10 New York Yankees Stats That Will Likely Never Be Broken

The New York Yankees are one of the most-storied professional sports franchises in the history of global sports. As of 2019, the Bronx Bombers are the second most-valuable sports franchise in the world at a $4.6 billion valuation. The Yankees were founded in 1901 as the Baltimore Orioles (no relation to the current team). In 1903, they were purchased, the rights to the Baltimore franchise were ceased and moved to New York City. In 1913, they were renamed the New York Yankees and as they say “the rest is history”. Legends of the game of baseball have worn the Yankees pinstripes over the course of the past 107 years. The team is one of the most successful sports franchises winning 27 titles. It should come as no surprise that throughout the years Yankees players have set incredible franchise (and often Major League Baseball) records. There are some that are so outrageous they most-likely will never be broken. Here are 10 that we predict will remain safe for the long haul.

Mariano Rivera – 652 Saves

Let’s start with the most obvious record. Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer that ever walked the earth, has a Major League record 652 saves in his career. To put it in perspective, Aroldis Chapman, current Yankees closer has 111 saves in pinstripes at the age of 31. No one is even close to Rivera on the active saves list. This record will not only stay safe in the franchise, but also in Major League Baseball.

Babe Ruth – 659 Home Runs

Yankees immortal Babe Ruth held the Major League Record for home runs for a while until a guy by the name of Henry Aaron surpassed him. Ruth hit 717 total career home runs, 659 of the came in pinstripes. Ruth is the all-time leader in home runs for the Yankees by a country mile (Mickey Mantle is second with 536). Modern day Yankees fans will clamor that Aaron Judge could maybe make a run with 111 career bombs. Well, he can’t. He’s 27 years old and has been hit by the injury bug. Don’t misunderstand, Judge is a phenom, but Ruth is out of this world.

Derek Jeter – 3,465 Hits

Now the run of Derek Jeter immortalized records is going to start. Jeter wore pinstripes for 20 years and never really had a serious injury. He has longevity on his side, but more importantly he had amazing talent. No one is touching this record. No one is even over 800 hits on the active roster with the Yankees. We’d even go as far to say no one will ever play 20 years again with the same team even if it is the Yankees.

Derek Jeter – 2,747 Games Played

This list could be populated by #2 in itself. However, to keep things interesting let’s make this section all inclusive. Jeter played 2,747 with the Yankees (next closest was Mantle with 2,401) and he had 11,195 at-bats with the Yankees (Mantle is over 3,000 ABs behind). Both of these records will never get touched. Longevity is king.

Lou Gehrig – 1,995 RBIs

The Runs Batted In category is a bit more difficult to understand than Home Runs, Hits etc. Lou Gehrig drove in 1,995 RBIs while wearing pinstripes. This is good for the franchise record and sixth all-time in Major League Baseball history. The reason this number seems to be untouchable is simply because of the names above Gehrig – Bonds, Rodriguez, Pujols, Ruth and Aaron. This is not in jest, but with steroids being actively tested it’ll take a transcendent talent to top Gehrig – the same can be said for Ruth’s home run record.

Whitey Ford – 236 Wins

Had enough offense? Aside from Rivera’s save record, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine Whitey Ford’s all-time franchise wins record staying untouched. No offense to Gerrit Cole, but that is a lot of wins over 16 years of pitching. Cole won’t pitch for 16 years with the Yankees and Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankees active leader, has 75 wins.

Whitey Ford – 3,170.1 Innings Pitched

While we are on Ford, it’s safe to assume that his 3,170.1 career innings pitched for the Bronx Bombers is as safe as his 236 wins. In today’s game players don’t play more than 10-years for the same ball club like they use to years ago. It makes a lot of these “appearances” records very hard to beat. Like we discussed above, all of these guys are absurd talents that had longevity on their side.

Red Ruffing – 261 Complete Games

This is probably the most interesting record of them all. Why? Because Yankees pitcher Red Ruffing had 261 complete games in his career, which is the franchise record. He has almost 100 more than Lefty Gomez (173), who is #2 on the list. There is no active player in the top 50 in this stat in Yankees history. Ruffing pitched for the Yankees for 22 years, which is unheard of today. What makes this even more fascinating is Ruffing isn’t even in the honorable mention category for complete games in MLB history. Cy Young is the all-time leader with 749. Crazy!

Casey Stengel & Joe McCarthy – 7 World Series Titles

Yankees fans today are familiar with the Joe Torre golden era. He won 4 titles and that seems like a ton. Yankee managers Casey Stengel and Joe McCarthy share the Major League record with 7 World Series title wins. One could make the argument, “Well, look at the New England Patriots. Bill Belichick has 6 Super Bowl wins.” It’s valid, but it’s also nearly impossible. Bill Belichick isn’t winning 2 more Super Bowls just like a future Yankees manager isn’t going to win 8 World Series titles in their career.

Babe Ruth – 575 ft. Home Run

This last record is a challenge to Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. It is estimated that Babe Ruth holds the record for the longest home run in baseball history at 575 ft. At present, Yankees sluggers Giancarlo Stanton (494 ft.) and Aaron Judge (496 ft.) have the chance to break this record. Actually, when you do the math…. maybe they don’t. Either way, we’d like to see this one broken.