New York Yankees: The franchise’s 4 greatest hitting performances
The New York Yankees franchise oozes history and some of Major League Baseball’s best and most memorable players have suited up in pinstripes.
With that in mind, we decided to dive into the record books to see which Yankees had the best-ever games at the plate in the illustrious history of the franchise. Surprisingly, names like Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and Babe Ruth didn’t make the list.
Who had the best games at the plate in the history of the New York Yankees?
Using total bases in a single game as the mark we used, here are the players who had the four best hitting performances in Yankees history.
We start with a very familiar name, Joe DiMaggio.
The Yankee Clipper had three games in his Hall of Fame career where he totaled 14 bases in a single game. Let’s look at the game when he hit that mark for the first time, July 9, 1937.
On that July day, in the 200th game of his career and the first after the 1937 All-Star break, DiMaggio would go 5-for-5 with a pair of home runs and seven RBI as the Yankees handed the Washington Senators a 16-2 defeat. It would be the first cycle of his career, and his next (and final) one wouldn’t come for almost 11 years. That May 20, 1948, game against the Chicago White Sox would also be the next time DiMaggio would total 14 bases.
You can read more about the game and DiMaggio’s performance that day here.
Curtis Granderson spent four seasons in a Yankees uniform, including two seasons where he would earn an All-Star Game bid. One of those seasons was 2012, and Granderson started that season off with a bang in the finale of a three-game home series in mid-April against the Minnesota Twins.
Looking at Curtis Granderson’s greatest game with the New York Yankees
In a Thursday night game, Granderson would go 5-for-5 with three home runs as the Yankees held on for a 7-6 win over the Twins. The performance would give 14 total bases on the night, making him one of just three Yankees in franchise history to accomplish the feat (along with Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig).
Granderson, playing center field and batting second in the New York lineup behind Derek Jeter, hit home runs in the first and second innings off Minnesota starter Anthony Swarzak, then made it three home runs in three at-bats when he drilled a solo shot off Jeff Gray in the fourth. He would add singles in the sixth and eighth innings.
The power surge would be a sign of things to come for Granderson, who finished the 2012 campaign with a career-high 43 home runs. That came on the heels of a 2011 season where he logged 41 homers, marking the only two times in his career when he hit more than 30 in a season.
Of all of the greats to ever play for the Yankees, Tony Lazzeri’s name might not be the first to come to mind. However, there’s no question of the impact for the infielder in his 12 years wearing pinstripes.
Lazzeri was a part of five World Series championships with the Yankees. That includes the 1936 season when Lazzeri also posted his finest game ever for the franchise.
Remembering the day Tony Lazzeri and the New York Yankees obliterated the Philadelphia Athletics
On May 24, 1936, in a 25-2 drubbing of the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park, Lazzeri, batting eighth in the lineup, went 4-for-5 with three homers and logged 11 RBI. He also added a triple to give him 15 total bases on the day, making him the only Yankees player to ever have 15 in a single game.
After going three up and three down in the opening inning, the Yankees began their onslaught on Philadelphia pitching in the second frame. New York scored five times in the inning, including four on a grand slam by Lazzeri off Athletics starter George Turbeville.
Lazzeri would add home runs in the fifth and seventh innings, and post a two-run triple in the eighth to finish off the second-greatest offensive performance in Yankees history.
Lou Gehrig had many highlights as a member of the Yankees between 1923 and 1939. But of all of the games where the Iron Horse stepped to the plate, none of them were more productive than the day he took the field against the Philadelphia Athletics on June 3, 1932.
The day that Lou Gehrig put up his best-ever game at the plate for the New York Yankees
On that day at Shibe Park, Gehrig totaled 16 bases by going 4-for-6 with four home runs and six RBI in a 20-13 Yankees win. Gehrig’s blasts were part of seven home runs hit by the Yankees that day, with Babe Ruth, Tony Lazzeri, and Earle Combs adding their own blasts. Lazzeri, by the way, would finish with six RBI in the game as well.
The lopsided win over Philadelphia would be the only game in his illustrious career where Gehrig would hit four homers in a single game. It would also be one of 13 games in his career where Gehrig would total six RBI or more.
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Gehrig would hit blasts in the first, fourth, fifth, and seventh innings against the Athletics. It would be part of a season where Gehrig would post 34 homers and a slash line of .349/.451/.621 and 1.072 OPS.