Sports bar debaters should have a field day with this one: a new poll found that Derek Jeter is tied with Babe Ruth as the greatest Yankee of all time.However, there was this important side note:
So say 1,528 New York City residents questioned by Quinnipiac University pollsters, who placed the 3,000-hit Yankee on the same lofty plane as one of the most exalted figures in all of sports history.
Ruth and Jeter were both mentioned by 23 percent of those polled.
No one else broke double digits -- not even the legendary figures who comprise the Yankee pantheon.
Joe DiMaggio was mentioned by 9 percent; Lou Gehrig, 8 percent and the mighty Mickey Mantle, 3 percent.
Old-time fans scratching their heads need to know this: if it weren't for women and baseball fans under 35, The Babe would have come out on top, as he has in just about every other poll ever conducted.Leaving pitchers out of the debate for now, Ruth, clearly and without question, is no 1. After all, nobody has every dominated a sport like he did. Number 2 is Gehrig, followed by DiMaggio, then Mantle, and then Jeter. And if you asked the man himself he'd probably agree.
It is hardly an insult to suggest that Jeter ranks 5th behind those names, so calm down you Jeter obsessed 96ers, this is not a knock on the captain.
What are your rankings? Tell me your top 5 Yankee offensive players of all-time in the comments section below.