The top 10 Yankees-Dodgers 'turncoats'
In advance of the Dodgers-Yankees interleague series in the Bronx, let's take a look at some notable names who wore both uniforms.
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As our own Danny Knobler has noted and explored, it's been 32 years since the Dodgers and Yankees got together in the Bronx. While only the Yankees have realistic designs on contention at the moment, this is still a noteworthy encounter between two classic rivals that once shared the same city.
So in celebration of these renewed hostilities, let's take a brief walking tour of some notable names who have worn both the Yankee pinstripes and the Dodger, um, uniforms that don't have pinstripes.
To the breathlessly anticipated countdown!
1. Casey Stengel
The quintessential Yankees manager was first a fairly unsuccessful Dodgers manager, but only after he spent the fist six seasons of his playing career as a Dodger. Stengel skippered Brooklyn from 1934-36 and never finished higher than fifth. After that came another unsuccessful stint in the dugout, this time for the luckless Boston Braves. Then Stengel finally found success as a manager, but it initially came at the helm of the Milwaukee Brewers, then a minor-league club owned by Bill Veeck. Then came stops in the Yankees farm system and the Pacific Coast League. Finally, just prior to what would turn out to be the legendary 1949 season, the Yankees hired Stengel as their manager over quite a bit of public resistance (Stengel, you see, was a second-rate comedian and a third-rate manager). Ten pennants and seven World Series titles would follow.
2. Joe Torre
Torre managed the Yankees for 12 seasons (which means only the great Joe McCarthy lasted longer as Yankee skipper), and he led them to four World Series titles, six pennants and 10 division crowns. The Yankees, of course, had endured what was, by their lofty standards, a long drought before Torre guided the 1996 team to a World Series upset of the Braves. Not long after a somewhat acrimonious departure from the Bronx, Torre landed on his feet as manager of the Dodgers. In three seasons in L.A., Torre notched two trips to the NLCS.
3. Wee Willie Keeler
Keeler, one of the great hitters of the late-19th and early-20th century, spent four seasons and change with the "Dodgers" (they were known as the "Grooms" and the "Superbas" in those days) and then seven seasons with the "Yankees" (they were known as the "Highlanders" in those days). In the winter of 1902, Keeler became one of the first big stars to sign a contract and jump to the fledgling American League. In signing with the Highlanders, Keeler became baseball's first ever $10,000-per-year player.
4. Tommy John
John was already a quality major-league starting pitcher when, in December of 1971, the White Sox traded him to the Dodgers in exchange for Dick Allen. Once in L.A., John started winning games, which improved his reputation among the sporting press. In July of 1974, however, John's arm went dead after a pitch he threw during a start against the Expos. About two months later, John underwent a radical new surgical procedure that replaced one of his elbow ligaments with one harvested from his wrist -- "Tommy John" surgery it would be called, thanks to the pioneering of Dr. Frank Jobe and John's willingness to give it a shot. John's career was salvaged, and he went on to sign a lucrative free-agent contract with the Yankees. John has the distinction of facing the Yankees in the 1977 and 1978 World Series as a member of the Dodgers and then facing the Dodgers in the 1981 World Series as a member of the Yankees.
5. Dazzy Vance
Early in Vance's career, the Yankees purchased him from the Pirates. Not long after that, though, Vance developed an elbow problem that one doctor told him would take five years to heal (!). So the Yanks cut Vance loose in 1915. Vance pitched in the minors until 1918, when the Yankees gave him a two-game look before cutting him again. Finally in 1922, Vance, at age 31, got a shot with the Dodgers. Over the next 11 seasons, Vance would win 187 games for Brooklyn and claim the NL MVP award for 1924. Vance was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1955, which was in other respects a good year for the Dodgers.
6. Tony Lazzeri
A Hall of Famer and the greatest second baseman in Yankees history, "Poosh 'Em Up Tony" was a fixture in the Yankee infield for 12 seasons and a key member of five World Series-winning teams. Late in his career, Lazzeri spent 14 games of the 1939 season with the Dodgers. However, Lazzeri would always self-identify as a Yankee.
7. Don Mattingly
"Donnie Baseball" surely ranks as one of the most beloved Yankees of all-time. Mattingly spent his entire 14-year playing career in Yankee pinstripes, and over that span he notched nine Gold Gloves, six All-Star appearances and one AL MVP. Back problems hastened his decline phase, but Mattingly enjoyed one of the great peaks of his era. These days, of course, he's the embattled manager of the Dodgers.
8. Bill "Moose" Skowron
Skowron spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Yankees, and he was a vital member of three of Casey Stengel's championship teams. Following the 1962 season, the Yankees traded Skowron to the Dodgers in exchange for right-hander Stan Williams. Williams would win a total of 10 games over two seasons with the Yankees. As for Skowron, he would go on to bat .385/.429/.615 during the Dodgers' triumph in the 1963 World Series over … the Yankees.
9. Steve Sax
Sax didn't exhaust his rookie status in 1981, when last the Dodgers and Yankees met in the Bronx, but he did log an at-bat in the World Series. The following season, Sax was named NL Rookie of the Year, and he went on to spend eight seasons with the Dodgers. Following the championship season of 1988, however, Sax signed with the Yankees, where he went on to make the All-Star team twice in three seasons.
10. Hiroki Kuroda
Kuroda with the Dodgers, after starting his U.S. major-league career at age 33: 41-46, 3.45 ERA, 113 ERA+. Kuroda after signing with the Yankees at age 37: 22-16 3.17 ERA, 131 ERA+. List of pitchers to win at least 20 games for the Dodgers and Yankeees: Tommy John, Al Downing, Joe McGinnity, Doc Newton, Rick Rhoden and Kuroda.
Other notables to play for both Dodgers and Yankees: Bobby Abreu, Ralph Branca, Kevin Brown, Rocky Colavito, Leo Durocher, Wes Ferrell, Burleigh Grimes, Rickey Henderson, Waite Hoyt, Andruw Jones, Kenny Lofton, Sal Maglie, Raul Mondesi, Lefty O'Doul, Willie Randolph, Gary Sheffield, Darryl Strawberry, Robin Ventura, David Wells
