OK, so, first things first: I have what I think is a super-fun and (maybe a little bit addictive) game for you to play. You might know we’re getting ready to start up our countdown of the most famous baseball people of the last 50 years. The original plan was pretty simple: I was going to pick the top 50 based on my own instincts and that was going to be fine.
On the Super Bowl, I was trying to think of one where one team has the best offensive play caller (despite other titles, in this case these are the head coaches) the best defensive coordinator, and the best QB and then lost the Super Bowl. In this case, KC wins all 3.
The wild cards are CMC, who is a singular talent, but there is not much correlation to the team with the best RB winning, as well as health. San Fran is absurdly healthy, and the Chiefs have several starters who will not play. The Chiefs have more depth though, playing next man up while the Niners lost a couple of guys during a portion of the season and promptly fell apart with their lack of depth.
I also find it interesting that the line has stayed the same (actually going back up after going down) despite the fact that over two thirds of the money is on the Chiefs. Some have said that there were a lot more pre-season Super Bowl bets placed on the Niners with (higher odds than the Chiefs), and that the houses could lose a lot if the money on the game itself is even and the Niners win, and are mitigating that risk by intentionally getting more game money on the Chiefs. I have no way of knowing if this is correct, but it is an interesting thought. I wonder if the point spread would be different if it was a stand alone game without the futures bets affecting this.
I have a friend who decided he would bet the Chiefs in the postseason until he lost his $110 investment. He bet the spread against Miami, and and then the moneyline vs. Buffalo and Baltimore, pocketing a couple of $ here and there just to keep his bets even, but mainly betting all his money back as he hadn't lost. Now, if the Chiefs lose, he loses $89. If they win, he nets $2641. He took what was a 9-1 bet before the playoffs, and turned it into more than 29-1 this week. Fun.
For me, I can't get past what I laid out in the first paragraph. I think it will be the Chiefs.
Joe, Mahomes was originally at #101 in the Football 100 and that was before winning another Super Bowl and maybe winning another tomorrow. Where does he rank now?
Had an interesting observation pondering my list and reading lots of others comments.
Joe offered up the "most famous" players of the last 50 years as an alternative to the actual Hall of Fame which is (in theory) honors the BEST players of the last 50 years. And yet, it's turned into the Hall of Fame debate all over again.
Some people think Murphy, Mattingly, and Maris belong in the Hall of Fame because of 2-3 years where they were they best player in baseball. Some people think certain players with super high but short-lived fame are among the top 10 most famous of 50 years. Heck, a player who wasn't relevant for 45 of the 50 years is frequently mentioned in the top 10 with players who were relevant for all 50 years. (In the pick the player game, I suspect a lot of people voted for the stars of the 2020s who are famous today; I know I did.)
Some people are insistent Ken Griffey Jr is the #1 most famous on the list. Others leave them off their top 10, like not thinking Beltre clears the Hall bar.
Some people remember how great baseball was back in the day and want to compare everyone to Ruth, Mays, Mantle, et al; others think all of them were long retired and not that famous for baseball in the past 50 years.
Heck, like the character clause, we can't even agree what the criteria mean even though Joe has stated them.
I had Angels season tickets when Alex Johnson won the batting title. He could really hit & he could really run (when he wanted to, which was not that often). He might be the most toxic person to ever play baseball. His own teammates and managers hated him. The fans turned on him after his batting title because he acted so disinterested. Personal story. Back when the Angels had spring training in Palm Springs, Johnson was taking batting practice. We grabbed a couple of balls from underneath the netting while he was hitting. The guy throwing basically ignored us. Johnson walked towards us and started swearing at us. Pretty shocking, because the overall vibe was pretty relaxed (if he took exception to what we were doing, it could have been handled much more calmly). The coach throwing batting practice just had this defeated look as Johnson berated us. After that, Johnson basically bounced from team to team & pretty much didn't last a full season anywhere. Then he as gone. He also was involved in an incident where Chico Ruiz pulled a gun on him. In any normal situation, Ruiz would have been the bad guy. And he was, to an extent. But the narrative did start to focus on how hated Johnson was & how it pretty much made sense that the gun was pulled on him.
My family is from Iowa and my Dad’s family lived in Iowa City as one of my cousins does now. Many, many U. Of I. grads. So, I know Prairie Lights Bookstore well. Small world, huh?
I’m on the board of the Tucson Festival of Books, and we are all thrilled beyond words that Joe is coming again this year (and very disappointed that Sally Jenkins had to cancel). Anyone who is in AZ for spring training that weekend should consider skipping one day to drive to Tucson (2 hours) to join 320 authors and 130,000 readers taking over the University of Arizona campus.
I believe he wrote this is “your” game, meaning you make up the definition for fame. For me, I was using sort of a one-step away rule. I was thinking of someone in my life who knew of baseball but wasn’t necessarily a baseball fan. Would they know player X vs player Y. Even using that definition required me to make own determination because there are players listed that only real baseball fans would know.
On the Super Bowl, I was trying to think of one where one team has the best offensive play caller (despite other titles, in this case these are the head coaches) the best defensive coordinator, and the best QB and then lost the Super Bowl. In this case, KC wins all 3.
The wild cards are CMC, who is a singular talent, but there is not much correlation to the team with the best RB winning, as well as health. San Fran is absurdly healthy, and the Chiefs have several starters who will not play. The Chiefs have more depth though, playing next man up while the Niners lost a couple of guys during a portion of the season and promptly fell apart with their lack of depth.
I also find it interesting that the line has stayed the same (actually going back up after going down) despite the fact that over two thirds of the money is on the Chiefs. Some have said that there were a lot more pre-season Super Bowl bets placed on the Niners with (higher odds than the Chiefs), and that the houses could lose a lot if the money on the game itself is even and the Niners win, and are mitigating that risk by intentionally getting more game money on the Chiefs. I have no way of knowing if this is correct, but it is an interesting thought. I wonder if the point spread would be different if it was a stand alone game without the futures bets affecting this.
I have a friend who decided he would bet the Chiefs in the postseason until he lost his $110 investment. He bet the spread against Miami, and and then the moneyline vs. Buffalo and Baltimore, pocketing a couple of $ here and there just to keep his bets even, but mainly betting all his money back as he hadn't lost. Now, if the Chiefs lose, he loses $89. If they win, he nets $2641. He took what was a 9-1 bet before the playoffs, and turned it into more than 29-1 this week. Fun.
For me, I can't get past what I laid out in the first paragraph. I think it will be the Chiefs.
Joe, Mahomes was originally at #101 in the Football 100 and that was before winning another Super Bowl and maybe winning another tomorrow. Where does he rank now?
Had an interesting observation pondering my list and reading lots of others comments.
Joe offered up the "most famous" players of the last 50 years as an alternative to the actual Hall of Fame which is (in theory) honors the BEST players of the last 50 years. And yet, it's turned into the Hall of Fame debate all over again.
Some people think Murphy, Mattingly, and Maris belong in the Hall of Fame because of 2-3 years where they were they best player in baseball. Some people think certain players with super high but short-lived fame are among the top 10 most famous of 50 years. Heck, a player who wasn't relevant for 45 of the 50 years is frequently mentioned in the top 10 with players who were relevant for all 50 years. (In the pick the player game, I suspect a lot of people voted for the stars of the 2020s who are famous today; I know I did.)
Some people are insistent Ken Griffey Jr is the #1 most famous on the list. Others leave them off their top 10, like not thinking Beltre clears the Hall bar.
Some people remember how great baseball was back in the day and want to compare everyone to Ruth, Mays, Mantle, et al; others think all of them were long retired and not that famous for baseball in the past 50 years.
Heck, like the character clause, we can't even agree what the criteria mean even though Joe has stated them.
How long has it been since the cover of SI was significant?
Ok that was too addictive.
Which Mike Marshall?
Which Griffey, I opted to use Jr.
Poor Alex Johnson and Bill Melton, who I think are the 2 Joe added. Was hoping I’d get the two of them in a match so one could win
I had Angels season tickets when Alex Johnson won the batting title. He could really hit & he could really run (when he wanted to, which was not that often). He might be the most toxic person to ever play baseball. His own teammates and managers hated him. The fans turned on him after his batting title because he acted so disinterested. Personal story. Back when the Angels had spring training in Palm Springs, Johnson was taking batting practice. We grabbed a couple of balls from underneath the netting while he was hitting. The guy throwing basically ignored us. Johnson walked towards us and started swearing at us. Pretty shocking, because the overall vibe was pretty relaxed (if he took exception to what we were doing, it could have been handled much more calmly). The coach throwing batting practice just had this defeated look as Johnson berated us. After that, Johnson basically bounced from team to team & pretty much didn't last a full season anywhere. Then he as gone. He also was involved in an incident where Chico Ruiz pulled a gun on him. In any normal situation, Ruiz would have been the bad guy. And he was, to an extent. But the narrative did start to focus on how hated Johnson was & how it pretty much made sense that the gun was pulled on him.
I’m having fun with the game regardless of shortcomings, obvious or less so.
As for the book tour, what do you have against the upper Midwest? Chicago?! Milwaukee?! Detroit?! Minneapolis?! What gives????!
I'm in Iowa and I see Joe flying over the state about a dozen times. Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City does a great job with events.
My family is from Iowa and my Dad’s family lived in Iowa City as one of my cousins does now. Many, many U. Of I. grads. So, I know Prairie Lights Bookstore well. Small world, huh?
Same here! Lansing, MI? MSU is here, and we have a really nice Class-A baseball team.
Wait a second: Guys who weren't playing within the last 50 years are now eligible? Bogus!
From what Joe wrote, they’re eligible for the game we can play. They are NOT eligible for the top 50 list nor is Michael Jordan.
That's what I get from jumping right into the game! 😀
Steve Pearce vs David Eckstein??? I think the SI cover system is flawed
They both had big WS moments
I'm curious if you're going to get skewed results because You list Ken Griffey Jr. as "Ken Griffey," sans the "Jr." and some think it's the dad.
Also curious if the recency bias among JP readers is less than/greater than Immaculate Grid users.
I don't think Sr. was on an SI cover.
Yeah, I picked Ken Griffey once because I assumed it was jr., then realized it must be sr. So my choices were inconsistent.
Why must it be Sr.?
If you don't put "Jr" after a name, it usually implies "Sr."
I think he means it to mean Jr.
Yeah, if you never get "Ken Griffey Jr", then Ken Griffey must equal Jr.
Or not
I’m on the board of the Tucson Festival of Books, and we are all thrilled beyond words that Joe is coming again this year (and very disappointed that Sally Jenkins had to cancel). Anyone who is in AZ for spring training that weekend should consider skipping one day to drive to Tucson (2 hours) to join 320 authors and 130,000 readers taking over the University of Arizona campus.
Played the game a bunch. A lot of the picks are pretty easy. Is Chris Speier in 241st place.
Then I got Ripken vs McGwire who are both top 10.
Holy SCHLAMOLY is that game addictive.
I still want to see Joe's formula-based list!
this is splitting hairs, but Is it meant to be "who is more famous today"? or "who was more famous over the course of the last 50 years"?
I believe he wrote this is “your” game, meaning you make up the definition for fame. For me, I was using sort of a one-step away rule. I was thinking of someone in my life who knew of baseball but wasn’t necessarily a baseball fan. Would they know player X vs player Y. Even using that definition required me to make own determination because there are players listed that only real baseball fans would know.
Joe still hates Boston.