Complete list of every Yankees captain before Aaron Judge

Slugger Aaron Judge, after inking a long-term pact with the New York Yankees this past December, was dubbed the 16th captain in the franchise's seemingly eternal history, joining names both iconic and somehow forgotten.

The history of the Yankees' captaincy dates back far longer than you'd think -- and longer than anyone thought before baseball historian Howard W. Rosenberg uncovered new information in 2007. In fact, it goes all the way back to before the team was known as the Yankees; yes, there are a few Highlanders listed here. Back then, the "NY" on the hat wasn't even interlocking.

Judge will officially be in a different stratum when he takes the field for Opening Day on March 30 -- coincidentally against the San Francisco Giants. Hopefully, when he looks at the bunting around the stadium and feels chills, he'll be thinking of these captains who preceded him.

Oh, and he'll vow to win a title or two (or seven) in their names.

Complete List of New York Yankees Captains -- Derek Jeter, Meet Aaron Judge

The Hidden Highlanders: Clark Griffith (1903-1905), Kid Elberfeld (1906-1907), Willie Keeler (1908-1909)

These three players were (relatively) recently uncovered as vintage captains by Rosenberg and the Society for American Baseball Research, and all three hold a significant place in the history of the game.

Griffith, a player-manager with the early Highlanders, was much more famous for managing the Washington Senators (1912-1920) before owning them for 35 additional years. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946, his time with New York serving as a mere footnote.

Elberfeld was a spitfire shortstop, exactly the kind of person you'd expect to (formally or informally) serve as a captain at the turn of the century. He had the second-highest OPS of any shortstop in baseball (behind Honus Wagner) from 1904 to 1906, but is more famous for going sicko mode on umpire Silk O'Loughlin. He once "menaced" O'Loughlin with a bat when he believed a HBP had been called improperly, then followed that up with a brawl the New York Times called “one of the most disgraceful scenes ever witnessed on a baseball field" on Sept. 3, 1904. He was suspended eight games. Aaron Judge should not do that.

Keeler? He was the famed singles hitter and Hall of Famer behind the aphorism, "Hit 'em where they ain't." Keeler was a turn-of-the-century star, and reinforces the notion that IKF probably could've made Cooperstown if he'd been born in 1872.

More Articles About Aaron Judge:

The Babe: Babe Ruth, 1922

Wait ... what did Babe Ruth do to lose the captaincy after just one year?! Did they not know he was the Babe Ruth?

Hmm. Maybe it was all the drinking, carousing, belching, belly-aching and meat consumption. Probably difficult for a fledgling team to be captained by a superstar who might go missing for hours at a time and wake up on the floor of the firehouse.

Still, Ruth was typically incredible in that season, leading the league in OPS and hitting 35 bombs in just 110 games. But where to begin...

He was suspended to begin the season for barnstorming during the offseason (thanks, Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis!), then returned and climbed into the stands to scream at some train workers who were heckling him, leaping atop the dugout and daring the entire crowd to come and fight him. If Judge tries this move in 2023, it might make the national news. Could be an interesting way to get baseball back in the mainstream.

That led to...

Everett Scott, 1922-1925

...the Yankees picking another well-behaved and slick-fielding shortstop in the Peckinpaugh mold to steer their ship.

And it worked! The 1923 Yankees won the franchise's first World Series, and with Ruth freed from the duties of the position, he socked a league-leading 41 homers and 130 RBI. Win-win.

Lou Gehrig: 1935-1939

In another strange quirk of history, the eternally dominant 1927 Yankees were actually Captain-free, and the Iron Horse wasn't given the position until late in his career (ironically coinciding with Joe DiMaggio's arrival in 1936, a next-generation star in need of mentorship).

Gehrig, a transcendent star, was actually better than you remember. His lasting legacy may be his tragic end, but as a first baseman, he was without peer, racking up 113.6 WAR over the course of his career while batting .340 with a 179 OPS+.

He was typically great from 1935-37, leading the league with 49 bombs in 1936 and hitting .329, .354, and .351 with OBPs of .466, .478 and .473.

His slippage began the next season, however; he still played in 157 games, but hit "just" .295 with "only" 29 home runs. In 1939, he managed only eight games before his career succumbed to the horrific disease we still have yet to unlock the cure to.

Thurman Munson: 1976-1979

Ironically (but, again, in the worst way), the Yankees didn't name a captain between Gehrig's reign and Munson's arrival as the de facto leader of the 1970s teams. George Steinbrenner brought the tradition back in 1976, a season where the Yankees made it back to the World Series for the first time since 1964, but fell to the Cincinnati Reds in four games.

That means no Mantle. No Maris. No DiMaggio. No Berra. No Henrich, Keller or Page. No Reynolds, Lopat or Raschi. Until Munson arrived and stirred the drink to two consecutive titles in 1977 and 1978.

Of course, Munson's tenure was also cut far too short when his self-piloted plane crashed in Akron before it reached the runway. The Captain remained alive on impact, but was paralyzed from the neck down and immobilized. His final words were, "Help me, Dave" to an associate who could not manage to lift him from the wreckage before escaping himself.

We prefer to remember him another way, though, holding steady as an endless stream of Red Sox and Royals tried to test his mettle running full-steam towards home plate. But you can't run through a wall, and you can't scare a captain.

The 1980s Captains: Graig Nettles (1982-1983), Willie Randolph (1986-1988), Ron Guidry (1986-1988)

Clearly, George Steinbrenner didn't believe in a long-term vacancy at the helm of his franchise, naming Graig Nettles captain three years after Munson's passing.

Nettles -- who deserves more Hall of Fame consideration -- posted a regressive season and a bounce back year as Captain in his age-37 and 38 seasons (98 and 119 OPS+ marks). He abdicated his throne when he went to San Diego prior to the 1984 season, pairing with Goose Gossage and leading the Padres to a World Series berth.

Randolph and Guidry were named co-captains to start the 1986 season, as the Yankees' title runs in the '70s moved further into the rear view mirror. The Mets were beginning to wrest control of the City of New York away from the Bombers, so Steinbrenner turned to two of his longest-tenured stars to lead the way; the Yankees won 90, 89 and 85 games in those three seasons (two with Lou Piniella, one with Billy Martin) but never made the postseason.

Don Mattingly: 1991-1995

The first modern-era Yankee to be regularly referred to as The Captain, Mattingly held the title during one of the worst down years in franchise history in 1991, a 71-win campaign led by Stump Merrill.

Prior to the 1992 season, Buck Showalter was hired and things began to turn, with Mattingly building ever-so-subtly towards the first postseason appearance of his remarkable career.

The '92 Yankees won 76 games, and they won 'em for Mattingly. In 1993, they acquired Paul O'Neill, signed Wade Boggs, and reached 88 wins, falling seven games short of the Toronto Blue Jays -- but they would've won the AL Wild Card by one game if that honor had existed back then.

In 1994, Mattingly's Yankees surged toward the postseason as he attempted to fend off his bodily breakdown, but the strike sliced the season at the worst possible point, with New York sitting at 70-43 and leading the AL East.

1995 was Mattingly's final season, his first playoff appearance (!), and ... arguably the team's worst postseason ending, non-2004 division. They surrendered a 2-0 series lead and a late lead in Game 5 on the road in Seattle in the ALDS, and though it shattered The Captain (and David Cone, who felt responsible), it led only to better things for the storied franchise.

Derek Jeter: 2003-2014

Jeter tells the story that, when he was named captain, he believed he was about to be punished by The Boss. He'd been recently captured in the tabloids partying, and thought he was en route to being reamed out.

Instead, Steinbrenner jumpstarted an incredible 2003 season by making the unspoken official and naming Jeter the team's captain for their post-dynastic era.

Of course, Jeter had always been the face of the franchise and stoic leader. He was de facto before he was stamped in ink.

Jeter's tenure featured one final 2009 World Series win, a remarkable 2003 comeback that had Pedro Martínez reeling and got his manager dismissed, and, sadly, the 2004 season that tilted the Red Sox rivalry forever back to equilibrium, much like North Carolina and Duke's fabled 2022 March Madness tournament did. He was the textbook definition of a captain through it all, though, and still struggles to watch the 2004 highlights that briefly threw his career off the tracks before the 2009 redemption song we're all still so grateful for.

Oh, and maybe take notes, Yankees. Don't show those 2004 lowlights to "motivate" anyone. Halting that behavior now falls on...

Aaron Judge: 2022-Present

Much like Jeter, this has been Aaron Judge's team since he arrived in 2017.

But now it's official, with Anthony Rizzo as his Vice President. Go forth and lead, young man. And maybe buy the man who preceded you a hefty meal every once in a while.

Children of the 1990s grew up with Mattingly and Jeter. Children of today will have Judge, and they'll have him forever.

That's what this is supposed to be all about.