Derek Jeter became the 10th MLB player to surpass the 3,300 hit mark. In talking to some of the guys at "On The Sportslines" about a Yankees Mount Rushmore, it got me thinking...Jeter or Yogi, who is the greater Yankee? I will make two arguments as to why you can make a case for either one.  Then I will reveal who is the better Yankee at the end.

Case for Berra - Angle 1: 
Berra has more All-Star games appearances& MVP's than Jeter
Yogi for crying out loud made 15 All-Star appearances in a row.  Berra had three MVP’s in a span of five seasons.  What is just as impressive, in five of six seasons he finished at least second in the MVP voting.  Jeter has never won an MVP and has only finished second in the MVP voting once.

               MVP’s    All-Star Appearances
Berra          3                      15
Jeter           0                      13

Case for Berra - Angle 2: 
Berra has better World Series numbers than Jeter
Yogi Berra played in 14 different World Series and won 10 of them.  He won his first six in a row.  Six of those came in a seven year span.  Jeter has not even won six World Series in his entire career.  Yes Jeter has played in half the number of games as Yogi, but Yogi has quadrupled Jeter’s HR total and tripled his RBI total.

                                  Berra    Jeter
World Series Won      10           5
World Series HR        12           3
World Series RBI       39           9
Games Played             75         38       
  
Case for Jeter - Angle 1: 
Jeter is a better offensive player
As of 2012 Yogi had played one more season than Jeter.  Despite that Jeter has 1,150 more hits.  He also has scored 700 more runs.  He is far and away a better, more efficient offensive player in terms of hits and runs scored.

               Hits         Runs        Seasons
Jeter       3,301       1,867            18
Berra      2,150       1,175            19

Case for Jeter - Angle 2: 
Jeter has gotten better with age


Jeter seems to be getting stronger in his late 30's while Yogi Berra faded very fast.  I don’t want to hear about players back in the day not playing well into their 40's.  Ted Williams at 42 years-old batted .316; Stan Musial at 41 years-old batted .330.  Both players came before Yogi.  Despite Jeter not being the power hitter that Yogi was, he has doubled Yogi’s HR output total and he has more than quadrupled his hit total.  He has also scored nearly five times as many runs.
  
              At 38 years-old
              Hits     Runs     HR
Jeter      213       98         15
Berra       43       20          8


Closing Argument:
The battle that has to settle this is the postseason.  Berra played in half the games Jeter did. He has 20 less RBI’s and eight less home runs.  But where Jeter really separates himself is in hits and runs.  He has nearly three times as many hits as Berra.  Jeter has batted .307 in the postseason while Yogi hit just .274.

                Jeter       Berra      
Hits           191           71
Runs         107            41
RBI             59            39
HR              20            12
Games      152            75     

The Verdict:
THE GREATER YANKEE IS JETER.  He did it in an era where most guys were cheating. He did it in an era with a lot more parity, expansion teams and specialized relief pitching. He also did all this in the era of the 24/7 news cycle thanks to cable TV and the Internet, not to mention the added scrutiny courtesy of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.  Fans are anywhere and everywhere and there are a heck of a lot more distractions.  Add to that the pressure of being the Captain and Face of the Franchise for most of his illustrious career and there's no doubt...the nod goes to Derek Sanderson Jeter.