July 18, 1977 – Graig Nettles

The list of retired numbers in Monument Park is lengthy; no one retires numbers quite the New York Yankees. Which makes it so intriguing that while the team did take the number 9 out of circulation, they did so not because Graig Nettles wore it, but because Roger Maris did.

Maris is a revered Yankee, mainly because in 1960 he won the American League MVP award in his first year in New York, and then won the award in 1961 when he authored a season for the ages, breaking Babe Ruth’s all-time single-season record for home runs when he hit 61.

But when you compare the Yankee careers of Maris and Nettles, there’s really no doubt which player had the better stay in pinstripes, and contributed more to the success of the franchise.

Maris played seven years in the Bronx and hit 203 home runs, drove in 547 runs, batted .265, and slugged .515, while playing a solid if not spectacular right field. During his time, the Yankees won five straight AL pennants – before the advent of the league championship series - and won the World Series in 1961 and 1962. But really, after his huge 1961 season, Maris was an ordinary player. Remember, exactly 100 of his 203 home runs came in his first two years, and when his 12-year major-league career which ended in St. Louis was complete, he had only 275 homers.

Nettles played 11 years for the Yankees and during that time hit 250 home runs, drove in 834 runs, batted .253 and slugged .433, while the Yankees won four AL pennants and two world championships. However, his glove was his calling card, and you could make the case, with apologies to Alex Rodriquez, he was the greatest fielding third baseman in Yankee history, and one of the best in major-league history, even though he won only two Gold Glove awards.

“I wouldn’t trade him for any other third baseman in the majors,” reliever Sparky Lyle once said of Nettles. “In fact, I wouldn’t trade him for any other player in the majors.”

Of course, probably none of what Nettles accomplished in New York mattered once his book, Balls, with Peter Golenbock was released in 1985 because in those pages, he took several swipes at George Steinbrenner for the way he ran the Yankees. More than anything, that’s likely the reason why Nettles has never been feted at Yankee Stadium.

“I was happy to get away from New York,” Nettles said after he was traded to San Diego just before the start of the 1984 season and began sharing his thoughts with the best-selling author, Golenbock, who had previously collaborated on a tell-all book by Lyle, The Bronx Zoo. “The owner said things about me being a destructive force on the club, so why play for a guy who keeps sniping at you? I finally had enough of him. I’ll always be a Yankee. I love those guys. I love the team, and I’ll always root for them.”

Here's a video profile of Nettles.

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