The New York Yankees are known for their offense. Over the years, their name has become synonymous with entertaining baseball games riding on big and prolific hitting prowess. Babe Ruth’s 714 home runs and 1,959 runs became a milestone in MLB history. Lou Gehrig’s exploits and 2,130 straight games are a part of baseball lore.
Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak continues to inspire every MLB player and fan. Roger Maris’s 61 homers stood a historic feat for 61 years. Who can forget another hitting machine Mickey Mantle? The Yankees once turned all-conquering lords of baseball and earned the epithet of the Murderers’ Row following their “killer” batting.
Let’s see who are the greatest hitters ever to grace the ranks of different Yankees dynasties.
Babe Ruth
The 14 seasons he spent with the Yankees from 1920 to 1934 made him a cult figure and the most famous baseball player in the game’s long and rich history. It can be argued that there have been better ballplayers in the past, but there is no question that no one else has changed and dominated the game as much as he did.
Babe Ruth is so well-known that the word “Ruthian,” which means “with great power,” may be the only word in sports that is named after him. He almost single-handedly turned the New York Yankees from a small team in the American League into a real, long-lasting powerhouse.
He began as a pitcher but became a hitter soon in Boston. Ruth joined the Yankees in a blockbuster deal in 1920 and hit 54 home runs in the first season attracting a record-breaking 1.3 million people to New York to watch him play. He went to hit 40 or more home runs 10 more times, including three years when he hit 50 or more and his best year, 1927 when he hit 60 home runs, which was the record until 1961. He led the AL in home runs 12 times, Rbis 6 times, runs scored 8 times, and walks 11 times.
Ruth helped the Yankees win seven pennants and four World Series titles in his 15 years there. Ruth’s 714 career home runs were the best in the major leagues for almost 40 years.
Micky Mantle
Between 1951 and 1968, he led the Yankees to their most glorious period. Mantle was designated for assignment after his initial failure in 1951 but he came back roaring. Over the next few years, he became the best hitter in the AL thanks to his power and lightning-fast swing.
Mantle hit some of the biggest homers in MLB, including a 565-feet home run in 1953. One of his home runs at Yankee Stadium in 1956 hit the third-deck overhanging on the right field.
Mantle won the MVP award three times and was runner-up three other times. He also led the league in home runs four times and played on 16 All-Star teams. In 1956, he won the triple crown.
Lou Gehrig
He was the most famous partner of Babe Ruth and played for the Yankees between 1923 and 1939. Gehrig hit a homer that landed outside Chicago’s Wrigley Field. He joined the Yankees two years later and hit a record .447 in 38 at-bats. In 1925,Gehrig began a legendary streak that continued for 14 seasons.
During this time, he hit .343 and averaged 36 home runs, 147 RBI, 139 runs, 112 walks, 39 doubles, and 12 triples per year. In 1931, he hit 184 RBIs, which was an AL record. He also hit 23 grand slams, which was a major league record. In 1932, he became the first major leaguer in modern times to hit four homers in a game. He hit for the cycle twice and got 400 total bases five times, which is another all-time record.
Gehrig hit.361 in 34 World Series games with 10 home runs and 35 RBIs. He really lit up St. Louis when the Yankees swept the Cardinals in four games in 1928. Only amyotrophic lateral sclerosis stopped the run machine from hitting more.
The Yankees have retired Gehrig’s number 4—a first in the major leagues—and the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Joe DiMaggio
“The Yankee Clipper” had a 56-game hitting streak in 1941, which remains the “most outstanding and unbreakable record” in the MLB. DiMaggio won the MVP award thrice, became an All-Star 13 times, and was bating champion, AL homer leader, and RBI leader each twice. He led the Yankees to nine World Series championships and 10 AL pennants. DiMaggio fill the superstar void created by Babe Ruth’s departure.
The Yankees began watching him after an 18-year-old DiMaggio went on a 61-game hitting streak in 1933 with the San Francisco Seals. He played his first MLB game for the Yankees in 1936 and hit .323 with 29 home runs and 125 RBIs. Next year, it was 46 home runs and 167 RBIs.
DiMaggio became a part of baseball lore when he hit safely in 56 straight games in 1941. However, he was drafted into the military and missed the best years of his career (1943–1945). The run machine ended his career with a.325 average, 361 home runs, and almost as many strikeouts as home runs (369) in 1951.
Charlie “King Kong” Killer
The big, muscular player exhibited plenty of power when he played for the Yankees in three spells 1939-43, 1945-49, and in 1952. He hit a lot of doubles and triples while leading the league twice in walks. His first year saw .334 with 11 homers, 83 RBIs, 87 runs, and 81 walks in 111 games. Killer hit seven, including three homers, against the Reds in the World Series. During DiMaggio’s military conscript, he led the Yankees in 1943. He had multiple 30-plus homer seasons.
Alex Rodriguez
Between 2004 and 2016, he was the king at Yankee Stadium despite a suspension for two years over Biogenesis scandal. He was the best player of his generation, and the Yankees got after the Texas Rangers failed to seal a deal with the Red Sox. His exploits led the Yankees to sign him for a 10-year, $275 million deal in 2007.
Rodriguez kept showing that he was worth every penny of his big contract while playing for the Yankees. In his first four years with the Yankees, he won two of his three MVP awards. His best year was 2007 when he hit 54 home runs and had 156 RBIs and 143 runs scored. A-Rod also set a record by hitting at least 30 home runs and getting at least 100 RBIs for 13 straight years. He ended his career with 696 homers..
Yogi Berra
He played for the Yankees from 1946 to 1963 and won 10 World Series rings, became All-Star 18 times, and had MVP awards thrice. He was a true Yankee as a player, as manager, and as coach.
From 1949 to 1958, Berra hit at least 20 home runs every year. He only struck out 12 times in 597 at-bats in 1951. He played in 75 games over 14 Fall Classics and hit .274 with 12 home runs and 39 RBIs. In 1956, title win, Berra hit .360 with three home runs and 10 RBIs.
Don Mattingly
One of the few homegrown gems in the Yankees’ farm system that Steinbrenner didn’t trade away, he was the only hero during the “lost years” that came in the 1980s and the 1990s. Mattingly began his Yankees era in 1982 and went on to play until 1995. In 1984, he hit 23 home runs, drove in 110 runs, and won the AL batting title with a .343 average.
Mattingly continued his excellent form for the next three seasons. He also hit six grand slams, which was an all-time season record, and won nine Gold Gloves over the course of his 14-year career. The batter used to hit 25–35 home runs a year. In a career impacted by a nagging back pain, he amassed 2,153 hits, and 222 home runs with an average of .307.
Derek Jeter
His hitting helped the Yankees win five World Series titles. Jeter was the mainstay of the Yankees dynasty from 1995 to 2009. He had 3,465 hits in his career that was enriched with 5 championship rings, 14 time All-Star, five Gold Gloves, and several other top MLB awards.
Jeter ranks as the best hitter among shortstops. His outstanding playoff record led fans to call him “Mr. November.”
Aaron Judge
The 6-feet-7-inches tall player was instrumental in 40 wins for the Yankees in 2022. During the summer slump, he carried the Yankees’ offense that saw them winning the AL East and the ALDS. He won 2017 Rookie of the Year award. In 2022, he scripted a new home-run record with 62 homers and came close to win the batting Triple Crown.
Who do you want to add to the list of the greatest Yankees hitters?
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