Pickin' Splinters

Rochester's Independent Sports Source

Johnny Damon and Six Other Red Sox-Turned Yankees

by 24 Comments

By Chas

The recent coverage of Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez signing with the AL East team that was otherwise raided by their two chief rivals this off-season got me to thinking. Damon, once considered the equivalent of Jesus in Boston, but later nicknamed Judas, has an interesting distinction in common with six other players in baseball history.

Of course, I’m not the first person to mention this, but Damon is one of seven players who played in and won World Series with both the Red Sox and the Yankees. Now, let me clarify this, because if you try to Google the answer to this question, you’ll probably find a list quite a bit longer than I’m suggesting. I’m talking about players who actually played in a World Series won by the Yankees and a World Series won by the Red Sox.

So, I’ll start off with a little hint by telling you of one person this rules out. Ramiro Mendoza was with the Yankees for all four of their World Series victories between 1996 and 2000—although he actually only pitched in two of them—and he was a member of the 2004 World Champion Red Sox. He even pitched in the ALCS for the Sox that year, against the Yankees, but he did not pitch in the Series. I honestly don’t know if he was dropped from the roster or if he simply didn’t pitch, but he’s not one of the answers to this question.

In addition to Damon, can you name the other six? Of course you can, with a little internet research, but let’s see how many we can come up with without looking them up first. Oh, and, when you do finally decide to look them up, I suggest you peruse the rosters of Red Sox World Series champions rather than those of the Yankees. It will probably take you about 78% less time.

One last interesting tidbit about this short list of players…every one of them won their first World Series with the Red Sox.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rey says

    I don’t know how duymb a question this is, but here goes: Did Babe Ruth win a World Series with the Red Sox???

  6. Chas says

    Hinske is correct.

    Embree played for the Yankees briefly in 2005…not a championship team.

    Cash was a member of both the 2007 Red Sox and 2009 Yankees, but he didn’t play in either World Series. In fact, the Yankees released him in September of 2009, so while I’m sure he got voted a partial share, he wasn’t on the team when they won the World Series.

    Four to go.

  9. Chas says

    No Casey, Speaker never played for the Yanks. Mientkiewicz didn’t get to the Series with the Yanks.

    The remaining four are probably going to require a little research, unless they’re are some baseball history nerds lurking. None of these guys are in Wally’s wheelhouse either.

  11. Casey says

    This is a killer. But hold on to the answersfor now.

    Joe Cronin? No. Jimmie Foxx? Not a chance. Joe McCarthy managed both. That doesn’t count, and he managed the Sox after winning titles with the Yanks in the 300. Or was it the 40s.

    It is like I am out on fishing boat – just one more cast, just one more cast.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *