WHY MATTINGLY IS YOUR FAVORITE YANKEE FIRST BASEMAN

I promised to get you a piece on the results of our "Who's your favorite Yankee First Basemen? poll and finally it's here.  Great poll and great results and I really appreciate everyone who participated. The winner? Donnie Baseball...

It comes as no surprise considering in this generation, there are so many that saw Don Mattingly play and another handful that heard all the great stories from their fathers and mothers about this man. That being said, Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse is right there and for good reason…he was one of the greatest baseball players ever.

But let's check out the poll, which actually fell into place the way I thought it would. In first place was Donnie Baseball, Don Mattingly with 52 votes, followed by Lou Gehrig with 43.  In  third place was Tino Martinez with 22 votes.  Tino was on some pretty incredible Yankees' teams and no doubt he would be in the Top 5. Let's not forget how when Mattingly left and Martinez showed up, many we still stung by the 1995 playoff loss... a loss to the Mariners, Tino's old team.  But he came in and did his job.  He contributed so much while he was in pinstripes and fans fell in love with him.

Mark Teixeira and Moose Skowron each had 6 votes each.  Each player outstanding in their time, and poor Moose just lost his battle with cancer recently so it’s significant that we remember a great Yankee in this poll. (Read about Moose HERE). 

Mark Teixeira is known as one of the greatest defensive first basemen ever and perhaps he should have scored higher in the poll, but let’s be honest, there are too many great Yankee first basemen ahead of him. Plus, Tex is getting hammered right now carrying a .221 batting average so far in 2012.  Not good, really not good.  Tex knows he's better than that. Come on Tex, get it together!

Chris Chambliss was on a few great Yankees teams too, in 1977 and 1978 and received 5 votes. Good choice. Next with 4 votes was Joe Pepitone. 

Trust me, if we were voting on hair, Pepitone would have won that poll!  Joe was a good first baseman for the Yankees and another good soldier in the Yankees army.

Jason Giambi never won a championship with the Yankees, but when we signed him, that was our intention and he was going to be the muscle behind it.  He hit a lot of home runs, but was an awkward first baseman. We all know why we signed him…power. He ended up with 3 votes.

With only 2 votes was Nick Johnson.  To be honest, I’m shocked he received any votes.  Because of injury, he just became a dud in my eyes and only had alittle hope when he went to the Washington Nationals… but even now, he’s just not a threat offensively or defensively. It's a shame how this guy's career tanked because of injury and bad luck. 

Those numbers total 143 votes. Great poll! Look, let's not forget, this poll was based on personal opinion.  The truth is there is no wrong answer, it’s just fun.  If you liked a certain first baseman, that’s your pick and no one could really dispute that.  I’m just thrilled you guys voted and contributed.  Thank you so much.

Next we’re going to do second basemen.  Keep checking back here at Bleeding YankeeBlue for the new poll and we’d love to have you vote again.  Thanks!

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