The Greatest New York Yankee With Only ONE Championship Ring
- Paul Semendinger
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
by Paul Semendinger
March 3, 2026
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NOTE - This article was originally published by the IBWAA in their newsletter Here's the Pitch on February 27, 2026.
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Among Yankees fans, there is a lot of talk about how, if the Yankees don’t win a World Championship soon, Aaron Judge will go down as the greatest Yankees player to never win a World Series. Right now, that dubious honor belongs to Don Mattingly.
If one were to look at the history of the New York Yankees, of the top 30 position players by WAR, only Mattingly (among retired players) never won a World Series.
Of those top 30 players, only Roger Peckinpaugh (who was on the 1924 World Champion Senators) and Rickey Henderson (who was on two World Championship teams) didn’t win a championship in the Bronx.
It would be a shame if Aaron Judge (currently sixth all-time in WAR as a Yankee) joined Mattingly as the only great Yankees to never win a championship ring.
This made me wonder who was the greatest Yankees player to win only one championship. After all, most great Yankees won multiple titles. Winning championships used to be part of the Yankees’ DNA.
If one starts looking down the Yankees’ best players by WAR on Baseball-Reference, the greatest of the great stand out quickly:
Babe Ruth - 4 World Championships with the Yankees
Lou Gehrig - 7 World Championships
Mickey Mantle - 7 World Championships
Joe DiMaggio - 9 World Championships
Derek Jeter - 5 World Championships
Aaron Judge - he is still waiting for his first
Yogi Berra - 10 World Championships
Bill Dickey - 8 World Championships
Willie Randolph - 1 World Championship...
Wait. Willie Randolph, with one World Championship? That makes no sense. He was on two World Championship Yankees teams - 1977 and 1978.
As I worked on this project, I discovered a flaw in the way in which Baseball Reference “awards” championships. If a player wasn’t on the active World Series roster, he gets no credit for being part of the championship team. To me, that makes no sense.
Willie Randolph was, absolutely, positively a main part of the 1978 World Champion New York Yankees.
In 1978, Randolph had one of his best seasons ever. He put up 5.9 WAR, a number he exceeded only one time in his career. He earned MVP consideration after batting .279 with a .389 on base percentage as he played in 134 games.
That 5.9 WAR figure, is even more impressive than it looks at first glance. Randolph’s 5.9 WAR led the team. Willie Randolph led the 1978 Yankees in WAR.
Top 1978 Yankees Positional Players By WAR:
Willie Randolph - 5.9
Graig Nettles - 5.7
Lou Piniella - 3.7
Reggie Jackson - 3.5
Mickey Rivers 3.5
Thurman Munson - 3.2
Chris Chambliss - 3.2
Willie Randolph, absolutely, deserves to be considered a two-time Yankees World Champion. He rightfully deserves credit for being a main player on the 1978 Yankees.
I do not, in any way, consider Willie Randolph, a one-time World Champion.
In 1972, Reggie Jackson injured himself in the American League Championship Series. He didn’t play at all in the World Series, yet Baseball Reference credits Jackson for being on that World Series team - on crutches.
(NY Times article - https://www.nytimes.com/1972/10/14/archives/doctors-rule-jackson-out-of-series-leg-injury-to-keep-oaklands.html)
This seems like a great inconsistency.
Willie Randolph didn’t play in the 1978 World Series because he was injured...
Which brings us, finally, to the 10th greatest New York Yankee by WAR, and the greatest Yankees position player with only one ring, Alex Rodriguez.
Following A-Rod, the next greatest Yankees with one World Series championship are Robinson Cano, Brett Gardner, and Wally Pipp.
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Paul Semendinger’s newest book, The Greatest New York Yankees By Uniform Number, arrives in bookstores on March 17.
