Tommy Henrich is a part of the folklore of the New York Yankees, but with the legends that the Bronx Bombers have had, sometimes “Old Reliable” gets lost in the shuffle.

Henrich played his entire career in New York, first debuting in 1937, and helping them in the 1938 World Series win.  His breakout year was in 1941 when he had 31 Home Runs and won another World Series Championship.   Henrich was one of the many who lost time in baseball due to his participation in World War II, and he lost three years, but he came back to have the best run of his career.

Henrich would lead the American League in Triples in 1947 and 1948 and was also the league leader in Runs with 138 in 1948.  He would help the Yanks win the 1947 and 1949 World Series, and he was a huge part of those wins, batting .323 in the '47 Series and hitting the first walk-off Home Run in Game 1 of the ’49 Series.

Retiring after 1950, Henrich was a five-time All-Star and had 183 career Home Runs.

One of the more interesting characters of the game, David "Boomer" Wells, played 21 seasons in the Majors for nine different teams, three of which he had two stints.  Wells longevity allowed him to amass a record of 239-157 with 2,201 Strikeouts, but don't view him as a "compiler."

In terms of actual importance in Baseball, Curt Flood is in the top ten, if not top five in the game.

The story of Howard Ellsworth "Smoky Joe" Wood is typical in that and we have a power pitcher who was dominant for a short time, only for arm fatigue to cause an early end of his pitching career (though he would continue to play, but we'll get to that later.)