Top 10 American League Shortstops of All-Time

Russ Cohen and I are embarking on a project to put together a list of the 10 best players at each position, with him doing the top National Leaguers and me taking on the best in the junior circuit.

The list is of the 10 best shortstops who played the majority of or all of their career in the American League:

Note: Any player who was entangled in performance-enhancing drugs or is suspected of taking them (such as Alex Rodriguez) was not under consideration. They should never be enshrined in Cooperstown and thus do not belong on this list.

1. Derek Jeter 

You can call him “The Captain” or “Mr. November”, but another description would be the best shortstop in the modern era. Jeter in his 20-year career won the AL Rookie of the Year in 1996, five World Championships with the Yankees, five Gold Gloves, finished sixth all-time with 3,465 hits, a .310 career batting average, and a nearly identical average in the postseason.

2. Cal Ripken 

This might be slightly controversial, but Ripken’s value as one of the all-time greats is slightly inflated by his accomplishment of breaking Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak. The modern-day “Iron Man” started off with a Rookie of the Year, MVP, and World Championship with the Orioles in his first two seasons, but his main claim to fame after that was his remarkable durability. Ripken compiled 3,184 hits in his 21-year career and 431 home runs.

3. Robin Yount 

Yount spent the first half of his career with Milwaukee at shortstop before back problems forced him to move to center field. The Hall-of-Famer won AL MVPs (1982, 1989) at each position and finished his 20-year career with 3,142 hits and a .285 average.

4. Luke Appling

Underappreciated as an offensive player, Appling played all 20 seasons with the White Sox, hitting over .300 15 times and winning two AL batting titles in 1936 and 1943. The Hall-of-Famer finished with 2,749 hits and a career .310 average.

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5. Alan Trammell

Trammell along with Lou Whitaker combined to make up the AL’s best middle infield in the 1980s, winning a World Championship with Detroit in 1984. The four-time Gold Glove winner and six-time All-Star spent all 20 seasons with the Tigers, finishing with a ,285 career average and 2,365 hits.

6. Lou Boudreau

Boudreau was the key cog to Cleveland’s last World Championship in 1948, winning the MVP with a .355 average while serving as player-manager. The seven-time All-Star also won an AL batting title in 1944 and finished his 15-year Hall-of-Fame career with a .295 average.

7. Joe Cronin

Cronin spent all but two of his 20-year career with Washington and Boston, finishing his Hall-of-Fame career with a .301 batting average and 2,285 hits, and was the first American League player to make the All-Star team with two different teams. What is more amazing is that he served as a player-manager for 13 seasons, leading the Senators to the World Series in 1933.

8. Phil Rizzuto

“The Scooter” may be known more for his broadcasting career by a certain generation, but he was considered the best shortstop in Yankees history until a guy named Jeter showed up. Rizzuto lost three prime years serving in the Navy during World War II but still managed to win seven World Championships (1941, 1947, 1949-53) and an AL Most Valuable Player in 1950.

9. Luis Aparicio

Arguably the best defensive shortstop of his era, Aparicio won the Gold Glove nine times in his 18 seasons with Chicago, Baltimore, and Boston, led the AL in stolen bases his first nine seasons, and compiled 2,677 hits in his Hall-of-Fame career.

10. Nomar Garciaparra

At his peak, Garciaparra was an equal and legitimate rival to Jeter and Rodriguez, winning AL Rookie of the Year in 1997 and hitting over .300 his first four seasons. The righty has a .313 career average and hit 20 or more home runs six times in his nine seasons with Boston, but unfortunately missed out on breaking the Curse of the Bambino by being traded to the Cubs in the summer of 2004.