NEW YORK, NY — Major League Baseball today announced the launch of the “Franchise Four” campaign, which will allow fans to vote for the most impactful players who best represent each Major League franchise and several other significant categories in the sport’s history. The winners of the month-long period of fan voting on MLB.com/FranchiseFour will be announced during pregame ceremonies before Baseball’s 86th All-Star Game on Tuesday, July 14th at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati on FOX.
You can vote for your favorite team(s) and for the top four players from three special categories: “Negro League Players”, “Pioneers”, and “Greatest Living Player”.
MLB Update
Major League Baseball released the current leaders for the Franchise Four campaign on Wednesday, and it should come as no surprise to see Babe Ruth atop the Yankees’ list.
The first balloting update revealed that Ruth currently leads the voting. He’s followed by Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio. The Yankees are one of seven clubs with four Hall of Famers currently leading the voting.
http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/119676970/yankees-franchise-four-voting-favors-hall-of-famers-with-babe-ruth-lou-gehrig-mickey-mantle-joe-dimaggio-leading-ballot
My picks – Robert Cox
I am a Yankee fan so I only feel strongly about my picks for the Yankees.
I went with the following, in order:
1. Babe Ruth
2. Lou Gehrig
3. Mariano Riviera
4. Joe DiMaggio
No team has a more difficult set of choices than the Yankees and leaving out Jeter may surprise some but my criteria was the players without which the franchise would not be the Yankees as we know them.
The Yankees were nothing until Babe Ruth came along and anyone who does not have Ruth on their list, and at #1 doesn’t know what they are talking about.
Ruth made the Yankees winners but Lou Gehrig gave the Yankees something on top of that which defined the aura of being a Yankee.
Mariano Riviera is the best player ever at his position without whom the Yankees of the “core four” era may not have won a single World Series. And an element of class and dignity in the Lou Gehrig mold.
Joe DiMaggio. This is where I got stuck because I might have picked Jeter or Yogi Berra but Simon & Garfunkle never wrote a song lyric about either of them. Enough said.