Jeter and Cano Could Finish Careers As Top Combo In History

The New York Yankees have enjoyed several outstanding shortstop-second base combinations in their history. Various reports render results in terms of double plays and fielding percentage. But what is the best all-time combination in terms of  World Series Championships?

This calculation is based on the total combined series victories by the players, whether or not the championships occurred while playing together. So Derek Jeter’s total series wins are combined with Robinson Cano’s to arrive at the total.

In addition to Jeter and Cano, the entries include:

Bucky Dent and Willie Randolph

Tony Kubek and Bobby Richardson

Phil Rizzuto and Joe Gordon

Mark Koenig and Tony Lazzeri

The winners are Phil Rizzuto and Joe Gordon. The pair combined for twelve World Series Championships. Although Gordon won one of his while playing with the Cleveland Indians, Rizzuto and Gordon still lead the way even if that one is deducted. Holy cow!

In second place are  Mark Koenig and Tony Lazzeri, who combined for seven in their careers. They were part of the Murderer’s Row teams in the 1920’s.

Jeter and Cano are tied with Kubek and  Richardson for the third-place spot, with six. So, if the Yankees win this season, Jeter and Cano would add two to their total. This would not only break the tie with Kubek and Richardson, but would also cause them to leap over Lazzeri and Koenig into second place.

Dent and Randolph round out the list with three.

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They were part of the initial group of players who were added to the Yankees in the George Steinbrenner era. They brought glory to New York after a long dry spell.

So this is one more accomplishment that is riding on the return of Jeter. Of course, Cano should have more years left in his career than Jeter to help the duo rise to the top of the list.  But the ideal is to see them reach the plateau together.

Add their individual accomplishments to the equation and you would have the greatest shortstop-second base combination in history. Not just Yankees history, but Major League Baseball history.