My Favorite Yankees

I'm rooting for the Yankees and I am making no apologies for it. I'm not going to defend their free spending ways, their perceived arrogance or Derek Jeter's perma-smug facial expression. I understand how everyone who ever had Mark Teixeira play for their team could probably hate the guy. And don't get me started about the orange-faced cheater, Alex Rodriguez. I still root for this team, however. In fact, I've rooted for them for longer than any other baseball team. They were my dad's team, and his father's team as well. And while I eventually found myself picking a certain National League team as my favorite of favorites, I am not going to bury my Yankee-loving roots. It also makes it just a little more fun to root for a team that everyone else seems to hate. It seems like there are always Yankee fans at road games that I see on TV, but everywhere I happen to go I hear nothing but venom and hatred for the team in pinstripes.

Here are my top 10 favorite Yankees of the moment. A week or a month from now this list could look a lot different because I'm not all that great at ranking things, but I took a stab right now nonetheless.

10 - Hideki Matsui

Matsui, when healthy, is an RBI machine. He doesn't give a whole lot else, but it's something I've come to appreciate especially when watching the often-frustrating Cardinals offense struggle with men on base. I'm not sure how much he has left in the tank, and it seems like this might be his last year with the Yankees, but I've enjoyed watching him play. He seems like a decent guy and isn't super flashy or obnoxious.

9 - Graig Nettles

When I played little league baseball, my glove had a Graig Nettles signature emblazoned on it. I wore a hole in it with my thumbnail, which made every other glove I ever tried just not feel right.

8 - Mariano Rivera

The best closer of all-time.

7 - Mike Pagliarulo

"Pags" was an early favorite of mine despite his penchant for low batting averages. He had a cool name. He ranks 493rd (tied) on the top 500 home run hitters of all-time list according to Wikipedia.

6 - Dave Righetti

"Rags" broke the single-season saves record on the last day of the 1986 season by saving both games of a doubleheader, which cranked him up to fully awesome in my book. I was really ticked when Bobby Thigpen shattered his record 4 years later by getting 11 (!) more than he did.

5 - Rickey Henderson

Not all of the players on my list escape the cocky and obnoxious tag. Rickey backed it up, though, and I've always been one to appreciate a stolen base. I'd always pretend I was Rickey when I would try to steal bases in my youth.

4 - Bernie Williams

A consummate pro and an all-around great guy. If you hate Bernie Williams, you hate baseball.

3 - Don Mattingly

It was hard to put Mattingly below anyone on this list, but it has seriously made me ill to see him in a Dodgers uniform along side Joe Torre. Torre doesn't bother me, but Mattingly... that's just wrong!

2 - Dave Winfield

Winfield was drafted by four professional sports teams, including an NFL team despite the fact that he never played college football. He was the Yankees best slugger throughout the '80s until Steinbrenner ran him out of town. To me, he just sounded like a baseball player.

1 - Reggie Jackson

I was too young to remember the 1977 World Series, and Reggie was a California Angel during the years I really started watching games. But thanks to my parents and their stories, I always associated him with the Yankees. He was about as humble as Muhammad Ali, but I remember seeing him hit grand slams and felt like he was the only player capable of doing it. He was my first favorite player, but eventually Ozzie Smith won me over. Reggie Jackson also had his own Nickelodeon show!

Go Yankees.