Bill Dickey or Yogi Berra?

The Greatest New York Yankee in Uniform #8

By Paul Semendinger

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NOTE - The following first ran on the IBWAA daily newsletter, Here's The Pitch, on April 11, 2026

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The following is an excerpt from my newest book The Greatest New York Yankees

By Uniform Number (published by Artemesia Publishing):

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Only five Yankees wore No. 8.

Four of those were catchers: Johnny Grabowski, Bill Dickey, Aaron Robinson, and Yogi Berra.

The only non-catcher to wear this uniform number as a Yankee was outfielder Johnny Lindell.

Today, uniform No. 8 is retired for both Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra, the two greatest catchers in the history of the Yankees.

Both players are in Monument Park and the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Bill Dickey, who wore uniform No. 10 in 1929, his rookie season, wore No. 8 from 1930 until 1946 the end of his career, played entirely with the Yankees. In 1944 and 1945, Dickey served in the military during World War II.

Over the course of his career, Dickey batted over .300 11 times. He was also an 11-time All-Star. The Yankees went to eight World Series, winning seven of them with Dickey as their starting catcher.

For his career, Bill Dickey batted .313 with 202 home runs and 1,209 runs batted in. His batting average is the fifth highest all-time in Yankees history. Bill Dickey earned 56.4 WAR.

Yogi Berra succeeded Dickey as the Yankees catcher, starring behind the plate from 1946 to 1963. Berra missed the 1944 and 1945 seasons serving in World War II. He wore uniform No. 8 from 1948 until the end of his career after first wearing Nos. 38 and 35.

Berra was an 18-time All-Star, the second highest (only to Mickey Mantle’s 20) in Yankees history. Yogi also won three American League Most Valuable Player Awards. Berra’s teams went to 14 World Series with 10 of those being World Champions. No player has played on more World Championship teams.

As a Yankee, he batted .285 with 358 home runs and 1,430 runs batted in. At the time of his retirement, no catcher had hit more home runs. Berra’s lifetime WAR as a Yankee was 59.7.

It seems that in almost every case, as great as Bill Dickey was, Berra was better. Dickey was the starting catcher on the 1936 to 1939 Yankees teams that won four consecutive World Series. Berra was the starting catcher on the 1949 to 1953 Yankees teams that won five consecutive World Series.

The greatest Yankee in uniform No. 8 was Yogi Berra.

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Paul Semendinger has been published many times. His works include Impossible Is An Illusion, 365.2, From Compton to the Bronx, The Least Among Them, and West Point at Gettysburg (Vol. 1).