- Continued his ascent among baseball's elite players and culminated his dynamic season with a third World Championship in his first four full seasons
- Only two other Yankee players (Mickey Mantle--21 years old, and Joe DiMaggio--23 years old) have won three championships at a younger age
- Hit .349 with 24 HR and 102 RBI in 158 games (all at shortstop)
- Set career highs in nearly every offensive category, including batting average (.349), runs (134), hits (219), home runs (24), RBI (102), doubles (37), triples (9) and walks (91)
- Was among the A.L. leaders in multi-hit games (1st--67), hits (1st), batting average (2nd), runs (2nd), triples (T2nd), on-base percentage (3rd--438) and total bases (T4th-346)
- Ranks fifth on the all-time Yankees list (500 games or more) with a .318 batting average. He trails only Hall of Famers Babe Ruth (.349), Lou Gehrig (.340), Earle Combs (.325) and Joe DiMaggio (.325)
- His 102 RBI were the second most ever by a Yankee shortstop in a single season behind only Lyn Lary's 107 in 1931
- Led the Yankees in hits for the fourth straight season and became the first player since Ernie Banks to lead his team in hits in each of his first four full seasons
- His 219 hits were the fourth highest single-season total by a Yankee and most since 1986 (Don Mattingly, 238)
- Joined center-fielder Bernie Williams as the first pair of Yankee teammates to record 200 or more hits in the same season since Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig accomplished the feat in 1939
- Along with Williams, he became the first Yankee to score 100 or more runs in four straight seasons since Frank Crosetti did it from 1936-39
- Became the first player to score at least 100 runs in four straight seasons starting with his rookie year since Jim Gilliam did it for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1953-56
- Was named to his second All-Star Team by Yankees' manager Joe Torre (was 0-for-1)
- Reached base safely in each of the first 53 games of the season, the longest streak in the Majors in 1999 and the longest by a Yankee in the post-expansion era (since 1961). The streak ended in a 7-2 loss on 6/6 vs. the Mets
- Had six hitting streaks of at least 10 games this season, including a season-high 16 game streak from 5/4-22...tied his career high with 5 RBI in a 10-1 win on 5/7 vs. Seattle
- Posted seven consecutive multi-hit games from 6/7-14, the most by a Yankee since Dave Winfield in 1988
- Batted third for the first time in his career on 6/18 vs. Anaheim and went 2-for-3 with 2 R, 1 RBI and 1 HBP and also stole home on the front end of a double steal with Chili Davis. He hit in the third position from 6/18-7/1, batting .395 (17-for-43) and hitting safely in each of the 11 games
- Missed his first game of 1999 on 6/27 at Baltimore with cramps in his left hamstring
- Batted fourth for the first time ever on 7/10 at New York (NL). He went 0-for-4 with 1 IBB
- Was hitless in consecutive games on 7/31 and 8/1 at Boston for the first time since 9/22-23/98 vs. Cleveland
- Snapped a career-high-tying 0-for-17 skid with the game-winning two-run home run off David Wells in the eighth inning of a 3-1 victory on 8/2 vs. Toronto (had last gone 0-for-17 in April of 1997). The home run was his 20th of the season, making him the first Yankee shortstop ever to hit 20 homers in a season
- Recorded a season-high four hits--tying his career high--in an 8-3 win on 9/5 at Anaheim
- Hit .375 (18-for-48) and lead the Yankees with 10 runs scored in the '99 postseason. He hit safely in all 12 games of the postseason and 17 consecutive post-season games overall, tying Hank Bauer for the all-time record
- Hit safely in eight straight World Series games, dating back to Game One of the 1998 Series vs. San Diego.
|