Pinstripe Alley’s Top 100 Yankees: #12: Ron Guidry: On the Mount Rushmore of Yankee pitchers, the diminutive “Gator” had a spectacular career in pinstripes
January 26, 2024
Pinstripe Alley’s Top 100 Yankees: #12: Ron Guidry: On the Mount Rushmore of Yankee pitchers, the diminutive “Gator” had a spectacular career in pinstripes
2 comments
> Ron Guidry. “Louisiana Lightning.” For Yankees fans of a certain age, there is a good chance he was their guy. He broke into the bigs at age 24 in 1975, but it wasn’t until two years later that he locked down a spot in the Yankees rotation. From there, he went on an absolute tear, highlighted by his superhuman 1978 season.
> Early in Guidry’s career, he must have thought that playing in the postseason was a given, as the Yankees made one October appearance after another. But for the final seven years of his time in the majors, he never sniffed playoff baseball. After retirement, he made his first appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot in 1994 and lasted for nine years, never eclipsing 8.8 percent of the vote.
> At the end of the day though, Guidry’s name litters the all-time leaderboard of a franchise that has been around for quite a while. *Third in strikeouts among Yankee hurlers, fourth in rWAR among pitchers, fifth in wins and games started, Guidry comes in at No. 12 on our list of all-time greatest Yankees.*
2 comments
> Ron Guidry. “Louisiana Lightning.” For Yankees fans of a certain age, there is a good chance he was their guy. He broke into the bigs at age 24 in 1975, but it wasn’t until two years later that he locked down a spot in the Yankees rotation. From there, he went on an absolute tear, highlighted by his superhuman 1978 season.
> Early in Guidry’s career, he must have thought that playing in the postseason was a given, as the Yankees made one October appearance after another. But for the final seven years of his time in the majors, he never sniffed playoff baseball. After retirement, he made his first appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot in 1994 and lasted for nine years, never eclipsing 8.8 percent of the vote.
> At the end of the day though, Guidry’s name litters the all-time leaderboard of a franchise that has been around for quite a while. *Third in strikeouts among Yankee hurlers, fourth in rWAR among pitchers, fifth in wins and games started, Guidry comes in at No. 12 on our list of all-time greatest Yankees.*
Top 11 in no order will be:
Babe Ruth
Lou Gherig
Mickey Mantle
Joe DiMaggio
Yogi Berra
Derek Jeter
Mariano Rivera
Whitey Ford
Andy Pettitte
Alex Rodriguez
Bill Dickey