With March Madness right around the corner, that means it is almost time for the Yankees Nation Podcast‘s annual bracket.
Last year, Aaron Boone was crowned “Favorite Yankee to Play in Pinstripes Less Than Two Seasons.” He beat out other short-lived Yankee greats like Randy Johnson, Ivan Rodriguez, and Bartolo Colon, just to name a few.
This year, the Yankees Nation Podcast will crown one of these sixteen players as the most hated by Yankee fans.
Read up on these players so the right player wins in the end, but voting will begin on Thursday, Mar 12th on the Yankees Nation Podcast’s Twitter.
These 16 players were decided upon by the hosts of the podcast, and are in alphabetical order here.
There is not really a way to rank them objectively, each matchup round to round will be randomly assigned.
Jose Altuve
This 5’6 second baseman stole an MVP away from 2017 Aaron Judge and cheated while doing it. He also hit a walk-off home run against the Yankees in Game 6 of the ALCS to send the Astros to the World Series. Whether he used buzzers or not, that will always make Yankee fans’ blood boil.
George Brett
Brett’s biggest run-in with the Yankees came when Yankee manager Billy Martin asked umpires to review Brett’s bat after hitting a go-ahead home run in the top of the ninth on July 24, 1983. Brett was originally called out, but then the game was under protest and the Royals ended up winning on a later date.
Also, Brett was at the heart of four Royals teams that met the Yankees in the ALCS so many times from 1976-1980.
Carlos Correa
Besides being inflammatory about the cheating scandal, Correra rubs Yankee fans the wrong way, especially after his walk-off homer in Game 2 of the 2019 ALCS.
Tyler Duffey
After Yankee fans roasted Randy Dobnak for being an Uber driver, Duffey said, “Yankees fans, they just hate people…Boston’s fun, they’re baseball fans,” according to CBSsports.com.
Yankee fans don’t “just hate people,” Randy…they hate you.
Jacoby Ellsbury
Even though he was a Red Sox player, the reason Ellsbury is on this list is because of what he did in pinstripes. Or…what he didn’t do.
Ellsbury was almost never healthy or around after playing one good season (3.8 rWAR in 2014) and three serviceable seasons from 2015-17.
The Yankees ended up cutting Jacoby and wasting their money.
Carlton Fisk
Fisk was always fighting and talking bad against the Yankees. He also was Thurman Munson’s rival which nearly led fueled the Red Sox-Yankee rivalry on it’s own.
Just watch this video about it after reading.
Randal Grichuk
Randal earned a spot on this list after 9 games against the Yankees in 2019. He hit 8 home runs and had an OPS of .938 against the Yankees last year and solidified himself as a “Yankee killer.”
Joe Kelley
Enough said.
Luis Gonzalez
Pedro Martinez
David Ortiz
Big Papi had 53 homers against the Yankees in his career, the third most against any squad. He also had a .961 OPS against the Bombers.
He also hit a walk-off homer against the Yankees in 2004 that played a huge part in their eventual series win and a trip to winning their first World Series since trading Ruth.
Besides being a long time rival, he has a very annoying, often memed video where he says, “Theeeeeeee, Yankees lose.”
Manny Ramirez
Ramirez hit 55 home runs against the Yankees, his most against any team. He also created, played on that hated 2004 team, and won an extra ring with the Red Sox in 2007.
Dave Roberts
Oh no, not another one of these….the video says it all.
Curt Schilling
Shilling only had 7 wins against the Yankees in the regular season and struck out 102 Yankee batters. However, he spun a gem in Game 6 of the 2004 playoffs against the Yankees to get them to a Game 7…and he had a bloody sock but who cares?
Jason Varitek
Okay, this one is actually a little funny.
Justin Verlander
Again, only 8 wins and 135 strikeouts against the Yankees in the regular season, but he does not play them much because he has always been out of their division.
However, he always seems to halt the Yankees in their path over the recent playoff runs.
Featured Image: Jim Rogash/Getty Images
