Yanks Who Never Won A Series Ring

The Best Yankees Who Never Won A World Championship

By Paul Semendinger

***

NOTE - This article appeared in Here's The Pitch, the IBWAA's newsletter, on August 30, 2025

***

The Yankees are a franchise defined by winning championships. Most of the greatest Yankees of all-time have been World Series winners, the most legendary of these players were champions multiple times.

Yogi Berra famously was on ten World Series champions. Joe DiMaggio was on nine championship teams. Lou Gehrig earned eight rings, Mickey Mantle had seven. Whitey Ford was a World Champion six times. Derek Jeter was part of five championships. The list goes on and on.

Across baseball history, no fewer than 23 different players won at least six World Championships as Yankees. Amazing!

But not all great Yankees have been on World Series winning teams in New York.

What follows are the five greatest Yankees position players, by WAR, who have never been on a Yankees World Series Championship team:

5th Place - Bobby Murcer (WAR as a NY Yankee - 27.8)

4th Place - Rickey Henderson (WAR as a NY Yankee - 30.8)

3rd Place - Roger Peckinpaugh (WAR as a NY Highlander/Yankee - 32.1)

2nd Place - Don Mattingly (Lifetime WAR - 42.2)

1st Place - Aaron Judge (Lifetime WAR 59.4)

In looking at that list, though, it must be noted that both Rickey Henderson (2 championships) and Roger Peckinpaugh (1 championship) both were on World Series winners with teams other than the Yankees. It seems a little unfair for them to be on a list of non-champions.

If the list is refined to the greatest Yankees who were never on a World Series championship ballclub with any franchise, it would read as such:

1. Aaron Judge - 59.4

2. Don Mattingly - 42.2

3. Bobby Murcer - 27.8

4. Jason Giambi - 22.0

5. Kid Elberfeld - 19.1

   
   

Because the next question obviously follows, the top five pitchers in Yankees' history who were never on a World Championship team were:

1. Mel Stottlemyre - 40.7

2. Mike Mussina - 35.1

3. Jack Chesbro - 29.8

4. Russ Ford - 27.3

5. Dave Righetti - 22.9

   
   

Of note, Ray Caldwell (28.5 WAR in New York) would be fourth on this list, if his World Championship with Cleveland in 1920 is discounted.

Tommy John (19.8), Gerrit Cole (19.8), and Frtiz Peterson (19.6) all accumulated more WAR as Yankees than Kid Elberfeld and if pitchers and position players weren't separated, they'd rank higher.

The list if position players and pitchers are joined together reads as follows:

1. Aaron Judge

2. Don Mattingly

3. Mel Stottlemyre

4. Mike Mussina

5. Jack Chesbro

6. Bobby Murcer

7. Russ Ford

8. Dave Righetti

9. Jason Giambi

10. Tommy John

    
    

With some good fortune, and a bit of luck, Aaron Judge could, one day, be a World Champion as a Yankee. That would remove him from this list putting Don Mattingly at the top. Of course, if the Yankees are not fortunate to win a title in the Judge Era, Gerrit Cole should climb onto this list and rise higher and higher because he would also be without a ring and he is signed through 2028.

For Don Mattingly, sadly, the quest for winning goes on and on. After his playing career, he served as a Yankees coach from 2004 through 2007. Following that came two years as a coach with the Dodgers followed by 12 years as a manager (Dodgers and Marlins), all with no championships. Mattingly has been a coach with the Blue Jays since 2023 so this could be his year — finally.

Bobby Murcer played through the late 1960s and early 1970s when the Yankees were not contenders. He returned to the Yankees in 1979, after their World Championships in 1977 and 1978.

Mel Stottlemyre was Murcer's teammate through that period in the 1960s and 1970s, but his career ended just before the Yankees returned to greatness. For Stottlemyre, he was a World Champion pitching coach with the New York Mets and the New York Yankees.

Tommy John was on the Dodgers when the Yankees defeated them in the World Series in 1977 and 1978. He was then with the Yankees when the Dodgers defeated them in the 1981 World Series.

The Yankees won the World Series in 2000. Mike Mussina joined the team in 2001 and pitched with the Yankees through 2008 never winning a championship. The Yankees won the World Series in 2009. Similarly, Jason Giambi joined the Yankees in 2002 and stayed with them through 2008.

***

Paul Semendinger, an adjunct professor at Ramapo College, an educational consultant, an award-winning author, and is a frequent contributor to the IBWAA's newsletter. Paul runs the Yankees site Start Spreading the News. Paul is also the Vice president of the Elysian Fields (North Jersey) chapter of SABR.