Mt. Rushmore

Please see I’m Just Sayin…for what is going on with our posts for the next month or so.

Anytime you try and compile a “greatest of all time” list, you will undoubtedly have some disagreement over the selections. There are times when you will hear the phrase “Arguably the greatest” when talking about a specific player. It is players like those that make compiling a top four list so difficult at times. As you read the lists compiled here and on the I’m Just Sayin’…blog, there will be those included that there really isn’t an argument about and those that could be argued either way. While I think that our selections will be similar most of the time, it will be fun when they are not. If we were to expand our list to a top 10, we would most likely agree even more, but the shaving it down to four is what will be interesting. I once heard Joe Morgan make a great point about comparing players from different eras. There are so many factors that change over time it really is difficult to say who was better, someone from the ‘50’s or someone now. The measuring stick he used and I will attempt to use, is how did they compare to the players they played against. Take HR for example. If someone leads the league with 40 HR but 25 players hit 30 or more HR that year, are you really that much better? However, if you hit 25 HR in a season and no one else broke 10, then that to me is more telling. We would welcome comments, especially those that are in opposition to each list. I would love to know who you would remove from my list to make room for the one you think got left out.

Day One: Yankees/Angels

This may be the franchise that has the most players deserving of the honor, but I’m not sure this one will be the hardest to figure out. With so many players that could “arguably” be included on this list there are two that without a doubt belong there. Any list of Yankee greats that doesn’t include Gehrig and Ruth is a list not worth reading.

Yankees

Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle

I will just say this about Ruth and Gehrig; I will accept either at the top of the list for various reasons. For Ruth, his career HR record that stood for so long is reason enough to put him atop the list. Here is a list of the number of HR he hit in the years that he led the league followed by the number the runner-up had in each of those seasons: (11-6, 29-10, 54-19, 59-24, 41-29, 46-27, 47-19, 60-47, 54-27, 46-35, 49-41, 46-32), quite a separation between 1^st and 2^nd. Notice the smaller differential in those latter years…who was 2^nd those years and actually tied him in the last one? Lou Gehrig. Have a headache and don’t feel like going to work today? Consider this…

On June 2, 1925, Wally Pipp was removed from the Yankees' starting lineup and replaced with Gehrig. The story has become baseball legend:

In the most popular version, one supported in later accounts by Pipp himself (although he wasn't always consistent on the subject, either), Pipp arrived at Yankee Stadium one day in 1925 with a terrific headache. He asked the Yankee trainer for a couple of aspirin. Manager Miller Huggins noted the scene and said, "Wally, take the day off. We'll try that kid Gehrig at first today and get you back in there tomorrow." ^[2]

As Gehrig went on to play 2,130 consecutive games, Pipp did not get back in there tomorrow. He is later quoted to have said, "I took the two most expensive aspirin in history."

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Pipp)

Joe DiMaggio – 9 WS rings, 3 MVP, and an unsurpassed 56 game hitting streak.

Mickey Mantle – 7 WS rings, 3 MVP, and the 1956 Triple Crown. Considered by many as the greatest switch hitter of all time.

Honorable Mention: I won’t always have this section but for the Yankees I will. Whitey Ford is probably the greatest pitcher in Yankee history (6 rings and 1 Cy Young) but not quite good enough to be in the top four. Yoggi Berra has 10 rings and 3 MVP awards and could certainly have earned a spot on this list. And finally, Derek Jeter. He is the only Yankee to reach 3,000 career hits and has been a leader for many years. Perhaps after he has retired and history evaluates him, he may rise to number 3.

Angels

Chuck Finley, Tim Salmon, Garrett Anderson, Brian Downing

Chuck Finley - Finley was four times selected to the AL All-Star team, and in 1989 and 1990 twice finished second in the AL with a combined ERA of 2.48. Finley regularly finished in the AL top ten rankings in strikeouts, complete games and innings pitched. From 1989 through 1999, Finley was a fixture in the Angels starting rotation, averaging 14 wins per year for the 11 seasons. 

Tim Salmon - Salmon, or "Mr. Angel," was drafted by California in the third round of the 1988 draft. He would spend his entire 14-season Major League career with the club. Rookie of the Year, Silver Slugger Award, Comeback Player of the year among his accomplishments. High up on Angels offensive career stats.

Garrett Anderson - He finished second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting in 1995, narrowly losing the honor to Marty Cordova of the Minnesota Twins. Anderson is the Angels' franchise leader in several offensive categories, including 2,013 games played, 2,368 hits and 1,292 RBIs.

Brian Downing - In 1,661 games for the Angels, Downing clubbed 222 home runs and 846 RBI's with a .271 average and a .372 OBP.

Info gathered from (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/858483-los-angeles-angels-50-greatest-all-time-players/)

Clearly not near as an impressive list as the Yankees, but a group of quality players nonetheless.

Send in your comments!

The Man

What a last couple of weeks in sports. We have witnessed a retiring Ray Lewis make it to the Super Bowl, the uncovering of a non-existent girlfriend of a Heisman finalist, and the long-overdue admission of Lance Armstrong and his doping. I’ll offer some thought on those events another day. Right now I want to talk about Stanley Frank Musial. Stan “The Man” as he was known was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. His passing on Friday marked the end of a 92 year life that was marked by success on and off of the baseball field. Musial had a remarkable career for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1941-1963. He had a lifetime batting average of .331 which included 3,630 hits (1,815 at home, 1,815 on the road), 475 homeruns (without the benefit of PEDs), and 1,951 Runs batted in (RBI). He made an astounding 24 all-star games, three MVP awards, and three World Series titles with the Cardinals and was a first ballot inductee to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969. He was once called the greatest player alive by Ty Cobb, which Musial denied. He thought that honor should go to that DiMaggio guy. The fans of the Brooklyn Dodgers were the first to call him “the man.” They would refer to him as “that man” who would routinely bash their beloved Dodgers. It eventually became “The Man.” As great as his accomplishments were on the field it was how he treated others that set him apart.

In an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch…

Fellow Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst was a teammate of Musial with the Cardinals in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. The two roomed together for more than 10 years.
“A lot of times we would go visit kids in hospitals whenever we were on the road,” Schoendienst once said. “He didn’t want publicity for it, and he didn’t do it to seek recognition or humanitarian awards. He just did it because he thought it was the right thing to do. He enjoyed making other people happy and maybe give them a small ray of sunshine to brighten up their lives.”

USA Today ran an article about Musial and Albert Pujols. Below is an excerpt from that article:

"It was such a sad day,'' Pujols told USA TODAY Sports, "but I am so blessed to have spent time with him the last 12 years. He blessed my life, and many, many lives in baseball during his career, and after his career. He touched so many lives. He means as much as Roberto Clemente does to Latin people. Thank God I had the opportunity to know him.
"I wish my kids had the opportunity to be around him, because that's how I want my kids to live their lives. I want them to be like Stan Musial.
"Not the baseball player. The person.
"That's the respect I have for that man.''
Pujols, perhaps the greatest Cardinals' player since Musial when he departed last winter to the Los Angeles Angels, savors the memories and time spent together. He last saw Musial a year ago, and although Musial was disappointed that Pujols chose the Angels over re-signing with the Cardinals, he congratulated him and thanked him for the way he represented the franchise.
When Pujols joined the Angels, the Angels put billboards around town calling Pujols, "El Hombre.'' Pujols was furious. There is only one baseball player that should be called The Man, Pujols said, and it was Musial. The billboards came down.
"What he did for the Cardinal organization is unbelievable,'' Pujols said.”There will never be anyone else wearing that Cardinal uniform who will be the face of the franchise. You can talk about his numbers, the 3,630 hits, the 24 All-Star games, the seven batting titles, but the man himself is what made him so great. What he did for his community, for his country. That's what made him so special.''

The great Willie Mays had this to say about his death, "It is a very sad day for me," Willie Mays told ESPN's Willie Weinbaum of Outside The Lines at the Baseball Writers' Association of America dinner in New York. "I knew Stan very well. He used to take care of me at All-Star games, 24 of them. He was a true gentleman who understood the race thing and did all he could. Again, a true gentleman on and off the field -- I never heard anybody say a bad word about him, ever."

In a time where sport’s greatest athletes move from team to team and make headlines for controversial tweets or off the field actions, remembering the life of Musial brings a breath of fresh air. It is a rare combination of talent and a caring personality that set him apart from the ordinary celebrity. I would rather hear stories like this one than those that usually make the headlines. I hope today’s young athletes learn that being a good person off the field is more important than all the success on the field.