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Favorite Five

infielddadinfielddad10,000+ posts
Willie Mays
Sandy Koufax
Juan Marichal(vastly underrated and made Luis Tiant look conventional, at times) Who can ever forget he and Spahn going 16 innings? We are not going to see that ever again.
Pee Wee Reese
Roberto Clemente

My single most indelible childhood memory: Reading about the Harvey Haddix 13 inning no hitter, which he then lost to the Adcock HR and then seeing his photo on the cover of SI. For some reason, that photo in sheer exhaustion, shoulders slumped captured for me all of the impact of that moment, for him.
Last edited by infielddad
S spizzlepop1,000+ posts
quote:
Who can ever forget he and Spahn going 16 innings?

My dad attended that game with my mom, the last baseball game she would attend until grandson came to her neighborhood last year. Dad caught a souvenir off of Mays' bat in that game, and I still have it. A ball once touched by two HOFers. Smile
The only reason I didn't claim Marichal on my five was the Roseboro incident.
Last edited by spizzlepop
ClevelandDadClevelandDadHSBBWeb Administrator
quote:
Originally posted by infielddad:
CD.
On this Coast we did not see much of Clemente.
But when I watched the '71 Series, you could not help but say "Wow." He could hit, run, throw. Boy, could he throw.
Had I not seen that series, I would not have included him.

That series was amazing. I was 11 years old and still remember rushing home from school to watch some of the games. It was almost like Clemente was a man amongst boys in that series. Hall of famers galore including Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, Clemente, and Stargell. Hope I didn't forget someone. I can't remeber if it was a year later or earlier that Brooks Robinson became the human vacume sweeper against justbb's beloved Reds.
KrakatoaKrakatoa1,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by trojan-skipper:
Krak:
I saw Richie Hebner on your list. Remember how he used to pull up on the back of his jersey at the neck in between pitches??? I did it too, just to imitate him. My mom probably thought I had ants in my T-shirt!


Richie Hebner was a down-to-earth guy, a 'local', who held the adoration of Pirates fans everywhere because of his work ethic, his involvement in his community, and his humble beginnings as a gravedigger.

Manny Sanguillen is on my list because he had the best smile in baseball, worked a lot with kids, and swung at almost anything remotely near the plate. I don't know it's true, but I heard once that he swung one of the longest/heaviest bats in baseball. Both he and Clemente reportedly used 37" 37 ounce lumber. Massive!
Last edited by Krakatoa
F 3FingeredGlove1,000+ posts
quote:
Both he and Clemente reportedly used 37" 37 ounce lumber. Massive!


Naw....

According to Robert Adair, in The Physics of Baseball, Mantle swung a 38 ounce bat, and Dick Allen used a 40. Going further back, Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in 1927, swinging 47 ounces. These aren't guesses or historical exaggeration; Hillerich and Bradsby keep (or kept) records of the dimensions of the famous guy's bats.

My favorites:

Eddie Mathews, because my glove with three fingers has his name stamped on it.
Ted Kluszewski, because I owned a bat with his name on it.
Warren Spahn, because he won more than anybody else, had the leg kick and the (broken) nose.
A minor league player whose first or last name was Floyd, and who was by far the fastest player the Portland Beavers had seen (or so Bob Blackburn said on the radio).
Can't think of a fifth.

By the way, I never saw any of these players live! Portland, OR is a wonderful city, but it didn't and doesn't provide major league baseball.
Last edited by 3FingeredGlove
jemazjemaz1,000+ posts
Good thread:

Here are my five:
1. Bobby Murcer, for guys born in 1955 he was the man (for a little while)
2. Mel Stottlemyre, similar to Murcer
3. Mickey Mantle, for obvious reasons, although just a little before my true time.
4. Cisco Carlos, a top pitcher for my hometown team, the Lynchburg White Sox. He played a little in the Big Leagues with the Sox and Senators (making the cover of SI as a rookie in 1968), and now he is actually my neighbor in Phoenix.
5. Billy Voss, similar to Cisco. He played for the White Sox and Angels and should have been a star.
RJMRJMHSBaseballWeb member since 2007
quote:
Richie Hebner was a down-to-earth guy, a 'local', who held the adoration of Pirates fans everywhere because of his work ethic, his involvement in his community, and his humble beginnings as a gravedigger.
I don't know about humble beginnings as a grave digger. He did it as a summer job to build strength. Hebnah was also a stud high school hockey playah from Nohwood, Mass.
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