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The Yankee Numbers Poll! |
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Some players made their mark before coming to the Bronx.
Name these players who had some of their best moments before they
were Yankees.
Hover over the "Answer" links to view individual answers in
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| 1. |
This player who came to the Yankees via a late 80’s trade was
best known for his strong bat and strong right field arm. Before
joining the Yankees, he won two gold glove awards (1986, 1987)
and lead the AL in Home Runs in 1986 with 40. He was a decent
hitter who never topped the .300 mark but came close with a .289
mark in both 1985 and 1986. This was probably due to his tendency to
pile up the strikeouts, surpassing the century mark in seven of
his nine full seasons in the big leagues.
Answer
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| 2. |
Before coming to the Yankees, this player was a solid hitter who
never quite made the jump to star status. He was a
two-time all-star (1982, 1985), once with Minnesota and once
with Texas. A career .289 hitter, he averaged 18 HR
and 76 RBI in his five seasons prior to signing with the Yankees
as a free agent in the 1986 off-season. He matched the
home run and RBI numbers in his first year in New York, but his
average dropped to a career low .248. It was also much
lower than his career best 28 HR and 91 RBI.
Answer
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| 3. |
Before coming to the Yankees, this pitcher started Game 7 of the
1996 NLCS for the Cardinals. That's right...Game 7 of the NLCS.
Now you know why the Yankees faced the Braves that year.
Answer
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| 4. |
Before becoming a Yankee, this line drive hitting lefty enjoyed
six solid years in Pittsburgh where he was an All-Star in 1981
and a member (although a bench player) of the 1979 World Champs.
He became a starter in 1980 for the first time in his career at
the age of 29, despite already having spent parts of the
previous six seasons in the majors, first with Houston, then
California before finding a home in Pittsburgh. He made
the most of his starting opportunity, hitting .338 with 21 HR in
132 games.
After three more decent seasons in Pittsburgh, he was traded to
Boston in return for John Tudor. The trade paid dividends
for Boston as he reached career highs in HR with 27, RBI with
91, runs scored with 87, hits with 188 and doubles with 31 to go
along with a .313 average. He followed up with a
respectable, but less stellar campaign in 1985. In the
spring of 1986, he was traded to the Yankees in exchange for Don
Baylor. He turned in a decent year for the Yanks with a
.302 average, but a below expected 14 HR and 78 RBI.
Ever desperate for pitching, the Yankees sent him to
Philadelphia in exchange for Charles Hudson in December of 1986.
It was a short lived trip to Philly however, as the Yankees
re-acquired him in June of 1987. He finished the season as
a part-time player, was released after the season and called it
a career.
Answer
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| 5. |
Before coming to the Yankees, this player was a Rookie of the
Year winner, and AL all-star and member of the division winning
White Sox...all in 1983. But, it was downhill from there.
His 35 HR, 100 RBI, .254 AVG dropped to 32, 74 and .215 in 1984,
then dropped even more to 26, 58 and .230 in 1985. When
the decline continued in 1986, he was shipped to the Yankees
with Joel Skinner and Wayne Tolleson in return for Ron Hassey,
Carlos Martinez and a player to be named later. He improved
slightly in a part-time role in NY, including a respectable 12
HR, 28 RBI and .277 in 59 games in 1987. The Yankees
released him after that season and he bounced around the AL for
four more years before hanging it up, never having come close
again to regaining his rookie year form.
Answer
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| 6. |
Before he became a Yankee, this southpaw starter was a one-time
21 game winner, two-time all-star and an owner of three World
Series champion rings. Early on in his career he drew
comparisons with Sandy Koufax. Both were lefties, both
were Jewish and both had terrific curveballs. In fact this
player even notched two no-hitters in his career
(1969, 1971). He joined the Yankees for their 1976 pennant
stretch run and went 9-7 with a 4.17 ERA. He did not pitch
in the post-season for the Yankees, instead being relegated to
the bullpen where Billy Martin refused to call on him,
reportedly due to a lack of confidence. He also had
gotten into a feud with George Steinbrenner by demanding a trade
almost immediately after the Yankees acquired him. He
spent 1977 with the Yankees where he pitched very little, mostly
due to an order from Steinbrenner. It looked to be more of
the same in 1978 when the Yankees put him on the DL in early
June, despite the assertation that he was healthy. On June
10th, the Yankees put him out of his misery and traded him to
the Cubs where he pitched through 1979 then called it a career
at age 33 with a 174-150 record and 3.49 career ERA.
Answer
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| 7. |
Before coming a Yankee, this player had already put together
a Hall of Fame career...all in the NL. A 10 time all-star
through his career, he was as a power hitting lefty who also hit for
average and was tough to strike out. He topped 40 HRs
three times in his career, with his top mark being a 51 HR
season. He had one batting title, four HR titles and led the
league in RBI three times. In fact, he topped the century
mark in RBI 8 times. The Yankees purchased him from the
Giants in late August of 1949 and he found himself in the World
Series for the first time. He stayed around until 1953,
quickly making up for lost time by quickly collecting 5 World
Championship rings. We was still a contributor though.
He blasted 25 HR in 1950 and garnered some MVP consideration.
In the 1952 World Series, he hit home runs in games three, four
and five, drove in six total runs and batted .400. In
1953, he made the all-star squad for the final time in his
career and retired after the season. In 1981, he was voted
into the Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee.
Answer
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| 8. |
Before this pitcher joined the Yankees he had already had an MVP
award and two all-star appearances under his belt. Out of
his first eight years in baseball, those two consecutive
all-star years
were the only two where he posted a winning record and double
digits in victories, going a combined 42-17. The other six
years he went 27-48. Finally, in his ninth season he came
to the Yankees in a twelve player deal where he quickly turned
his fortunes around. He joined an already formidable staff
and went 11-5, led the majors with a 2.45 ERA and made the
all-star squad again. He also picked up the first of his 8
consecutive gold glove awards. He would go on to collect
two World Series championship rings with the Yankees in four
years, posting a combined record of 30-18. He was selected as the first player by the Washington Senators in the
1961 expansion draft and traded two days later to the Pirates.
He would play for five NL teams in his final four seasons,
calling it a career after the 1964 season.
Answer
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| 9. |
Here's another Hall of Famer. He established his
credentials based on his 13 years with the St. Louis Cardinals
where he was a 10-time all-star outfielder who hit with some
power and always hit around .300 (his career average.) A
tough man to strikeout, he averaged almost two walks to every
strikeout over his career. He owns four World Championship
rings, two with St. Louis and two with the Yankees, but will
best be remembered for scoring the winning run in game seven of
the 1946 World Series where he scored from first base on a soft
single to left field. He came to the Yankees at the age of
38, where he served a reserve/pinch hitting role for all or part
of his final six seasons.
Answer
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| 10. |
This player was a six-time all-star before joining the Yankees
in his 19th MLB season at the age of 41. Primarily a
shortstop, he was the first player in MLB history to play each
position in a single major league game in 1965 with the Kansas
City A's. He was a winner of three World Series
championship rings and primarily known for his speed and
versatility, compiling 649 stolen bases over the course of his
career. An anomaly in his career stats were that he
totaled double digits in home runs only one season in his career
(22 in 1970), never surpassing a total of 8 in any other year.
After Charlie Finley broke apart his championship teams in 1976,
this player moved to Texas for 2-1/2 years, California for 2-1/2
years before ending up in Pinstripes to close out his career as
a perfect Billy Martin-type bench player with a robust .322
average in 60 games.
Answer
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