Saturday, October 11, 2008

My Top Ten Favorite Non Yankee Baseball Players.

10. Eddie Kranepool of the New York Mets. He was my dad’s favorite player so I give him a spot in honor of my daddio. He loved Eddie, a New York kid who played first base for the Mets in the sixties and early seventies. Solid hitter and a great glove he should have been part of the face of the Mets. He is the equivalent of Roy White with the Yankees. A star on weak teams that a lot of fans would look fondly on and should have had a place with the team.

9. Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres. What a great hitter and what a great guy. He was the face of the Padres for decades and was one of the best hitters you would ever find. He spent his entire career in the West in the National League so the only time we got to see him in person was when we swept the Padres in the World Series. Thanks Tony.

8. Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Padres. What a great player. Had one of the best World Series I ever saw. Great arm and superior hitter. Really the first of the moody Latin superstars who stood up for his rights and didn’t give a shit what anyone thought. Died a hero in a plane crash bringing supplies to earthquake victims.

7. Dave Parker of the Pittsburgh Pirates. A big man and a great hitter, he was a star of the “We are Family” Pirates who was one tough dude. He would cut your balls off to win. A great competitor and an all around great player.

6. Don Drysdale of the Los Angles Dodgers. He was a tough competitor who would throw at your head at a moments notice to move you off the plate. The Yankee pitchers should look at his tapes to see how to pitch. A real money pitcher. His greatest accomplishment: supposedly he got a blowjob from Marilyn of the Munsters when he guest starred with Sandy Koufax.

5. Mickey Lolich of the Detroit Tigers. One fat fuck who pitched his ass off and is a role model for all the rest of us fat fucks. When he retired, he opened a bakery. Perfect.

4. Bob Gibson of the St Louis Cardinals. He’s the guy I would pick if I had to have someone pitch if my life was on the line. One tough son of a bitch. He would move his mother off the plate and knock her on her ass if she leaned over the plate. The toughest competitor I ever saw and maybe the best pitcher.

3.Bo Belinsky of the California Angels. He was a shitty pitcher but he banged every starlet in Hollywood back in the day. I mean he was Derek Jeter before there was a Derek Jeter. Never lived up to his potential which was great because when he was on the Angels we always kicked their ass. Now, not so much.

2. Larry Bowa of the Philadelphia Phillies. A real red ass he was a great competitor and a superior shortstop. He was the Billy Martin of his day. He would kill you to win. Became a great third base coach for the Yankees and I hope we can steal him back from the Dodgers. We need him to beat on Robbie Cano to make him pay attention.

1. Gorman Thomas of the Milwaukee Brewers. Home run hitting, beer drinking, ass kicking heart of Harvey’s Wallbangers the great Brewer team of the ‘80’s. He had tons of power and an “I don’t give a fuck attitude” that I wish we could bottle and spray on the current day Yankees.

6 comments:

rcocean said...

I loved Gibson, he always seemed like a mean S.O.B. - I got the feeling he wanted a batter to charge the mound, so he could beat the crap out of him.

Deborah M. said...

I agree with you about Gibson. Got to see him pitch a few times when I was a teenaged baseball fanatic.

I'm Full of Soup said...

They say Gibson is still mean and angry.

Here are my top ten not in order and very Phillie-centric:

Joe Morgan
Jimmy Rollins
Clemente
Willie Mays
Scott Rolen (his early years)
Lenny Dukstra (his Phillie years)
Tug McGraw
Steve Carlton
Willie Stargell
Ernie Banks

Darryl Strawberry (kidding!)

Trooper York said...

AJ great list, but it was supposed to be of players on other teams than your home team. I always hated Joe Morgan though and now that he is on TV I hate him even more.

rcocean said...

Other favorites:

1) Luis Tiant - Red Sox

2) Steve Garvey - LA Dodgers

3) Ron Cey - The Penguin

4) Boog Powell - I liked the whole 1970 Orioles but Boog was the best after Brooks.

5) Eddie Matthews - Hit 500 HRs now forgotten

6) Ozzie Smith - amazing

7) Brooks Robinson

8) Tom Seaver

9) Al Hrabosky

10) George Scott

11) George Brett

12) Phil Niekro

I'm Full of Soup said...

Ok non-Phils:

Say Hey

Ernie Banks

Stan The Man

Cal Ripken

Kent Hrbek (I caught a BP home run of his at Camden Yards. Am hoping he does something really notorious,so the ball will be worth some money, Heh).

George Brett

Al Hrabosky

Joe Morgan

Tony Perez

Bird Fidrych