Jacoby Ellsbury will be the 218th player to have played for both Boston & New York

Six degrees of separation:

Jacoby Ellsbury will be the 218^th player in MLB history to play for both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.

by rick olivares

The New York Yankees were the bastard sons of the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Red Sox.

Although the plan was to put up a second team in New York outside the National League’s NY Giants, the second franchise was instead sent to Baltimore where it became the Orioles. After disputes over raiding players to move to the Giants, a vote was called after which the Orioles relocated to their place where they were originally intended to play – New York. They were first known as the Highlanders. By 1913, they changed their name to the Yankees.

What transformed New York was the ownership of Jacob Ruppert and his subsequent acquisition of former Red Sox general manager Ed Darrow and pitcher, Babe Ruth.

And since then, they have become the most storied baseball franchise the world has ever seen. Even today we still see some former Red Sox players suit up for New York (and vice versa) helping the Bronx Bombers to more success.

But in this new millennium where the worm has turned for Boston, their winners are now helping New York back to title form.

Jacoby Ellsbury will be the 218^th player to suit up for both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.

I have always admired what Ellsbury has done for Boston but I am not sure if I wanted to see him in pinstripes.

For me, he is a Red Sox player. Not unlike Johnny Damon for all his ‘idiot’ posturing, he came up from Oakland.

Having said that, Roger Clemens was Boston all the way until he got traded to Toronto. So for me that somewhat softened his coming to New York.

Ellsbury won two World Series titles in Boston so he probably took the Yankees’ money.

I guess it stems from my pricked Yankee pride that Boston has taken over as the preeminent American League East franchise since 2004 where they have won three World Series titles to New York’s one.

It used to be this way, a Bosox player would go to New York where he would find success:

Babe Ruth

Left 1919 after six years with Boston.

Played 15 years with New York. He hit 714 home runs for New York winning four World Series titles in pinstripes).

Red Ruffing.

Pitched from 1924-30 in Boston then left for New York where he stayed from 13 years! He won six championships in the Bronx.

Babe Dahlgren

Two years with Boston before leaving for New York where he played for four years. He is also famously known for taking over first base from an illness-stricken Lou Gehrig. Dahlgren won a title in NY in 1939.

Sparky Lyle

Five seasons in Boston then left for New York where he played for seven years.

In NY, he saved 141 games and won a Cy Young Award. He was a part of the Yanks’ World Series teams of 1977 and 1978.

Wade Boggs

11 seasons in Boston .

Played five years in New York where he won a championship in 1996.

Roger Clemens

Pitched 13 years for Boston. Joined the Toronto Blue Jays for two before departing for New York where he pitched for six seasons. In pinstripes, he won two Cy Young Awards and two World Series titles.

Now it seems to be the reverse.

Johnny Damon helped end the curse with a title in Boston in 2004 then helped New York to a World Series championship in 2009.

So far, Kevin Youkilis didn’t do much despite his being on two Boston title teams. Will Ellsbury – at the expense of former and long time Yankee second baseball Robinson Cano -- help New York to another? Time will tell.