Okay, just one more, then I'll leave it

P & D, I'm going to lay this out so each of you can react to this in your own way. Dan, you already think I'm a nerd, and this isn't going to change that. So, Pat, the tables in my previous post are in an Excel file, and I did actually one further calculation on each. For the position players, I calculated their WAR per 500 plate appearances, to arrive at a rate of efficiency at which they accomplished their WAR:

WAR Rank Player WAR  PA WAR/500 PA 1 Babe Ruth 138.2 9,198 7.51 2 Lou Gehrig 108.5 9,663 5.61 24 Rickey Henderson 30.3 2,735 5.54 3 Mickey Mantle 105.5 9,907 5.32 4 Joe DiMaggio 75.1 7,673 4.89 9 Alex Rodriguez 49.8 5,476 4.55 17 Charlie Keller 39.4 4,466 4.41 21 Joe Gordon 35.1 4,216 4.16 7 Bill Dickey 52.4 7,064 3.71 12 Thurman Munson 43.3 5,905 3.67 19 Gil McDougald 38.6 5,398 3.58 8 Willie Randolph 51.7 7,464 3.46 22 Robinson Cano 34.8 5,110 3.41 6 Yogi Berra 56.2 8,350 3.37 14 Graig Nettles 41.0 6,248 3.28 11 Tony Lazzeri 44.7 7,068 3.16 23 Tommy Henrich 33.6 5,410 3.11 15 Earle Combs 40.0 6,513 3.07 5 Derek Jeter 69.3 11,895 2.91 20 Phil Rizzuto 38.1 6,718 2.84 25 Roger Peckinpaugh 29.5 5,267 2.80 13 Roy White 43.0 7,735 2.78 18 Jorge Posada 39.0 7,150 2.73 16 Don Mattingly 39.8 7,722 2.58 10 Bernie Williams 45.9 9,053 2.54

I raised an eyebrow over Rickey Henderson, I'll tell you. But one thing his ranking tells you is that unless you have a good cast around you, you're not going to win any rings. Plus: a 2-WAR player is considered well above average, and these are Yankee career averages. I did some similar exercises for the pitchers, and maybe I should split it into starters and relievers. Never mind. Consider this: a high WAR per 200 innings means a lot of success in high-leverage situations. A high WAR per 50 games pitched means a lot of deep games, and a lot of durability: Player WAR   IP Per200IP GP Per50G Mariano Rivera 52.7 1,219.67 8.64 1051 2.51 Whitey Ford 50.6 3,170.33 3.19 498 5.08 Andy Pettitte 45.8 2,611.00 3.51 417 5.49 Ron Guidry 45.4 2,392.00 3.80 368 6.17 Red Ruffing 41.7 3,168.67 2.63 426 4.89 Lefty Gomez 39.5 2,497.33 3.16 367 5.38 Bob Shawkey 39.0 2,490.00 3.13 415 4.70 Mel Stottlemyre 37.5 2,661.33 2.82 360 5.21 Mike Mussina 33.1 1,553.00 4.26 249 6.65 Waite Hoyt 32.0 2,273.33 2.82 365 4.38 Herb Pennock 29.9 2,202.67 2.71 346 4.32 Ray Caldwell 27.1 1,718.33 3.15 248 5.46 Jack Chesbro 26.6 1,952.00 2.73 269 4.94 Russ Ford 24.3 1,112.67 4.37 143 8.50 Dave Righetti 21.8 1,136.67 3.84 522 2.09 CC Sabathia 20.6 905.00 4.55 129 7.98 Spud Chandler 20.6 1,485.00 2.77 211 4.88 Roger Clemens 19.9 1,103.00 3.61 175 5.69 David Cone 19.1 922.00 4.14 145 6.59 Rich Gossage 18.4 533.00 6.90 319 2.88 Tommy John 18.4 1,367.00 2.69 214 4.30 Allie Reynolds 18.2 1,700.00 2.14 295 3.08 Orlando Hernandez 17.9 876.33 4.09 139 6.44 Ray Fisher 17.4 1,380.33 2.52 219 3.97 Fritz Peterson 17.2 1,857.33 1.85 288 2.99

One last thing, check out the modern-day starters with over 4 WAR per 200 innings: Mike Mussina, David Cone, CC Sabathia, Orlando (El Duque) Hernandez. No Guidry, no Whitey Ford, no Clemens.