In 2022, Yankees’ superstar Aaron Judge won the AL MVP award. He was 23rd Yankee to win it. However, there are many Yankees who never became the MVP of the American League despite being worshipped by fans as legends of the team.
Derek Jeter won everything except AL MVP
The Yankees remember Derek Jeter as their best-ever shortstop. He was fondly called Mr. November, The Captain, and remains a symbol of New York’s pride. Jeter won several accolades that many Yankees players can dream of only. However, he never won an AL MVP award. His best MVP finish came in 2006 when he was voted second after Justin Morneau.
Derek Jeter was a 14-time All-Star and won five Yankees WS rings. He won Gold Glove and Silver Slugger five times each. His awards included World Series MVP, All-Star Game MVP, and Rookie of the Year. The former captain was an almost unanimous choice to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The only thing he doesn’t have on his resume is an American League MVP award.
As the captain of the Yankees, Derek Jeter has never had trouble making headlines, and few would argue that he hasn’t been one of the best players of his generation. Jeter got MVP votes in 12 of his 20 seasons, with the best ones coming in 1998, 1999, 2006, and 2009. However, he never got enough to win the award.
Derek Jeter’s best chance to win MVP was in 2006, but Twins first baseman Justin Morneau beat him by 14 points in a race that might be seen differently 15 years from now.
The Captain had always set the table for the Yankees‘ power hitters in the middle of the order. Because of this, he has never had a season where he won everything. Still, it’s easy to see why he should have won the award in 2006 instead of Justin Morneau.
By a large amount, Derek Jeter had a higher WAR than Morneau. According to Fangraphs WAR (fWAR), it was 6.1 to 3.8, and according to Baseball-Reference WAR, it was 5.6 to 4.3. (bWAR). Grady Sizemore, an outfielder for the Indians who hit below .500, had a 7.9 fWAR, which was second to Jeter’s 6.1 fWAR. Morneau was tied for 22nd.
While teammate Alex Rodriguez won his third MVP in five years in 2007, Derek Jeter had to wait a little longer for another ring with the Yankees, but it finally arrived in 2009, the same season he finished third in MVP voting for the second time in his career. Jeter’s other best chances at an MVP came in 1998 and 1999 when he helped lead the Yankees to the first two of three consecutive World Series titles.
Bill Dickey: Yankees great catcher didn’t win AL MVP
Bill Dickey was the first in a long line of great Yankees catchers, had a career batting average of .313 that trails only Mickey Cochrane and Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer among major league catchers.
He was the Yankees’ backstop for 17 seasons, hitting better than .300 in 11 of them. He had good power and was an excellent run producer.
Five times, he finished in the top ten in AL MVP voting. However, it’s difficult to win an MVP when the contenders included Jimmie Foxx, the man capable of smashing everyone before him. His best chance came in 1938 when he finished second in AL MVP voting to Jimmie Foxx.
Gary Sheffield: Yankees feared slugger
Gary Sheffield was the definition of a feared slugger, with tremendous power and possibly the fastest hands the game had ever seen. Despite moving around to eight different teams over the course of his 22-year career, he found success every step of the way.
He put up his best numbers after turning 30, averaging .307 BA, 35 HR, and 110 RBI from 1999 to 2005 and finishing in the top ten in MVP voting four times. However, those years coincided with the peak of the steroid era, and Sheffield was never named AL MVP.
In 2004, he was second in the AL MVP voting after Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels.
Wade Boggs: Yankees pure hitter
Wade Boggs was one of the best pure hitters of his era and all time. He played for the Yankees from 1993 to 1997 after a decade with the Red Sox. He hit .328 in his career and had 3,010 hits. He was the winner of five batting titles. Six times, Boggs led the league in on-base percentage. However, his run production was not homer-oriented, which hurt his ballot showings at a time when voters did not have access to today’s context-driven stats.
His best AL MVP moment came in 1985. Boggs ended up fourth.
Boggs’ only World Series title came in 1996 when he helped the Yankees win their first in 18 years against the Atlanta Braves. Boggs pinch hit in the tenth inning of the series’ fourth game, in which the Yankees rallied from a six-run deficit to tie it. Using the batting eye he was known for throughout his career, he drew a bases-loaded walk from Steve Avery, forcing in the game-winning run and eventually winning 8-6 to tie the series. Despite his self-proclaimed fear of horses, Boggs celebrated the Yankees’ series victory in game 6 by jumping on the back of an NYPD horse and riding around the field with his index finger in the air.
Johnny Mize: Yankees giant beater
Johnny Mize, who played during a period when some of baseball’s greatest sluggers were at their peak, led the league in home runs four times and RBI three times. He twice came second in AL MVP list. In 1939, Mize lost to Bucky Walters and in 1940, to Frank McCormick.
While he did finish second in MVP voting twice, his best season was probably in 1947, when he hit .302 and led the league with 51 home runs, 138 RBI, and 137 runs scored.
Dave Winfield
Dave Winfield‘s athleticism was on display during 22 seasons of Major League excellence, earning him 12 All-Star Games and induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a first-ballot inductee in 2001. While with the Blue Jays in 1992, he won the sixth Silver Slugger Award of his career and finished in the top five of the AL MVP voting. But he never won an AL MVP award.
Winfield became the game’s highest-paid player in December 1980, when New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner signed him to a ten-year, $23 million contract. With a 6-foot-6 physique, the hitter always put pitchers and infielders on the defensive. He strode around the bases like Edwin Moses between the hurdles. He closed on fly balls like he was still running the break in basketball and dared runners to test a right arm that had made him one of college baseball’s top pitchers before switching to the outfield. Throughout his Yankee career, Winfield was one of the game’s highest-rated players. He was instrumental in leading the Yankees to the American League pennant in 1981.
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