With some help via the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia, let’s look at Johnny Damon’s career as a member of the Boston Red Sox and his New York Yankees career, to date:
First, his time in Boston:
YEAR TEAM RC RCAA OWP RC/G BPA PA
2002 Red Sox 107 24 .615 6.24 .526 702
2003 Red Sox 93 2 .512 5.40 .490 690
2004 Red Sox 116 25 .607 6.94 .537 702
2005 Red Sox 107 26 .624 6.54 .496 688
TOTALS 423 77 .591 6.27 .512 2782
World Series Rings: 1
Signature Post-Season Moment:
2nd inning Grand Slam on 10/20/04 in Game 7 of 2004 ALCS
Next, here’s Damon’s time in New York (so far):
YEAR TEAM RC RCAA OWP RC/G BPA PA
2006 Yankees 108 26 .624 6.55 .550 671
2007 Yankees 82 5 .527 5.54 .495 605
2008 Yankees 101 25 .629 6.75 .541 623
2009 Yankees 102 27 .636 6.77 .553 626
TOTALS 393 83 .607 6.41 .535 2525
World Series Rings: 1
Signature Post-Season Moment:
9th inning “Double Steal” on 11/1/09 in Game 4 of 2009 World Series
The numbers are pretty close here. In slightly less PA as a member of the Yankees, Damon has posted slightly better numbers in terms of RCAA, OWP, RC/G, and BPA (compared to when he was a member of the Red Sox). And, Johnny has one ring with each team – where he had a big post-season moment contributing towards it.
On the whole, I would say that Johnny Damon’s “time” in New York was just as good as it was while he was in Boston. His production was the same, and, in each stop, he was on one World Series championship team (during the four years he was there).
So, when you retrospectively think “Johnny Damon,” and assuming you don’t consider him to be a “Kansas City Royal” or “Oakland Athletic” (although I doubt anyone who consider the latter), should you first see him as a “Red Sox” or as a “Yankee”? Perhaps it depends on which side of the Boston/New York fence that you sit on? But, in any event, you cannot say that Damon’s career in Boston was better than it was (through 2009) in New York.
Johnny Damon’s “mark” in both towns was pretty much exactly the same.
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