Names...

of my favorite players ever:

1. Willie Randolph
2. Bernie Williams
3. Mariano Rivera
4. Rickey Henderson
5. Dave Winfield
6. Derek Jeter
7. Paul O'Neill
8. Mike Mussina
9. Jimmy Key
10. Sid Fernandez

This is the canon for me. It would be hard for anything to change it...even another list of names.

Comments

[walein]

1) Dave Winfield
2) David Cone
3) Mariano Rivera
4) Derek Jeter
5) Dwight Gooden
6) Paul Oneil
7) Mike Mussina
8) Eric Davis (I wanted his name for a while when I was young)
9) Ricky Henderson
10) Dennis Rasmussen

[walein]

I may have to knock off Rasmussen in order to get Willie in there.

[John - YF]

Ok Nick, I will bite.

Favorite Players Of All-Time:

1. Derek Jeter
2. Don Mattingly
3. Jorge Posada
4. Andy Pettitte
5. Kirby Puckett
6. Craig Biggio
7. Lenny Dykstra
8. Mariano Rivera
9. Alex Rodriguez
10. Will Clark

Players I Admire But Never Got To See Play:
1. Joe D
2. Yogi
3. Thurman
4. Ted Williams
5. Carl Pavano

[Atheose]

1. Nolan Ryan
2. Pedro Martinez
3. David Ortiz
4. Mo Vaugn
5. Josh Beckett
6. Brooks Robinson
7. Rafael Palmiero
8. Ivan Rodriguez
9. Manny Ramirez (he's like a little kid!)
10. Julian Tavarez

I admit that I have a man-crush on Tavarez. He's just so damn entertaining, and I love to see pitchers that enjoying picking fights (hence Nolan Ryan at the top)

[Atheose]

HAHAHA John, just saw "Carl Pavano" on your list.

[Atheose]

BAH, how could I forget Julio Franco?

[walein]

I forgot Pedro...and Manny.

[Brad]

Beckett
Pedro
Unit
Mariano
Clemens
Nolan Ryan
Ivan Rodriguez
A-Rod
Oil Can
Beckett:)

[sam-YF]

Greg Maddux
Roger Clemens
Mariano Rivera
A-Rod
Derek Jeter
Bernie Williams
Paul O'Neil
Darryl Strawberry
Lenny Dykstra
Don Mattingly

I also liked watching Pedro pitch and admire Manny and Ortiz's hitting but they just arent my favorite players.

[FenSheaParkway]

Just off the top of my head, and trying to keep to just 10:

1. Sid Fernandez (patron saint of FenSheaParkway)
2. Greg Maddux
3. Trot Nixon
4. Bill Lee (not that I ever saw him play, but if I were a Baseball player, I'd be Bill Lee II)
5. Mike Piazza
6. Rickey Henderson
7. Ron Darling
8. Tim Wakefield
9. Howard Johnson
10. David Ortiz

[Devine]

1. Manny Ramirez
2. Nolan Ryan (pitching for the Rangers when I was a kid)
3. David Ortiz
4. Pedro Martinez
5. Vladimir Guerrero
6. Josh Beckett
7. Joe Mauer
8. Johan Santana
9. Roy Oswalt
10. Albert Pujols

[Devine]

It should also be noted there was a long gap in my baseball fandom. Liked it up till 10/11 years old, stopped watching for 7/8 years entirely, got crazy again in '03.

[attackgerbil]

1. Willie Randolph
2. Don Mattingly
3. Lou Whittaker
4. Rod Carew
5. Mo
6. Munson
7. Chris Chambliss
8. Catfish
9. Jeter
10. Rags

[walein]

AG-

Forgot about Carew too! Good one.

[attackgerbil]

walein, I definitely screwed up in leaving Winnie off my list. I worshipped that guy when he was in stripes.

[krueg]

1. Donnie Baseball
1a. Derek Jeter
2. Tino Martinez
3. Steve Balboni!!!!

[AndrewYF]

My favorite Yankees have gone, in order:

1. Mattingly
2. O'Neill
3. Bernie
4. Cano

Cole Hamels and Phil Hughes are currently my two favorite young pitchers.

[SF]

1. Pedro
2. Pedro
3. Pedro

There has never been a more fun and enjoyable player to watch in my Sox-rooting history. My all-time fave.

Second Tier:

4. Luis Tiant
5. Fred Lynn
6. Carl Everett - for a brief moment Fun Carl was a hoot, completely entertaining, playing on the edge of total lunacy. And then he lost it, and Fun Carl turned into Embarrassing Carl.
7. Wade Boggs, especially during the Margo Adams era. His at-bats were works of art.
8. High Bernie Williams, pre-jazz and bad knees days - elegant and classy, he is one of only two member of the Yankees that I find/found myself actively liking, the other being Mariano Rivera.

There are more, for sure.

[AndrewYF]

Oh, and Alan Horne is my favorite Yankee pitching prospect (he was still my favorite prospect even with Chamberlain and Kennedy in the minors), with Austin Jackson being my favorite Yankee position prospect. Not TOO original, but hey.

[KurticusMaximus- YF]

1. Donnie
2. Paulie
3. Jorge
4. Bernie
5. Mo
6. Andy
7. Moose
8. Soriano

[yankeemonkey]

In no particular order...

Mariano
Posada
Pettitte
Mussina
Jim Abbott
Julio Franco
Tino
Tom Glavine
Griffey Jr.
Phil Rizzuto

1. Mariano Rivera - to me, the epitomy of class and grace - on and off the field

2. Andy Pettitte - another truly classy guy. He has come through in so many big spots - a joy to watch

3.Hank Aaron - I'll never forget watching him hit #714 (on TV) with my dad. Saw him play toward the end of his career.

4.Jeter
5.Mattingly
6. Bernie
7. Vlad
8. Ron Guidry

Players I wish I could have seen:

Koufax
Mantle
Willie Mays
Bob Gibson
Joe D
Ted Williams

Games I wish I could have seen:

Any 2 of the '50's WS games between the Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers - 1 at the stadium, and 1 at Ebbets Field.

[DAW]

Sorry, "#714" should be #715.

[attackgerbil]

Andews.. really like that list you made. I couldn't fit Gator on mine, though I really wanted to. Out of the ones you wish you could have seen, I agree with all those too, but Bob Gibson stands out. I think I may have been a Cardinals fan if I was old enough to understand baseball when he was pitching. This sentence may be a stretch, but bear with me; I can not help but think of Joba in a sideways-sense as an inheritor to Gibson. Stoic, Nebraska-born fireballer with impeccable control who owns the plate, and will make it known. Okay, so it's a huge stretch, but I thought this some time ago, and now am voicing, or at least writing it. I guess we shall see how it pans out. Would love to see it be true.

[SF]

Oy, I forgot my favorite player from my youth, my hero, Pudge Fisk. He slots in ahead of El Tiante.

[VicSF]

Luis Tiant
Carlton Fisk
Willie Stargell
Rick Burleson
Pedro
Curt
Fred Lynn
Jim Rice
Dwight Evans

(yeah, I'm old)

[attackgerbil]

Have to admit, always loved pudge...sorry Rick

[urbonz]

May not make my fave 10, but gotta give honourable mention to David Cone and Jimmy Key.

[attackgerbil]

walein, the tough thing about Carew was - though obviously I was nuts about second basemen when I was a kid in Little League, I didn't even play the position except once in a great while - that I got to see him so very rarely. I just collected his cards and tracked him in the paper. LOVED that guy. I thought Willie, Sweet Lou, and Rod were the epitome of the game.

[LocklandSF]

Ten? Just ten? Crap...

1. Pedro
2. Manny
3. Papi
4. Boggs
5. Wake
6. Clemens
7. Trot
8. Ryan
9. Jody Reed (Sue me, I was a kid, it happens)
10. Mo

[LocklandSF]

Wait, is this all time or players we saw play?

[attackgerbil]

Lockland, dunno. I think it's just time to wax poetic about the effect of those players of the game at any time have had on our view of the game. Good-times-stuff, in the face of all this hot-stove-mitchell-malarky. But just guessin.

[attackgerbil]

To quote my favorite teacher, "write about what excites you."

[DAW]

thanks, gerb

[SF]

Gerb:

The difference between Gibson and Chamberlain is that Gibson would have stepped back, brushed back those midges accompanied by a stare of death, and kept on his way. My father has always cited Gibson as the bar that all other pitchers are measured against, and knowing that my Dad is somewhat spare in praise of this magnitude that has serious heft in my book.

[LocklandSF]

Ok, AG, I like the vibe...

Top 10 I never saw play:

1. Teddy
2. Ruth
3. Ty
4. Hank
5. Gehrig
6. Musial
7. Mick
8. Jackie
9. Honus
10.Pesky

[attackgerbil]

SF: yeah, you are certainly right. After the stare of death, he would have thrown a heater that took out 27 midges on its way to the plate while knocking the batter down, in one pitch. I'm only joking in a sense and don't mean any offense, as I agree with your Dad. There are stats, and there are stories, and there is the plain, cold, hard fact that Gibson caused baseball to change the game. Dammit, it really would have been a pleasure to see him pitch.

[attackgerbil]

Got your vibe, Lockland. I think I would like to have seen Stan The Man the most, just because I bet I would have liked him best.

[SF]

I once had a drink with Stan the Man in St. Louis when I was in grad school. He carried a harmonica with him everywhere, no joke.

Surreal.

[attackgerbil]

> He carried a harmonica with him everywhere

Now that is EXACTLY the sort of thing for why I would like him best.

[SF]

Check this out, Gerb:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ZrhUZm7UM

[FenSheaParkway]

Two players stand out among those I wish I could have seen: Walter Johnson and Satchel Paige.

I would shave 4 years off my life to travel back and watch them. Oh, and then to visit the '30s and put money on Seabiscuit. The exacta on that would pay for the lost four years.

[Paul SF]

Six of the seven players who once held the coveted "Favorite Player" slot in my heart, in chronological order:

1. Wade Boggs
2. Mike Greenwell
3. Mo Vaughn
4. Nomar Garciaparra
5. Pedro Martinez
6. David Ortiz

The rest of the list:

7. Manny Ramirez
8. John Valentin
9. Tim Naehring
10. Tim Wakefield

Those I never saw, in no order (except No. 1):

1. Ted Williams
2. Babe Ruth
3. Tris Speaker
4. Ty Cobb
5. Carl Yastrzemski
6. Bob Gibson
7. Sandy Koufax
8. Honus Wagner
9. Smokey Joe Wood
10. Walter Johnson

Game I would most want to see:
This one.

[FenSheaParkway]

Paul - That is so cool. I hope the rest of the papers in the country get around to web-archiving their old yellowed issues, now that the Times has.

I would also have loved to see Honus Wagner, if only to find out how the body in those pictures matched up with the descriptions of his play. Without visual evidence, I just don't get it!

[Brian]

Of the guys I saw play...

All Favorites Team RED SOX

1.Big Papi
2.Tony Conigliaro, youngest player to 100 HR
3.Yaz
4.Lynn/Rice in '75, they were inseparable.
5.Pudge Fisk
6.Dwight Evans
7.Cecil Coop Cooper
8.George Boomer Scott
9.'Gentleman'Jim Lonborg
10.Rico Petrocelli
Honorable Mention
Bob 'The Steamer' Stanley

All Favorites Team: the rest of MLB

1. Paul Molitor
2. George Brett
3. Rod Carew
4. Boog Powell
5. Eddie Murray
6. Robin Yount
7. Ernie 'Mr. Cub' Banks
8. Fernando Valenzuela
9. Frank Robinson
10. Harmin' Harmon Killebrew

Honorable mention
Don Mattinigly, the only Yankee I didn't really hate.

All HATE team

1. Pete Rose
2. Thurman Munson
3. Albert Belle
4. Barry Bonds
5. Jose Canseco
6. Reggie Jackson
7. Graig Nettles
8. Lenny Dykstra
9. Mickey Rivers
10. Ed Armbrister/Larry Barnett 1975, can't seperate them either

Dishonorable Mention
Steve Garvey

[Lar]

Soriano doesn't get much love, eh? =P I'll put together my list tomorrow..

I did grow up loving ARod though. And Jeter. And most of the 96-00 crew.

[DAW]

I've got to add Shoeless Joe Jackson and Jim Rice to my "Players I wish I could have seen" list.

Last year, my mom told me that my grandfather and Joe were childhood friends; said he always thought Joe was treated unfairly by Landis.

Rice (like Joe, a native of Western SC) spoke at an assembly at my high school in early '78. I remember the principal urging everyone to pull for Rice and the Sox the morning of October 2, 1978...

(I never really liked Mr Buzzell, and that morning's announcements pretty much depleted what little good will I had toward him!)

[Mark (YF)]

Top 10 favorites, in no particular order (limited to those I was alive to see play, of course):

1. Mariano Rivera
2. Bernie Williams
3. Paul O'Neil
4. Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez
5. Don "Donny Baseball" Mattingly
6. Derek "Cap'n" Jeter
7. Mike Schmidt
8. Lenny Dykstra
9. Jack Morris
10. Ichiro

And it's too early to tell, but I strongly suspect Cano will one day feature prominently on the list.

And as a Yanks fan, here's five BoSox players I always really liked:

1. Nomar
2. Eckersley
3. Wakefield
4. John Valentin
5. Manuel - he just cracks me up

[Tim Ein]

1. David Winfield
2. Roberto Kelly(Yes, I was sad when he was traded for Paul O'Neil...but I do like Paul)
3. Doc Gooden (first pitcher I saw hit a homerun)
4. Donny Baseball Mattingly
5. Tim Tuffel (Only reason because we share the same name)
6. Shoeless Joe Jackson
7. Mo Vaughn (All about housing the poor)
8. Paul O'Neil
9. Rickey Henderson
10. Rafael Santana