Best Of The Best, Part 1

  As I was watching the World Series, a certain thought came to my mind. The thought was about the best teams ever to play in baseball history. Not just baseball came to mind, basketball, football and even hockey came to mind. If you start to think about it, the best teams in baseball vary by the time period. Everyone says could the 1998 Yankees measure up against 1927 or 1936 Yankees. Comparing teams is not an easy task. In this particular post, I will be talking about the best team in baseball history. It will be a 4 part post. Debates are this topic are endless, making it so much more to discuss.

   While thinking about this the past few days, it was a difficult decision. It was between the 1927 Yankees and 1998 Yankees. I remember watching the 1998 Yankees and saying "WOW". They played well together all season long. After doing some research, it just amazed me to see the similarities and difference of both teams. 1998 Yankees had 8 players with 17 home runs or more that season. They were also about driving in runs, 4 players had 98 or more RBI that season. Hitting .300 or better in a season is very difficult. The 98 Yankees pitched well from beginning to end. David Cone had 20 wins, followed by David Wells at 18 and Andy Pettitte with 16 victories. Keep in mind that the season was 162 game. They also had 2 extra rounds in the playoffs. In total, they went 125-50 including the playoffs.

   As all sports fans know, the 1927 Yankees are known as "Murderers Row." They had 4 players with over 100 RBI and 6 players with over a .300 batting average that season. Lou Gehrig had 47 home runs and Babe Ruth had 60 home runs. Babe Ruth had more home runs that season than a bunch of the teams combined. Gehrig had 173 RBI season. People may ask "What were these guys taking?" Honestly, it was all natural. This team could also hit for average. There were 6 players with a batting  average of .300 or better. Lou Gehrig had a .373 average. Both Earl Combes and Babe Ruth had a .356. The pitching for this team was just as amazing. They had 4 pitchers with 18 or more wins.

   While debating which team was better, there were other considerations I had to take besides the stats. If you look, the 1927 played only 154 games compared to 162 games. As well, the 1998 Yankees played in 2 extra rounds of postseason baseball. In 1927, hitting over .320 or .330 was more of the norm. The pitching was also seemed to be better during the mid to late 20's. In the end, I believe that the 1927 "Murder's Row" Yankees are the best team in baseball history. Very rarely do you see talents like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in the same lineup. 1998 comes close, but there are very little comparisons. There are two things these teams had in common, they both won World Series and both played in New York.