cHE Speaks (about sports sometimes)

My task was simple, make an all-time team composed all African American Yankees. In a sport with currently less than seven percent African American players, it would be a challenge to fill an entire 25-man roster completely of Black American players. But let’s give it a shot. The goal is to build a roster that can win games and like any Yankees team, contend for a World Series. We want to build a flexible team that will gel on and off the diamond, and most importantly a team that can have hitters and pitchers for every situation. 

*Disclaimers* I only included black American players on this list. I am saving our black Latine brethren for another list (so don’t expect to see Bernie, Cano, or Melky Cabrera). 

I am also only considering how these players played for the Yankees. Your career as a Pittsburgh Pirate, in Japan or outer space doesn’t matter to me. (respectfully)

There were 4 players that for me were automatic locks:

Catcher: Elston Howard (R)

Starting Pitcher: CC Sabathia (L)

Second: Willie Randolph (R)

Shortstop: Derek Jeter (R)

Elston Howard was the first black Yankee and to my knowledge, the only black catcher in the team’s history. A standout football star, he turned down offers from now Power 5 universities like Michigan and Illinois to play outfield for the Kansas City Monarchs. After he was picked up by the Yankees, he was quickly converted to catcher and trained by another great Yankee catcher, Bill Dickey. Yankees GM George Weiss was public about his lack of interest in having a black player on the team, saying once in public that he would never have “a nigger on the Yankees”. Howard’s transition to catcher with Yogi Berra ahead of him is suspect as one could guess that Weiss was hoping to kill Howard’s career there.

After coming into the majors, Howard struggled to find consistent at bats at catcher and outfield because mainstays like Mickey Mantle and Hank Bauer (yeah, I know you remember him) already cemented. Howard fell victim to Casey Stengel’s platoon system, seeing time at 1st, LF and backing up at catcher. By 1960 Stengel was gone and Howard was the everyday catcher and won MVP in 1963, the year after the infamous M&M boys home runs race and Mantle and Marris were out for most of the year. A locker room mainstay in the great Yankee teams of the 60s, Howard brings professionalism, stability, and a clutch bat behind the plate, one that hit .462 in the WS in 61. If not for the presence of Yogi Berra and an elbow injury, we would be talking about Howard as a first ballot Hall of Famer if you ask any of his peers. 

The Yankees do not have a-lot of depth at starting pitcher in general, so snatching up a workhorse was top of my list. Few pitching free agent signings have had as much impact as Charleston Charles Sabathia. In the 2008 offseason CC was signed for 7 years at 161 million dollars, the largest contract ever signed by a pitcher at that point. From 2009 to 2012 you couldn’t ask for a more dominant starting pitcher. Leading the league in wins in 2009 and 2010, finishing top four in Cy Young Award three times as a Yankee. Simply put, if you gave the ball to CC during this stretch the Yankees won more than they lost. From 13-15 due to injuries, losing a step or two on his fastball and off the field issues stemming from a battle with alcoholism, CC struggled to find his way with the team. But a late career resurgence allowed for a rebirth as a command and location pitcher and was quite effective using his off-speed pitches during this stretch. He is an easy pick to lead our pitching staff.  

Middle infield for the Yankees isn’t filled with great options outside of some big names and some not so big ones, sorry Andre Robertson, so this was an easy pick at second. Willie Randolph gives us a great defender at second, known for his ability to turn two and his own defense could pick up the slack for one of our other infielders (more on him later). He was a constant on base threat, known for his bunting and his ability to draw the walk. Randolph was quiet leader and stabilizing voice and is extremely popular with every fan who watched the Bronx Zoo Yankees in the mid to late 70s. Like seriously, go ask your mom what she thinks about Willie, and I promise you the reaction will surprise you.

The easiest of all my picks was obviously at shortstop with Derek Jeter. Not much can be said that hasn’t been said already about El Capitán. He hit a lot of baseballs, a lot of clutch baseballs at that, was the face of the most popular team on Earth and dated your favorite model and actresses. His defensive short comings are well documented, but with Ellie driving the ship behind the plate and being next to Willie, Jeter’s slight deficiencies on that end should be covered up. What matters most here is that when number 2 comes to plate, we know were getting a knock when we need it. 

Ok so now for the interesting part, picking the rest of our team. Our research team spent hours and hours watching Yankeeography and talking to insiders all around the country.

All right maybe not that much time but I read a lot of Baseball Reference pages okay.

Pitching Staff

Choosing members for our pitching staff wasn’t hard once I got down to a few key contenders. Like I mentioned, the Yankees don’t have the deepest collection of pitchers, so my list goes like this after CC.

Starters:

Al Downing (L)

3.23 ERA

217 Strikeouts in 64

Immaculate inning in 1967

Dwight “Doc” Gooden (R)

4.67 ERA 

No Hitter in 96, 11 Games won

Charles Hudson (R)

3.97 ERA

17 Wins in 2 years with team

Bullpen:

Tom Flash Gordon (L)

Relief Pitcher

2.38 ERA 

2004 All Star

165 SO

159 Games in 2 Years (Work Horse) 

Rudy May (L)

3.12 ERA

54 Wins 

1980 2.46 ERA, 15 Wins

Shawn Chacon (R)

2.85 ERA

Lee Smith (R)

Grant Jackson (L)

In 21 games in 1 year 1.69 ERA

Not the flashiest names and some like Doc Gooden were a little over the hill in the Bronx. Some standouts that I think would be impact players are Al Downing starting behind CC, and Tom Gordon out of the pen. With their combination of command and speed they would be key contributors to getting outs and getting the ball to the offense. Having a great defensive team will be key because I think outside of a few, there will be a lot of balls hit into play so limiting doubles into singles will be key.

Infield 

Let’s fill out our infield. The corner infield positions both had two names stand out above the rest, Chris Chambliss at first and Charlie Hayes at third.

Chris Chambliss’s career as a Yankee is most known for his clutch hitting in the 1976 ALCS against the Royals where he hit .524 (yeah you read that right) on 11 for 21 with 2 homers and eight RBI’s, none bigger than a game winning shot to right to clinch the series. The images of Chambliss running around the bases while being swarmed by fans at the Stadium punctuate 70s baseball in the Bronx perfectly. In ’77 he helped lead the team to a WS win and in 78 was awarded a Gold Glove. Here are his numbers on the Yankees:

282 BA

15.4 WAR

.740 OPS

454 RBI

79 HR

Not bad at all. He also a great time playing the children’s game once saying, “If you’re not having fun [in baseball], you miss the point of everything”.

I’m not going to lie and say Charlie Hayes is a household name or that I had even heard much about him before starting research on this project, but in his three years as a Yankee, he’s about as good as you’re going to get.

.259 BA

3.1 WAR

.715 OPS

132 RBI

31 HR

He can also spell Chambliss at first on off days. Overall, are getting above average defense and a few more strikeouts than we would like. We’ll have to get creative on where we’ll have Hayes in the lineup. We’ll get back to that. 

Our bench infielders are rounded out by speedy switch hitting middle infielder Horace Clarke and lefty utility man Jerry Kenney who both bring flexibility both in the field and at the plate along with above average fielding. Clarke is best known for being the best player on some bad Yankees teams but as my research came to show he was a little good at just about everything. 

I’m also aware that Jerry Kenney is considered to be a bust by almost all that covered him. I am hoping being in a limited role and playing under some hall of fame talent would allow him to tap into some of that potential. I think that maybe the pressure of having to replace Mickey Mantle at center and indirectly Joe DiMaggio, and Earle Combs, was a lot to put on anyone. He was also regarded as a plus defender at third by Yankees manager Ralph Houlk who also said he was one of the fastest runners the Yankees had to date. So that’s all we need him to do, play some good third base and occasional short and be quick when he gets on the bases.

I have been hard pressed to find a backup catcher as I don’t think there has been another black Yankees catcher (let me know if I missed someone) besides Howard, so I am going to bend my own rules ever so slightly. I will be expanding my player pool for this position only to include players from the Negro Leagues Black Yankees. I thought about including players from other Negro League teams in the area like the Newark Eagles, Brooklyn Royal Giants and New York Cubans but decided that would be too far, so I kept it to just the Negro League team that represented uptown (even though they played a lot of “home” games in God’s country aka NEW JERSEY).

The New York Black Yankees were founded in 1931 as the Harlem Stars by businessman James Semler and entertainer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and renamed to the Black Yankees in 1932. The team doesn’t have as rich of a history of great talent and winning like some of the dynastic teams you may have heard of (the Kansas City Monarchs, Homestead Grays, and Pittsburgh Crawford’s) but they nevertheless had some great talent coming through their team during their barnstorming years in the 30s and 40s.

Johnny Hayes is the name that stands above the pack at catcher. He played 12 years of pro ball in the states (he has four years missing on Baseball Reference which I am going to chalk up to either the war or maybe he played some unrecorded years in DR or Venezuela). Of those 12 years, his best years were spent with the Black Yankees. He made his lone all-star appearance in 1947 at the age of 37 when he had an OPS+ of 122, (Negro League stats are not always the most accurate due to the fact they weren’t diligently kept every game) but what we can take from this is that he had a hell of a year in ‘47 and was an expert game caller behind the plate. He is also a lefty and will add a little flexibility to the bench.

Outfield 

Outfield for the Yankees is when it gets fun. I am willing to bet anyone that no team has a greater collection of outfield talent period and that extends to black players as well. We had eight true contenders for six spots (we are pulling our everyday DH from this pool as well so really five outfield spots). Honorable mention goes to Oscar Gamble, Gary Sheffield, Aaron Hicks, and Darryl Strawberry who all would’ve made the list if they were pitchers, backup catchers or corner infielders.

Our contenders are as follows:

Curtis Granderson

Rickey Henderson

Reggie Jackson

Aaron Judge

Mickey Rivers

Giancarlo Stanton

Roy White

Dave Winfield

Let’s start off with the easiest position to fill, center field. And although Granderson got some serious consideration (more on him later….) Rivers was the clearest choice. Another player who is especially popular with the Gen X mom crowd and although he didn’t have the strongest throwing arm (which is why I gave Aaron Hicks a quick look here) that’s about the only knock I have in his game besides for not hitting for power, but we have plenty of other guys coming for that. In terms of patrolling the field, there aren’t going to be a lot of balls that touch the grass in deep centerwith Mick the Quick out there. His excellent fielding pairs with speed on the bags and being an on base threat whether it come via a slap to right field or from the walk.

.299 BA in 3 Years with Yankees

15.1 WAR

OPS .746

209 RBI

34 HR

93 SB

When I started getting this list together, I thought for sure I’d have the all-time steals leader at left no question. But another name kept on creeping up, Roy White. 

White is somewhat of a folk hero amongst fans and players alike from the 60s and 70s. A lifetime Yankee, White had two back-to-back All-Star years in 69 and 70 and in the entire 1971 campaign he didn’t commit a single error. He had big hit after big hit in the 78 playoffs leading to a WS win, averaging .333 with 4 RBIs in the series. He was a selfless player, leading the team in sacrifice hits during many of his 15 years on the team. And if you ask him, he was hitting at the wrong place in the order during the early part of his career. He felt he was better equipped to hit second as supposed to fourth where he spent about five years. White is the definition of a team first player who doesn’t have a lot of flashy numbers but his impact to winning was high. 

But a bigger name also gets a good look here as well, that is the previously mentioned Rickey Henderson. While White’s game doesn’t leap off the page at you, EVERYTHING about the Man of Steal does. From the neon gloves to the Deion Sanders esque confidence and swag. And none of that compares to his ability to put pressure on defenses by stealing bases. NO ONE could command a game with his legs like Rickey Henderson in his prime. A truly singular talent whose dynamic style of play had every crowd he played in front of in awe. 

So do we reward a lifetime Yankee who although wasn’t an all-time great, he provides excellent defense and stability to our locker-room. Or do we go with an inner circle Hall of Famer who didn’t play his all of his best games with the team, even his next step down is better than eight out of ten guys. 

The answer is: I’m taking both. Both White and Henderson will be on our team. Henderson as our starter and White as our fourth (or fifth) outfielder. His great defense and switch hitting would add flexibility in case of injuries, off days or on second games of doubleheaders. Look for White to start 70-80 games a year in left (depending on injuries). 

Now for the grand finale for our outfield. Let’s review on who’s still on the board:

Curtis Granderson

Dave Winfield

Reggie Jackson

Giancarlo Stanton

Aaron Judge

Of these five, only three will make the final team to get reps at right and DH. 

Of these players Curtis Granderson is the only non-Hall of Fame caliber talent (I believe Stanton is well on his way and Judge might have punched his ticket after this unreal season he’s having in 2022). But Granderson played his best baseball in pinstripes, utilizing the short porch in right field to his advantage hitting 41 HR with 119 RBIs in 2011 and the next year, in his second consecutive all-star year he hit 43 and 106. His defense is where questions start coming. The eye test for me told me that speedy Granderson was great defender, but when I saw he was never a Gold Glove Winner and the analytics said he wasn’t the best I was a little surprised. But it can’t be ignored that Joe Girardi felt confident enough in his glove to play him in all 3 outfield positions during his time in the Bronx. 

As an athlete, Dave Winfield was one of one. One of three players to be drafted in four leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, ABA), Winfield could do it all. Winfield’s time as a Yankee got off to rocky start when the Boss gave Winfield a ten-year $23 million contract when he meant to give him a 16-million-dollar contract (in short Steinbrenner didn’t understand the cost-of-living clause in the contract). This was the beginning of a contentious relationship with ownership, one where Steinbrenner would leak stories about Winfield or try to trade him daily it probably felt like. But this dynamic didn’t have much effect on Winfield’s numbers. He was another player who played his best baseball in the Boogie Down. Winning Gold Glove after Gold Glove, Silver Slugger after Silver Slugger and finished top 12 in MVP voting six times to boot. Winfield was a consistent producer during the regular season, but his Yankees career is marked by never winning a World Series in the Bronx. In some cases, he was simply hindered by playing on injury plagued teams, but Steinbrenner’s Mr. May derogatory nickname was at times true. Winfield took his failures in stride and with a unique style of humor, charisma, class, and intensity, was one of the best players for the Yankees during the dark days of the 80s.

Reggie Jackson’s free agent signing in late 1976 was the biggest free agent signing at that point and probably still to this day in Yankees history (no shade Gerrit Cole). I’ve spoken about the Bronx Zoo era Yankees a little bit earlier, but no single player encapsulated the spirt of the energy around and within the Yankees clubhouse better than Reggie. His rocky relationship with Thurman Munson reminds me a little of ARod and Jeter’s relationship (minus the former best friendship and shirtless SI pic), which makes me think how Jeter and Reggie would get along if he was to be on this team. We’ll get back to them.

Then there is Billy Martin and Jackson. I’m going to go further from “rocky relationship” to just saying that they didn’t like each other. A fight in the dugout which was broken up by Elston Howard, who was serving as a coach for the team, and war of words from day one marked their relationship. But for all his arguments and disagreements, Jackson’s run as a Yankee was legendary. It’s ironic that it was Munson who gave Jackson his “Mr. October” nickname that he is still known as today. In 1977 Reggie cemented his status in New York sports and baseball lore with a three-home run game in Game 6 vs the Dodgers. In his two World Series championships with the Bombers, Reggie was breaking records that were previously held by Babe Ruth and are still held by Jackson to this day.

For our two current players I must be honest and say when I started this project during the lockout, I perceived the gap between Big G and Aaron Judge to be a little closer. But Judge is rounding of an all time great season That being said let’s get on into it. 

Of all the power hitters in baseball history, how many can you really say hit baseballs harder than Giancarlo Stanton? This tweet from August 2021 sums up how amazingly hard he hits the ball.

Now with great power also comes…. Extremely ugly strikeouts. I don’t think I have seen someone strikeout so hard so many times. That being said Big G is a machine in clutch situations, and during stretches when Judge was out of the lineup, he flat out carried the team.

Now onto our final candidate. Aaron Judge just wrapped up a career defining season and will God willing, end up leading the team to a 28th World Series. But so far in his career, he has flirted with greatness before. Nearly winning MVP in his rookie year and demolishing home runs to every inch of the stadium.  His numbers speak for themselves:

Let’s take a second the just appreciate the season that Judge just finished. Think back to Barry Bond’s 2004 season and think of every single season performance by a offensive player since than and name me one that’s better than the season Judge is putting together…. You can’t name one. Not ARod, not Trout, not Pujols, no one has had a season like this in at least a generation.

Judge is also a plus defender who has shown he is more than capable even at 6’7-6’8 to play center field. That is no small feat. He has a canon, and his mere presence deters runners from stretching out another base. 

With all that being said, I am taking Reggie, Dave and Aaron to make our final roster. Giancarlo’s skill set is a bit redundant with these three and even though Granderson provides a lot of flexibility and a lefty bat, a three headed monster with some of the best hitters the league has seen is too much to ignore.

I bet you’re asking, “so who will come off the bench?”. I am going to just rip the Band-Aid off and say it, Dave Winfield. That’s right I am sitting Hall of Famer Dave Winfield to start Aaron Judge in right field and since Reggie is left-handed his spot isn’t getting touched by either at DH. Am I showing my age and a bit of recency bias by picking Judge? Maybe, but Dave NEVER had a season like we just watched Judge complete. I am also counting on Judge’s arm and slightly superior defense, but in all honestly both will play a ton. Both will play in right, DH and even see some time at center. 

Ok our team is set. Let’s run through our rotation order again quickly. 

1: CC Sabathia (L)

2: Al Downing (L)

3: Doc Gooden (R)

4: Charles Hudson (R)

So, remember when I said Hayes would be the only Negro Leagues Black Yankees player selected…. I lied. Sorry, shoot me. IT’S MY LIST! 

Once I started looking for a backup catcher, I found two pitchers that would beef up our sparse pitching staff. 

Bill Holland (R) was the first black person to pitch at Yankees Stadium in 1930 as a member of the New York Lincoln Giants. Like Hayes, he played his best years as a Black Yankee making the 1939 All Star team. In 1952 he was voted by the Pittsburgh Courier in the Third Team of all Negro Leagues players. In his first year with the Black Yankees, he fired a 3.18 ERA, and he has the best nickname on the team by far, “Devil”.

Before there was Shohei Ohtani there was Barney Brown (L). His slash line at the plate of a .306 average, OBP .369 and a slugging percentage of .383 could win him an MVP today. In 1937 he put up almost an 110 ERA+ in 57.1 innings (a 110 ERA+ means that the pitcher’s park- and league-adjusted ERA was 10 percent better than the league mean)

I am going to move Charles Hudson to the bullpen so now our rotation will look like this:

1. CC Sabathia (L)
2. Al Downing (L)
3. Doc Gooden (R)
4. Bill Holland (R)
5. Barney Brown (L)

This is how the bullpen is looking after the additions:

Tom “Flash” Gordon (L)

Charles Hudson (R)

Rudy May (L)

Shawn Chacon (R)

Lee Smith (R)

Grant Jackson (L)

I feel a lot better about this rotation and bullpen now, not because Bill Holland and Barney Brown are Bob Gibson and Satchel Paige, but because they add a little more depth and proven versatile arms. 

Now finally for our opening day starting lineup:

1. Rickey Henderson LF (R)
2. Derek Jeter SS (R)
3. Reggie Jackson DH (L)
4. Aaron Judge RF (R)
5. Chris Chambliss 1B (L)
6. Elston Howard C (R) Manager
7. Charlie Hayes 3B (R)
8. Mickey Rivers CF (L)
9. Willie Randolph 2B (R)

Bench 

Dave Winfield RF/DH (R)

Roy White LF (S)

Horace Clarke 2B (S)

Jerry Kenney 3B/SS/CF (L)

Johnny Hayes C (L)

This team is built to get hits, by any means. Hits into the gaps, hits the other way, bunts, homers. You name it, we want it. The lineup is constructed to put pressure on you in different ways. In one inning you could have to deal with Henderson at first and Randolph at third with Jeter at the plate fouling pitches off while you sweat thinking about Jackson coming up. Or now you’re almost out of the inning after striking out Judge but now player manager Elston Howard is calling on Winfield’s number to pinch hit for Chambliss. The team is all about the next man up mentality, having good at bat after good at bat. I would’ve liked to get Judge hitting behind Jeter and Jackson hitting clean up, but I had to break up those righty bats. I also would’ve maybe liked to put Chambliss a little lower and on days when Roy White is playing for Henderson, I could probably make that happen. 

1. Mickey Rivers CF (L)
2. Derek Jeter SS (R)
3. Dave Winfield RF (R)
4. Reggie Jackson DH (L)
5. Elston Howard C (R)
6. Chris Chambliss 1B (L)
7. Charlie Hayes 3B (R)
8. Willie Randolph 2B (R)
9. Roy White LF (S)

This second lineup utilizes Randolph’s ability to get on base paired with White’s proclivity for sac flies and hit and runs at the bottom of the order and gives a gauntlet of Winfield (or Judge), Jackson and Ellie in the middle. Capped off with the speed of Rivers and Jeter’s bat.

1. Rickey Henderson CF (R)
2. Roy White LF (S)
3. Derek Jeter SS (R)
4. Reggie Jackson RF (L)
5. Aaron Judge DH (R)
6. Johnny Hayes C (L)
7. Elston Howard 1B (R)
8. Charlie Hayes 3B (R)
9. Horace Clarke 2B (S)

This third lineup utilizes our bench almost to its fullest capacity. The hit and runs with Clarke, Henderson, White and Jeter would be glorious and moving a power threat like Ellie down to seventh adds a different wrinkle. I don’t expect that this lineup would be used much but it shows some of the versatility. 

1. Rickey Henderson LF (R)
2. Aaron Judge CF (R) 

3. Derek Jeter SS (R)
4. Reggie Jackson RF (L)
5. Dave Winfield RF (R)
6. Chris Chambliss 1B (L)
7. Elston Howard C (R)
8. Willie Randolph 2B (R)
9. Charlie Hayes 3B (R)

I call this lineup The Uncle Steve Special. My uncle insisted that it was blasphemy not to start Dave Winfield and that I should sit (the left-handed) Mickey Rivers and put one of Judge or Winfield in center…. Well, this is what we get when we do that. A power hitting, right-handed team without a lot of flexibly outside of the two lefties in the middle. This screams of the modern day of baseball and the three true outcomes (walks, strikeouts, homeruns).

Would Jeter end up killing his loquacious, loudmouth teammates Henderson and Jackson? Ehhhhh there’s a good chance those three don’t mix. But with a lot of wins and Howard and Randolph keeping the peace in the locker-room, I don’t think it gets too bad (we hope…).

Overall I predict a 98-101 win team that wins the AL East easily and has a long playoff run.

Works Cited

All Stats came from:

• Baseball Reference
• Seamheads
• Fangraphs

Horace Clarke

Jerry Kenney

https://www.pinstripealley.com/2021/6/26/22544321/new-york-black-yankees-negro-leagues-history-best-players-baseball-reference-satchel-paige