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Six degrees of Yankee captaincy

When Aaron Judge was named Yankees captain, he joined a long list of luminaries, and maybe a couple notable non-luminaries, to have held the position. While the names that stand out on the list of captains are the bonafide franchise legends — Lou Gehrig, Don Mattingly, Derek Jeter, plenty more — the list isn’t only them.

There have been captains dating all the way back to the origin of the Yankees’ franchise. The first ever one was Clark Griffith, a pitcher and a player/manager for the then-Highlanders from 1903-1908, the first six seasons in team history.