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Constructing the all-time Yankees-Dodgers roster: Which World Series legends make the cut?

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Constructing the all-time Yankees-Dodgers roster: Which World Series legends make the cut?

With two of the three highest winning percentages in MLB history, the Yankees and Dodgers are two of baseball’s model franchises.

As they prepare to face off in this year’s World Series, The Post assembles an all-time team for each franchise and decides who has the edge at every position:

Yankees legend Lou Gehrig during the 1939 World Series. Bettmann/CORBIS

First base

Dodgers: Gil Hodges
Yankees: Lou Gehrig

Hodges finally received his due and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022 after a career in which he hit 370 homers and was selected to eight All-Star teams. Seven times he drove in at least 100 runs for the Dodgers in the 1940s and ’50s. One of the “Boys of Summer.”

Gehrig is the standard-bearer at the position — he hit 493 homers and his lifetime batting average was .340. Along the way he appeared in 2,130 consecutive games. Gehrig, who won two MVP awards, might have had his best season in 1934, when he hit .363 with 49 homers and 166 RBIs.

Edge: Yankees

Second base

Dodgers: Jackie Robinson
Yankees: Tony Lazzeri

Robinson broke MLB’s color barrier in 1947 and became the first Rookie of the Year recipient. A daring base runner, his steal of home against the Yankees in the 1955 World Series is immortalized. Robinson won an MVP award and was selected to six All-Star teams. He finished with a career .887 OPS.

Lazzeri and Joe Gordon are both Hall of Fame Yankees second basemen, but we’re giving the nod to Lazzeri because he played longer in Pinstripes (12 years). Part of the famed Murderers’ Row lineup, Lazzeri won five World Series for the Bombers (1927, ’28, ’32, ’36 and ’37).

Edge: Dodgers

Jackie Robinson safely steals home plate under the tag attempt of Yankees catcher Yogi Berra in the eighth inning of the World Series opener Sept. 28, 1955 in New York’s Yankee Stadium. AP

Shortstop

Dodgers: Pee Wee Reese
Yankees: Derek Jeter

The prototypical shortstop of his era, Reese was a terrific defensive player without a loud bat. Reese produced a lifetime .743 OPS — roughly average for the span of his career. A 10-time All-Star who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984, he was the heart of Brooklyn’s perennial pennant winners in the 1940s and ’50s.

Few players in the game’s history are as associated with winning as much as the former Yankees captain. Jeter, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame with 99.7 percent of the vote, was a central figure on five World Series winning teams with the Yankees and finished his career with 3,465 hits and a lifetime .310 batting average. Jeter won five Gold Glove awards.

Edge: Yankees

Derek Jeter celebrates his final World Series title in 2009. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

Third base

Dodgers: Ron Cey
Yankees: Alex Rodriguez

Cey manned the hot corner for 8 1/2 years as part of the Dodgers’ legendary quartet that also included Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes and Bill Russell. “The Penguin’’ packed some pop, hitting 228 career homers and also was MVP of the World Series in 1981, when the Dodgers KO’d the Yankees in six games.

Rodriguez won two of his three MVP awards while playing for the Yankees and played an integral part in the team’s last World Series title in 2009. Rodriguez’s two PED-related suspensions have kept him from election into the Hall of Fame following a career in which he hit 696 homers and was selected to 14 All-Star teams.

Edge: Yankees


Follow The Post’s coverage of the Yankees in the postseason:


Outfield

Dodgers: Willie Davis
Yankees: Mickey Mantle

Davis is one of the more underappreciated players not only in Dodgers history but also MLB. If WAR existed when Davis was roaming centerfield for the Dodgers in the 1960s and ’70s he never would have been a one-and-done Hall of Fame candidate. Davis is still in the team’s top 10 in runs, hits, games played, doubles, triples and RBIs.

One of the iconic players in major league history, Mantle, a three-time MVP winner, is regarded as the game’s best all-time switch-hitter. Mantle hit 536 career homers and starred for seven World Series-winning teams. He was selected to 20 All-Star teams and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1974.

Edge: Yankees

Mickey Mantle during the 1953 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Associated Press

Dodgers: Duke Snider
Yankees: Joe DiMaggio

Willie Mays, Mantle and Snider — better known as Willie, Mickey and the Duke — gave New York a special trifecta of center fielders in the 1950s. Snider wasn’t Mays or Mantle, but hit 407 homers in his career and starred for six pennant winners with Brooklyn/Los Angeles. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980.

The Yankee Clipper was a superb player in his first five seasons and then became a legend with his 56-game hitting streak in 1941. DiMaggio won three MVP awards and was part of nine World Series winning teams. The Hall of Famer hit 361 career homers and struck out only 369 times. That ratio for a power hitter is almost unheard of in any era.

Edge: Yankees

Dodgers: Zack Wheat
Yankees: Babe Ruth

Mookie Betts will soon move into the top of the Dodgers outfield list, but it’s impossible to ignore the stats put up by Wheat in Brooklyn from 1909-26. The Hall of Famer hit better than .300 for 14 of his 19 seasons and was once called “the best outfielder Brooklyn ever had” by none other than Dodgers executive Branch Rickey.

The Bambino transcended the sport in the 1920s and ’30s. Who can forget his 60-homer performance in 1927? (OK, almost nobody alive saw it.) Ruth appeared in seven World Series with the Yankees and won four.

Edge: Yankees

Babe Ruth won four World Series with the Yankees. AP

Catcher

Dodgers: Roy Campanella
Yankees: Yogi Berra

A three-time MVP winner before an automobile accident that left him in a wheelchair claimed his career, Campanella had four seasons of 30-plus homers. He was a key component to the Brooklyn teams that reached the World Series five times in an eight-year stretch beginning in 1949. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1969.

Berra had a championship ring for each of his 10 fingers. A three-time MVP, he hit 358 career homers and was selected to the All-Star game in 15 straight seasons. Berra, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972, had a lifetime .811 OPS in 75 career World Series games.

Edge: Yankees

Roy Campanella (l) and Yogi Berra (r) AP

Designated hitter

Dodgers: Shohei Ohtani
Yankees: Aaron Judge

The first 50/50 player (homers and stolen bases) in MLB history, Ohtani and the Dodgers appear made for each other. There isn’t a larger star in baseball and the Showtime Dodgers are just the right setting for him.

Judge’s at-bats are can’t-miss events. The star outfielder established an AL record with 62 home runs in 2022 and crushed another 58 this season.

Edge: Dodgers

Shohei Ohtani is playing in his first World Series. AP
Aaron Judge seeks his first title. Robert Sabo for NY Post

Starting pitcher

Dodgers: Sandy Koufax
Yankees: Whitey Ford

Koufax was pure wizardry for five seasons beginning in 1962, when he pitched his first of four career no-hitters. The left-hander won three Cy Young awards over four seasons to close his career. Even before he became Sandy Koufax, he was part of Dodgers teams that won the World Series in 1955 and ’59. Then he dominated for World Series-winning teams in 1963 and ’65 and went to Cooperstown.

The Chairman of the Board was methodical and won 236 games over 16 seasons with the Yankees, pitching to a 2.75 ERA. Twice he led the major leagues with the lowest ERA. The left-hander was at his best in the World Series, going 10-8 with a 2.71 ERA in 22 starts. Yet another Yankees player in the Hall of Fame.

Edge: Dodgers

Former Dodgers ace Sandy Koufax in 1957. New York Post

Closer

Dodgers: Kenley Jansen
Yankees: Mariano Rivera

Jansen saved 350 games for the Dodgers over his 12 seasons with the club and pitched to a 2.37 ERA. A three-time All-Star for the club, he began his professional career as a catcher.

Mariano Rivera holds up The Post after winning the 2009 World Series. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

The first Hall of Famer to receive 100 percent of the vote, Rivera is baseball’s gold standard for closers. Nobody was more trusted in a big spot and his 652 saves are the most all time. Rivera pitched to an 0.70 ERA with 42 saves in 96 career postseason appearances. He won five World Series with the Yankees.

Edge: Yankees


Five Greatest Yankees/Dodgers World Series

1. 1947: Yankees 4, Dodgers 3
2. 1955: Dodgers 4, Yankees 3
3. 1956: Yankees 4, Dodgers 3
4. 1952: Yankees 4, Dodgers 3
5. 1981: Dodgers 4, Yankees 2

Five Greatest Yankees/Dodgers World Series moments

1. Don Larsen throws a perfect game, Game 5, 1956
2. Reggie Jackson hits three homers, Game 6, 1977
3. Al Gionfriddo robs Joe DiMaggio, Game 6, 1947
4. Jackie Robinson steals home, Game 1, 1955
5. Sandy Koufax strikes out 15, Game 1, 1963

Five Unsung Heroes of Yankees/Dodgers World Series

1. Billy Martin’s shoe-top catch, Game 7, 1952
2. Tommy Henrich’s walk-off homer, Game 1, 1949
3. Sandy Amoros’ catch, Game 7, 1955
4. Cookie Lavagetto’s walk-off double, Game 4, 1947
5. Brian Doyle’s .438 average/.938 OPS, 1978

Five Unfortunate Moments in Yankees/Dodgers World Series

1. Mickey Owen’s passed ball, Game 4, 1941
2. George Steinbrenner’s elevator fight, 1981
3. Joe Pepitone mishandles throw from Clete Boyer, Game 4, 1963
4. Gil Hodges going 0-for-21, 1952
5. Bob Lemon removing Tommy John in fourth inning, Game 6, 1981

Five Stars who shined brightest in Yankees/Dodgers World Series.

1. Duke Snider: 6 series, 11 HR, 26 RBI, .945 OPS
2. Mickey Mantle: 5 series, 9 homers, 16 RBI
3. Reggie Jackson: 3 series, 8 HR, 17 RBI, .400 AVG
4. Yogi Berra: 7 series, 8 HR, 22 RBI, .286 AVG
5. Billy Martin: 4 series, 4 HR, .333 AVG

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