best offensive gathering of the last half of the 20th century (the 1976 Cincinnati Big Red Machine) and what is generally considered the best offensive gathering of the first half of the 20th century (the 1927 New York Murderer's Row Yankees).

That's right ...

... it's more than possible that this won't even be the best lineup in Yankees team history -- maybe not one of the top 10 -- much less in the game's history.

OK, then.

Let's start with designated hitter, since it's the wild card in this discussion; neither the Reds nor the '27 Yanks actually had one. But the Reds did have a DH in the '76 World Series (against ... the Yankees, natch) in Dan Driessen. The '27 Yanks probably would have split DH duties between righty Nig Grabowski and lefty Ray Morehart, neither of whom was much with the stick. Or, hey, they might have traded for Jimmie Foxx to DH; we'll never know. The point is, this is one of the positions where the clear advantage in any case is to the '04 Yankees. Bernie Williams may not be a Hall of Famer, but he's no Dan Driessen, either. Rank: (1) Williams (2) Driessen (3) Murderer's Platoon.

Now, behind the plate, well, stop me if you've heard this one, but Johnny Bench ... don't embarrass anyone by comparing them to Johnny Bench. Jorge Posada is a fine player -- again, like Williams, he'll likely never be a Hall of Famer -- and that's all well and good, but Jorge, thanks for stopping by the booth and playing our game. We'll take Bench. The '27 Yankees semi-regular starting backstop was Pat Collins, whose best modern player comps are Lenny Webster and Todd Pratt. Rank: (1) Bench (2) Nobody (3) Nobody (4) Posada (5) Nobody (6) Collins.

Interesting, but so far, Murderer's Row is looking an awful lot like the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Hey, maybe they'll get stronger as we proceed.

First base is a Hall of Fame position for all three teams. Tony Perez may be a borderline HOFer, but he's already in. Jason Giambi should get there barring further injury. Lou Gehrig, well, he's the best of the lot. Any questions? Rank: (1) Gehrig (2) Giambi (3) Perez.

Second base -- well, everyone right now is saying "Sure, Erick Almonte can play second for this team and they'll still have the greatest lineup ever." Sure. But don't you think Joe Torre would rather run out an everyday second sacker like Hall of Famer Tony "Poosh 'em Up" Lazzeri? Or, say, All-Star-turned-Analyst Joe Morgan? Rank: (1) Morgan (2) Lazzeri (3) Almonte or whoever.

Shortstop is the nexus of all controversy, of course. If Alex Rodriguez were moving to short for the current Bronx Bombers, this would be a different conversation. I mean, Mark Koenig was a nice player -- comps to Rennie Stennet, Tony Kubek and Fernando Vina -- but this really comes down to Derek Jeter vs. Dave Concepcion. Jeter is clearly the greater offensive weapon, with a career OPS+ of 122 to Davey's end-of-career-dragged 88. Just the same, Concepcion was a brilliant defensive shortstop, and nobody -- at least here on Da Box -- is going to make that claim about Jeter. All that said ... Rank: (1) Jeter (1A) Concepcion (3) Koenig.

Ah, third base. Do we pencil in A-Rod as the greatest Yankee 3B (sorry Graig Nettles) ever already and just call it a day? Tell you what -- let's have him play an inning there first. Jumpin' Joe Dugan was a fine hot corner guy for The Row, and the Reds had ... hey, wait, that's the All-Time Hit King playing third for Cincinnati. Still, I guess you gotta go with A-Rod. Rank: (1) Rodriguez (2) Pete Rose (3) Dugan.

Heading to the outfield ...

In left, you have a 1920's-era comp for Dave Parker, an MVP and the greatest Japanese power hitter since Sadahuru Oh. And that's how they rank, though Godzilla has a chance to move up as the years go on. Anyone who ever saw Foster "play" the field knows why he's dropped to second. This is perhaps the toughest position to evaluate, and an argument could be legitimately made for any possible order. But ... Rank: (1) Bob Meusel (2) George Foster (3) Hideki Matsui.

In center, Earle Combs is a Hall of Famer, Cesar Geronimo is a .300-hitting Gold Glover and Kenny Lofton is eight years past his prime. Rank: (1) Combs (2) Geronimo (3) Lofton.

In right field ... well, Ken Griffey Sr. was a nice player and Gary Sheffield is a nice player, but the '27 Yanks had a fella named George Herman Ruth. Rank: (1) Babe (2) Sheffield (3) Griffey.

So how's that work out?
In a three-way head-to-head-to-head, it's:
Murderer's Row 4
Current Yankees 3
Big Red Machine 2

The current Yankees nip the BRM, 5-4, but fall to their '27 counterparts by the same 5-4 count. For the record, interestingly, the BRM out-points Murderer's Row, also 5-4.

This is all speculative, of course. The point is ... it's a wee tad early to anoint the '04 Yankees as having the greatest offensive lineup of all time. Can you name other teams and years that at least arguably overmatch A-Rod, DJ and the boys? Remember, take pitching out of it. Take manager out of it. Deal with DH somehow.

And go about arguing, I don't know, that the 1994 Indians or 1948 Red Sox were a bat-for-bat match with this supposed juggernaut. Well, I guess that might make George's boys a "juggernot." We'll see.

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