So who is your favorite?
We'll have to have many categories for all positions of course.
In no particular order....
I'll start with pitchers:
Nolan Ryan - my personal all time pick
Gaylord Perry
Bob Gibson
Warren Spahn
Catchers:
Johnny Bench - no other comes to mind
3rd base:
Brooks Robinson - I still use his signature ball glove
Pete Rose - Charlie Hustle!!
Chipper Jones
Cal Ripken (I think he was at 3rd)
Short:
Ozzie Smith
Outfield:
Lou Brock
You all chime in with your favorites and see what we come up with.
Catchers
Two of the best played for the Yankees. Yogi Berra and Elston Howard, who replaced Yogi. Warning to anyone reading the link provided. There is a very politically-incorrect quote attributed to Casey Stengel.
One of my favorite pitchers was Charlie Hough. Toward the end his pitches were slow but he seemed unhittable.
That is not PC but kind of
Racist... Don't you think?
I knew it already. You may want to read October 1964 by the David Halberstam.
Pretty good read but biased in many ways.
Yogi Berra owned a bowling alley near my home when I was a kid.
Once I was playing in a scrimmage game against a local college freshmen team. I was batting and looked back at the ump to check the count and my eye caught Yogi Berra standing behind the back stop. I got distracted by his presence and grounded out on slow roller.
It turned out that Larry Jr was catching for the college team.
Yogi was a very good athlete with quick feet and reflexes. He played a lot of soccer as a kid in the Hill neighborhood in St Louis.
Good ol' Yogi
I had a great idea for a skit on some variety show on TV back in the early 1960's. The skit would involve having Yogi slip up on unsuspecting picnicers and steal their "pickanick" baskets just like Yogi Bear.
Jerome Hanna Dean AKA Dizzy Dean:
Micky Mantle and Roger Maris
Willie Mays
Pee Wee Reese
I can recall watching baseball on TV with Dizzy and Peewee doing all the talking. Seems like the primary advertiser at the time was Falstaff. At the time I was too young to know much about Dizzy and Peewee during their playing days and far too young to have any interest in Falstaff.
> So who is your favorite?
> We'll have to have many categories for all positions of course.
> In no particular order....
>
> I'll start with pitchers:
> Nolan Ryan - my personal all time pick
> Gaylord Perry
> Bob Gibson
> Warren Spahn
>
> Catchers:
> Johnny Bench - no other comes to mind
>
> 3rd base:
> Brooks Robinson - I still use his signature ball glove
> Pete Rose - Charlie Hustle!!
> Chipper Jones
> Cal Ripken (I think he was at 3rd)
>
> Short:
> Ozzie Smith
>
> Outfield:
> Lou Brock
>
> You all chime in with your favorites and see what we come up with.
This is easy...
Most of the former and present St. Louis Cardinals players!! :clap: :clap: :clap:
Ok Ok, that was too easy. :snarky: I'll go into some detail...
Pitcher: Chris Carpenter
(Who called me a couple of years ago to thank me for being a fan for 30+ years!!) :woot:
Catcher: Yadier Molina
Shortstop: Ozzie Smith (Got his autograph!!)
Base Guys: Matt Carpenter & Matt Adams
Outfield: Jon Jay (Got his autograph too!!)
My all time retired favorite player: #1!! The Wizard!! :party:
My current favorite player: Matt Carpenter!! (I am also a lefty and a #13.) B-)
