Why Don Mattingly and Keith Hernandez Do Not Belong In the Baseball Hall of Fame

Keith Hernandez has 2,182 career hits. Don Mattingly has 2,153. 

Do those look like Hall of Fame-worthy stats to you? Because they sure don't look like Hallworthy stats to me.

The following 1st basemen with fewer than 2,200 hits are in the Baseball Hall of Fame, having played all or most of their careers from 1900 onward:

Bill Terry 2,193

Harmon Killebrew 2,086

Johnny Mize 2,011

Gil Hodges 1,921

Dick Allen 1,848

George "High Pockets" Kelly 1,778

Hank Greenberg 1,628

Career home runs: Killebrew 573, Hodges 370, Mize 358, Allen 351, Greenberg 331, Mattingly 222, Hernandez 162, Terry 154, Kelly 148. Think about that: Mattingly and Hernandez combined would barely be 2nd on this list.

Career RBIs: Killebrew 1,584, Mize 1,337, Greenberg 1,274, Hodges also 1,274, Allen 1,119, Mattingly 1,099, Terry 1,078, Hernandez 1,071, Kelly 1,020.

Career OPS+: Greenberg 159, Mize 158, Allen 156, Killebrew 143, Terry 136, Hernandez 128, Mattingly 127, Hodges 120, Kelly 109.

.300 batting average seasons: Terry 11 (including the National League's last .400 season, in 1930), Greenberg 9, Mize 9, Kelly 7, Allen 7, Mattingly 7, Hernandez 6 (and just missed 2 others), Hodges 2, Killebrew none (topping out at .288).

30+ home run seasons: Killebrew 10, Greenberg 6, Hodges 6, Allen 6, Mize 3 (plus once leading the NL with 28, but also with 51), Mattingly 3, Kelly and Terry none (despite each playing home games in the Polo Grounds, although Kelly did once lead the NL with 23), Hernandez none (peaked at 18).

100+ RBI seasons: Killebrew 9, Mize 8, Hodges 7 (just missing an 8th), Greenberg 7, Terry 6, Kelly 5 (just missed a 6th, and once led the NL with 94), Mattingly 5, Allen 3, Hernandez 1 (but just missed a 2nd). And Greenberg missed nearly 4 seasons due to war, Mize 3.

World Series appearances: Hodges 6, Mize 5, Greenberg 4, Kelly 4, Terry 4, Hernandez 2, Killebrew 1, Allen 0, Mattingly 0.

Yes, I know, "World Series appearances" is a team stat. Well, these guys contributed to that many of them.

You say Hernandez and Mattingly had back injuries that shortened their careers? So did Greenberg, who retired at age 36. Hodges had a knee injury that ended his status as a productive player at 35.

Kelly is often cited as one of the "Frisch Five," players the Veterans Committee elected due to the advocacy of former teammate and legitimate Hall-of-Famer Frankie Frisch. For this reason, he is on a lot of people's lists of "If you had to drop 5 players from the Hall of Fame, who would they be?" So barely exceeding Kelly, statistically, doesn't help a case. Not exceeding him at all hurts it.

Along with Hernandez and Mattingly, the only one of these considered to be a good-fielding 1st baseman, let alone a great one, is Hodges. In his time, he was as highly regarded with the glove as Hernandez and Mattingly were in theirs. But, in all 3 cases, that may have been due to the New York media pushing them into the public imagination as such.

Baseball-Reference.com has a "Hall of Fame Monitor," on which a "Likely HOFer" is at 100. Mattingly is at 134, suggesting that he's an easy choice. Hernandez is at 86, suggesting that he falls well short.

B-R also has "Hall of Fame Standards," which is weighted more toward career achievement, and on which the "Average HOFer" is at 50. Mattingly is at 34, and Hernandez is at 32, suggesting that neither comes close.

B-R also has "Similarity Scores," which, weighted toward players of the same position but not completely tied to them (except for pitchers), shows the 10 players who are most statistically similar to that player.

For Hernandez, those players are, in descending order from most statistically similar: Wally Joyner, Mark Grace, Hal McRae, Joe Kuhel, Ken Griffey Sr., Chris Chambliss, Cecil Cooper, José Cruz Sr., Joe Judge and Bob Elliott. None of those players is in the Hall of Fame, and the only one who ever seems to get any consideration for it is Grace.

For Mattingly, those players are Cooper, Joyner, McRae, Kirby Puckett, Will Clark, Adrián González, Magglio Ordóñez, Jeff Conine, Tony Oliva and... Hernandez. Puckett and Oliva are in the Hall of Fame, but Puckett, despite being elected in his 1st year of eligibility, is a borderline case; and Oliva had an injury-shortened career, and had to wait until the Veterans' Committee elected him when he was 84 years old. Clark also gets consideration, but is unlikely to ever get in.

Based on career offensive statistics, neither Don Mattingly nor Keith Hernandez belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

What about defense? Hernandez was awarded 11 Gold Gloves, Mattingly 9. If a player is the best ever, defensively, at his position, that should be enough to get him into the Hall of Fame, even if he's a flat-out bad hitter.

Ozzie Smith is often called the best-fielding shortstop ever. He is in, and he couldn't hit sand if he fell off a boardwalk. Bill Mazeroski is often called the best-fielding 2nd baseman ever. He is in, and he was an ordinary hitter, who happens to be the only man ever to win a World Series Game 7 with a home run.

Brooks Robinson is, without much doubt, the best-fielding 3rd baseman ever. He is in, and he was a good hitter: While he played 23 seasons, he played them in a pitcher's park, and still managed to collect 2,848 hits, including 268 home runs. He was named American League Most Valuable Player in 1964, in a season in which he hit his career peaks of batting average, home runs and RBIs, leading the League in RBIs.

Is Keith Hernandez the best-fielding 1st baseman of all time? Is Don Mattingly the best-fielding 1st baseman of all time? The fact that their careers largely coincided shows that neither one is, definitively, the best-fielding 1st baseman even of his own time, or even in his own city at that time.

So the best argument for either one gets canceled out by not just the presence, but the proximity, of the other. This wasn't like the 1950s arguments in New York, over center fielders Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Duke Snider; or over catchers Yogi Berra and Roy Campanella, who were Hall of Fame-quality hitters as well as great defensive catchers. It's more like over shortstops Phil Rizzuto and Pee Wee Reese, who were great defenders, and, offensively, sparkplugs rather than sluggers.

Were they great defensive 1st basemen? Yes. Was either good enough at it to put them over the top if they are, offensively, borderline cases? Maybe. The problem is, their advocates are suggesting that, offensively, they are not merely borderline cases, but good cases. And they're not. Not even when compared to other borderline cases like Hodges and Allen.

(Allen, like Killebrew, started as a 3rd baseman, but was awful, and, in those pre-DH days, his bat had to be kept in the lineup, so they moved him to 1st base, where it was thought he would do the least damage. That worked for Allen and Killebrew. It did not work for former outfielder Dick Stuart, a.k.a. "Dr. Strangeglove," who became Allen's backup on the 1965 Philadelphia Phillies.)

Admit it: If you want either Mattingly or Hernandez in the Hall of Fame, it's because you grew up in New York City, or somewhere near it, in the 1980s, and you love him. It's not because he deserves election. Because he doesn't. Neither one of them does.

And that has nothing to do with character, in either case. It's based solely on performance. Neither one was quite good enough.

Top 10 Athletes From Georgia

January 2, 1788: Georgia becomes the 4th State to ratify the Constitution of the United States.

Top 10 Athletes From Georgia

Remember: Golf is not a sport. This eliminates Bobby Jones and Larry Mize from consideration. Jones did, however, win the 1st James E. Sullivan Award for America's most outstanding amateur athlete, in 1930.

And auto racing is not a sport. This eliminates Bill Elliott, a.k.a. "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville."

Remember also: It's where the person was trained to play his sport that matters, not where he was born. Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia, but became an athlete in Pasadena, California.

Honorable Mention to Baseball Hall-of-Famers Bill Terry and Luke Appling, both of Atlanta. Although Terry was nicknamed "Memphis Bill," and Appling was born in North Carolina, they both grew up in Georgia.

Terry joined the New York Giants in 1923, and was the 1st baseman on their National League Pennant winners in 1923, 1924, 1933 and 1936, also managing them to Pennants in 1933, 1936 and 1937, including winning the 1933 World Series.

He batted .341 lifetime, including a .401 in 1930, making him still the last NL player to bat at least .400. He was the NL's starting 1st baseman in the 1st 3 All-Star Games (1933-35), and was named to The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Baseball Players. The Giants retired his Number 3.

Luke Appling batted .310 lifetime, including .388 in 1936, an American League record for shortstops. He won the AL batting title that year, and in 1943. He was a 7-time All-Star, and collected 2,749 hits. The Chicago White Sox retired his Number 4, and dedicated a statue of him at Guaranteed Rate Field. Both he and Terry are in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Honorable Mention to Spurgeon "Spud" Chandler of Commerce, who helped the Yankees win 6 World Series and was the 1943 American League Most Valuable Player.

Honorable Mention to Donn Clendenon of Atlanta and Ray Knight of Albany. The Mets once had a rivalry with the Atlanta Braves, which is odd, because they've only won 2 World Series, and, each time, the Series MVP was from Georgia: Clendenon in 1969, and Knight in 1986.

Honorable Mention to the Heisman Trophy winners from Georgia: George Rogers of Duluth, 1980; Herschel Walker of Wrightsville, 1982; Charlie Ward of Thomasville, 1993; and Cam Newton of Atlanta, 2010. Newton still might make the Top 10 if I do this list again in a few years. In 2008, ESPN named ranked Walker 3rd on their list of the Top 25 College Football Players of All Time.

Honorable Mention to Super Bowl MVP Winners from Georgia: Jake Scott of Athens (1973), Richard Dent of Atlanta (1986), Deion Branch of Albany (2005), and Hines Ward of Forest Park (2006).

Honorable Mention to Pro Football Hall-of-Famers from Georgia who did not otherwise make the Top 10: Dent, Rayfield Wright of Griffin, Ray Guy of Thomson, and Shannon Sharpe of Glennville. Herschel Walker is in the College Football Hall of Fame. So is Sharpe's brother, Sterling Sharpe. Walker, Sterling Sharpe and Hines Ward are eligible for the Pro Football Hall, but none of them is in it yet.

Honorable Mention to Jason Elam of the Atlanta suburb of Snellville.  3-time Pro Bowler and a 2-time Super Bowl winner with the Denver Broncos, on October 25, 1998, he tied the NFL record with a 63-yard field goal. He is a member of the Broncos' Ring of Fame and their 50th Anniversary Team.

Honorable Mention to Theresa Edwards of Cairo. A guard, she helped the women's basketball team at the University of Georgia reach the NCAA Final Four in 1983 and 1985, and her Number 5 was retired. She later played in the WNBA for the Minnesota Lynx. She won Olympic Gold Medals with the U.S. team in 1984 in Los Angeles, 1988 in Seoul, 1996 in Atlanta and 2000 in Sydney, and the Bronze Medal in 1992 in Barcelona. She has since gone into coaching, and has been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Honorable Mention to Linda Hamilton of Atlanta, who played on the U.S. team that won the 1st Women's World Cup in 1991.

Honorable Mention to Kelley O'Hara of Peachtree City and Morgan Brian of St. Simons, who played on the U.S. team that won the 2015 Women's World Cup.

Honorable Mention to Theodore "Tiger" Flowers of Camilla. He was the 1st black fighter to win the Middleweight Championship of the World, knocking out Harry Greb to do it and holding it through most of 1926, before losing it to Mickey Walker. Oddly, he died in 1927 due to complications from surgery, only a year after Greb also had. He was posthumously elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Honorable Mention to Sidney Walker, a.k.a. Beau Jack, of Waynesboro. He was twice Lightweight Champion of the World from 1942 to 1944, and The Ring magazine named him Fighter of the Year for 1944.

Honorable Mention to Alice Coachman of Albany. A star in basketball and track at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, she lost her chance at Olympic glory in 1940 and 1944 due to World War II. But in 1948 in London, she won the high jump to become the 1st black American woman to win a Gold Medal.

Honorable Mention to Roger Kingdom of Vienna. He went to the University of Pittsburgh on a football scholarship, but was better at track & field, excelling in the high jump and the discus throw. But his specialty became sprint hurdles. He could have been an Olympic decathlon contender, but that event was dominated by Britain's Daley Thompson in the 1980s.

Still, Roger won the 110-meter hurdles in Los Angeles in 1984, and repeated his Gold Medal in Seoul in 1988. To this day, he and Lee Calhoun (1956 and 1960) are the only men to have successfully defended that title.

After Bob Hayes in 1964, there was a trend of pro football teams hiring sprinters to be receivers, and aside from Hayes, it didn't work. But Renaldo Nehemiah, whom Kingdom succeeded as the best American sprint hurdler (as opposed to Edwin Moses, who specialized in the 440-meter hurdles), did have a decent career as a receiver with the San Francisco 49ers. In 2014, Roger Kingdom finally reached the NFL -- as the strength and conditioning coach of the Arizona Cardinals.

Now, the Top 10:

10. Gwen Torrence of Decatur. At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, she won 2 Gold Medals and a Silver Medal. At the 1996 Olympics in her home State, she won another Gold and a Bronze. Total: 5 Medals, 3 of them Gold.

9. Wyomia Tyus of Griffin. She followed Wilma Rudolph as one of Tennessee State University's track "Tigerbelles," and won the 100 meters at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, succeeding Rudolph herself as the winner of that event. Tyus was succeeded by... herself, as she won it again in 1968 in Mexico City, becoming the 1st person, male or female, to repeat as the 100-meter winner. In the 4x100-meter relay, she won Silver in 1964 and Gold in 1968.

8. Johnny Mize of Demorest. To look at "The Big Cat" (a nickname also given to one of my Honorable Mentions, Rayfield Wright), you'd have sworn he was a football player. Actually, football wasn't even his 2nd-best sport: Tennis was. He was connected to possibly the 2 best players in baseball history: He was a distant cousin of Ty Cobb, and his 2nd cousin, Claire Hodgson, became the 2nd Mrs. Babe Ruth.

But with the way he hit, Big Jawn didn't have to take a back seat to anyone. He batted .312 lifetime, with 359 home runs -- 2 less than Joe DiMaggio and 1 more than Yogi Berra. He was a 10-time All-Star, won the National League batting title in 1939 with the St. Louis Cardinals, whom the NL home run title 4 times and the NL RBI title 3 times, although he just missed the Triple Crown with the New York Giants in 1947.

In 1949, the Giants thought he was washed up. The Yankees didn't, and traded for him. He helped them win the next 5 World Series. In 1952, his home runs earned him the Babe Ruth Award as World Series MVP. It took a long time, but he was finally elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981. The Cardinals have also elected him to their team Hall of Fame.

7. Frank Thomas of Columbus. Not to be confused with the 1960s slugger known as Big Donkey, this man had the best nickname in his era of baseball: The Big Hurt. Fortunately, much like earlier sluggers Harmon "the Killer" Killebrew and Frank "the Monster" Howard, he's actually a nice guy.

Born on May 27, 1968, the same exact day as fellow Baseball Hall-of-Famer Jeff Bagwell (and during Don Drysdale's then-record streak of 58 2/3rds consecutive scoreless innings), Frank was a 5-time All-Star, the American League MVP in 1993 and 1994, and a batting champion in 1997. He is 1 of 9 players to have a .300 lifetime batting average (in his case, .301) and 500 career home runs (in his case, 521). The others are Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Albert Pujols and, dubiously, Manny Ramirez.

He appeared in the postseason with the Chicago White Sox in 1993 and 2000, and with the Oakand Athletics in 2006. But he was robbed of a shot at playing on a World Series winner in 1994 because of the strike and 2005 because of injury. (He was given a ring in 2005, though.) The White Sox retired his Number 35, and dedicated a statue to him at Guaranteed Rate Field.

6. Maya Moore of Suwanee. She is practically the Bill Russell of women's basketball. She won 3 national player of the year awards at the University of Connecticut, the 2009 and 2010 National Championships, and the 2010-11 Honda-Broderick Cup as the nation's outstanding female collegiate athlete of the schoolyear.

She was just getting warmed up. In the WNBA, she can count among her honors the 2011 Rookie of the Year, 5 All-Star Game appearances including 2 MVPs, the league's 2014 scoring title and regular-season MVP, and 4 league championships including the Finals MVP in 2013. She was named to their 20th Anniversary 20 Greatest Players. She's also won Olympic Gold Medals in 2012 in London and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. And she's only 28 years old. Barring injury, she is far from done.

5. Mel Blount of Lyons. Today, approaching his 70th birthday, Mel usually appears clean-shaven, wearing a sharp suit, a cowboy hat, and a big smile. He looks like a black man who beat the white oilmen at their own game. But as a Pittsburgh Steeler cornerback, sitting on the sideline with his helmet off, with his big black bald head, a thick beard, and a scowl, he looked like the last man a wide receiver wanted to meet.

You know an athlete is effective when a new rule is added and his name is attached to it. In 1972, Mel played every game, and didn't allow a single receiving touchdown. He was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1975.

His size and speed allowed him to specialize in bump-and-run coverage. This was banned in 1978, and became known as the Mel Blount Rule. It's one of the reasons the passing and receiving yards records up to that point now seems small and quaint. Did the rule stop the man for whom it was nicknamed? Before it, Blount made 2 Pro Bowls and won 2 Super Bowls. After it, he made 3 Pro Bowls and won 2 Super Bowls. So, in total, 5 Pro Bowls and 4 Super Bowl wins. So, no.

He was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Pittsburgh Steelers' All-Time Team, the NFL's 1980s (but, oddly, not the 1970s) All-Decade and 75th Anniversary All-Time Teams, The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Football Players and the NFL Network's 100 Greatest Players. The Steelers generally don't retire uniform numbers, and his 47 is not one of those considered to be "unofficially retired," but no current Steeler wears it.

4. Fran Tarkenton of Athens. He grew up in the town that is the seat of the University of Georgia, and quarterbacked them to the 1959 Southeastern Conference Championship, at a time when LSU and Ole Miss might have been better than they've ever been. Then he went to the Minnesota Vikings, then to the Giants, and then back to the Vikings, making 9 Pro Bowls, and being named NFL MVP in 1975.

By the time he retired, he held most of the major NFL passing records, including most passes, most completions, most passing yards, and most touchdown passes. But he couldn't win the big one: He helped the Vikings win the NFC Championship in 1973, 1974 and 1976, but they lost all 3 Super Bowls.

The Vikings retired his Number 10, and named him to their Ring of Honor. He was elected to the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, and was named to The Sporting News' 100 Greatest Football Players in 1999 and the NFL Network's 100 Greatest Players in 2010.

3. Walt Frazier of Atlanta. He led Southern Illinois University to the 1967 NIT Championship at the old Madison Square Garden, and was named the Tournament's MVP. The Knicks took notice, and drafted him, and he became the greatest sports star of the new Garden. Yes, greater than Mark Messier. Certainly, greater than Patrick Ewing.

Nicknamed Clyde because his teammates thought he dressed like Warren Beatty in the film Bonnie and Clyde, he was a 7-time All-Star, including a 2-time All-Star Game MVP. He was a 7-time All-Defensive First Teamer. While Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals is remembered for Willis Reed limping onto the court and psyching the Los Angeles Lakers out with just 2 baskets, it was Frazier's greatest game, and the Knicks won their 1st NBA Championship. He would lead them to another in 1973.

His Number 52 was retired by SIU, and his Number 10 by the Knicks. He was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame and the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players. He is the greatest player ever to play for an NBA team in the New York Tri-State Area -- yes, better than Julius Erving or Jason Kidd as a Net.

He became a Knick broadcaster, and also runs a restaurant near the Garden. And he has kept his reputation as the coolest athlete in New York history, despite playing at the same time as Joe Namath.

2. Ty Cobb of Royston. This isn't about how nice a guy he was. This is about him being the best baseball player in the world pretty much continuously through the entire Presidencies of William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson. That's 12 full seasons.

The Georgia Peach won 12 American League batting titles, 4 RBI titles, and the home run title in 1909, making him the AL's 1st Triple Crown winner. He led the Detroit Tigers to Pennants in 1907, 1908 and 1909. Under the old system, he was named AL MVP in 1911.

He was once recognized as having held the records for stolen bases in a season (96) and a career (892), although checks of 19th Century totals have thrown those marks into question. He once held the record for most runs scored in a career, 2,245. He once held the record for most hits in a career, 4,191, although that was later revised to 4,189. He still holds the record for highest career batting average, the revision bringing it from the old familiar .367 to .366.

Since he played before the era of uniform numbers, the Tigers dedicated a plaque in his memory, and placed it on the outer wall of Tiger Stadium. They have since added his name, but no number, to the retired number wall at Comerica Park, and dedicated a statue to him as well. (Footage of him at Yankee Stadium for Old-Timers' Day 1947 shows him wearing a Tiger uniform with the Number 25 on it. There is no known explanation for the number.)

When the 1st election for the Baseball Hall of Fame was held in 1936, Cobb got the most votes, which, in a manner of speaking, makes him the 1st person elected to the Hall of Fame -- in any sport. In 1999, The Sporting News listed him 3rd on their 100 Greatest Baseball Players, behind only Babe Ruth and Willie Mays. That same year, he was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

Tyrus Raymond Cobb was difficult to like, and impossible to put up with -- but you had to admire him.

But even he is not the greatest athlete from Georgia. He excelled for 24 years, but this man actually held World Championships, 15 years apart:

1. Evander Holyfield of Atlanta. A lot of people, himself included, thought he was robbed in his Semifinal fight at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. That U.S. boxing team produced 9 of the Games' 12 Gold Medal fighters, including Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker and Mark Breland. None of them went on to anywhere near the professional success of "The Real Deal."

He won the WBA Cruiserweight Championship in 1986, the IBF version in 1987, and unified the titles by taking the WBC version in 1988. He was supposed to fight Mike Tyson for the undisputed Heavyweight Championship in 1990, but Tyson's loss to James "Buster" Douglas, and then his arrest and imprisonment, sidetracked that. Holyfield fought Douglas instead, and won the title.

He then lost the title to Riddick Bowe in 1992, regained it from Bowe in 1993 (the only pro fight Bowe ever lost), then lost it a few months later to Michael Moorer. He fought Bowe a 3rd time, with neither man as Champion, and lost.

Holyfield was, at the time, the only man ever to knock down Ray Mercer (but not the only one to beat him), and the only man to knock down Riddick Bowe (and remained the only one to beat him). He had also beaten Dwight Muhammad Qawi (twice), his fellow 1984 Olympian Henry Tillman, James "Quick" Tillis, Pinklon Thomas, Michael Dokes, Alex Stewart (twice), Buster Douglas, the older but still very potent George Foreman, and the aging Larry Holmes. But the 3rd Bowe fight looked to have finished him as a serious heavyweight contender.

Bert Sugar, the sportswriter and sports historian who probably knew more about boxing than any other human being who has ever lived, went on the Sunday night sports-wrapup show on WCBS-Channel 2 in New York after Bowe-Holyfield III. He rightly pointed out Holyfield's statuses (stata? statii?) in regard to Mercer and Bowe. He had seen boxers such as Archie Moore and Sugar Ray Robinson do big things when considerably older than 33, Hoylfield's age at the time. But he concluded by saying, "In boxing terms, Holyfield is a very, very old man."

Holyfield didn't listen. Like Yankee star Paul O'Neill, he was called "The Warrior." He picked himself up, and knocked out Bobby Czyz, setting up, at long last, a fight with Tyson. Iron Mike was 45-1, and the Douglas fight was now seen, in Sugar's words, as "a blip on the radar screen." He was invincible.

Holyfield disagreed, and, on November 9, 1996, changed boxing history, taking the WBA title by clobbering Tyson to the point that referee Mitch Halpern stopped the fight in the 11th of the intended 12 rounds. This was a methodical destruction, made possible because, as Sugar rightly pointed out, Holyfield knew that Douglas won because he wasn't afraid of Tyson, thus taking away Tyson's greatest weapon: Fear. "This is the end of the Tyson legend," Sugar said. 'The Baddest Man On the Planet' ain't, no mo'!"

There was, of course, a rematch. Holyfield was winning going away in that, too, when Tyson started to bite him on the ears, and referee Mills Lane disqualified him. Holyfield went on to avenge his defeat to Moorer, taking back the IBF title. But his fights with WBC Champion Lennox Lewis in 1999 did him no good, escaping with an undeserved draw and then losing badly by decision. He got the WBA title back in 2000 after Lewis vacated it, beating John Ruiz, but lost it back to Ruiz.

The Ring magazine named him Fighter of the Year in 1987, 1996 and 1997. He has been elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Top 10 Yankee First Basemen

Honorable Mention to Ellsworth Tenney "Babe" Dahlgren, 1937-40. Part of the Yankees' 1920s and '30s San Francisco connection, he was only a starter for 2 seasons, but 1 of those was the 1939 World Championship season. After a bad season in 1940, manager Joe McCarthy dumped him. He actually got better after the Yankees got rid of him, including an All-Star season with the 1943 Philadelphia Phillies. But the Yankees started winning again, so they didn't miss him.

Still, he'll forever be remembered, albeit not for any particular feat, rather simply taking the place of Lou Gehrig on that sad day in Detroit, May 2, 1939.

Honorable Mention to Johnny Sturm, 1941. Due to World War II and a subsequent injury, this was his only season in the major leagues. But it was a World Championship season.

Honorable Mention to John "Buddy" Hassett, 1942. Known as the Bronx Thrush for his home Borough and his fine singing, he was a 3-time .300 hitter, twice for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was the Yankees' starting 1st baseman in 1942, winning a Pennant (something Don Mattingly never did) and batting .284. But he went off to war, and never played in the major leagues again.

Honorable Mention to Nick Etten, 1943-46. He had 107 RBIs for the 1943 World Champions, led the AL with 22 homers in 1944, and led with 111 RBIs in 1945. But when the good pitchers came back from The War, he wasn't as good a hitter anymore. He played his last big-league game shortly before his 34th birthday.

Honorable Mention to George McQuinn, 1947-48. A 6-time All-Star, twice for the Yankees, he was the 1st baseman on the only St. Louis Browns team to win a Pennant, in 1944. He was released by the Philadelphia Athletics before the 1947 season, because he was about to turn 37 and had batted .225 the year before. He looked done. This was the kind of decision that led to the A's moving after 1954.

The Yankees took a chance on him. This was the kind of decision that led to the Yankees dominating baseball for a generation, as they had in the previous generation. McQuinn batted .304, hit 13 homers, drove in 80 runs, and helped the Yankees win the World Series. He tailed off in 1948, was released, and retired, but, for 1 year, he and the Yankees were good for each other.

Honorable Mention to Joe Collins, 1948-57. The native of Union Township, Union County, ew Jersey was the starter on 4 World Championship teams: 1950, '51, '52 and '53. He then served as a backup to Moose Skowron. He was a good fielder who might have won a Gold Glove had the award been established a few years earlier, and had a little power.

Tommy Henrich, normally a right fielder, played the most games at 1st base for the Yankees in the 1949 World Championship season, including catching a popup for the final out in the Pennant-clinching finale against the Boston Red Sox.

Honorable Mention to Bob Watson, 1980-82. He was only a Yankee for 2 seasons and the start of a 3rd, but he batted .307 in '80, his only full season in The Bronx, and was the general manager who built the 1996 World Champions.

10. Johnny Mize, 1949-53. He put up big numbers for the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Giants before being acquired by the Yanks, and, at age 36, most people thought he was done. Manager Casey Stengel thought otherwise, and the Big Cat was an All-Star twice more, with a 116 OPS+ as a Yankee. (That's well below his career OPS+ of 158, which got him, albeit belatedly, into the Hall of Fame.)

The Georgian, a distant cousin of Ty Cobb, was with the Yankees 5 seasons, and they won the World Series all 5. He wore Number 10 as a Cardinal, 3 as a Giant before going off to World War II and 15 after coming back. As a Yankee, he wore 36, and was probably the best Yankee to wear the number until David Cone.

9. Wally Pipp, 1915-25. He's remembered today as the man whose headache -- possibly as a result of getting beaned in those pre-batting helmet days -- allowed Lou Gehrig to step in and not miss a game for 14 years. This led to anyone thinking about asking for a day off to worry about "getting pipped." That's not fair, because, by the standards of his time, Pipp was a very good player.

The native of Grand Rapids, Michigan led the American League in home runs in 1916 and '17 -- albeit, in those last few years of the Dead Ball Era, with 12 and 9 homers in those seasons. He led the AL with 19 triples in 1924, his last full season as a Yankee. He batted .300 3 times and just missed 2 others. He hit 311 doubles despite playing his big-league last game at age 35 and in the parks of the time, most of which had faraway center field fences. And, yes, he helped the Yankees win the 1921 and '22 Pennants and the '23 World Series.

The truth is, he was in a nasty slump when Gehrig began his streak on June 1, 1925, batting only .244 after having been at .321 on May 11. He wasn't benched because of a headache, or a concussion, or a fractured skull, or whatever version of the story you heard; the condition, whatever it was, apparently came later. No, he lost his job because he wasn't getting it done.

After that season, the Yankees sold him to the Cincinnati Reds (which was odd, because interleague transactions were rare in those days), and he had 3 more productive seasons in the majors and one more in the high minors with the 1929 Newark Bears (meaning, in a 30-team MLB, he almost certainly would have played well in The Show).

His lifetime batting average was .281, he had 6 seasons of at least 100 RBIs (5 with the Yankees), and had there been an All-Star Game in the 1910s and '20s, he probably would have played in 8 or 9 of them. He is worth remembering, and for his presence, not just his absence.

8. Chris Chambliss, 1974-79. The 1971 AL Rookie of the Year came to the Yankees on April 26, 1974, in a controversial trade that sent 4 party-boy pitchers to the Cleveland Indians. With Watergate in the headlines, some called the trade the Friday Night Massacre. But it was a great trade: None of the guys going to the Indians did much for them, while the Yankees got Chambliss and Dick Tidrow, a versatile pitcher without whom the 1976, '77 and '78 Pennants would not have been won.

Nor would they have been won without Chambliss, who grew up in Oceanside, California. He gave the Yankees their first really reliable 1st baseman since Moose Skowron. (Say what you want about Joe Pepitone, but "reliable" is not an adjective that comes to mind.) You need 17 homers in a season? You need 90 RBIs? You need a good glove at 1st? Chambliss was your man.

He was an All-Star in 1976, and he gave the season its exclamation point on October 14, hitting a home run to win Game 5 of the ALCS and the Pennant over the Kansas City Royals. He also hit a home run that tied Game 6 of the 1977 World Series, setting up The Reggie Jackson Show.

Speaking of Reggie, he was in the ABC booth for that '76 ALCS, assisting Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell, and he said it was a shame that there was no MVP award for the ALCS at the time. Chambliss batted .512 with 2 homers and 8 RBIs, meaning that if the award had been in place, he might have won it even without his capper. Overall, he batted .282 as a Yankee, and his career postseason average was nearly identical, .281. He hit 185 homers, 79 as a Yankee.

The Yankees sent him to the Toronto Blue Jays after the 1979 season, to get Rick Cerone to fill the catching void caused by the death of Thurman Munson, while Watson came in to play 1st in 1980 and '81. But the Jays foolishly traded Chambliss to the Atlanta Braves for outfielder Barry Bonnell, who did nothing in Toronto.

Chambliss helped the Braves win the NL West in 1982 (their only postseason appearance from 1969 to 1991), and forged a friendship with manager Joe Torre that led to being hired as Torre's hitting instructor when he managed the St. Louis Cardinals and later the Yankees.

His Number 10 has been retired by the Yankees, albeit for Phil Rizzuto. But he should be remembered as a fine player, and not just for one amazing moment, a hot bat on a cold night in The Bronx.

7. Joe Pepitone, 1962-69. The Brooklynite played his last big-league game at age 32. He said that once his father, his biggest fan, died, he began to lose interest. Clearly, he was one of these guys who was more interested in being a star than in being a great athlete. He knew he'd blown it: He titled his memoir Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud.

He sure could have. After a cup of coffee in '62, the Yankees traded Moose Skowron to make room for him, and at first it worked. He was an All-Star the next 3 seasons, helping the Yankees win Pennants in '63 and '64, hitting a grand slam in Game 6 of the '64 Series.

But that was his high-water mark, and he was only 24. Despite 3 Gold Gloves and 219 homers (166 as a Yankee), Joe played himself out of baseball, and I don't mean on the field: Times Square when he was with the Yankees, Rush Street when he was with the Chicago Cubs, and the Ginza in his brief, scandalous (over there, anyway) tenure in Japan. His post-baseball life has had its difficulties as well. He now lives on Long Island, and has kept his nose (and liver) clean for about 20 years.

Fast facts with which you can amaze your friends: Like John Lennon, Joe Pepitone was born on October 9, 1940, made his "big-league debut" in 1962, was a huge star by 1964, but left his "group" in 1969. Too bad Joe never found his "Yoko": He's been divorced 3 times.

But at least he's alive, which is not true of John, and back in the good graces of Yankee management, for whom he does public-relations work. He will never get a Monument Park Plaque, or Number 25 retired in his honor. But he's doing okay now, and that's not something that could always be said of him.

6. Jason Giambi, 2002-08. Okay, the Giambino, shall we say, had help. Unlike those lying and cheating bastards David Ortiz, Mark McGwire, Ivan Rodriguez and Luis Gonzalez, all of whom contributed to Yankee postseason defeats (and Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez, who did not, and Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa, who never even got the chance), Giambi was man enough to admit it and stop.

He hit 440 career home runs, 209 with the Yankees. He helped the Yankees to the postseason 6 straight times, and his 2 homers kept the Yankees in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS against the Roid Sox long enough for the alleged Curse of the Bambino to work one last time. (Unless you count that 13-inning dance of death of July 1, 2004, featuring Derek Jeter flying into the stands -- and I don't count it as part of The Curse.)

He hit at least 30 homers in 5 Yankee seasons, and had 100 or more RBIs in 3. He's a 5-time All-Star, 3 as a Yankee. He flopped in the '03 World Series (.235) and the '06 ALDS (.125), but overall he's got a .911 OPS in postseason play.

He'll never make the Hall of Fame or Monument Park, and his Number 25 stands a much better chance of being retired for Teixeira than for Giambi (or Pepitone), but it's unfair to call Giambi's tenure in Pinstripes a failure. After all, he was better over those particular seasons than Tino Martinez was.

5. Mark Teixeira, 2009-present. The man from the Baltimore suburbs will be 35 shortly after Opening Day, and has had 7 full seasons in Pinstripes. But don't be shocked that I have him so high on this list. The 1st 3 were fantastic seasons.

In 2009, he led the AL with 39 homers and 122 RBIs, batting .292. In 2010, he dipped to .256, but still hit 33 homers with 108 RBIs. In 2011, he dropped to .248, but hit 39 homers with 111 RBIs. He;s battled injuries ever since, although, as in 2009, he was having a monster year with Alex Rodriguez hitting behind him, until he got hurt and missed the last quarter of the season.

He's hit 191 of his 394 career home runs as a Yankee. His 3 100-RBI seasons with the Yankees makes 8 overall. His OPS+ is 124 as a Yankee, 129 overall. And he's won 5 Gold Gloves, 2 as a Yankee. It's too early to say that he'll get Number 25 retired, a Plaque in Monument Park, and election to the Hall of Fame. But I wouldn't bet against any of those.

4. Bill "Moose" Skowron, 1954-62. A 6-time All-Star, he hit 211 home runs (165 as a Yankee) in spite of playing his entire career in pitcher's parks, particularly as a right-handed hitter in the pre-renovation Yankee Stadium, with its 402 feet to straightaway left, 457 to left-center and 461 to center.

In spite of those dimensions, Moose still hit 28 home runs in 1961 -- joining with Roger Maris' 61 and Mickey Mantle's 54 to produce 143 home runs, still the highest total ever by 3 teammates. He was also a great fielder for a big man.

The nickname "Moose" had nothing to do with his size: As a kid, he got a crewcut, and someone said it made him look like Benito Mussolini. He kept the crewcut for the rest of his life, although in his old age his hairline had receded to the point where it looked right.

He won 8 Pennants (1955, '56, '57, '58, '60, '61, '62 and '63 -- the last after being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers to make room for Pepitone) and 5 World Series (1956, '58, '61, '62 and '63 -- 4 with the Yanks, 1 with the Dodgers). He is also one of the few players to hit World Series home runs for both leagues, including a grand slam in Game 7 of the '56 Series against the Dodgers in the last postseason game ever played in Brooklyn.

Moose was elected to the National Polish-American Hall of Fame -- that's for all walks of life, not just sports. Na zdrowie, Moose. I have another reason for liking him: We share a birthday, December 18, albeit 39 years apart.

3. Don Mattingly, 1982-95. Only Number 3? This is the New York Yankees. We are about winning World Championships. Saint Donald Arthur of Evansville never even won a postseason series. Donnie Regular Season Baseball.

But if I'm going to be completely fair, I not only have to say all of that, but I have to say all of this: The guy did more than anybody in those years to get the Yankees in a position to win, and, talk of mythical sports-related curses aside, it wasn't his fault that it didn't happen.

His 145 RBI in 1985 are the most by a Yankee since Joe DiMaggio in 1948. His .352 batting average in 1986, although not enough to win the AL batting title as his .343 was in 1984, is the highest by a Yankee in a full season since Mickey Mantle in 1956. (Paul O'Neill batted .359 in strike-shortened 1994.) His 238 hits in 1986 are a Yankee record, breaking the 231 by Earle Combs in 1927. He's probably the best-fielding 1st baseman in Yankee history (although see Wally Pipp above), winning 9 Gold Gloves.

No, he never won a World Series, a Pennant, or even a postseason series. And he was far from, as Michael Kay of the YES Network puts it, "the most popular athlete in New York history." But Don Mattingly earned his Monument Park Plaque and the retirement of his Number 23.

Does he belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame? His lifetime batting average is .307. His OPS+ is 127. He was a 6-time All-Star and, as I said, a 9-time Gold Glove. But he had just 2,153 hits and 222 home runs. He had 14 stolen bases -- in his entire career. As Yogi Berra would have said if he'd thought of it first, Even when he could run, he couldn't run.

On its Hall of Fame Monitor, on which a "Likely HOFer" is at 100, Baseball-Reference.com puts Mattingly at 134, meaning he should absolutely be in. But that measures peak performance. On its Hall of Fame Standards, which is geared more toward career statistics, and at which the "Average HOFer" is at 50, he comes in at 34, thus he falls well short.

Its list of his 10 Most Similar Batters is as follows: Cecil Cooper, Wally Joyner, Hal McRae, Kirby Puckett (the man who gave him the nickname "Donnie Baseball"), Will Clark, Magglio Ordonez, Jeff Conine, Tony Oliva, Matt Holliday and Keith Hernandez.

Only Puckett is in the Hall, although Oliva and Hernandez, his New York contemporary to whom he is so often compared (right down to also having his career cut short by a back injury), arguably should be; while Holliday is still active and could get himself into consideration. The others all fall short. So does Mattingly: He is not a Hall-of-Famer, neither in fact nor in evidence.

2. Tino Martinez, 1996-2001, with a brief comeback in 2005. The Bamtino ahead of Donnie Baseball? Blasphemy! No, it's not, and I'll give you 4 reasons why: 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. In 1997 -- oddly, not one of the Yanks' Pennant years -- he had 141 RBIs, and his 44 homers were the most by a Yankee between Roger Maris (and Mickey Mantle) in 1961 and Alex Rodriguez in 2005.

The Tampa native hit 339 home runs, 192 as a Yankee. And he hit 2 of the most dramatic homers in Yankee history, the grand slam that won Game 1 of the 1998 World Series, and the homer that sent Game 4 of the 2001 Series to extra innings.

Tino will never make the Hall of Fame. Baseball-Reference.com lists his "10 Most Similar Batters" as Lee May, Gil Hodges, George Foster, Paul Konerko, Boog Powell, Joe Adcock, Jack Clark, Willie Horton, Norm Cash and Derrek Lee. Konerko has a shot at the Hall, and Hodges should be in, but none of the others ever will be.

Tino was the 1st player of the Joe Torre Dynasty to get a Monument Park Plaque, although his Number 24 remains in circulation. (At this point, it certainly won't be retired for Robinson Canó.) As much as anyone else, he was one of the guys who got the Yankees over the hump in 1996, and kept them there into the dawn of the 21st Century.

1. Lou Gehrig, 1923-39. When Major League Baseball and MasterCard held the balloting for the All-Century Team in 1999, Gehrig got the most votes. Even more than Babe Ruth.

How do you briefly sum up the greatest baseball player to actually come from New York City? (He grew up in Harlem, when it was still full of white German immigrants.) Said All-Century Team. Hall of Fame. His Number 4 was the 1st to be retired in all of baseball. A Monument -- not a Plaque -- in Monument Park. He was the 1st Yankee to win the Triple Crown. Illness stopped him just short of 500 homers and 2,000 RBI.

His brief callup in 1923 did not allow him to play in that year's World Series, but he played for the Yankees in 7 World Series (1926, '27, '28, '32, '36, '37 and '38), winning all but the first and as Captain for the last 4 of those. Moreover, when people think "Yankee Captain," the first name that comes to mind is not Derek Jeter or Thurman Munson, it's Lou Gehrig.

That's almost certainly due to the film The Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper. The film doesn't really hold up well: Cooper looked like Gehrig, but didn't sound like him, and had never played baseball in his life, while it's not really a movie about a baseball player, it's a love story between Lou and Eleanor (played by Teresa Wright), and the leading man's job happened to be that of baseball player.

But the story is timeless, because Lou was timeless. The Iron Horse still runs, if only in our memories. A person would have to be about 85 years old now to have seen him play. But because of the movie, and because the Yankees have been so good at presenting their history, this man who died 75 years ago this June is still with us. Lou Gehrig lives.

Top 10 Yankee First Basemen

The batteries are done. As Tony Reali would say on ESPN, Let's go around the horn!

Honorable Mention to Bob Watson. He was only a Yankee for 2 seasons and the start of a 3rd, 1980-82, but batted .307 in '80, his only full season in The Bronx, and was the general manager who built the 1996 World Champions.

10. Mark Teixeira, 2009-present. He'll be 31 shortly after Opening Day, and has had only 2 full seasons in Pinstripes. But they've been fantastic seasons: In 2009, he led the AL with 39 homers and 122 RBIs, batting .292; in 2010, he dipped to .256, but still hit 33 homers with 108 RBIs. That's 72 homers as a Yankee, 275 overall. His 2 100-RBI seasons with the Yankees makes 7 overall. His OPS+ was 141in '09 and 125 in '10, and it's 134 for his career.

It's too early to say that he'll get Number 25 retired, a Plaque in Monument Park, and election to the Hall of Fame. But I wouldn't bet against any of those.

9. Johnny Mize, 1949-53. He put up big numbers for the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Giants before being acquired by the Yanks, and at age 36, most people thought he was done. Manager Casey Stengel thought otherwise, and the Big Cat was an All-Star twice more, with a 116 OPS+ as a Yankee. (That's well below his career OPS+ of 158, which got him, albeit belatedly, into the Hall of Fame.)

He was with the Yankees 5 seasons, and they won the World Series all 5. He wore Number 10 as a Cardinal, 3 as a Giant before going off to World War II and 15 after coming back. As a Yankee, he wore 36, probably the best Yankee to wear the number until David Cone.

8. Wally Pipp, 1915-25. He's remembered today as the man whose headache -- possibly as a result of getting beaned in those pre-batting helmet days -- allowed Lou Gehrig to step in and not miss a game for 14 years. This led to anyone thinking about asking for a day off to worry about "getting pipped." It's not fair, because Pipp was, by the standards of his time, a very good player.

He led the AL in home runs in 1916 and '17 -- albeit, in those last few years of the Dead Ball Era, with 12 and 9 homers in those seasons. He led the AL with 19 triples in 1924, his last full season as a Yankee. He batted .300 3 times and just missed 2 others. He hit 311 doubles despite playing his last game at age 35 (he closed his career with the Cincinnati Reds from 1926 to '28) and in the parks of the time, most of which had faraway center field fences.

And, yes, he helped the Yankees win the 1921 and '22 Pennants and the '23 World Series. He is worth remembering, and for his presence, not just his absence, whatever the real cause.

7. Chris Chambliss, 1974-79. The 1971 AL Rookie of the Year came to the Yankees on April 26, 1974 in a controversial trade that sent 4 party-boy pitchers to the Cleveland Indians. With Watergate in the headlines, some called the trade the Friday Night Massacre. But it was a great trade: None of the guys going to Cleveland did anything for the Indians, while the Yankees got Chambliss and Dick Tidrow, a versatile pitcher without whom the 1976, '77 and '78 Pennants would not have been won.

Nor would they have been won without Chambliss. He gave the Yankees their first really reliable 1st baseman since Moose Skowron -- say what you want about Joe Pepitone, but "reliable" is not an adjective that comes to mind. You need 17 homers in a season? You need 90 RBIs? You need a good glove at 1st? Chambliss was your man.

He was an All-Star in 1976, and he gave the season its exclamation point on October 14, hitting a home run to win Game 5 of the ALCS and then Pennant over the Kansas City Royals. He also hit a home run that tied Game 6 of the 1977 World Series, setting up The Reggie Jackson Show. Speaking of Reggie, he was in the ABC booth for that '76 ALCS, assisting Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell, and he said it was a shame that there was no MVP award for the ALCS at the time: Chambliss batted .512 with 2 homers and 8 RBIs, meaning that if the award had been in place, he might have won it even without his capper. Overall, he batted .282 as a Yankee, and his career postseason average was nearly identical, .281. He hit 185 homers, 79 as a Yankee.

The Yankees sent him to the Toronto Blue Jays after the 1979 season, to get Rick Cerone to fill the catching void caused by the death of Thurman Munson, while Watson came in to play 1st in 1980 and '81. But the Jays foolishly traded Chambliss to the Atlanta Braves for outfielder Barry Bonnell, who did nothing in Toronto. Chambliss helped the Braves win the NL West in 1982 (their only postseason appearance from 1969 to 1991), and forged a friendship with manager Joe Torre that led to being hired as Torre's hitting instructor when he managed the St. Louis Cardinals and later the Yankees.

Chambliss was recently hired as the hitting instructor for the Seattle Mariners. His Number 10 has been retired by the Yankees, albeit for Phil Rizzuto. But he should be remembered as a fine player, and not just for one amazing moment, a hot bat on a cold night in The Bronx.

6. Joe Pepitone, 1962-69. The Brooklyn native played his last big-league game at age 32. He said that once his father, his biggest fan, died, he began to lose interest. Clearly, he was one of these guys who was more interested in being a star than in being a great athlete. He knew he'd blown it: He titled his memoir Joe, You Coulda Made Us Proud.

He sure could have. After a cup of coffee in '62, the Yankees traded Moose Skowron to make room for him, and, for a while, it worked. He was an All-Star the next 3 seasons, helping the Yankees win Pennants in '63 and '64, hitting a grand slam in Game 6 of the '64 Series.

But that was the high-water mark, and he was only 24. Despite 3 Gold Gloves and 219 homers (166 as a Yankee), Joe played himself out of baseball, and I don't mean on the field: Times Square when he was with the Yankees, Rush Street when he was with the Chicago Cubs, and the Ginza in his brief, scandalous (over there, anyway) tenure in Japan. His post-baseball life has had its difficulties as well. He now lives on Long Island, and has kept his nose (and liver) clean for about 15 years.

Fast facts with which you can amaze your friends: Like John Lennon, Joe Pepitone was born on October 9, 1940, made his "big-league debut" in 1962, was a huge star by 1964, but left his "group" in 1969. Too bad Joe never found his "Yoko": He's been divorced 3 times. But at least he's alive, which is not true of John, and back in the good graces of Yankee management, for whom he does public-relations work. He will never get a Monument Park Plaque, or Number 25 retired in his honor. But he's doing okay now, and that's not something that could always be said of him.

5. Jason Giambi, 2002-08. Okay, the Giambino, shall we say, had help. Unlike those lying and cheating bastards David Ortiz, Mark McGwire, Ivan Rodriguez and Luis Gonzalez, all of whom contributed to Yankee postseason defeats, Giambi was man enough to admit it and stop.

He recently turned 40, and re-signed with the Colorado Rockies, so they, as well as he, think he's not done yet. He has 415 career home runs, 209 with the Yankees. He helped the Yankees to the postseason 6 straight times, and his 2 homers kept the Yankees in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS against the Roid Sox long enough for the alleged Curse of the Bambino to work one last time. (Unless you count that 13-inning dance of death of July 1, 2004, featuring Derek Jeter flying into the stands -- and I don't count it as part of The Curse.)

He hit at least 30 homers in 5 Yankee seasons, and had 100 or more RBIs in 3. He's a 5-time All-Star, 3 as a Yankee. He flopped in the '03 World Series (.235) and the '06 ALDS (.125), but overall he's got a .911 OPS in postseason play.

He'll never make the Hall of Fame or Monument Park, and his Number 25 stands a much better chance of being retired for Teixeira than for Giambi (or Pepitone), but it's unfair to call Giambi's tenure in Pinstripes a failure. After all, he was better over those particular seasons than Tino Martinez was.

4. Bill "Moose" Skowron, 1954-62.  The nickname had nothing to do with his size: As a kid, he got a crewcut, and someone said it made him look like Benito Mussolini. He still has a crewcut today, only now his hairline has receded to the point where it looks okay.

A 6-time All-Star, he hit 211 home runs (165 as a Yankee) in spite of playing his entire career in pitcher's parks, particularly as a right-handed hitter in the pre-renovation Yankee Stadium, with its 402 feet to straightaway left, 457 to left-center and 461 to center. In spite of those dimensions, Moose still hit 28 home runs in 1961 -- joining with Roger Maris' 61 and Mickey Mantle's 54 to produce 143 home runs, still the highest total ever by 3 teammates. He was also a great fielder for a big man.

He won 8 Pennants (1955, '56, '57, '58, '60, '61, '62 and '63 -- the last after being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers to make room for Pepitone) and 5 World Championships (1956, '58, '61, '62 and '63 -- 4 with the Yanks, 1 with the Dodgers). He is also one of the few players to hit World Series home runs for both leagues, including a grand slam in Game 7 of the '56 Series against the Dodgers in the last postseason game ever played in Brooklyn.

Moose, once again living near his native Chicago, is a member of the National Polish-American Hall of Fame -- that's for all walks of life, not just sports. Na zdrowie, Moose. I have another reason for liking him: We share a birthday, December 18, albeit 39 years apart.

(Another player with that birthday, Gino Cimoli, died this week. He was an outfielder who hit 40 doubles for the '59 Cards, and his 15 triples for the Kansas City Athletics led the AL in '62.)

3. Don Mattingly, 1982-95. Only Number 3? This is the New York Yankees. We are about winning World Championships. He never even won a postseason series. Donnie Regular Season Baseball.

But if I'm going to be completely fair, I not only have to say all of that, but I have to say all of this: The guy did more than anybody in those years to get the Yankees there, and, talk of mythical sports-related curses aside, it wasn't his fault that it didn't happen.

His 145 RBI in 1985 were the most by a Yankee since Joe DiMaggio in 1948. His .352 batting average in 1986, although not enough to win the AL batting title as his .343 was in 1984, is the highest by a Yankee in a full season since Mickey Mantle in 1956. (Paul O'Neill batted .359 in strike-shortened 1994.) His 238 hits in 1986 are a Yankee record (breaking the 231 by Earle Combs in 1927). He's probably the best-fielding 1st baseman in Yankee history (although see Wally Pipp above), winning 9 Gold Gloves.

No, he never won a World Series, a Pennant, or a postseason series. And he was far from, as Michael Kay of the YES Network puts it, "the most popular athlete in New York history." But Don Mattingly earned his Monument Park Plaque and the retirement of his Number 23.

2. Tino Martinez, 1996-2001, with a brief comeback in 2005. The Bamtino ahead of Donnie Baseball? Blasphemy! No, it's not, and I'll give you 4 reasons why: 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000. In 1997 -- oddly, not one of the Yanks' Pennant years -- he had 141 RBIs, and his 44 homers were the most by a Yankee between Roger Maris (and Mickey Mantle) in 1961 and Alex Rodriguez in 2005. He hit 339 home runs, 192 as a Yankee. And he hit 2 of the most dramatic homers in Yankee history, the grand slam that won Game 1 of the 1998 World Series, and the homer that sent Game 4 of the 2001 Series to extra innings.

Tino will never make the Hall of Fame. Baseball-Reference.com lists his "10 Most Similar Batters" as Lee May, Gil Hodges, George Foster, Paul Konerko, Boog Powell, Joe Adcock, Jack Clark, Willie Horton, Norm Cash and Derrek Lee. Konerko has a shot at the Hall (he'll be 35 in March and already has 365 homers despite playing his entire career in pitcher's parks), and Hodges should be in, but none of the others ever will be. And at the rate Robinson Cano is going, he's a much more likely candidate to get Number 24 retired for him.

But Tino deserves a Monument Park Plaque. As much as anyone else, he was one of the guys who got the Yankees over the hump in 1996, and kept them there into the dawn of the 21st Century.

1. Lou Gehrig, 1923-39. When Major League Baseball and MasterCard did the balloting for the All-Century Team in 1999, Gehrig got the most votes. Even more than Babe Ruth.

How do you sum up Gehrig briefly? Said All-Century Team. Hall of Fame. His Number 4 was the first to be retired in all of baseball. A Monument -- not a Plaque -- in Monument Park. First Yankee to win the Triple Crown.

Illness stopped him just short of 500 homers and 2,000 RBI. His brief callup in 1923 did not allow him to play in that year's World Series, but he played for the Yankees in 7 World Series (1926, '27, '28, '32, '36, '37 and '38), winning all but the 1st and as Captain for the last 4 of those. Moreover, when people think "Yankee Captain," the 1st name that comes to mind is not Derek Jeter or Thurman Munson or, God forbid, Mattingly: It's Lou Gehrig.

That's almost certainly due to the film The Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper. The film doesn't really hold up well: Cooper looked like Gehrig, but didn't sound like him, and had never played baseball in his life. While it's not really a movie about a baseball player, it's a love story between Lou and Eleanor (played by Teresa Wright), and the leading man's job happened to be that of baseball player.

But the story is timeless, because Lou was timeless. The Iron Horse still runs, if only in our memories. A person would have to be about 75 years old now to have seen him play, and closer to 80 to remember him at his peak. But because of the movie, and because the Yankees have been so good at presenting their history, this man who died 70 years ago this June is still with us. Lou Gehrig lives.