Bringing Back The Yankees Swagger

The New York Yankees brass has reeled in a number of high profile, outspoken players through the years.  Guys who haven´t been afraid to open their mouths and stir the drink. And everyone of them has helped jolt the Yankees back on track.

None of these moves had a bigger impact than the addition of George Herman Ruth. And the Babe knew right away just what it would take to transform the Yanks.

“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime, ¨ he said according to Babe Ruth.com.

And after the Yankees bought, or stole, him from the Red Sox depending on who you talk to, Ruth jump started the Yankees right away. He hit 659 of his 714 career home runs as a Yankee, showing that his bat backed up his mouth.

In particular, he was proud of the Yankees 1927 team, which he believed no team would ever rival. “Those Yankees were the best team. Figure it out. After we got going we won twelve straight World Series games-twelve in a row. It was murder. The Yankees had the greatest punch baseball ever knew. We never even worried five or six runs behind…Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! and Wham! No matter who was pitching,¨ he said according to angelfire.com.

But Ruth was just the first of many shrewd moves the Yankees brass has pulled off through the years.  And it might not even be the one that caused the greatest uproar. That distinction could go to George Steinbrenner´s signing of Reggie Jackson between the 1976 and 1977 seasons. 

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And Reggie was not shy about letting Yankees fans know just where his place would be in Yankees lore. ¨”I didn’t come to New York to be a star, I brought my star with me,¨ Reggie said according to Baseball Almanac.

And looking over his numbers, you would have to say that he did just that. Sure, everybody remembers his three home runs against the Dodgers in the final game of the 1977 World Series. But there is so much more that gets forgotten. Altogether, Reggie hit 144 home runs for the Yanks in five years, batting .281 with 461 RBI.

Yet another big off-season pick-up for the Yankees was Rickey Henderson, who came to the Yankees in December of 1984. Rickey had some of Reggie´s flair and all of his confidence. Brian Cashman, who was then working his way up the Yankees ladder, once called Rickey to find out why he had not cashed a bonus check the Yankees had given him, Rickey let Cashman know that he was in no hurry. “I’m just waiting for the money market rates to go up,¨ he said according to Chiefsplanet.com.

And Rickey deserved every penny. He provided pop at the top of the lineup. In all, he he hit 78 homers and batted .288 for the Yanks. He also set the franchise career stolen base record at the time with 326.

That kind of thinking carried over when Roger Clemens came to the Yanks before the 1999 season. Roger later aggravated Red Sox fans by revealing that the Yankees were the real organization that was in his heart.

“He’s the one (George Steinbrenner) who gave me a chance to get to the World Series. This is where I wanted to be all along. We had a couple of nice offers from other teams, Clemens said according to Baseball Almanac. ¨ But I tied my agents’ hands. I told them I wanted to be a Yankee.”

Like Ruth, Jackson and Henderson, The Rocket made his mark in the Bronx. He went 83-42 in six years, helping the Yankees to two World Series titles.

In 1981, another Yankees´ acquisition who arrived with passion was Dave Winfield. And Big Dave made it clear that baseball players didn´t take a back seat to anyone, even actors.

¨Tom Cruise only makes one or two film appearances a year,¨ he said, according to Baseball Almanac. A baseball player can be the hero or the goat one-hundred and sixty- two times a year.¨

Winfield hit 205 home runs for the Yankees with 818 RBI and a batting average of .290. Despite his regular season success, Steinbrenner was frequently critical of Winfield because of poor big game production. But there is no question that Winfield energized the Yanks and their fans.

Now some might say that the Yankees already have a player who fits this description. But Alex Rodríguez has to show that his bat can once again back up his mouth.

So there´s five guys who came to the Yankees with their jaws flapping. And every one of them was able to back it up on the field. So, is there a player out there who could do it again? And more importantly, if one emerged,  would the current Yankees brass have the base balls to go get him?