Saturday, March 6, 2010, 3:56 AM
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General]
Only 3 players remain on the Red Sox from their World Series winning team of 2004. Those players are David Ortiz, Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek. Think about that. In less than five years the Red Sox have almost turned over their entire roster! This isn't at all unusual in this era of player movement and free agency. It does however, make the tenure of the three longest Yankees all the more remarkable. Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada have played together in pinstripes since being called up to the big leagues together in the fall of 1995. This season marks their 15th season together. If you include Andy Pettitte, who played three seasons for the Houston Astros from 2004-2006, then that's four players who have been teammates since 1995. It's very rare for any player to play this long with one team but it's almost unheard of for all these players to have spent their entire careers together. Just for those who are counting there's only one other player in the majors whose been with one team since 1995, Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves. That's amazing! These four players have won 11 Division Championships, 7 League Championships and 5 World Series in their tenure. Jeter and Rivera are sure fire Hall of Famers and Posada is pretty darn close. Let's take the chance as Yankee fans to celebrate these amazing athletes and recognize a very rare accomlishment in this era. Congrats on 15 years of being Yankees!