The New York Yankees are the greatest franchise in all of professional sport. They have won more pennants than any team in Major League Baseball including a record setting streak of five consecutive World Series wins. It naturally follows that the Yankees would have more great players than any other team and they do. There are 18 Yankees in the MLB Hall of Fame and three of them are managers.

The greatest Yankee could be Babe Ruth, the homerun king who played in the 1920’s and 30’s and changed the game forever with his outsized talent and public persona. His name defines sports celebrity. It also could be Yogi Berra, the squat catcher of the 1950’s who won three American League Most Valuable Player awards and later managed the Yankees and, then, the New York Mets in the World Series. Then there is Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio, The Yankee Clipper, who also won three MVP awards and, in 1969, was voted baseball’s greatest living player in a national poll. His record 56 game hitting streak has never been threatened in more than 68 years and, according to most pundits, will never be broken.

Mickey Mantle replaced DiMaggio and immediately matched his three MVP awards. He threatened Babe Ruth’s single season homerun record twice in his career, won the Triple Crown and still holds seven World Series records. Lou Gehrig still holds the record for most grand slams. Known as The Iron Horse, his record setting streak of more than 2,000 consecutive games stood for 56 years. The Yankees have pitchers, of course. Whitey Ford’s record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched in the World Series stood for 40 years. Lefty Gomez won a record six World Series games without a loss in the 1930’s.