Who is your most favorite baseball player in YOUR lifetime?

Mine would have to be Tom Seaver.


Don Cardi

Mine is Rico Petrocelli. He played shortstop and third base for the Red Sox in the mid 60's to the mid 70's. He was one of my brother's best friends while they were growing up through high school.

Aside from the personal connection with Rico, my favorite would be Duke Snider, the centerfielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 50's. A dear friend of mine just gave me an autographed picture of Snider and it now holds a place of honor on my "autograph wall".

During the hey-day of having three teams playing in New York City (The Dodgers in Brooklyn, The Giants in Manhattan and The Yankees in the The Bronx) there were always arguments over which team had the best centerfielder - Snider, Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle. During the years they played against each other here in NYC Snider outhit the other two in most departments.

my favorite player in MY lifetime has to be

DONALD
ARTHUR
MATTINGLY!

great thread

You know, I remember my father always talking about the fueds between the Yankee, Dodger and Giant fans of who was the best centerfielder. While I was not born until after the Dodgers and Giants left N.Y., I did grow up hearing about the Dodgers from my dad and my grandfather. It must have been really exciting to have three GOOD teams in the same town! I remember back in 2000 when the Mets and Yankees made their runs towards the world series and finally played each other, the excitement was just electrifying! So it really must have been great when all three teams played in New York!

SC, for that dear friend to give you an autographed photo of Duke Snider, it had to be because you are a really great and special friend in that person's eyes!


Don Cardi

Michael Jack Schmidt for me. But as a Dodger fan, I still get goosebumps when I see Kirk Gibson and remember the greatest home run of all time.

My first idol growing up was Darryl Strawberry. He'd definitely be up there for me even though, yes he had off the field problems, but when I was growing up, on the field he was DA MAN! I also liked Griffey a lot because IMO he has one of the prettiest (if not THE prettiest) swing ever! Plus the guy was clocking 40-50 homeruns a year in Seattle

Nolan Ryan

The MLB career leader in strikeouts and also the only pitcher to ever toss seven no-hitters.

I fully acknowledge he wasn't the best pitcher of his era. I can even appreciate the fact that he wasn't always the ace on his own team each season. But the guy pitched well into his 40s, always stayed in terrific shape, and had that loud grunt when he reached back to throw his blazing fastball.

One of my most memorable images of Ryan happened at the end of his career. Ryan either plunked or threw inside to Robin Ventura. Ventura charged the mound and wound up in a head lock by Nolan Ryan, who proceeded to pound the guy on the head for about 15 seconds. Ryan must have been about 44 or 45 at the time and seeing that kind of fire & competitiveness in him at that stage of his career was amazing.

He plunked him right in the back, and it was in retaliation for the Chicago pitcher beaning Juan Gonzalez the previous inning.

Ken Griffey Jr

He was the man when I was a little leaguer. He's fallen off since then, but I'm glad that he is having a good season.

kirby puckett. i know he probably isn't very popular now because of his "glovework" in a bathroom with some lady, but as a twins fan he brought home 2 world series titles. i was only 5 years old back in '87, but i still remember staying up late and watching the world series games. and don't even get me started on '91. my dad taped games 6 and 7 and i've watched them over and over so many times i can remember every single out. on that note, i would have to say my second favorite player is lonnie smith for not paying attention at t-ball practice when they were working on running the bases.

There are two, at least thus far in my lifetime: Don "Donnie Baseball" Mattingly and Derek Jeter. By far. I remember watching Mattingly when I was younger, and now I appreciate Jeter as I've matured and become more interested in the game. No better than 23 or 2 for me.

Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter, Carlos Delgado, Tony Fernandez, Roy Halladay, Tom Henke, John Oleurd, Dave Stieb, Vernon Wells, Devon White. There's too many to name! I can never narrow these down to just one.