Who was your favorite player growing up, and why?

mudflap02

I just posted a blog about good old Steve Lombardozzi. Feel free to read it, and post up similar thoughts here.

Edit - I finally published another blog I've been working on for a while, so if you're not interested in my Heritage statistical jerkfest, just scroll down to the pictures of the glove.

gumbyfan

Good ol' Steve Lombardozzi...the Twinkies were in town back in late 1987 and my friend's mom worked at the hotel the team was staying at. She saw a bunch of people getting his autograph, so she got one for her son. We had a tough time figuring out who it was! That night, the game was on tv and we saw his name on the screen and then knew whose auto it was. A few months later, I went through my 1987 Topps factory set that I got that Christmas and couldn't find a Steve Lombardozzi card. Saddened, I wrote a letter to Topps insisting that they had sent me an incomplete set.

A few months later, I got an envelope in the mail from Topps with a letter explaining that although he wasn't in the 1987 Topps set, he was included in the 1988 Topps set. They even put one in the envelope with the letter.

Ahhh...the innocence of youth...

Darin

I read your blog about Lombardozzi, good story.
I was a big Stargell fan, then when the Royals started to rise to prominence in the glory years every good Kansas boy like me became a huge George Brett fan. I used to hope Stargell and Brett would meet up in the world series, but alas, never happened.

OAKESY25

mattingly... you know why....

mike greenwell... great hitter.. loved his batting stance..

greg luzinski and ron kittle ( I'm a southsider )... rooftop blasts were the best at old comiskey

george brett... great hitter.. seems like a great guy...

Serferdude

As a kid growing up in Chicago, I went to a lot of Cubs games in the 1960s.
Ernie Banks and a couple of others went out of their way to accomodate kids
wanting autographs at the park. Ernie Banks especially was cordial to the kids.
He would talk to you, ask your name, if you played baseball, what you liked about
school.

Before I moved to Chicago, I lived in Cincinnati. Dad took me to Crosley Field, where
I tried to get Pete Rose to sign my scorecard. He didn't, he just looked at me and
walked away. Vada Pinson must have seen how crestfallen I looked, and he came
over and offered to sign it, and also offered a few kind words. I still have that
scorecard.

Sometimes those guys have no idea of the impact they have on kids, and
sometimes they do. Ernie Banks and Vada Pinson gave a lot more to kids than stats on the
back of a card.

storm888

He was always friendly. Gave us balls, signed cards and photos.
When he would drive by the school yard, he OFTEN would stop
and pitch an inning to both "teams."

I remember a kid running toward his father's car, screaming,
"Daddy, Daddy, I got a hit off of Wally Moon."

////////////////////////

Wally Moon (born April 3, 1930, in the small town of Bay in Craighead County, Arkansas) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. Moon played his 12-year career in the National League for the St. Louis Cardinals (1954-1958) and Los Angeles Dodgers (1959-1965). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.

Moon made his majors debut on April 13, 1954. To make room for him in the roster, St. Louis sent the veteran Enos Slaughter to the Yankees. Moon responded for good. In his first at-bat, he belted a home run against the Cubs; in the same game Tom Alston became the first African American to play for the Cardinals. Moon finished with a .304 batting average, 12 home runs, 76 RBI, and career-high numbers in runs (106), hits (193), doubles (29), and stolen bases (18) in 151 games. He earned both the MLB Rookie of the Year and The Sporting News Rookie of the Year honors. Almost an unanimous vote, Moon won easily over rookies Ernie Banks, Gene Conley and Hank Aaron.

A fine left fielder with a good arm, Moon also played right field and center as well as the first base. He was a Gold Glove Award winner in 1960 as he made the All--Star team in 1957 and 1959.

Twice in his career, Moon compiled double figures in doubles, triples, home runs and stolen bases: 22, 11, 16, 12 in 1956, and 26, 11, 19, 15 in 1959. In that season, his first with the Dodgers, he took his team from seventh place to the World Championship, providing support in the line-up for Duke Snider, Gil Hodges and Don Demeter. He gained quick public acclaim in 1959 for the "Moonshots" that he hit over the 41 foot tall left-field fence that was just 250 feet from home plate in the Dodgers' temporary quarters in the L. A. Coliseum. [1]

Beside this, he hit a career-high 24 homers in 1957. Moon enjoyed another good season in 1961, batting .328 with 17 home runs and 88 RBI.

A career .289 hitter, Moon also hit 142 home runs with 661 RBI in 1457 games. He had tremendous discipline at the plate, compiling a remarkable 1.90 walk-to-strikeout ratio (644-t0-591), with a .371 on base percentage and a .445 slugging average for a combined .816 OPS. Appropriately, he scored the last run ever in the Coliseum.

Moon graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station and coached from 1953-1954 at Lake City, also in Craighead County. In the spring of 1954 the Cardinals told Moon to report to their minor league spring training camp. He ignored the order and reported instead to St. Petersburg with the Cardinals. He said that he would make the team or quit baseball. They let him stay, and by the end of the spring training he replaced Enos Slaughter in the outfield.

SportsItUpCards

I never really followed sports when I was younger, but started watching Basketball around 2000, and Vince Carter was my player

Giovanni

11235813

Willie McCovey, cause I was (and still am) a die-hard Giants fan and he was our star.

Favorite basketball platers were Larry (the human rebounding machine) Smith and Never Nervous Purvis Short, both of the always mediocre Golden State Warriors.

In football, saying Joe Montana would be too easy, so I'd say Keena Turner (OLB), Bill Ring (RB), and Randy Cross (G) from the 1981 Super Bowl Champion 49ers.....

gotsparks09

I grew up in the '90s. I was a big fan of John Olerude because I always thought he was tremendously under-rated...and Chris Sabo because of the specs.

bigdcards

I was a big Ozzie Smith fan. I went after every Ozzie card I could find. I guess I just loved highlights from the field.

For football I liked a few different guys, but as soon as Barry Sanders hit the scene he was my favorite by far.

cardbender

Bart Starr.

Loved the Packers as a kid and still do. I thought his last name was cool as a youngster too. His 1970 card was in the first Football set I ever collected. Then as I got older I realized he was a class act as well. He was and is involved in a lot of charities. To top it all he was a great QB and pretty much the first player anyone thinks of when you think of the Packers five 1960's championship teams.

hobart4281

Roger Staubach has always been my guy.

TNTonPMS

I always pretended I was Reggie Jackson when I was younger , at bat, playing ball in the concrete playground around Whitestone Flushing .

If you broke a window , it was a home run

If I was pitching , I was Leezianna Lightnin

For football , my favorite was John Elway , because he has a cannon arm , just like I do and big teeth , like I don't

Thanks for the look back . . . Man it kinda sucks gettin old cause now if I break a window , It aint a Home run no more and runnin away aint what it used to be . . .

zep33

In my formative baseball years, it was probably Fred Lynn. We used to play "Fred Lynn catches" by diving all over the field trying to catch "just out of reach" flyballs

the good old days for sure.

Stingray

Early on it was Al Kaline, though it was really the last couple of years in his career. After him it was Mark Fidrych and Jason Thompson.

julen23

i grew up watching sorry atlanta braves, so i was actually big bob horner & dale murphy fans.

sigh....

j

fur72

Ryne Sandberg because of the way he played the game. Not flashy, never argued with umps unless he felt he really got screwed. Good with the glove, good with the bat.

fiveniner

Mantle and Maris for what they did in 61 and Al Kaline.

ArnyVee

I grew up in Southern California and was (still am) a Dodger fan. Go Dodger Blue!

I remember going to my first ball game....my Dad took me to see an afternoon game and everything was bigger than I ever imagined. More cars in the parking lots, the ballpark (from the outside) looked huge and I was very excited. I remember hitting the turnstiles and then smelling the Dodger dogs.....then.....WOW!

The greenest grass I had ever seen......the bluest of blues all along the walls and accents on the stadium.....it was....baseball heaven!

We sat in the left field seats near the bullpen and I saw Dusty Baker, bigger than life, tossing the ball around warming up with someone else.

What a day.....we even caught a foul ball as Keith Hernandez stroked an inside out shot to the left field side during batting practice and my Dad jumped up and stopped the ball from going into the bullpen as it took a big bounce!

From that day on I was an even bigger Dodger fan.....every Dodger was my favorite player! But, my absolute hometown favorites were Steve Garvey, Mike Scoscia, Dusty Baker and Ron Cey.

As far as my favorite players from other teams, I was a big Don Mattingly and Dwight Gooden fan because of their great play, but also because of the affect on the hobby.

BigDaddyBowman

Roger Staubach was and always will be my favorite

RedHeart54

Mark Grace. He was a great hitter from the get-go and I still believe he should have won ROY in 1988. (Sorry, Sabo fan.)

frankhardy

Baseball - Vince Coleman

Basketball - Michael Jordan, who else?

onefasttalon

Mine is obvious... Chris Sabo.

Why? Went to a game back in '88... I was 12, and Chris looked... well 12 too. He went 4-for4 that day with 2 HR's, a double, and an inside-the-park homer.
Well... from that point on, I was hooked. I started collecting his stuff and following him through his career and never stopped. I've never met the guy, and have been told I'm not missing much. I hope that's not true, maybe now that he's not playing anymore and not in the lime-light he'd be more down-to-earth.

RedHeart54... you're probably right, Grace probably should have won the ROY in '88, and DEFF ended up with the better career. Chris had a better first half and won the award even before making the All-Star game that year... the only RC that even made the All-Star game that year btw!

and5zac

Clemente and Stargell.Being a Pirate fan growing up close to Pittsburgh ,when my brother and I would play ball in the back yard we would always trade who we would bat like Roberto or Willie.When you were Roberto you would try to" hit a bug on the rug" or with Willie "some chicken on the hill".These were sayings of the great Bob Prince.


Lou

RonBurgundy

Bench.




Ron

BobaFett72

As a young kid I was always Yaz when we played wiffle ball, my friend Eric was Jim Rice, his brother would pretend to be Tony Armas and his youngest brother wanted to be Dwight Evans.

Dunno why i picked yaz, but he is still one of my faves.

Watched a lot of games on TBS, naturally Dale Murphy quickly became one of my idols.

When I started following the Indians in 1986/87 I was fond of Joe Carter and especially cory Snyder, he had a cannon arm and had good power, but no discipline.

I met Jim Thome when was playing with Canton-Akron vs. Hagerstown, in MD. He has been my favorite player ever since.

I've also had the pleasure of meeting Ted Williams on a couple of occasions, truly a remarkable, complex person. I have great reverance for him.

EchoCanyon

I was young and starting my life-long love with The Mets. It was 1972.

They had just pulled off a huge trade. Sending 3 starting players to Montreal for one -- Rusty Staub.

Staub was awesome. My favorite.

Did they really have to trade him for Mickey Lolich a few years later?

(Here's a trivia -- anyone remember who they traded for Staub?)

perkdog

Baseball-Jim Rice
Football-Tony Dorsett

I remember when I was a kid my father was watching a Cowboys/Redskins game and a Cowboy player took a kick off from his own endzone and ran it all the way back to within the 5 yard line, I remember asking my Dad what team that was and he told me it was the Cowboys- instantly I was a Cowboy fan. After I started following them I like Touchdown Tony, I had a t-shirt with #33 on it and I always wore it playing backyard football. Good times!

mbothner

Willie Stargell was always my favorite. In the first baseball game I ever went to on May 19, 1973, Willie he a 3 run homer in the top of the tenth and the Pirates beat the Mets 4-1 at Shea. I got to met him and get an autograph about 10 years ago at a local mall card show.

Socalguy1967

I'll second what an earlier poster said..... my first big time stadium experience was Dodger Stadium in the mid 70's (I was 7 years old)....WOW!!!

My all-time favorite ...... Steve Garvey

Current favorites:
Kobe Bryant
Jeff Gordon

mmync

Post25

Nolan Ryan. When I was kid my Dad and I would travel all over the country to see him pitch. Saw him pitch in Cleveland, Texas, Detroit, Boston, Los Angeles, San Diego and New York. The guy was amazing.

jimq112

When I was about 6 or so I got to meet Clemente and he gave me a bat, I was hooked before I ever got to see him play. Once I saw him play, I was a fan for life. Luckily I got to see his last game, in the NLCS against the Reds.

I also remember being about 7 or 8 and reading this story in the Sporting News about this pitcher in Jacksonville, he threw the ball so hard and was so wild that some batters didn't want to bat at night against him. He was a mets minor leaguer, then after he made it to the big leagues he got traded to the angels. The mets needed a 3rd baseman so they traded Nolan Ryan for a shortstop and tried to make him a 3rd baseman.

Finally got to see Ryan pitch during his last year, 1993 against Cleveland. I think he lost his no-no in the 5th or 6th, ended up giving up 2 hits thru 7 innings in a win.

markj111

Roger Maris

Mefer

Rickey Henderson, not even close, all sports included. He had such a disruptive force on the game and made just getting on base fun and exciting to watch. The head first slide was simply awesome. Rickey is, and always will be, in my book, the man.

In football, I liked all of the 80s Raiders, with special likes of Howie Long and Todd Christiansen. Heck, I even pretend growing up to be Ray Guy when I punted the football!

In close, however, Rickey.

RonBurgundy

"Finally got to see Ryan pitch during his last year, 1993 against Cleveland. I think he lost his no-no in the 5th or 6th, ended up giving up 2 hits thru 7 innings in a win. "


I was at that game too! It was his last major league win.



Ron

larryallen73

I grew up in LA in the 70s and 80s. Thus Garvey was by far my favorite. Cey was a distant second. In my high school years (80's) I would say Steve Sax.

For footbal/basketball - I was a UCLA fan so name a player between 75 and 85 and I probably liked them! Except Stuart "the next Bill Walton" Gray.

QUITCRAB

What kid in Baltimore City didnt want to be Brooks Robinson growing up......in little league everyone wanted #5 and to play third base.........I also like Ken Singleton and Al Bumbry.....and Jim Palmer...but Brooks is my Favorite.

TZAHL

The Hawk----Andre Dawson.

The Cubs were always on TV and a midwest team. My least favorite players---Eric Show, and any Cub middle reliever---those guys always gave up go ahead runs!

Clemaz

Look down to the right of my post. Loved watching old Scrap Iron.

nam812

Dave Kingman..........none of your business.

F1ferrari

I was and always be a Cal Ripken fan. His approach and dedication to the game and playing every day just like it was a 'regular' job. There are millions of us out there who get up and go to work every day to provide for our families, and Cal did the same thing. Playing sick, playing hurt, playing when you don't feel 100%, just like the rest of us.

alnavman

my first infatuation with baseball came in the early 60's and the Indians were my favorite team...unfortunately Rocky was already gone when I started to follow them but we still had Wingy and Daddy Wags!!! One of the first summers I remember following them big time was when Sudden Sam, El Tiante, Sonny Seibert and Steve Hargan gave them some great pitching and they actually were good...didn't last long and I know this was more than one name but they were all fond memories.

al.

PS: Larry Brown, Joe Azcue, Duke Sims, they were all there!!!

stown

George Brett

It's a really long story, so to make it short, the dude was a stud.

WinPitcher

Willie Mays.

Steve

msassin

Favorite when I was in Junior High School - Greg Swindell

I sent out cards in the mail for players to sign. On top of the cards he signed, he included a personalized note thanking me for my interest in his career.

Wondo

I grew up in Detroit in the mid-late 1960s and Al Kaline was my overall favorite. I didn't realize his outstanding personal qualities until after his retirement. When I was seven years old in 1968, I wrote Willie Horton a letter telling him he was my favorite Tiger and "P.S. I'm a white boy." This was in the middle of some of the worse race riots in our country. Willie sent some very nice auto pictures to me.


Great memories

cubbybear17

Mark Grace.

Smooth Swing... Never wore batting gloves. Just seemed like a throwback at the time. Plus he played for my hometown club.

zep33

<< <i>Favorite when I was in Junior High School - Greg Swindell

I sent out cards in the mail for players to sign. On top of the cards he signed, he included a personalized note thanking me for my interest in his career. >>



funny how it's little things like that that stick with us - very cool

HoofHearted

Harmon Killebrew! I was fortunate to have the chance to watch his TOWERING hits soar over Metropolitan Stadium. I've never had the chance to meet him, but I've nothing but great things about him.

Rod Carew was my next favorite player. He was so exciting to watch -- hitting, fielding, stealing home -- it didn't matter...

Ladder7

BB; Jackie, for tolerating the hatred, with class.

HK; Bobby Orr, for seeking out his young fans and making certain all got an autograph.

FB; Joe Greene, for giving that kid his jersey.

BK; Cousy, for his hustle