New York Yankees: All-time best second basemen in franchise history

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New York Yankees second baseman Joe Gordon

Catcher Mickey Owen of the Brooklyn Dodgers has just tagged out Joe Gordon (left) of the New York Yankees – (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /

43. . 1938-1943, 1946. New York Yankees. Joe Gordon. 3. player

New York Yankees all-time best second basemen – No. 3: Joe Gordon

40.1 WAR

Prior to 1944, Joe Gordon was a perennial All-star. After his rookie season in 1938, Gordon appeared in five straight summer classics.

As a Yankee, he had two seasons with over 100 runs scored, three seasons with triple-digit RBI, and three seasons with 25 home runs or more.

He won the 1942 MVP with a .322 average, 18 homers and 103 RBI. At the peak of his career, he missed two years due to military service.

When Gordon returned in 1946, he was named an All-star again, but he didn’t have a good season. He hit just .210 with only 11 home runs and 47 RBI. The Yankees must have thought his best years were behind him, and since they still had Snuffy Stirnweiss, they traded Gordon to the Indians.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, Gordon was not washed up as he was an MVP candidate in both 1947 and 1948, and an All-star thee next three seasons.

If the Yankees had kept Gordon instead of Stirnweiss, and the former had the same years in New York he had in Cleveland, he would have easily been at number one on this list instead of third. He accumulated a WAR of 18.5 in 1947 through 1949 for the Indians.

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