MSG Panel of Experts Selects Dave Winfield as New York’s Best Left Fielder

From MSG:

Last night on Episode Six of MSG’s “The Lineup: New York’s All-time Best Baseball Players,”five left fielders – George Burns, Rickey Henderson, Lou Piniella, Zach Wheat and Dave Winfield – were nominated for one spot in “The Lineup .” Attached is a list of career statistics for each of the five nominees.

The show’s panel, which consists of Hall-of-Fame Mets catcher Gary Carter, Yankees bullpen ace and Cy Young winner Sparky Lyle, Executive V.P. of the Elias Sports Bureau Steve Hirdt, author Will Leitch, and host Fran Healy, unanimously (by the end) chose Dave Winfield as the best left fielder in the history of New York. Hirdt initially picked Wheat, but was swayed to ultimately decide on Winfield. The panel agreed that because of Winfield’s combination of power, speed and rocket arm, he deserved to be on the list.

Don Zimmer, Coach, NY Yankees, 1996-2003“I mean he (Winfield) would hit balls…God almighty…he’d tear an infielder apart.”

Wade Boggs, Hall of Fame, 2005“I always hated to play third against Dave with the bases loaded, where we had to bring the infield in. I would always play back, really deep at third, and he would always act like he was going to bunt and I said ‘Please do…there’s a free base hit if you want one.’”

Tony LaRussa, Manager, St. Louis Cardinals“I think he’s (Henderson) the most dangerous offensive player of our time.”

Dennis Eckersley, Hall of Fame, 2004
“He (Piniella) hit a ground ball once off of me and he was safe at first, and they called him out. And then he went into the dugout and beat the…it made so much noise that I looked over into the dugout and he was like ‘ WHAT ARE YOU LOOKIN AT ?’”

To date, “The Lineup” reads:

C: Yogi Berra
1B: Lou Gehrig
2B:  Jackie Robinson
3B: Alex Rodriguez
SS: Derek Jeter
LF: Dave Winfield

Tune in to MSG next Tuesday at 10:30pm for the top five right fielders in the history of New York and find out which one will be added to “The Lineup.”

Go to www.msg.com/lineup to play along and have the chance to win great prizes from legendary players.