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I'm a Yankee hater and the only 3rd baseman I've ever seen field better than Nettles was Brooks, and there wasn't all that much of a difference. [btw, I think Schmidt's the best all-around at the position I've seen].



I was too young to see Brooks in his heyday, so nothing I saw live compared to Graig at third. As an all-round player I suppose you'd have to go with Schmidt, but I'd take Nettles over him, Brooks, Geo. Brett and Wade Boggs.

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The rubber ball thing was one of the funniest things I ever saw.


Definitely, I wonder if that was actually before his big HR seasons. He claimed someone gave him the bat and he had no idea. Sure!

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Pinella was the Yankee I least wanted to see up if the game was on the line [remember I'm rooting AGAINST the Yanks, so that's quite the compliment].



Yep. He was a great clutch hitter AND outfielder. He'd get to a lot of balls you wouldn't expect him to. And he was always good for a few ass-over-teakettle dramatic flips to keep things interesting. He had a really bad inner ear problem around 75 that did a job on his numbers.

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The only Yankee I've dreaded more EVER was Bernie. I think Bernie is the least appreciated Yankee, maybe of all time. I think that most of the people with the highest respect for Bernie are non-Yankee fans.



For sure. Bernie was taken for granted. Munson was a dreaded batter, a lot of people forget that.

Lou Piniella, Portland Beavers, 1966:



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