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The New York Yankees are one of the most storied franchises in all of sports. There have been many players who have worn the Pinstripes over the years. Many of them we all know, such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and many others. The list is long and full of Hall of Famers. However, there are plenty of players who have donned the Pinstripes but didn’t have an impact while with the Yankees. Some of them went on to impact baseball in dramatic ways. Others just went on to have Hall of Fame careers, or had put them together long before joining the Yankees. Many are forgotten to time, but now let’s bring them back one more time.
11. Bobby Cox
Credit: Getty Images11. Bobby Cox
He is a Hall of Fame manager for what he did with the Atlanta Braves. However, Cox spent parts of two seasons with the New York Yankees as a player, his only time in the Major Leagues. He would appear in 220 games and hit .225/.310/.309 with nine home runs while playing mostly third base in 1968 and 1969. Most people will forget he played baseball because his managerial career is the first thing that comes to mind.
10. Frank Chance
Credit: Getty Images10. Frank Chance
He became infamous after the ‘Tinkers to Evers to Chance’ poem. Most of his career was spent with the Chicago Cubs and that is all people remember him for. However, he did spend parts of two seasons with the New York Yankees and appeared in 13 games over those two years. He hit a whopping .208/.406/.208 in 33 at-bats with the Yanks. However, while he was with the Yankees, his primary responsibility was managing, but he didn’t have much luck with a bad Yankees team. He left after compiling a 117-168 record across those two seasons.
9. Gaylord Perry
Credit: Getty Images9. Gaylord Perry
Perry spent most of his career with the San Francisco Giants and Cleveland Indians. However, in 1980 the Yankees traded Ken Clay and Marv Thompson to the Texas Rangers for the 41-year-old veteran. He was supposed to add some veteran guile to the rotation, but he went 4-4 with a 4.44 ERA in 10 games, eight of them starts. He would be elected into the Hall of Fame in 1991 after a career that saw him post a 314-265 record with 3.11 ERA and win two Cy Young awards.
8. Ralph Branca
Credit: Getty Images8. Ralph Branca
He wasn’t a Hall of Famer, but he did have a fairly solid career with the Brooklyn Dodgers -- aside from giving up that home run to Bobby Thomson. He had a very promising start to his career, winning 21 games in his age 21 season and posting a 2.67 ERA. That also happened to be the year Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the game. By the time Branca was in his late 20s, his career was fading. In 1954, his age 28 season, he appeared in five games, three starts with the Yankees and went 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA. He would appear in just one more game in the Majors after leaving the Yankees, in 1956 with the Dodgers. His career started out like he might have been a Hall of Famer and was a part of a lot of baseball history, but injuries robbed him of greatness.
7. Lew Burdette
Credit: Getty Images7. Lew Burdette
Before he was the MVP of the 1957 World Series, one the Yankees lost to the Milwaukee Braves, Burdette was Yankees property. He made two relief appearances as a Yankee in 1950 as a 23-year-old and totaled 1.1 innings in Pinstripes. He would go 203-144 with a 3.66 ERA in a career that saw him make two All-Star appearances and finish in the top 25 of MVP voting four times.
6. Dazzy Vance
Credit: Getty Images6. Dazzy Vance
He will go down in history as a Hall of Famer but certainly not for what he did with the Yankees. He was purchased by the Yankees from the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1915. He went 0-3 with a somewhat respectable 3.54 ERA in eight games, three of which were starts. However, he didn’t appear in another Major League game until 1918, when he was 27. He made two appearances with the Yankees that year and sported a 15.43 ERA in 2.1 innings. Needless to say, the future Hall of Famer didn’t impress much. He would eventually resurface in 1922, at 31, with the Brooklyn Dodgers and go on to put together his Hall of Fame career. If only the Yankees knew what they had in Vance they might have won their first pennant a little earlier.
5. Leo Durocher
Credit: Getty Images5. Leo Durocher
Leo “The Lip” is best known for his days as a manager with the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants. However, Leo started his baseball career with the Yankees in 1925. In three years with the Yankees, Durocher hit .257/.323/.310 over 210 games. He would go on to have a solid 17-year playing career before becoming the player-manager for the Dodgers in 1939. He would be known as one of the better managers of his era but would only win three pennants and one World Series.
4. Paul Waner
Credit: Getty Images4. Paul Waner
Waner is in the Hall of Fame for everything he did before becoming a New York Yankee. By the time he joined the Yankees in 1944 he had 3,151 hits. By the time he left the Yankees in 1945 he had 3,152 hits. He spent parts of the 1944 and 1945 seasons in the Bronx, his age 41 and age 42 seasons. He only appeared in 10 games though, and his one hit did drive in a run and he also stole a base. Nobody will remember Waner for his time on the Yankees, but he did don the Pinstripes for a short spell.
3. Clark Griffith
Credit: Getty Images3. Clark Griffith
Before owning the Washington Senators, Griffith was a very good pitcher in his day. Of course his day in the game was from 1891-1914. He pitched mostly for the Chicago Cubs, but he did pitch, and manage, for the Yankees from 1903-07. He posted a 32-24 mark with a 2.66 ERA for the Yankees across 87 games, 44 of which were starts. Shortly after leaving the Yankees he would go on to manage the Senators and eventually own them. The stadium where they played their games would be known as Clark Griffith Stadium. He was also instrumental in getting the American League up and running.
2. Branch Rickey
Credit: Getty Images2. Branch Rickey
The father of the farm system and the man who integrated baseball by signing Jackie Robinson, Rickey was actually a ballplayer and manager before moving to the front office side of things. He wasn’t a very good player, but he did play a total of 120 games at the Major League level as a catcher. He spent the 1907 season with the Yankees and appeared in 52 games, hitting .182/.253/.234. Those were the only games he appeared in as a Yankee.
1. George Halas
Credit: Getty Images1. George Halas
Yes, this is the same George Halas who would become a Hall of Famer in the NFL. Before that baseball was his passion, but he wasn’t very good. In 1919, he appeared in 12 games with the Yankees, striking out eight times in 22 at-bats and posting a .091/.091/091 slash line. Both of his hits were singles. Good thing for him football was an option. Good thing for the Chicago Bears he wasn’t very good at baseball.
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