Everyone knows the Yankees have the strongest bullpen and heaviest hitters in the American League.
But for legions of female fans, the Bombers’ butts are as spectacular as their bunts, and their good looks generate as much heat as fastballs off the mound.
“They’re superhunks,” gushes social worker Jodi Zisser, 27, of Brooklyn, waxing poetic about right-fielder Paul O’Neill and his long, muscular legs.
And don’t get insurance underwriter Tara Xanthos, 29, started on handsome hurler Andy Pettitte. She can’t decide between the dimple in his chin or his smoldering gaze.
“I like the tall-dark-and-handsome thing,” she said. “He looks great in the uniform. He’s got a dark complexion, so the white looks good on him. Of course, he could wear a potato sack and look good.”
First baseman Tino Martinez’s buff bod is what gets human-resources specialist Jane Pablo’s pulse racing.
“He’s very yummy,” the 29-year-old said. “I actually got to meet him when he was selling hot dogs for a charity thing, and he’s much better looking in person than on TV. He’s got a great physique.
“Too bad he’s married.”
Well, the Yankee at the top of nearly everyone else’s list – shortstop Derek Jeter – is single, and the women of New York are unanimous about why they’d like to get him in a squeeze play.
“He’s got a nice butt,” said Nadja Sims, 25, a software specialist from Queens.
“He’s a very firm young man,” agreed office manager Maritza Barone, 34, of Levittown, L.I.
Brooklynite Sarah Miller, 30, a writer for VH-1’s “Pop-Up Quiz,” could write a book about Jeter’s sex appeal.
“For me, it’s all in the walk and the smirk,” she said.
“His hips are so narrow, yet somehow so, uh, powerful looking. And the smirk … someone smirks like that and looks you in the eyes, it’ll get you pregnant!
“Unfortunately, Derek Jeter is so hot that if we were actually about to have sex, I would probably just pass out before it happened.”
There’s certainly enough pinstriped pulchritude to go around, but what about the Atlanta Braves?
“Ugh,” groaned school librarian Carrie Schadle, 31. “The Braves all look like they drive trucks with gun racks in the back.”
It may not go over big in Brooklyn, but it’s a look they love in the City Too Busy to Hate.
John Rocker, the pitcher New Yorkers love to hate, gets high marks for his bulging biceps and round rear end.
“He’s such a cutie. New York should love him,” said Atlanta go-go dancer Cassandra Hope, 27.
Fellow dancer Kimberly Knightsbridge, 30, sounds like an announcer talking about a Rocker pitch when she described his tush: “Up high, firm, just tight.”
Georgia peaches insist their hometown heroes are every bit as hunky as the Bombers – there’s Greg Maddux’s bedroom eyes, Chipper Jones’ powerful arms and Gerald Williams’ heart-melting smile.
Slugger Andruw Jones is no slouch, either. As Stacey Ordner, 23, a waitress at the Three-Dollar Cafe sports club puts it: “He’s a hottie-and-a-half.”