The Yankees have had some of the best hitters in baseball history and seemingly countless historic batting accomplishments throughout the history of the franchise. Yet despite the home run records, the Triple Crowns and the consecutive game hit streak, somewhat surprisingly up to 2011, no Yankee had ever reached the historic milestone of 3,000 hits.
A combination of circumstances not working in their favor prevented Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Mickey Mantle from getting over the 3,000 hit mountain. In their mid-twenties, both Joe DiMaggio and Don Mattingly looked poised to make a run at the milestone but a litany of obstacles impeded their respective journeys as well.