Yankees - Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, Rickey Henderson

If we are only counting time with the team then I would swap in DiMaggio or Berra for Rickey, but I don't see that listed as a requirement. ARod right on Rickey's heels as well in my book.

Greatest living players - Mays, Henderson, Bonds, ARod

ARod doesn't even come close to the top of the list of greatest Yankees of all time. Berra, DiMaggio, hell I'd put Gossage, Rivera, Jeter and a whole lot of others above ARod.

In terms of value in correlation to the cost, A-Rod might be the worst Yankee in history. His massive contract and largely replaceable production in all but the last few years of his peak, along with the scandal and the fact that he has completely lost the respect of most Yankee fans, rightfully so, he's not even remotely close to Jeter, Rivera, Mussina, or even Clemens.

Considering their whole careers though, A-Rod blows Jeter away. Too bad he's a douche.

Considering championships and value to their respective organizations, Jeter blows A-Rod away. I don't disagree with you, though. I'll just say that A-Rod had the opportunity to become the undeniable face of the game from his time in Seattle and onward and blew it, whereas Jeter took his role as captain by the horns and played long enough to dispel any doubt that he'll be a first-ballot HOFer.

While his contributions as a Yankee do not match Jeter's, Alex Rodriguez, as a baseball player, is/was vastly superior. Alex Rodiguez is the second best position player of the last forty years.

"Considering championships and value to their respective organizations"

Those are dumb things to consider when looking at a player's ability.

Red Wings (because I can):

Greatest on team: Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, Nick Lidstrom, Alex Delvecchio, Terry Sawchuck

Greatest Ever Living: Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky, Patrick Roy, Mark Messier, Bobby Orr

Oh shoot. I just realized it was four, not five.... Strike Delvecchio and Messier

Cubs: Ernie Banks, Mark Grace, Greg Maddux, Gabby Hartnet--special honor to: Ryne Sandberg and Hack Wilson

Best all time Living: Hank Aaron, Willie mays, Nolan Ryan, and Sandy Koufax

Halladay, Alomar, Delgado, Bautista

Clemens is close. His two season were absolutely crazy.

@ghug ... it's easy to say that. Yeah, it's obvious that organizations are not all equal. The Yankees have a far better shot than the Athletics, and that's some bullshit that I hope the new commish addresses. That said, you can't tell me that the fact that Jeter won five means nothing and that, on these five teams, he was the undisputed leader of at least four of them. The heart and soul of a championship team should not get discounted by metrics because nothing can measure that, and everyone and their mother knows that without Jeter, the Yankees wouldn't have done half as much in the last 20 years.

a red sox fan weak willd enough to drink the yankee's koolaid. yep, figures its botox

What

Heres a greatest player candidate for you, Ichiro, what happens if he plays in the MLB for his entire career? He won the MVP his first year! Add 5-7 years to his current stats

Yeah, the Yankees would have done nearly as well without Jeter. He was a leader, sure, but they had better players, and there are plenty of teams that win it all without a captain.

I was actually strongly considering putting Ichiro up there.

He's unquestionably better than two of the players you did list.

Koufax, Kershaw, Drysdale, Campanella

Koufax, Kershaw, Griffey Jr., Mays

You don't think calling Kershaw one of the top four players alive is a bit premature?

Pirates-Clemente, Stargell, Bonds and Cutch

Living-Koufax, Rose, Mays, Bonds

@KingCyrus...Patrick Roy is a dope, replace him with Lemieux

Don Drysdale? Really? No Duke Snider or Jackie Robinson?

Ichiro should be a first ballot HOFer. He should (hopefully) reach 3000 hits, he's only 156 short, and considering his accomplishments just in MLB he's one of the greatest Mariners ever.

@roy, I was trying to include one goalie and one D-man in each category. The list of best goalies ever is very debatable.... Roy was second in wins (to Brodeur, and I will not accept Old Man Marty as the best ever). He has four Cups. He deaked Gretzky. I could go with any number of goalies, but I had to choose someone.

Ichiro would have beaten Pete Rose for most hits pretty easily. Wouldn't bother me if they both joined the Hall at the same time.

I think leroy paige at least deserves a mention. from the admittedly very small amount that i know, he was very good.

never mind on that, he may not even be top 4 pitchers (or even top ten.)

I don't think there's really much doubt that Ichiro makes it first ballot. Doing what he did every year against modern pitching is unprecedented.

He could have hit 500 homers if he ever tried too.