Let’s talk Yankee baseball. Not what drug is this one injecting into that one’s buttock. Not is this player screwing that British film director’s wife. Not even is the new stadium worth half what they paid for it and are the season ticket holders going to lose their rights to purchase playoff and world series tickets? Shall we remember our early exit last season?

No, as I said before I want to talk baseball. In the Yankee world it is all too easy to be distracted by the gossip and drama that surrounds the bombers. At times the morning sports pages are filled with Yankee articles that have nothing to do with baseball. That’s why I feel it more than appropriate to bring up Brett Gardner.

Gardner barely played in 42 games last year and didn’t get the call until almost July. He hit .228 in 127 at bats with 0 home runs and only 16 RBI’s. He was a 25-year-old rookie on the first Yankee team to not make the playoffs since the strike of ’94 (That’s Derek’s entire career; I like to throw that in whenever I can). So why talk about him? How is he going to distract us from the dysfunctional cousins helping us taint a career or owners arguing about money they can’t even count? He plays centerfield.

Centerfield has been a coveted position in the Bronx since the Red Sox gave us the Babe. In those days the Bambino was joined by Bob Meusel, and Earl Combs (HOF) in the outfield both of who hit over .300 for their career to go a long with career slugging percentages well over .450 and 3 World Series wins. The position is the cornerstone of the outfield and key to any teams lineup but has proven to be a New York Yankees trademark.

Everyone knows Joe DiMaggio has impressive numbers so I’ll just stick to the number that means the most to Yankee fans: 9. Joey D won 9 World Series championships out of 10 WS appearances. The same goes for the Mick. Mickey Mantel is one of the greatest players to walk out of any dugout let alone Yankee Stadiums so again I’ll stick to the important number: 7. The Mick won 7 World Series in 12 WS appearances. That means that in 32 years (1936-1968) the Yankees had only two centerfielders, made it to 21 World Series’ and won 16.

The same holds true for the often-overlooked Mr. October Yankees who made it to three and won 2 World Series between 1976-1978 with Mickey Rivers playing center and hitting a combined .301 with a .423 slugging percentage in those three seasons.

It could be said that the Yankee’s have coined the centerfield position. They have shown that having a great centerfielder is important to winning world series rings. They continued to show that when they brought up a 22-year-old Bernie Williams in 1991. He struggled his first three seasons with the Yanks and never looked really comfortable hitting only .268 in ’93 with a career high 106 SO. It took time for the Yankee legend to get comfortable in that broad Bronx outfield and to pull on enough stirrups and socks to fill those rather large shoes.

William’s began falling in line as a historic Yankee centerfielder in 1995 and went on to appear in 6 world series, win 4 and finish his career hitting .297 BA with a .477 slugging percentage hitting more post-season home runs than ANY Yankee (22hr) and never finishing a season in Centerfield with more than 8 errors (only happened in 1995). The switch hitting CF, that was feared by lefties and righties alike, showed the importance of a having strong centerfielder on a World Series team and has been greatly missed since his messy departure in 2006.

Now I know what some of you are thinking and no I’m not expecting Brett Gardner to throw on his spikes and become the next Joey D or Bernie Williams. But I do think he could be the missing link on a very powerful Yankee ball club. He’s got speed, brains and guts and what more could you really ask for from centerfielder hitting in the nine spot. He’s been turning heads early down in Florida and as of right now I think he’s a no brainer for the CF spot over the fan adored but disappointing Melky Cabrera, who looked like he forgot how to swing last season.

In 42 games last season Gardner got on base 37 times and stole 13 bases and hit 3 triples. And yesterday went 2-2 with a double and a walk in 4 innings in a 5-4 loss to the Twins. His speed and small ball approach, that reminds me of the 1996 Torre managed style of play, could be very valuable on a team filled with long ball hitters. He obviously has enough speed to cover the deep gaps in Yankee Stadium and so far has a 1.000 fielding percentage in his 42 game career.

It would be nice to have a solid and consistent centerfield who is a quick-footed 9-hole hitter that could score a lot of runs and I think Gardner could be that guy in the next couple of seasons if not right now. All Gardner has to do is stick to his game and I doubt any one will start in center over him. He needs to have a strong spring and highlight his skills in order to secure that spot. But I have a feeling that in those dog days of August you may see Gardner win some games with those legs while the big boys are sweating through.