By Paul Semendinger
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I'm going to do this differently this time. I'm going to cut to the chase. The best Yankee at #19 is a pitcher.
It has to be a pitcher, but which one?
The Yankees have had a number of very good pitchers wear uniform #19. The best of the bunch are highlighted on this list:
Johnny Murphy (1934-46)
Bob Turley (1955-1962)
Fritz Peterson (1967-1974)
Dick Tidrow (1974-1979)
Dave Righetti (1981-1990)
Masahiro Tanaka (2014-2020)
Let's have some fun. Stop reading for just a moment and make a list ranking these pitchers in order from best to worst. Then, let's see if your list compares to my final rakings.
Let's take a look at various statistical categories:
Years:
Murphy - 12
Righetti - 11
Peterson -9
Turley - 8
Tanaka - 7
Tidrow - 6
Games Pitched:
Righetti - 522
Murphy - 383
Peterson - 288
Turley - 234
Tidrow - 211
Tanaka - 174
Innings Pitched:
Peterson - 1,857.1
Turley - 1,269
Righetti - 1,136.2
Tanaka - 1,054.1
Murphy - 990
Tidrow - 711.1
ERA:
Peterson - 3.10
Righetti - 3.11
Murphy - 3.54
Tidrow - 3.61
Turley - 3.62
Tanaka - 3.74
Wins:
Peterson - 109
Murphy - 93
Turley - 82
Tanaka - 78
Righetti - 74
Tidrow - 41
Saves:
Righetti - 224
Murphy - 104
Tidrow - 23
Turley - 13
Peterson - 1
Tanaka - 0
WHIP:
Tanaka - 1.130
Peterson - 1.146
Righetti - 1.295
Tidrow - 1.305
Murphy - 1.373
Turley - 1.407
So, just for fun. If I assign 6 points for first place, 5 points for second place, and etc... and total up the numbers for the pitchers from the categories above, the following is the list of the best Yankees pitchers:
Fritz Peterson - 33
Dave Righetti - 32
Johnny Murphy - 29
Bob Turley - 21
Masahiro Tanaka - 17
Dick Tidrow - 15
Just for more fun. This was my list before I started this exercise:
Dave Righetti
Fritz Peterson
Masahiro Tanaka
Bob Turley
Johnny Murphy
Dick Tidrow
I knew Fritz Peterson was a good pitcher, but was surprised that he ranked first overall in the categories above. Johnny Murphy, one of the first great Yankees relief pitchers, also did better than I thought.
Let's now see what WAR has to say:
Dave Righetti - 22.9
Fritz Peterson - 19.6
Masahiro Tanaka - 17.5
Bob Turley - 14.0
Johnny Murphy - 13.9
Dick Tidrow - 4.6
HOLY COW! THAT'S MY LIST! Hooray for WAR!
But there are other factors to consider:
Masahiro Tanaka - 2x All-Star
Dave Righetti - No-Hitter, 2x All-Star, 2x Best Relief Pitcher, Once Held Saves Record (season), Led League in Saves once
Dick Tidrow - 2x World Series Winner
Fritz Peterson - 1x All-Star, Won 20 Games once
Bob Turley - 4x World Series, 3x All-Star, Cy Young Award
Johnny Murphy - 6x World Series, 3x All-Star
I think some of these factors change things.
As such, all things considered from Sixth Place to First Place, Here are my final Official Rankings:
6. Dick Tidrow
5. Masahiro Tanaka
4. Fritz Peterson
3. Johnny Murphy
2. Bob Turley
and the greatest pitcher to wear #19 as a Yankee was
Dave Righetti.
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Most of the background research for this project came from Baseball-Reference.com and the SABR BioProject.
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Yes, I'd go with Righetti, too. Pity they converted him to the bullpen. He had 20-game winner written all over him, with a decent shot at the Hall of Fame.