Yankees: Ranking their five best all-time utility players

#5 Randy Velarde

Randy Velarde played for sixteen mostly non-distinctive years in the major leagues. His career with the Yankees spanned eight seasons during a period when they were rebuilding, and the Core Four was making their way through the minor leagues.

He missed the Yankees first of five World Championships in 1996 by a hair when he left the team in 1995 to sign as a free agent with the California Angels.

Velarde was instrumental in the Yankees infield, playing shortstop, second and third base, as well as in the outfield when needed.

The most games he appeared in was in 1992 when he played in 121 games. Mainly a singles hitter, Velarde collected 152 of them on his way to 200 hits in 1999 after he had left the Yankees.

His biggest moment with the Yankees occurred in the playoffs on October 8, 1995, when he singled off Randy Johnson to drive in Pat Kelly and hand the Yankees a 5-4 lead in the top of the 11th inning. The lead was short lived though as the Yankees went on to lose the series to the Mariners.

Like most utility players, Velarde did nothing in spectacular fashion, but he did everything well. He averaged .261 with the Yankees, but in his final four years with the team that jumped into the .280’s, and he batted .301 in 1993.

Following his retirement from baseball, Velarde made headlines in 2011 as  seen in this report from the New York Daily News:

"Randy Velarde took the witness stand in the Barry Bonds perjury trial Wednesday, where with a grim face and a taciturn Texas accent he told the jury about receiving performance-enhancing drugs from Bonds’ personal trainer, Greg Anderson. “I just told him who I was and could he put me on his program,” Velarde recalled of his first conversations. “We had our meetings in parking lots.”"

Velarde now lives quietly with his family in Midland, Texas, his native state. Interviewed by Lubbockonline.com, Velarde says:

"“It was always just baseball,” he said. “I wanted to be a major league baseball player from the time I was knee-high to a grasshopper.”"