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Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Just because of his vicious spontaneous symmetry breaking swing from Planet Explodo…Ron Blomberg.
Voros and I are close to the same age, so it is understandable that I agree wholeheartedly with his assessment of Davis. Davis was the gold standard of ballplayers as far as my friends and I were concerned. No one looked like him. No one played like him. He was just a beast. I’ve always taken the Willie Mayes/Andruw Jones thing with a grain of salt—though he may have been Mays’ defensive equal, Andruw has never looked the way I’ve heard people describe Mays—but pre-injury Eric Davis felt like the real deal. If I had the power to alter anything in baseball over the past 20 years, seeing what a healthy Davis could have done is near the top of the list.
1B: Will Clark. This is mostly for offense—great swing—but I loved the way he carried himself on the field. Just seemed like what a ballplayer was supposed to be like. As much as I admire Bonds’ accomplishments on an intellectual level, the Giants ceased to be interesting to me when Clark stopped playing for them after 1993.
2B: Craig Biggio. He wasn’t necessarily exciting in the way some of these other players were, but since I always thought of him as a catcher—probably far longer than anyone else did—I always gave him extra credit when I watched him snag something at second base and probably enjoyed his play more than I should have.
Repoz
Posted: January 17, 2008 at 11:30 PM | 131 comment(s)
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The young Cesar Cedeno was comparable to Davis in terms of just drop-your-jaw all-around talent. And one thing Cedeno had that Davis didn't was a cannon arm.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to watch a ton of Eric Davis, being a American League fan. And Bo Jackson overshadowed him in the AL, which is no knock on Eric Davis. Bo overshadowed everyone.
I hope you were smiling when you finished writing that Craig. That's a great line.
1986: 27 HR, 80-11 as a basestealer. 1987: 37 HR, 50-6 as a basestealer.
Well Clemente died when I was a year old, and I think Craig's a little younger than me.
It cues in to what I think what I love most about some players, which is the odd or extreme batting stance.
Rickey Henderson drew a lot of walks because of his eye, but also because he had the most extreme crouch you ever saw -- he looked at time like he was bent over double, giving you a postage-stamp strike zone. But at his peak, he could explode out of that stance and hammer the ball over the fence.
I loved the Killer B's -- Bagwell, who had a wider stance than Larry Craig -- it looked like some extreme kung fu position; and Biggio, with that huge foot stomp. Yeah, he was leaning into some balls, but other times he really had no chance to get out of the way.
Then there was Joe Morgan at the plate. The way that back arm flapped, it looked like he had some sort of nervous condition. I don't recall any other player like that.
If you broke it down into specific components of the game, rather than all-around play, I'd go with:
Hitting -- Frank Thomas. Power, average and an incredible batting eye.
Running -- Rickey Henderson. Had there been no Rickey, Tim Raines would be a lock for Cooperstown.
Fielding -- Ozzie Smith, although for a year or two Rey Ordonez did some incredible things in the field.
Pitching -- Greg Maddux, master of the pitching arts. Exciting subtlety, you might say.
Not to start another steroid firestorm, but Barry Bonds is the most exciting everyday player I've ever seen play. It's tough to pick between him and Pedro Martinez.
I found it helped to get the bat quickly into the zone, but for zilch power. So then I went the other extreme, and became a right-handed Carl Yastrzemski, hefting the bat way, way up high over my back shoulder.
Alas, that didn't work for me either.
I never really got a chance to see that much of Henderson but he sure was exciting when I did see him.
Brooks at 3B.
Hmmm..."exciting pitcher?" Pedro I suppose. Though Tiant or Wilhelm/Niekro may have been the most entertaining.
For a while, Sheffield and Renteria were teammates, and I saw them on TV in the same game. (Must have been the Marlins.) Superficially, they were doing something like the same thing - but the impression was totally different. Renteria was just kind of waving the bat end back and forth. I guess that's a "waggle." With Sheffield, all of sudden the bat end is pointing right at the pitcher. And then snap! it's back upright. It's a very crisp motion, and it just radiates a sense of menace. And you know he's got strong wrists.
I tried to copy the stance of my childhood hero, Yaz, too, but it didn't work.
Barry Bonds is probably the hitter I've enjoyed watching the most, the way pitchers would seem to cower in fear and try to recede into the background.
... and I'm a bit biased, but I think the most exciting RF of my lifetime is Vlad. You just don't ever know what you're gonna see when he comes up to the bat. I mean, Ichiro! does his thing, but he seems to have a purpose. Vlad's only purpose is to hurt the baseball, and I mean hurt it right now.
Pitching, Greg Maddux. But throwing, Nolan Ryan.
Ryan wasn't teh best pitchar E VAR -- as everybody on this site knows already -- but he was a remarkable talent.
Thanks, SoS. The line just sort of popped in my head as I was trying to think about why I liked watching Ozzie so much. And yes, I did smile a bit.
Someone mentioned Barry Bonds. Steroids notwithstanding, I totally appreciate his body of work, but it has been years and years since I found him even remotely exciting or aesthetically pleasing to watch. And really, Henderson aside, the same can be said for most of the high OBP guys. The patience it is effective. The patience, it is smart. The patience it is, well, a bit boring.
Damn straight.
And Willie McCovey would not be in the HOF, or anywhere close. Good lord was he awkward, and of course over the last half of his career, comically slow afoot.
Bonds's were the most mesmerizing of any at-bats. Like every other Giants' fan of the last couple of decades, I (often quite literally) organized my evening's activities (such as walking the dog, running to the store etc.) around when Bonds would likely be coming up.
It was to witness an artist at work.
Because his opponents were properly aware of his results, via statistics. But had stats not been kept, just watching him bat a couple of times wouldn't induce fear so much as laughter.
How often did you watch McCovey play?
Eric Davis was the best looking/most exciting ballplayer that I saw break in. I kept telling my wife that he was as good as in the HOF.
Currently I find myself wanting to watch Chase Utley. His swing is so compact -- I can't think of anyone who swung the bat quite like he does.
Vin Scully isn't one for excessive hyperbole, so I was shocked when he recalled his first time seeing Mondesi at Dodgertown: "I thought he was going to be the best player ever."
1B - McGwire
2B - Jackie (most exciting player ever)
SS - Ozzie
3B - Brett (runner up to Robinson)
LF - Canseco
CF - Mantle (just below Brett)
RF - Ichiro
C - Pudge (with the Rangers, at his defensive peak)
SP1 - Gibson
SP2 - Gator ('78 only)
SP3 - Pedro
SP4 - Randy Johnson
SP5 - Ryan
RP1 - That Phineas Freak Brother looking guy who pitched for the Angels a couple of years ago, the tall one with the spastic motion
RP2 - Sutter (with the Cubs)
DH - Sheffield
Manager - Well, duh.
I wish I could have seen Mark Fidrych and his antics as they were occuring in '76.
As a young player (late 50s/early 60s vintage), absolutely. He had a bout with malaria in 1965 and nagging back and knee injuries thereafter which kind of slowed him down after that, but as a young player he played with abandon and flair.
-- MWE
I think you're talking about Brendan Donnelly. Or was it Ben Weber? Now I'm having trouble remembering.
But how about Mitch Williams instead? The one who said "I pitch as if my hair's on fire." I don't know if Al Hrabosky counts as "exciting" or "annoying" but you knew he was in the game.
I road tripped watching baseball the summer of 1998, so I saw all teams at least once, most twice. Two players stood out as clearly being superior - when they batted, they were obviously better than the pitcher, regardless of who was pitching. They were Barry Bonds and Tony Gwynn. Pedro and Randy Johnson were similar as pitchers - all batters were automatically overmatched when they batted. Of course, BARRY BONDS was kind of the king of dominance - as stated above, if the pitcher kept in the park, you felt lucky. McGwire was similar in 1998 - every ballpark had holes in those plastic signs between the lower and upper decks in LF where McGwire had driven balls during BP. Even his batting practice was fearsome, everyone would stop and watch. He was the Jim Rice of BP.
Hubie was pretty exciting.
Craig, I heart you. If you ever decide to break things up between your wife and Reilly, I'll be happy to step in.
Thanks, great read.
Brooks was great. The plays he made that most impressed me were the bunts and dribblers that he would charge in on, grab and hurl to first in one motion.
But I loved Nettles even more. The way he could go horizontal to the ground and snatch line drives out of the air was incredible.
The third in the trio was Clete Boyer. I swear, he could throw from his knees better than most players could throw standing up.
I think of Ichiro as the guy I like watching play the most right now, I am a Bonds fan, but I feel cheated watching his bats, he crowds the plate, gets the call and often times the pitcher didn't even bother pitching to him. If he would have have removed the armor or at least call the strike zone then I think his at bats would have been more fun to watch....still when he swung everybody holds their breath for the result.
For catchers I have to go with Santiago, I loved watching his defense throwing from the ground and he was the first catcher I remember seeing pick off a runner (remember I grew up with Ted Simmons as my catcher--favorite player of all time, but no arm)
first base was Jack Clark in his near MVP year, I don't think I've ever seen a ball fly off a bat faster than Clarks.
Eric Davis and Jack Clark were fighting for the homerun title and (mind you by memory) I believe that Jack was one behind Davis in a three game series and he hit two homeruns that were Robbed by Davis, the second was until Edmonds came along, the best robbery I've ever seen of a homerun, but it was fun to watch Eric steal homeruns from his primary competitor.
I think you're talking about Brendan Donnelly. Or was it Ben Weber? Now I'm having trouble remembering.
I just googled their images, and it's Weber I was thinking of. He's the one in the middle.
The Benito Santiago/Tony Pena school of throwing-off-their-a$$ catchers was a hell of a lot of fun, and Pudge Rodriguez featured a seriously lethal arm, but no catcher that I've seen has ever shown anything approaching the Apollo-program-booster-rocket-powered, laser-beam-accurate, take-your-breath-away throwing arm of the young Johnny Bench.
Darryl was poetry in motion... the only thing that pretty that I've seen since was Tiger Woods' golf swing (and maybe Junior's swing before the injuries got to him). There was something so effortless and long... not to sound too girly, but it was almost like watching a professional dancer. They talk about extending the line and that's what Darryl's swing was like. His release was smooth and somewhere behind his back.
Darryl almost singlehandedly killed my dreams for the '88 Pirates. Pirates went into NYC last week in July down by 2 games. They got shut out in the first two games (3-Finger and El Sid), so they were four out. Then they manage to scrap out a run in the top of the first in third game of the series. I still can remember my hope surging... thinking that they were going to break out in that game and kill the monster, get it back to 3 back and then roll on. Bottom of the first, Dykstra gets on. Walk gets the next two guys, but then Strawberry goes yard. I remember being so deflated, in retrospect which is crazy because it was just the first inning and the Pirates were only down by a run. You just felt that no one could beat those guys. The Pirates got shut out the rest of the game, finishing getting swept... they got it back down to 3.5 in the end of August, but they were never really in it after that series. Checking the retrosheet, it's funny how I remember Darryl killing us in that series, but those were the only runs he drove in. And I remembered the home run being late, instead of early, but it's funny how the mind plays tricks on us.
I'll second the motion of the very young defensive Johnny Bench. They had those pictures of him holding, what, eight balls in one hand, and when he threw to a base it never seemed like he was just trying to keep the runner honest.
Andy Van Slyke coming in on a Texas Leaguer was as pretty a thing as you could see in baseball, sure to pull you from your seat.
Eric Davis is a fine choice. By 1990, he was probably a step below his peak, but what impressed then was just how hard he played. Didn't he bruise his liver trying to make a catch? Who else does that?
C: A.J. Pierzynski
1B: Will Clark
2B: Roberto Alomar
3B: Adrian Beltre (he's just so... odd; I've never seen any other batter appeal to the first base umpire on a check-swing before a call has been made yet he manages to do it multiple times each game!)
SS: Cristian Guzman (April-July 2001)
LF: Mark Quinn
CF: Kirby Puckett
RF: Ichiro!
DH: Paul Molitor
SP: Johan Santana
SP: Greg Maddux
SP: Francisco Liriano
SP: El Duque
RP: Mitch Williams
RP: Ben Weber
RP: Pat Neshek
RP: Ambiorex Burgos
Pedro has been more durable than he is usually given credit for. Given full seasons in 1994 and 1995, he probably tops 200 IP. Then he hit or exceeded 180 innings 9 out of the 10 seasons from 1996-2005 with 7 seasons over 200 IP and another at 199.1 IP. That's pretty durable all things considered. He's fragile now because he's in the latter stages of his career. Pedro isn't as durable as Maddux, Glavine, RJ or Clemens but that's because those four guys are freaks.
Orlando Hernandez is pretty fun to watch when he is on his game.
C-Ramon Hernandez. Entirely for his two-out bunt single that won one of the most agonizing games of my life, the 2003 ALDS game one.
1B-Mark McGwire. The pigeon-toed thing and the height he got on those home runs. He always looked more locked-in than any other player, with that laser focus, even when he was striking out half the time.
2B-Roberto Alomar. Smartest defensive player I ever saw.
3B-Julio Franco. He could play third in his day, right? Man he had a fun stance.
SS-Cal. May not seem exciting, but I loved watching him over the course of years and seeing what the hell batting stance he was gonna pull out of his ass.
OF-Bo.
OF-Rickey!
OF-Sammy
P-Dave Stewart. Now that was an intimidating mound presence.
P-Pedro
p-Kerry Wood
p-Rod Beck
p-The Eck. loved the stache, the easy motion, the fire.
Your memories don't go back far enough. I'm pretty sure that Stewart was intentionally trying to look like Bob Gibson, but at best he was the copy, not the original. Weren't we just talking about Gibson around here in the last couple of days?
Well, maybe, but I doubt the hitters he faced thought, "Hmm, he's trying to look like Bob Gibson." They probably thought, \"####, I'm facing Dave Stewart." Especially if they were on the Red Sox, Blue Jays, or Giants in the postseason.
Conversely one of the most glorious games of my life.
Guys on my list would McGwire, who hit an absolute shot against Toronto at a game I was at in Oakland in what must've been '95 or '96 when I was a kid.
Definitely Thomas, who, when younger, seemed like the most intimidating player on earth to me, and when he came to Oakland at the tail end of his career, continued to make the exact same impression on me. With every at bat of his you can just envision the ball leaving the yard.
Early Griffey was amazing. When people talk about Mays and Clemente and, now I guess early Eric Davis, in my mind I approximate that with early Griffey.
Pedro in his prime was just untouchable.
Roided up Bonds. I was at a game in like 02 or 03 and he pulled a (roided up) Gagne 101 MPH fastball foul into McCovey Cove, and then homered on the next 99 MPH fastball. It was unreal. I mean literally it was unreal, but still amazing to witness.
This last one's gonna seem funny, but when he's actually been on the field, Rich Harden has been one of the most exciting pitchers I've ever watched. Filthiest stuff outside of Pedro I've ever witnessed. Of course he can't stay on a baseball diamond for more than 10 innings a season so oh well.
Another funny one for me is Pedro Feliz. He's one of my favorite players to watch. At the plate he puts a lot of balls in play and he's the one defender that's ever made me go "Jesus Christ his glove might actually make up for his bat."
I'd give Jeter a nod too. He may be overrated, but he's produced some pretty exciting moments, including that stupid ####### flip in 2001. A little early to be saying this, but Tim Lincecum too. I was at a game this season when he struck out like 12 guys or whatever it was against Arizona. Dude's nasty.
Oh, I was rooting for the A's too, but the bloody game just wouldn't end...I remember driving around in my car with it on the radio and finally thinking, "Jesus, I've got to pull over, I'm gonna run out of gas..."
See I was at the game. I was sitting in Mt. Davis, and you couldn't really tell what happened, but when the rest of the stadium went nuts everyone around us kinda got the idea and went nuts too. It was fantastic.
1b: Will Clark (saw him drive in 9 runs or something at Candlestick when I was 15, thrilled to see him in Baltimore).
2b: Alomar (before the spitting... know he was great after, but Toronto got his best.)
3b: Brooks (never saw him play; had relatives swear "Brooksie woulda had that.")
ss: Cal, but a shout-out to Barry Larkin.
lf: Bonds.
cf: Eric the Red (those first two months of '87 were amazing.)
rf: Ichiro!
rb: Bo Jackson (when he went right through Rick Dempsey on his way to the end zone, shoo-wie.)
dh: Pappy.
sp: Unit.
sp: Rocket.
sp: Pedro.
sp: Ryan.
sp: Maddux.
rp: Dibble (that guy threw 103 and... was nuts).
rp: Gagne.
rp: Eck.
C - Ivan R.
1B - Keith Hernandez
2B - Robby Alomar
3B - Caminiti. My God, that arm.
SS - Ozzie
LF - Vince Coleman
CF - Fred Lynn (Davis would be my second pick, then Chet Lemon, then Edmonds, then Gorman Thomas. Always loved CFers)
RF - Reggie
CL - Quis
SP - Gooden, John Tudor
He was so spritely, and yet he looked 117 years old; basically he was the prototype for those obnoxious Six Flags commercials.
Most Similar by Age
29. Sandy Valdespino (967)
30. Sandy Valdespino (955)
31. John Cangelosi (960)
32. John Cangelosi (955)
33. John Cangelosi (943)
34. Jo-Jo White (929)
35. Jo-Jo White (925)
36. Davy Jones (932)
37. Davy Jones (935)
38. Burt Shotton (926)
39. Jimmy Austin (850)
40. Jimmy Austin (851)
117. Mr. Six (1000)
I remember somebody mentioning in a thread on BTF once that, when you made a list of pitcher who had had games with 10+ strikeouts and no walks, the list of those who had done it once was all over the map - great pitchers, mediocre pitchers, everything in between; the list of those who had done it twice was almost exclusively very good to great pitchers; and the list of those who had done it three times was the absolute cream of the crop.
Ankiel did it three times - as a 20 year old rookie, in a span of 20 starts.
And now he's gone and converted to outfield and slugged .535 in his first extended test as a major league hitter while displaying one of the best outfield arms in the majors. For the complete package, you'd be hard pressed to find more than a few players more exciting than Rick Ankiel in recent memory.
way overvalued as a ballplayer. great to watch.
i used to periodically watch deion sanders just on the hope that he'd hit the ball into the gap in the outfield.
lonnie smith was fun to watch on defense, as bill james has chronicled many times.
and nolan ryan, when the heater was on.
Everybody in my neighborhood tried to copy Yaz' stance. And all succeeded...in looking ridiculous.
I used to love the old Rocky Colavito move of pointing your bat at the pitcher and freezing it there, as if you were measuring his head for a line drive. Sort of like a much more focused, two handed version of what Jim Thome does now. It might have had a slightly more unsettling effect on the pitcher if I'd weighed more than 165 pounds.
I could imitate anybody's stance and hit batting practice. Except for Davis. If I tried that, I'd screw up my swing so much I couldn't even hit slow pitch softball.
My two most exciting Davis plays:
1983, minor league game vs Louisville. Davis on third, catcher tosses back to the pitcher. Not a Mackey Sasser, but a little non-chalant. Davis steals home. I knew nothing about him before that game, after it I'd never forget him.
1986? Tags from second and moves to third on a popup to 1B. Not a lumbering oaf 1B, but the best defensive one at least in the last half century, Keith Hernandez.
Word. I wish writers would understand that most of the stats geeks that they revile are actually the biggest, most obsessive, most passionate baseball fans in the world, people whose fandom probably vastly outstrips the writers themselves. Numbers are just one of the easier ways to talk about the game we all love!
As for exciting players, Pedro always scared the crap out of me, so he makes the list. I love watching El Duque too. Curtis Granderson was a lot of fun last year, both offensively and defensively, as far as one year excitement goes.
With hitters, I have a hard time separating "excitement" from "quality." For example, I love watching guys with truly epic power: guys who don't just hit homeruns, but hit the ball hard all the time, like Pujols, Sheffield, and A-Rod. I'm not sure if A-Rod and Pujols are exciting, since they hit so methodically, but whenever they're up, you know that they could hit a light-tower shot.
I have to echo the Eric Davis calls... not the best ballplayer I've ever seen, but the most fun to watch. Baseball's always had strong guys and fast guys, but Davis was strong and fast and graceful. His movements were so fluid and effortless looking, but you could still see the speed and power beneath. He just seemed like he was at a higher gear than everybody else on the field.
Honorable mentions...
Young Ivan Rodriguez. I loved watching him show off his arm on snap throws to first, and his bat was astonishingly quick. He had amazing plate coverage and rarely struck out. Especially impressive compared to how most catchers in the game looked and played at the time.
Nolan Ryan. Yeah yeah, overrated, but when he took the mound, you always hoped for another no hitter, and it always seemed possible. Anything could happen in a Nolan Ryan start. People don't talk much about his curve today, but it was outstanding, very similar to Blyleven's in it's movement. Had the best pure stuff of any starter I can remember, and never really lost it until the very end.
A-Rod. Sometimes he looks mechanical, but when he really connects, it's impressive to watch. Just explosive power, but it never looks like he's swinging as hard as he can.
That's not a slam against A-Rod, but ruthless efficiency is rarely exciting. I'd hang around IBM and watch their employees go in and out of the building if it was.
Guys who jump to mind immediately:
C: ?
1B: ?
2B: Kent
3B: ?
SS: Can we choose Ozzie G. here for his managerial work?
LF: Rickey
CF: ?
RF: Sheffield
SP: Lima Time
CL: ?
OK ,quiet down for just a second, cease and desist with the anger and indignation. Because I love telling this story, never get tired of it.
It was an unbearably hot afternoon at Yankee Stadium. We’re playing Texas, Juan Dominguez on the mound. Alex Rodriguez is at the plate, in the midst of a phenomenal 2005 season, carrying the team.
We’d seen Jaret Wright come and go, booing him off the mound as he held his right shoulder in unbearable pain, tobacco spilling out of his mouth, agape in agony.
We’d seen Carl Pavano vanish, day to day becoming month to month, month to month becoming here to eternity.
We’d seen Kevin Brown implode. That’s that.
We’d been watching our season hang by a delicate strand, our maddeningly talented clean-up hitter preventing an irreparable rip.
And here he is. There’s an electrified current slicing through the beautiful blue sky, and we anticipate something special.
Dominguez winds and fires, Alex locks and loads.
The ball explodes off his bat, obliterated.
We stand, watch the flight, preparing to unleash a spectacular roar, tell whoever happens to be sitting next to us that yes, told you so, just had that feeling.
And than, nothing…
Silence.
We’re looking for the ball. And Alex is rounding the bases, head down.
Did it land upper deck? Was it swallowed by the atmosphere, rip through the O-Zone?
A pin could drop, for one beautiful moment. Soundless shock.
Awe transcends translation. Ever hear 57,000 people simultaneously gasp?
The Reds team for the late 1980s was pretty special, and not just because of Eric Davis. They also had Barry Larkin and Kal Daniels, who for two years was as good as Davis. (Davis in 1987: .293/399/593; Daniels in 1987: 334/429/617. Davis in 1988; 273/363/489; Daniels in 1988: .291/397/463). Daniels hurt his knee (again) in 1989 and he didn't play much after that.
Others who pinned the excitement meter for me.
Cesar Cedeno in the early years was phenomenal. He could do everything except stay out of trouble.
Vida Blue in 1971. We didn't see anything like that again until Gooden in 1984
Luis Tiant with the Red Sox from 72 to 75.
Ozzie Smith when he first came over to St. Louis.
Bo Jackson because you never knew what he'd do next.
and if you were alive in 1976 Mark Fidrych was the greatest thing going.
My son will tell you his most exciting players are Big Papi and Jacoby Ellsbury. For one month last year, I gotta admit, Ellsbury was up there. (so too was Joba, even thought I'm not a Yankees fan).
Neyer asks in his column today why I didn't include Bo Jackson. Short answer: At least in baseball he wasn't BO JACKSON until, what 88? 89? By then I was in West Virgina watching the Braves, Cubs, and Reds, so I never got to see him play that much. Yes, the SportsCenter highlights, and yes, the All Star game feats were impressive, but I didn't get to see him nearly as much in context of a game or nearly as often as the other guys (I fell for Henderson in the early 80s when I still saw a lot of AL ball).
As a hitter, yes, but Kal didn't do anything else particularly well. Davis was a legend for being so dominant at so many different areas of the game.
Also: Rickey! THe 1989 playoffs against Toronto was baseball nirvana if you like watching a player like Rickey! at his best.
It's odd that my "exciting" associations go immediately to National League baseball of the 1980s. Either that was a particularly exciting era, or I was just more excitable then.
I did see Clemente play, once, when I was ten years old, and he didn't do anything amazing that day :)
When he first started playing, he had very few instincts on how to play the game. For instance, when he got on base, he had no idea how to read a pitcher, get a lead, or to slide properly - he would steal bases simply because he was so damn fast. He'd do everything wrong and still beat the catcher.
The scary thing was that he was developing the skills to play the game. I look at his OPS+'s -
66-94-108-124-142.
He was learning how to hit, and rapidly becoming one of the better hitters in the game.
Another player that was really fun to watch when he was young was Harold Baines. He settled into being merely a good DH, but before his knees went out, he was a very good right fielder with a strong arm.
The only real difference between Blue in 71 and Ron Guidry in 78 was that Guidry, unlike Blue, improved in the second half, kept going through the postseason, and wound up with better numbers in every category except K's and IP's.
As for Eric Davis, he put on the best batting practice session I've ever seen. It was either '86 or '87 in St. Louis. Vicious, tape measure line drives. One after the other.
Also in that game, Willie McGee hit a fly ball down the left field line. The third base ump ran down the line to check whether it would be fair or foul. The second base ump also ran out to left, I assume in case of a trapped ball play. The home plate ump moved up to third because there was a runner on second, and the first base ump moved up to second in case the runner on second tagged up. During all this movement, Willie had retired to the dugout, assuming the ball would be caught. When it wasn't, he grabbed his helmet and ran to first.
At least I remember it that way. I'd google "Willie McGee" and "adventurous baserunning," but it would probably generate a couple hundred thousand hits.
Good call JRE. It's a shame that Baines is kind of remembered mostly as a DH, because he was such a well-rounded ballplayer who performed with a kind of gracefulness I find enjoyable. It's the same reason I've loved watching El Duque pitch, even when he I hoping he'd get lit up as a Yankee.
Exciting:
C: Pudge (once picked off a runner on second)
1B: McGwire
2B: Alomar (SS range)
3B: Brett (As a Yankees fan growing up in the 70s/80s, you just did not want to see him come up)
SS: Ozzie
LF: Bo (The Bunyan-esque tales are true, kiddies... he really did all that stuff)
CF: Junior
RF: Reggie (At-bats were events)
SP: Doc Gooden, circa 1984-85 (no pitcher in my lifetime, including prime Pedro, had the same auru)
RP: 1996 Mo Rivera
Entertaining
C: Pudge
1B: McGwire
2B: Alomar
3B: For one year, Rolen was a supernatural defender.
SS: Ozzie
LF: TIE: Rickey/Darryl Strawberry. Darryl: (you can watch that swing all day. Once hit a pop-fly that squeaked into the first row of the upper deck at Yankee Stadium. The rightfielder called for the ball the entire time it was in the air and then watched it plunk into the seats. Now that's backspin). Rickey: C'mon, we don't really need to qualify this, do we?
CF: Fred Lynn or Jim Edmonds.
RF: Iron Scheff (the most vicious swing I've ever seen. Earlier posts mention Jack Clark. These are surely the two hardest righthandeded swings in my lifetime)
SP: Pedro, followed closesly by El Duque (what can I say? I like artists with flair)
RP: Hmm... well, Mitch Williams certainly was entertaining... but if we're talking entertainment for good reasons, then it's Goose Gossage (Simply the most intimidating presence I've seen on the mound--well, certainly as a 7 year old)
Mantle (or maybe Koufax) has always been my #1 "Wish I Had Seen Him" player.
On occasion, OCF trots out a statistic of his meant as a statistical way of helping determine who swings the hardest - IsoP on contact, measured as SLG - AVG on balls in play. Clark's 1987 is the highest, I think, at .464.
Griffith Stadium in Washington was the home of the Nats / Senators between 1911 and 1961. In its entire history, only five balls were hit over the 30 ft. high centerfield wall, which was 438' from the plate at its farthest point.
On Opening Day 1956, I was sitting on the centerfield fence, which was an extension of the left field bleachers, just to the left of that wall. In his first time at bat that day, Mickey Mantle hit one of those five balls over that centerfield wall. And then a few innings later, he hit another.
At that point only two other balls (one by Ruth and one by Larry Doby) had been hit over that wall. It took Mantle six innings to match what the rest of the American League had managed to do in the previous 45 years.
And then six weeks later, he missed by about two or three feet being the first batter to hit a ball out of Yankee Stadium. Yeah, he had a little power. But that one I only saw on TV.
Now you want a player that drew your attention it was Willie.
Example:
Willie Mays on first.
Takes an aggressive lead.
Pitcher looks at him. Looks at him again. Throws to first.
Willie goes back in standing up.
Throw goes back to the pitcher.
Willie takes a bigger lead.
Pitcher throws over.
Willie goes back into first, standing up.
Ball thrown back to pitcher.
Willie takes an even BIGGER lead.
Pitcher now clearly flustered. Looks over. Shakes off catcher's sign. Looks over. Finally throws over.
Willie goes back into first, STANDING UP.
Never saw it before.
Haven't seen it since.
Don't believe me? Ask around. There are other fans of that era.
WILLIE got your attention.
Mickey just did his job really, really, REALLY well........
I'm not quite old enough to have seen Mantle in his prime (I was born in 1951). I did get to see Mantle frequently on TV in the 1960's (then, as now, the Yankees were the prime attraction on the national game of the week). What I remember the most was that the Mick seldom got cheated at the plate; he nearly always took a full cut. This created a lot of swinging strike outs, but of course it also resulted in some tremendous home runs as well.
More recent guys -
Soriano when he was on the Yankees. Hated those teams but that guy just always seemed ready to uncoil/explode.
Jose Reyes - I remember a game where he's on third and the opposing team tries to do their Carlos Delgado shift, which left third base uncovered. Reyes starts taking this enormous lead, and the pitcher is staring at him and completely freaked out, but knows he can't do anything about it, and everyone in the stadium is waiting to see whether he'll try to steal home.
Hideo Nomo
Albert Pujols - I am terrified every time he comes to bat. I still remember the game in 2006 when he hit two home runs against John Maine for 7 RBIs. And that shot against Lidge in the playoffs.
Speaking of Lidge, here have been some pretty damn exciting closers in recent years, too.
C- Munson can you say fiery
1B- McGwire
2B- Morgan
SS- ARod
3B- Brett
LF- Rickey
CF- Mantle
RF- Reggie
DH- Teddy Ballgame even as late as 1958ish you sat up when he came to the plate
Bench--Bench, Carew, Yount, Schmidt, Eddie Mathews, Bonds, Mays, Junior, Kirby, Tony Oliva (my bias is showing), Clemente, Rose
SP- Koufax easily
Clemens
Gibson
Ryan most of the time exciting means also really really good, Nolan was the one guy who was exciting even though not as good as advertised
Mark Fidrych
RP- Goose hands down
Bench--Seaver, Palmer, Whitey Ford, Unit, Marichal, Mariano and (locally) Camilo Pascual
For a guy like Eric Davis who had a short time in the sun, I'd say that Freddy Lynn for me would be that guy or maybe Lenny Dykstra. What was it about Lenny Dykstra?
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