Reviving Our Most Famous Baseball People Series
We’re ranking the 50 most famous figures in the game over the last 50 years.
Well, the first review is already in for WHY WE LOVE FOOTBALL, even though the book comes out on Sept. 17. It’s from Kirkus, and it’s super-nice. It calls the book: “a learned but lightly delivered pleasure,” which is almost as good as Great Britain head coach Drew Spencer calling me Baseball’s Cupid. It’s been a good week for the ego.
I bring this up now because this is the last week to preorder a signed and inscribed book from the good folks at Quail Ridge. This is because of logistics; in my house right now I have three huge boxes of tip sheets—these are pages that will be sent to the bindery in a couple weeks. There, they will insert the signed (and, if you ordered one, inscribed) pages into the books.
So, if you want me to inscribe the book how you like—if you want me to list the top 10 Browns quarterbacks of the last 25 years or you want me to write an ode to Gunther Cunningham or you want me to offer something special for a gift or you want me to praise the Cowboys, whatever you want—you have, well, until Sunday, June 16, to preorder.
A couple other WHY WE LOVE FOOTBALL thoughts: The galleys arrived! These are the advanced reader copies meant for reviewers and bookstores and such.
I chose the most beat-up one to use for notes and such, but it’s still beautiful. And if you would like to win a free galley, you can enter the Goodreads giveaway that Dutton Publishing is having! They’re giving away 20 of these, so, you know, you have a pretty good shot!
Also, the remarkable Jamie over at Dutton is putting together the spectacular WWLF book tour; I’m hoping to be able to give you some places and dates here over the next few weeks. I know I say this all the time, but I’m overwhelmed by the requests. I’m hoping to see a whole bunch of you.
OK, we have two open Baseball Hall of Fame projects going—one we started last week, that ranks the Hall of Fame plaques from 270 to 1. The other, which we started months ago, looks at the 50 most famous people of the last 50 years.
While in London, I spent a lot of time thinking about JoeBlogs and how to make it better. I’ve got some plans that I think will make you really happy. I’ll unveil those as we go.
As part of the plans, though, I first want to finish our open projects, starting with the 50 Most Famous Players. Here’s what often happens—I come up with a project idea, like the 50 Most Famous Baseball People project. The original idea was to simply do all 50 in a few days, with a short Hall of Fame plaque inscription for each one. But then I get excited about a player, and I write longer pieces, and then I realize it’s WAY too long, and then I turn it into a year-long series, which, honestly, doesn’t serve anyone because it will inevitably peter out; I just don’t have the time to do all our JoeBlogs things AND these massive series.
So I’m going to give you the Most Famous Baseball People project here as I originally intended it—in five parts. And when it’s over, I’ll put up a survey and ask you to tell me which of these people you’d most like to see an extensive story about.
OK, here we go with Part I. I admit that there are only a few reveals in here, because I feel like I should start from No. 50 even though I wrote about several of these player already. But we have some new players in here, and we’ll pick it up with a whole new group tomorrow.
Also, as a bonus, I will include where you ranked each player in the survey that went out a few months ago.
No. 50: Mark Fidrych
“The Bird”
“Stay the (bleep) down.” —Mark Fidrych speaking to the baseball.
Quirky right-handed pitcher who thrilled America with his antics. He talked to the baseball, he smoothed out mounds, and he won the 1976 Rookie of the Year Award by going 19-9 with a 2.34 ERA.
Where you ranked him: 115th.
No. 49: Steve Garvey
“Mr. Clean.” “Captain America.” “Garv.”
“The highest compliment you can pay me is to say that I work hard every day, that I never dog it.” —Steve Garvey
Enduring first baseman for Los Angeles and San Diego, he set the National League record by playing in 1,207 consecutive games. He would write the number “200” in his glove, and he cracked at least 200 hits in a season six times—three of them right on the number.
Where you ranked him: 90th.
No. 48: Tommy Lasorda
“Tommy”
“What’s my opinion of Kingman’s performance? What the #%@^ do you think is my opinion of it?” —Tommy Lasorda
Feisty manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers for 21 seasons. Created a family atmosphere that led to two World Series titles and two more National League pennants. Brilliantly developed young talent; nine Dodgers won the Rookie of the Year Award during his tenure, far and away the most of any manager upon his retirement.
Where you ranked him: 42nd.
No. 47: Don Mattingly
“Donnie Baseball”
“100% ballplayer. 0% bullshit.” —Bill James
A beacon of baseball eminence during a rare period of New York Yankees decline, he became an idol to millions of young fans with his old-fashioned work ethic and by cracking screaming line drives. From 1984 to ’86, he won an MVP award and led the league in doubles all three years. Slick fielder at first base.
Where you ranked him: 47th.
No. 46: Jim Palmer
“Cakes”
“The greatest ‘situation’ pitcher I’ve ever seen. He makes them beat him on a single and one run at a time.” —Ray Miller
Cerebral pitcher who won three Cy Young Awards for the dominant Baltimore Orioles of the 1960s and ’70s. He won at least 20 games in eight of nine seasons from 1970 to 1978, and led the league in innings pitched four times. He refused to give in to a batter in crucial situations and never gave up a grand slam.
Where you ranked him: 54th.
Today’s Most Famous Baseball People post is free. If you’d like to follow the rest of the series—and all the other fun stuff we do here at JoeBlogs—you can subscribe here!
No. 45: Kirk Gibson
“Gibby”
“I like to have a good time. But to me, a good time is winning.” —Kirk Gibson
Star college football player who brought a gridiron mentality and toughness to baseball. Developed a reputation as a clutch performer even before he hit his most famous home run—and one of the most famous in baseball history—in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, when a leg injury was supposed to prevent him from playing.
Where you ranked him: 46th.
No. 44: Manny Ramirez
“Manny Being Manny”
“I don’t know. I just hit.” —Manny Ramirez when asked how he hit so well in crucial situations
Eccentric slugger who tortured pitchers for 19 seasons. Developed a reputation as the game’s toughest out in key situations, and was often pitched around. He still managed to drive in 100-plus runs 12 times. Legends developed all around him and his genius for setting up pitchers; they say he would purposely look bad on a pitch during spring training in order to tempt the pitcher to throw it again later in the season.
Where you ranked him: 43rd.
No. 43: Clayton Kershaw
“Kersh”
“I know that I didn’t deserve this talent. I definitely try not to take it for granted.” —Clayton Kershaw
Brilliant left-handed pitcher for the Dodgers who proudly carried on the legacy of Sandy Koufax. Won three Cy Young Awards in four years by using his dazzling assortment of overpowering fastballs, ill-tempered sliders and knee-buckling curveballs. In 2014, he became the first National League pitcher to win the MVP award since Bob Gibson 46 years earlier.
Where you ranked him: 35th.
No. 42: George Steinbrenner
“King George” “The Boss”
“Owning the Yankees is like owning the Mona Lisa” —George Steinbrenner
Outspoken and controversial New York Yankees owner who was twice suspended by Major League Baseball, but continued to outspend all others as his teams won seven World Series championships and 11 American League pennants in his 37 years. Portrayed by Larry David (voice only) in “Seinfeld.”
Where you ranked him: 39th.
No. 41: Dale Murphy
“The Murph”
“Dale may be the only guy I know who could call 24 guys in one locker room ‘a good friend.’ —Don Sutton
Beloved superstar of the Atlanta Braves when Ted Turner’s Superstation, WTBS, spread daily baseball across America. First National League outfielder to win back-to-back MVPs, Murph was admired throughout the game for his all-around ability as a hitter, slugger, baserunner and fielder and, even more, for the grace with which he carried himself.
Where you ranked him: 51st.
No. 40: Wade Boggs
“Chicken Man”
“I gave it everything I had. It doesn’t take any ability to hustle.” —Wade Boggs
Artist at the plate who won five batting titles—four of them consecutively—and cracked 200 hits in each of his first seven full seasons. He insisted on playing the game his way, rejecting those who believed he should swing for the fences more and should take fewer pitches.
Where you ranked him: 41st.
So far I'm most surprised by Steinbrenner not being higher. Whether you're tracking peak fame or enduring fame, fame within baseball or in broader pop culture, I feel like he's way, way, way up on the list.
The main problem with the inevitable petering out is not that something is left unfinished, but that we don’t get to the best part! With the HoF plaques we’re barely at the mediocre ones, and I’m already sensing a bit of a fade-away there.
My humble suggestion for these long list (which I love): list them in tiers and then just pick out one or two representatives from those tiers to deep-dive. Like, the ASNC plaques could be one tier, and the need-a-good-quote could be another, etc. Then you could knock out the entire list relatively quickly.
If I had infinite free-time I would gladly read full separate entries on the plaques of Ross Youngs and Dave Bancroft and High Pockets Kelly and every other Giants star of the 1920s, but being that I usually have 25 minutes on a lunch break, I wouldn’t mind seeing these bundled into one.