When you look through the pages of New York Yankee lore, you don’t see enough on Gil McDougald, who played in the infield for the Bronx Bombers throughout the 1950s.  It should, as the five-time All-Star, be a large part of their success of the decade.

McDougald played all ten of his seasons for the Yankees, first debuting in 1951, winning the American League Rookie of the Year award, and helping the Bronx Bombers win the World Series.  The Yanks and McDougald won the next two titles, and McDougald was a consistent player on the squad.

The infielder helped the Yankees win the World Series five times over his career, and from 1956 to 1959, he was a perennial All-Star.  McDougald was not a power hitter, nor did he hit for exemplary average, but he was a defensive superstar who legitimately earned MVP votes annually from 1955 to 1958. His play helped New York win five World Series Titles.

McDougald might not have been a superstar player, but his overall impact and ability to be in the right place at the right time have few peers.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present the first revision of our top 50 New York Yankees of all-time.

As for all of our top 50 players in baseball we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2. Traditional statistics and how they finished in the American League. 

This is the first revision since we put up this list in 2017.

The complete list can be found here, but as always we announce our top five in this article.  They are:

1. Babe Ruth

2. Lou Gehrig

3. Mickey Mantle

4. Joe DiMaggio

5. Derek Jeter

With a team as storied and as old as the Yankees, very little has changed overall, and the top five remain the same.  Actually, there beyond minor tinkering, there is only one significant addition.  That is Gil McDougald, who we incorrectly omitted. The 1951 Rookie of the Year, and five-time World Series Champion is ranked at #29.

We are certainly keeping our eyes on Aaron Judge, who could enter this list shortly.

We welcome your input and commentsand as always, we thank you for your support.

In 1951, Gil McDougald walked straight into a transitional changing of the guard, playing alongside an aging Joe DiMaggio and a raw rookie named Mickey Mantle. Standing out with an incredibly unorthodox batting stance, holding the bat remarkably low with an open, slouching posture, the 23-year-old San Francisco native immediately proved that classic form mattered far less than pure, high-leverage execution.

McDougald was a key tactical asset for manager Casey Stengel, leveraging his defensive flexibility to serve as the backbone of the infield during the team's mid-20th-century success. He didn't just fill in gaps; he played at an elite level across three top-tier positions, second base, third base, and shortstop, adjusting seamlessly to meet the team's strategic needs. Advanced statistics strongly support his mastery of these roles, ranking him among the American League's top ten in defensive bWAR in eight of his ten major league seasons. Notably, he finished in the top four five times and reached a defensive peak in 1957, when he led the league in defensive value.

While his defensive flexibility maintained a pristine roster, McDougald offered a dependable and productive presence at the plate. He secured the 1951 American League Rookie of the Year honor by posting an impressive .306 batting average, capped by a historic Grand Slam in Game 5 of the World Series against the Giants. He then recorded eight straight seasons with double-digit home runs, demonstrating a deceptive power suited to Yankee Stadium's spacious gaps. His offensive prowess truly shone in the 1957 season, where, in addition to his elite defense, he led the American League with 9 triples and finished with a solid .289 average, earning a top-ten spot in MVP voting.

More than anything, McDougald was a quintessential winner who treated the postseason like a routine extension of the summer calendar. A five-time All-Star, he anchored the diamond for eight American League pennant-winners, capturing five World Series championship rings (1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, and 1958). His calm demeanor and selfless, team-first approach made him an immensely popular figure throughout the New York clubhouse and among the stadium faithful.

Rather than hanging on past his prime to chase individual milestones as his physical baseline naturally slowed, he chose to walk away from the game on his own terms, following the 1960 schedule and retiring at the relatively young age of 32 to focus on his family and business ventures. He left behind a lifelong, single-uniform legacy defined by 1,291 hits, 112 home runs, and a lifetime .276 batting average.