Baseball historians consider the 1998 World Series Champion New York Yankees team to be one of the greatest in MLB history. Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez, Derek Jeter, and Paul O’Neill had tremendous seasons at the plate. David Cone and David Wells provided strong and consistent starting pitching. And Mariano Rivera and Ramiro Mendoza teamed up for a nearly unstoppable bullpen. Considering their historical relevance, I thought it would be fun to briefly overview the team’s accomplishments before jumping into a rundown of the key players on the roster’s 1998 stats and rookie cards.
The 1998 Yankees went 114-48 to win the AL East by 22 games over the Boston Red Sox. They then won their Division Series 3-0 over the Texas Rangers before defeating the Cleveland Indians 4-2 in the AL Championship Series. Ultimately, they cruised to sweep the San Diego Padres 4-0 in the World Series, meaning they had the most wins by a team that would win the World Series; Seattle won 116 games in 2001 but failed to make it to the World Series (they were stopped by the Yankees 4-1 in the AL Championship Series).
The Joe Torre-coached Yankees are considered the 4th or 5th best team of all time, depending on the survey. The other teams that often get placed ahead of or around them include the 1927 New York Yankees, 1939 New York Yankees, 1975 Cincinnati Reds, 1929 Philadelphia Athletics, 1906 Chicago Cubs, and 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates. The 1998 Yankee team was incredibly balanced with great hitting, defense, base-running, starting pitching, and relief pitching. What follows are the stat lines and my favorite rookie cards for each significant player on the team.
C Jorge Posada
.268 BA, 17 HR, 63 RBI
1B Tino Martinez
.281 BA, 28 HR, 123 RBI, 92 R
Some folks don’t like to include Traded cards as rookies; the 1989 Bowman #211 Tino Martinez is a great card too.
2B Chuck Knoblauch
.265 BA, 17 HR, 64 RBI, 117 R, 31 SB
SS Derek Jeter
.324 BA, 19 HR, 84 RBI, 127 R, 30 SB
3B Scott Brosius
.300 BA, 19 HR, 98 RBI
LF Chad Curtis
.243 BA, 10 HR, 56 RBI, 21 SB
CF Bernie Williams
.339 BA, 26 HR, 97 RBI, 101 R
RF Paul O’Neill
.317 BA, 24 HR, 116 RBI, 95 R
DH Darryl Strawberry
.247 BA, 24 HR, 57 RBI
DH Tim Raines (Off the Bench)
.290 BA, 5 HR, 47 RBI, 53 R
C Joe Girardi (Off the Bench)
78 G, .276 BA, 3 HR, 31 RBI
SP Andy Pettitte
16-11 W-L, 4.24 ERA, 146 SO
SP David Wells
18-4 W-L, 3.49 ERA, 163 SO
SP David Cone
20-7 W-L, 3.55 ERA, 209 SO
SP Hideki Irabu
13-9 W-L, 4.06 ERA, 126 SO
SP Orlando Hernandez
12-4 W-L, 3.13 ERA, 131 SO
CL Mariano Rivera
3-0 W-L, 1.91 ERA, 36 SO, 36 SV
RP Ramiro Mendoza
10-2 W-L, 3.25 ERA, 56 SO
Let me know which of these rookie cards is your favorite in the comments; I’m partial to the 1990 Topps Bernie Williams, and happy collecting!