Keidel: Yogi Berra Was Better And More Important Than Derek Jeter
By Jason Keidel
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The firewall between Mets and Yankees fans is so high that it took the death of Yogi Berra to bring some sense of unity.
No need for the nth eulogy here. How do you reduce 90 years of Americana to 90 words? We all know what the iconic catcher meant to New York City. And it's rather fitting that the year he leaves will also have autumn baseball in both boroughs.
But for all his goofball colloquialisms and rapid-fire non-sequiturs, most seem to agree on one thing: His unique persona detracted from his epic talent. And since we fans love lists, we'd love to find a place for the catcher and character nonpareil.
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Everyone agrees on the four most important Yankees: Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle. (Sweeny Murti and yours truly would try to slide Mariano Rivera in there, but let's omit pitchers for the sake of this debate.)
It's going to kill all the millennials -- the "Got Rings?" bunch and the Abercrombie crowd that can't name five players prior to 1996 -- but Berra is the fifth card in that hand of baseball kings.
The Jeter babies can shriek all they want. But if winning is the main metric -- and what else is there when you wear pinstripes? -- then Yogi is your guy.
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The stats can favor your favored player. Berra had more home runs (358) and RBIs (1,430) than Jeter (260 HRs, 1,311 RBIs) while playing in 627 fewer regular-season games (nearly four full seasons worth). Jeter had way more hits (3,465 to 2,150) and a higher batting average (.310 to .285.). Jeter had more doubles and triples, but also four times more strikeouts (1,840) than Berra (414).
According to baseball-reference.com, Berra's average 162-game season yielded 27 HRs, 109 RBIs, a .285 BA, 90 runs, 54 BBs, and 32 SOs. Jeter's template season was 15 HRs, 77 RBIs, .a 310 BA, 113 runs, 64 BBs, and 109 SOs. Considering the epoch and epic contours of most MLB ballparks...
The postseason numbers are obscured by the swollen number of games in which Jeter appeared. Between the ALDS, ALCS and World Series, Jeter played in an astonishing 158 playoff games. Berra played in 75 World Series games, back when there was only one pennant to win.
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And, of course, Berra won three AL MVP awards, to none for Jeter. Berra also did it playing the most grueling position in the sport, and playing it very well.
Both were productive, both were clutch. So the pinstriped, hanging chad says championships. Maybe, if it were any other franchise, the data slants toward Jeter, who would be the best player in the history of almost any other franchise.
But Jeter would be the first to raise his hand when asked if players should be judged by personal numbers or collective accomplishments. By that measurement, it has to be Berra -- the player, not the caricature -- who has eclipsed his titanic, diamond deeds.
Berra played in 14 World Series. Jeter played in 7. Berra has 10 rings. Jeter has five. Both played on teams bursting with talent. Berra played when the Yankees had a chokehold on scouting. Jeter played for George Steinbrenner, who had a monopoly on money.
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It's not the sexy pick. Most of us never saw Yogi play. Jeter was all playboy while Berra was all pastoral. Yogi left the bar long before the sun crept up the skyline, and came home to the same woman every night. He doesn't have Jeter's Madison Avenue contours, didn't have a different high-cheekboned pixie on his arm every season, didn't have a duplex in one of Donald Trump's palaces, didn't have a Florida crib so colossal they renamed the area "St. Jetersburg."
But winning is pretty sexy. Maybe Yogi Berra wasn't built for the silver screen and didn't have a silver tongue, but he was a silver slugger in baseball's golden age.
Follow Jason on Twitter @JasonKeidel.
