I can't imagine anyone having a problem with Gehrig

He was notoriously short sighted. Given the name of the disease, how could he not see that coming?

Seriously, the only really good player I share a birthday with, unless you count Jerry Reuss.

I can't imagine anyone having a problem with Gehrig.

He and Ruth weren't precisely chums. Ruth was quoted to the effect that Gehrig's streak was a selfish stunt that cost the Yankees. (And Gehrig's awful final month numbers support the notion that he could have used the occasional day off. .308 /.429/.566)

Also, remember how Troy Percival called out Mo Vaughn after he wasn't on the field in one of those stupid milling around sessions?

There was a famous bench clearing brawl (hard slide by Carl Reynolds, heated words exchanged, Dickey breaks Reynolds' jaw, full scale brawl). Ruth and Gehrig sat it out. Staying in the dugout and laughing. Now I'm not saying either of them was wrong, but I'd be surprised if some of their teammates didn't resent them not coming out. Percival's attitude is pretty common in sports.

#28 The young Ruth certainly wasn't revered. During one of the Giants/Yankees World Series he's reported to have responded to heckling from the Giants (Johnny Rawlings in particular) with "Hey you guys, I don't mind if you call me ########## or ############ or sonofabitch -- but lay off the personal stuff will you?" (and if that sounds weirdly good natured he was totally serious. Tried to get Rawlings to fight him but backed down when Earl Smith volunteered instead.

For that matter, there's Ban Johnson to Babe Ruth, "It seems the period has arrived when you should allow some intelligence to creep into a mind that has plainly been warped."

The young Ruth certainly wasn't revered.

By whom? Other players at the time? Who is, really, all ######## aside, universally revered? The best that can be hoped for is to be generally liked and admired in a fairly low-key way. When you consider those who made big forceful impressions, there's always a counter-insurgency.

Ruth was certainly revered and idolized by the fan to a degree of intensity and in numbers never witnessed before or since. Players and baseball personnel--meh, some yea, some nay, most <shrug>.

#28 The young Ruth certainly wasn't revered. During one of the Giants/Yankees World Series he's reported to have responded to heckling from the Giants (Johnny Rawlings in particular) with "Hey you guys, I don't mind if you call me ########## or ############ or sonofabitch -- but lay off the personal stuff will you?" (and if that sounds weirdly good natured he was totally serious. Tried to get Rawlings to fight him but backed down when Earl Smith volunteered instead.

Exactly. That story is told in Cramer's bio, "Babe," along with numerous instances of rivals and even teammates calling him "N----- Lips" and other insults. Sure, some of that was par for the course among ballplayers of the day, but that's kind of the point.

Only Jeter is Jeter. In fact, for one of the few times in baseball history—and perhaps, ever—somebody holds the undisputed role of baseball’s Most Revered Player.

It might be a homer call, but Roy Halladay? I think that the number of times that he's been criticized by anyone can be counted on one hand, if that. He's not terribly charismatic, but I've never understood why anyone considered Jeter to have a particularly glowing personality. Certainly he's not as famous, but what the hell does that actually have to do with being REVERED? Has Terence Moore ever written anything worth reading, because he is second only to Chass in terrible columns linked on BBTF.

(HOMER: I manlove Utley more, but there do seem to be fans who don't like him, and I would suggest that they stop watching baseball and then choke and die.)

Late to the party here, but just wanted to add one anecdote to Brock's great post about Musial's racial attitudes. This was told by Bob Costas in his eulogy, so it's pretty well-known here, but in case you missed it: Musial walked into the NL all-star clubhouse at one point in the 50s. A group of African-American players were playing cards in the corner, no white players involved. Musial walked over, sat down, said "deal me in." And Costas pointed out, Musial ordinarily wasn't much for card-playing.

. . . I've never understood why anyone considered Jeter to have a particularly glowing personality . . .

Jeter's status, whatever it might be to various people, is due to his accomplishments and lack of notoriety throughout his career. It certainly helps that his arrival coincided with the Yankee World Series Renaissance. Might be somewhat similar for any unanimous Rookie of the Year who won 4 World Series in his first 5 years - but no one has come close in the three-tiered playoff era.

This could be a tough year for the Jeter haters. He's likely to move to at least #6 on the all-time hit list, and if he can approximate last season, he could even pass Speaker for # 5.

Terence Moore: Without doubt, Jeter in a class by himself

This is why I stopped reading sportswriters years ago.

Except for one: Joe Sheehan. Though Sheehan can sometimes get wide-eyed for the True Yankees such as Rivera.

There was a famous bench clearing brawl (hard slide by Carl Reynolds, heated words exchanged, Dickey breaks Reynolds' jaw, full scale brawl). Ruth and Gehrig sat it out. Staying in the dugout and laughing. Now I'm not saying either of them was wrong, but I'd be surprised if some of their teammates didn't resent them not coming out. Percival's attitude is pretty common in sports.

There was an incident with the Red Sox in the late '80s -- my memory is hazy now so maybe Jose can recall this, but one of the Red Sox players got surrounded by the opposing team, tensions flaring, and coming to his aid from the stocked Red Sox bench was... Mike Greenwell. Greenwell got to the party, was surprised to find out that nobody was willing to fight him, and looked behind him to find that he was essentially alone. The rest of the Sox players were still sitting in the dugout, arms folded, blowing bubbles as they watched the action.

And incredulous and irritated Greenwell remarked to the press after the game that the team was made up of a bunch of "fairies."

Seriously, the only really good player I share a birthday with, unless you count Jerry Reuss.

Still haven't forgiven Eddie Cicotte?

Ah:

GREENWELL LABELS TEAMMATES 'FAIRIES'

The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
June 25, 1989 | Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff

The fact that the Red Sox don't seem to have much fight in them this year is apparent to the players themselves, at least to Mike Greenwell.

According to a report in yesterday's Patriot Ledger, the Sox' star left fielder labeled some of his teammates "wimps" and "fairies" for not responding during a short on-field confrontation Thursday night with the Texas Rangers.

"We have a bunch of wimps on this team," Greenwell told the Ledger's Nick Cafardo. "When are we going to act like a team and stop acting like a bunch of fairies?"

Greenwell said he was irked to see some of his teammates still sitting in the dugout after Sox pitcher Mike Smithson triggered …

Late to the party here, but just wanted to add one anecdote to Brock's great post about Musial's racial attitudes. This was told by Bob Costas in his eulogy, so it's pretty well-known here, but in case you missed it: Musial walked into the NL all-star clubhouse at one point in the 50s. A group of African-American players were playing cards in the corner, no white players involved. Musial walked over, sat down, said "deal me in." And Costas pointed out, Musial ordinarily wasn't much for card-playing.

That is a Willie Mays story, and it is a great story. Between that, the Flood story(which is a positive point of his attitude towards race, not the negative that Chass portrayed it to be) and the Joe Black story, there is very little doubt about what type of man Stan was.

Seriously, the only really good player I share a birthday with, unless you count Jerry Reuss.

Mine is Vida Blue...but on my birthday Stan Musial was inducted in the hof(one year before I was born) same with Ozzie Smith(except the year).

The Greenwell story has evolved.

SunSentinel, 1990:
That marked in contrast to 1989, when former Red Sox reliever Joe Price was the only player to leave the dugout during an on-field disturbance, causing Greenwell to call his teammates ``wimps and fairies.``


Bill Simmons, 2001:
For instance, back in the '89 season, Red Sox reliever Joe Price was threatened by a batter, and Mike Greenwell charged out of the dugout to defend his teammate. Unfortunately for Greenwell, nobody else in the Sox dugout budged, and Greenie ended up looking like Bluto during the first part of his "It isn't over. ... Nothing is over!" speech in "Animal House." In a related story, Boston missed the playoffs that year.

People are misreading Flood's book. Whether this is deliberate or not from Murray Chass, I don't know.

According to that ill-informed hatchet piece, Marvin Miller made those claims against Musial. But ol' Marv was making a bunch of idiotic claims at that point, at least as reported by the Chasshole.

According to that ill-informed hatchet piece, Marvin Miller made those claims against Musial. But ol' Marv was making a bunch of idiotic claims at that point, at least as reported by the Chasshole.

I thought Marvin was making claims against Musial, that Musial conspired with the owners to make sure that the players didn't get money(Conspired might be a little over the top, but basically that Musial was serving the owners interests and not the players). I thought Chass decided to add that piece about Flood going to Biggies, implying that Musial allowed his name to be put on a business that practiced segregation, and that it was indicative of the type of person he was. He didn't distort the story as much as put his own personal spin on it. (Mind you, he did distort the story somewhat, but his point was more about the fact that Musial's allowed his name on a business that did that, than the actual events behind what happened)

I thought Marvin was making claims against Musial, that Musial conspired with the owners to make sure that the players didn't get money(Conspired might be a little over the top, but basically that Musial was serving the owners interests and not the players). I thought Chass decided to add that piece about Flood going to Biggies, implying that Musial allowed his name to be put on a business that practiced segregation, and that it was indicative of the type of person he was. He didn't distort the story as much as put his own personal spin on it.

That's not the way it reads. Murray definitely added his own inimitable bile to it, but it's based on a Miller account of the dinner (assuming Murray was having these conversations with Miller, and not a doll in his attic he calls Marvin that shares his bitter outlook on life).