Ranking the Greatest Moments of Mark Teixeira’s Yankees Career

With long-time New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira‘s career coming to a close on October 2nd, Yanks Go Yard looks back at his five greatest moments in pinstripes.

The New York Yankees announced Monday that they will hold a ceremony to honor retiring first baseman Mark Teixeira before their final regular season game on October 2nd against the Baltimore Orioles.

While Teixeira is seen by many Yankees fans as a disappointment because of the injuries and mixed results that have marked his last few years in pinstripes, he has accomplished a lot since coming to New York.

In his eight years with the club, Mark Teixeira has made two All-Star teams, won three Gold Glove awards, received MVP votes in four seasons, and was a driving force behind the 2009 championship. He’s compiled a .248/.343/.477 (118 OPS+) with 203 home runs through 948 games with New York.

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It is strange to think Tex will only be on the team for a few more games. It’s as good a time as any to remember some of the former superstar’s greatest hits.

“Foul Territory with Mark Teixeira”. The series of interviews Mark Teixeira did with a number of new teammates were legitimately funny and made his future career as a broadcaster self evident. The Yankees have not exactly been known for their goofy antics in recent years, so seeing the team loosen up a little was a lot of fun.

Number Five: The 2016 season has mostly been a painful slog for Teixeira as the 36-year-old deals with a variety of nagging injuries. There was one memorable highlight, however. On July 3rd, Teixeira became only the fifth switch-hitter in history to reach the 400 home run milestone with a pair of homers to lead the Yankees to a 6-3 victory against the San Diego Padres.

Only

,

,

, and

have accomplished that feat. Pretty good company.

Number Four: Teixeira had gotten off to one of his patented awful starts in 2010, hitting just .136 in April when he broke out in a big way against the Boston Red Sox on May 10th. The defending world champs had just lost several regulars to injury and were limping along early in the year, so Tex couldn’t have picked a better time to get hot.

In one of the best games of his career, Teixeira went 4-for-6 with three home runs and five RBI, carrying New York on his back en route to a tremendously fun 14-3 whooping of the Sox.

As invincible as the 2009 club seemed, people forget just how close the ALDS was against the Minnesota Twins. The Yankees were trailing game two 3-1 in the bottom of the ninth before a game-tying two-run shot by

sent the game into extra innings. Teixeira had perhaps his biggest hit in pinstripes two innings later with a leadoff solo home run that sent New York home

with a 2-0 series lead

, well on their way to their 27th title.

In a recent interview with

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports

, Teixeira named his 2013 wrist surgery as one of the biggest obstacles of his career. He only managed to play 15 games that year and slumped badly into 2014. He told Rosenthal it took him a full two years to recover from the issue. Most Yankees fans had written him off as a lost cause at that point, which made his monster 2015 season all the more sweet.

He made his first All-Star team since his 2009 New York debut, knocked over 30 homers for the first time since 2011, and looked like an MVP candidate before a freak injury ended his season a month early. He was a major reason the Yankees were able to shock baseball with their first playoff berth since 2012.

Number One: One of my favorite all-time early Christmas gifts game on December 23rd 2008 when the Yankees swooped in to unexpectedly steal Mark Teixeira away from the hated Red Sox with an eight year $160 million contract. Earlier in the month, the team had already made headlines by signing the two best pitchers on the market, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett to massive long-term deals.

Next: Top 20 Most Valuable Yankees Players

When they added Tex, my mind was absolutely blown and the 2009 championship already seemed a foregone conclusion. That moment the incredible promise of that 2009 team will always be the way I remember Teixeira.