Yankee fans, tell Micheal Kay: best player on a baseball team is not as valuable as the best in basketball or football.

Yankee play by play announcer Micheal Kay has been running his mouth on his ESPN radio program about how dumb Yankee fans are.

Right now Kay is hysterical about Yankee fans not knowing how dynamically Yankee manager Aaron Boone may or may not be dealing with his players in private. Kay suggested that Boone may be attaching cattle prods to players and dumb Yankee fans wouldn't know. So, who is dumb here, Yankee fans or Micheal Kay? OK, back to the actual point.

Micheal Kay has been emphasizing how much the Yankees miss Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, especially now in Boston against the Red Sox.

Austin Romine replaced Sanchez at catcher and has better basic batting numbers than Sanchez.
                BA OBP SLG OPS
Romine: .267 .321 .467 .788
Sanchez: .188 . 283 .416 .699

What the heck is Micheal Kay thinking, if anything?

Judge is a big bat in 2018 but:

The best baseball player can be marginalized because the rules are so moronic. He probably bats only four times and those events may not be meaningful.

Mike Trout can't get his team into the tournament.

Mickey Mantle won his third MVP in 1962. In 1963 Mantle broke his foot and missed almost three months.

The R in WAR: Mickey Mantle's replacement in 1963. Monday, October 27, 2014

Wednesday, June 5, 1963 Memorial Stadium Baltimore: Mantle hurt trying to prevent a home run... Mickey broke his foot and tore ligaments...

After Mantle broke his foot Hector Lopez essentially replaced him at bat. Lopez OPS increased from .568 on June 2 to .710 on Sept. 4 when Mantle started playing full games regularly...

So who actually replaced Mantle on the roster? ​As near as I can tell, 22 year old lefty starting pitcher Al Downing replaced Mantle in 1963...

Downing went on to a 13-5 record (ERA+ 138, career high), helping the Yankees overcome the loss of Mickey Mantle, the best player in the American League. Downing's 1963 WAR: 3.6, second highest of his career; 1967 4.6. Downing primarily took starts away from Bill Stafford and Stan Williams.
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Other Yankees stepped up after the best player in the American League was injured.

Yankee record after the game when Mantle was injured, which they won, and through the game before he returned to center field:
June 5, 1963 27-18
Sept. 3, 1963 90-49

Mantle	G	W	L	"Pct"
with	45	27	18	.600
without	94	63	31	.670
returns to CF after	139	90	49	.647

Micheal Kay, how ever did that happen? Ask Aaron Boone.