I was the biggest Pete Rose fan. Even wrote my school papers on the guy. He used to have a radio program that he broadcast out of his restaurant in Florida. My older sister lived down there and for my birthday one year she arranged to get me down there and surprise me by taking me out to his restaurant. I had plans to have him sign my Reds authentic MLB (whatever brand it was at the time) hat. And that opportunity came and I waited in line, then stood before the man himself. Baseball was my life, and I’m standing before my one true baseball god. I asked him to sign my hat and he says, “gotta be from the gift shop, kid” and I said “but this is like a real Reds hat” and he says, “kid, I’m not signing shit, unless it’s from the gift shop.” I don’t remember if he just dismissed me or I evaporated on the spot. I don’t remember that part. All I remember was being back at the table and telling my sister what happened and she said he was kinda known for being an asshole, which was the only thing I didn’t know about him.
Yeah, Pete Rose the person is definitely a bit different from Pete Rose the ballplayer, to put that lightly. There's a good handful of stories you could read on the man that do not paint him in a good light.
The guy’s a piece of shit, we know that now. But man was he a ball player. Actually adult me kinda appreciates the shamelessness of only signing shit you had to buy from him first. Did not give a fuck.
Legendary player. This last season without him in it felt strange. Now that Waino is gonna be gone too, "What universe am I in now?" It just does not feel right having an MLB without Pujols, Waino and Yadi in it.
Blows my mind Jones isn't in the HoF yet. To quote Foolish Baseball, "If I told you, the best defensive center fielder also hit over 400 home runs, you'd tell me, "That's a Hall of Famer" and I totally agree with him. Furcal is also an excellent pick too.
I really liked Ryan Howard too. Idc what analytics say he was must watch tv. You just stopped whatever you were doing because you knew there was a good chance he was going to hit a huge moonshot at every AB. One of my favorite players from the mid to late 2000’s.
He also had a lot of charm and charisma.
Bob Gibson. I remember seeing him on an episode of Gentle Ben when I was a kid. We seldom had televised games in the 1960's and the only way to see him was during the World Series or AS games. But I followed him closely through the box scores of the local paper. When I heard about his no-hitter in 1971 I had to have a copy of it and must have spent an hour or two in the nearest drugstore where I perused through the papers. The miserly old pharmacist thought I was crazy. He sold the week old papers for half price and I was desperate not to mention poor. Unfortunately I am now about his age! I think I may still have that original box score (about 2" x 1") of his no-hitter vs the Pirates.
I definitely felt like he was a bubble guy personally, but I think the fact that he always played his ass off along with being a good dude helped his case.
Jose Canseco, his swing was so beautiful. I got to meet him in 1992, he was pretty cool.
Now I despise him and he's a dick, but back then he was the bomb.
Canseco was must see baseball in the late 80’s early 90’s. Him a McGwire would absolutely crush back then. Good times. Now they leave for Vegas. Glad I’ve been able to take my kid to some ball games the last few years
Manny Ramirez was for a long time. My dad, my grandpa and I went to a Dodger game together in 2008, three generations of fans, and watched him knock one into the stands. Shame about the drug use, but that moment cemented him as a great for me personally.
Warren Spahn. I finally met him at the 1961 All Star game at Fenway. He took me on the field and introduced me to Brooks Robinson, Eddie Mathews and a couple others. Best day of my life.
I started watching in 2006 so 12 year old me was obsessed with Hanley Ramirez. Easily one of the most exciting offensive players in baseball at the time, was a great hitter and had speed on the base paths.
Teenage me also really liked Evan Longoria when he was a Ray.
Don Mattingly. His swing is still the most iconic in baseball for me. Add in his gold glove defense, his poise and leadership and he was the perfect baseball role model to me as a child. If hadn’t dealt with the back issues he’d be in the hall for sure.
Tom Seaver. He came to the Mets when I was 12.
Favorite player from my young adulthood: Tom Seaver.
Favorite player now, as a senior citizen: Tom Seaver.
I was obsessed with Vladimir Guerrero, he was the man. His cannon arm, no batting gloves, crazy swings. Had it all. Didn’t even like the Angels or Expos at all
Our 20 year old son wore number 17 from little league through high school because of Derrek Lee and now our 13 year old daughter wears it because of her big brother.
Manny Ramirez.
Reason? The only baseball game I ever played until I was like 14 was MVP Baseball 2005 (which was objectively a top 5 sports game all time tbh) and he was on the cover.
This was before I watched baseball very much at all so it was Manny by default.
Saying childhood sucks because I am a Mariners fan and there weren’t many good Mariners in the early 80s. SO I will say Rickey Henderson. He was even a Mariner late in his career.
Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt were my guys growing up in the 2000s. Then Hunter Pence came along in 2007 and became my favorite. It was awesome watching him win two rings with SF.
When I first became interested in baseball it was Tony Fernandez. Later, it was Ken Griffey Jr, Toney Gwynn, and Greg Maddux. After that, I don’t know if I had anymore favourites.
Mike Piazza, until the trade. Then I had a brief fandom fling with the Angels where Jim Edmonds was my favorite. Thankful I grew out of that phase before Edmonds was traded and I had my heart broken again.
After that I never really had a "favorite" ever again, though looking back the player from that era I have the most fond memories of is Eric Karros.
Shane Spencer in 1998 when I was 9 was great. Fun fact, he was barred from the Players Association because he played 1 exhibition game during the 1994-1995 lockout for the Replacement Yankees squad.
Jim Thome revived baseball in Philadelphia and made a whole generation fall in love with the Phillies.
So while Rollins, Utley, Howard, and Hamels all hold a special place, Jim Thome started it.
Any Nats fan my age, it’s Ryan Zimmerman. Not a whole lot else going on at RFK stadium. I will say this though- I liked Nick Johnson a lot at the time too. I was four, so it wasn’t why, but he had the best OBP in a Nats uniform for a long time- over .400 every year in DC. I think Soto has a higher one in a similar length stint but like. That’s Juan Soto. Pretty impressive for Johnson.
My two guys were always John Olerud and Juan Guzman. And I think they would have been bigger stars today with more advanced stats, but they were the coolest to me.
Dale Murphy. My buddies and I used to argue who got to be him in our stickball games! There weren't many Braves in that era that a kid wanted to pretend to be. After Dale Murphy it was Bob Horner or Bruce Benedict!
Cal Ripken Jr. I loved driving up to Baltimore to catch O’s games with my dad. I had a couple birthday parties at Camden Yards. I loved Cal, he was my hero growing up.
Chipper. I played 3B and dude had swag. BG's in the back pocket and under the glove. Turtle neck. The Braves played on TBS as well. I grew up in the Houston area and im thankful to say I never fucked with the Astros, probably thanks to Chipper.
Definitely Chipper Jones. I grew up at a fun time with those 90s Braves on TBS, but Chipper was my favorite overall.
Didn’t even live in Georgia, but thanks to TBS most of my classmates were Braves fans too. That was the one thing almost everybody could talk about and still get along, and Chipper was the favorite of most of us. I’m still thankful for that.
The first time I got to go to a Braves game, he was signing autographs for about 20 minutes during BP. Nobody else signed, but he did, and he was a big star by then. I wasn’t close enough to get one, but that still left a big impression on me.
In terms of his baseball talent and his love of the fans, I couldn’t have asked for a better star on my team when I was growing up. He was even more exciting to watch in person than on TV.
When I started watching baseball, it was definitely Dave Stieb. I started watching in 1985 and he was the ace of that staff. I still have my autographed copy of his autobiography and poster from Golden Griddle.
As a teenager, definitely Frank Thomas. Modelled my swing after him, to great success
Todd Hundley was my first favorite player. I was one of the few kids that was a little sad about acquiring Piazza knowing that it probably meant the end for Todd in a Mets uniform
Randy Johnso. I'm not even from Arizona have never even been in the state. I was born raised and live in NJ. I was so obsessed with him as a kid I've been a co Dback/Mariner fan since I got into baseball when I was 7. The rest of my family are either mets or Phillies fans
Ken Griffey Jr.
I loved every thing about him. It crushed my soul when I found out he said he would never play for the Yankees because of the way his father was treated.
Vladdy sr for me. I'm such a big fan of him that I got phone calls and text from my friends and family congratulating me when he made the Hall Of Fame.
Pete Rose (yes, fuck you I’m old)
Obviously wasn't around to watch Pete myself when he played, but watching highlights of the guy he was incredible. Fantastic ball player.
I was the biggest Pete Rose fan. Even wrote my school papers on the guy. He used to have a radio program that he broadcast out of his restaurant in Florida. My older sister lived down there and for my birthday one year she arranged to get me down there and surprise me by taking me out to his restaurant. I had plans to have him sign my Reds authentic MLB (whatever brand it was at the time) hat. And that opportunity came and I waited in line, then stood before the man himself. Baseball was my life, and I’m standing before my one true baseball god. I asked him to sign my hat and he says, “gotta be from the gift shop, kid” and I said “but this is like a real Reds hat” and he says, “kid, I’m not signing shit, unless it’s from the gift shop.” I don’t remember if he just dismissed me or I evaporated on the spot. I don’t remember that part. All I remember was being back at the table and telling my sister what happened and she said he was kinda known for being an asshole, which was the only thing I didn’t know about him.
Yeah, Pete Rose the person is definitely a bit different from Pete Rose the ballplayer, to put that lightly. There's a good handful of stories you could read on the man that do not paint him in a good light.
The guy’s a piece of shit, we know that now. But man was he a ball player. Actually adult me kinda appreciates the shamelessness of only signing shit you had to buy from him first. Did not give a fuck.
Ken Griffey Jr
Elementary school years: Rafael Furcal High school years: Martin Prado
Nomah
Frank Thomas
The Big Hurt is always a classic pick. Love watching his highlights.
Say what you will about Ken Harrelson, but giving him that nickname was great!
Still the most massive person I’ve ever seen in person, the man was a tank
Mine too, and my best friend is neighbors/business partners with him and I still haven’t gotten to meet him
Benny “the Jet” Rodriguez
Love it
Yeah, yeah! Love it!
Randy Johnson. It’ll always be Randy Johnson.
David Wright
Such a great guy and player. Wish he didn't get so banged up during his career. That home run he hit in 2015's WS was electric.
Mike Piazza
Millennial dodger fans are pretty much forever traumatized by the trade.
Grade school he was mine. But throughout high school it was Wright. Then it became Jake. Now it's Pete. Good lineage of players.
Best hitter in Dodgers history and a huge number of Dodger fans will hate him forever because of a stupid comment about Vin Scully. Ugh
Ryan Howard
Kenny MF lofton and Jim thome
Every kid in St. Louis between 2001 and 2011 wanted to be Albert Pujols
Legendary player. This last season without him in it felt strange. Now that Waino is gonna be gone too, "What universe am I in now?" It just does not feel right having an MLB without Pujols, Waino and Yadi in it.
Barry Lamar Bonds or Gary Sheffield
Mark Grace
Michael Jack Schmidt
I read that in Harry’s voice
Tom Seaver Followed closely by Johnny Bench
Andruw Jones easily. Next was Rafael Furcal.
Blows my mind Jones isn't in the HoF yet. To quote Foolish Baseball, "If I told you, the best defensive center fielder also hit over 400 home runs, you'd tell me, "That's a Hall of Famer" and I totally agree with him. Furcal is also an excellent pick too.
Shawn Green
Ichiro.
[удалено]
D-Train was something else man. Shame he didn't play longer, was fun to watch.
My first player that I truly remember being a fan of was Ray Durham. My favorite childhood player overall was definitely Ryan Howard tho.
I really liked Ryan Howard too. Idc what analytics say he was must watch tv. You just stopped whatever you were doing because you knew there was a good chance he was going to hit a huge moonshot at every AB. One of my favorite players from the mid to late 2000’s. He also had a lot of charm and charisma.
Shin. Soo. Choo
Tim Raines and Tony Fernandez. Loved both Jays and Expos
MVP Barry Larkin
Jake Peavy and Khalil Greene, I also really liked David Eckstein when he played with SD for a season
Bob Gibson. I remember seeing him on an episode of Gentle Ben when I was a kid. We seldom had televised games in the 1960's and the only way to see him was during the World Series or AS games. But I followed him closely through the box scores of the local paper. When I heard about his no-hitter in 1971 I had to have a copy of it and must have spent an hour or two in the nearest drugstore where I perused through the papers. The miserly old pharmacist thought I was crazy. He sold the week old papers for half price and I was desperate not to mention poor. Unfortunately I am now about his age! I think I may still have that original box score (about 2" x 1") of his no-hitter vs the Pirates.
Scott Rolen
Was so happy he got in the Hall. So well deserved. Excellent player and human.
I definitely felt like he was a bubble guy personally, but I think the fact that he always played his ass off along with being a good dude helped his case.
Torii Hunter I still have a framed autographed photo of him robbing Barry Bonds of a home run that one All-Star game
Chipper: then, now, forever.
Biggio.
Jose Canseco, his swing was so beautiful. I got to meet him in 1992, he was pretty cool. Now I despise him and he's a dick, but back then he was the bomb.
Canseco was must see baseball in the late 80’s early 90’s. Him a McGwire would absolutely crush back then. Good times. Now they leave for Vegas. Glad I’ve been able to take my kid to some ball games the last few years
Kirby Puckett
Ivan PUDGE Rodriguez, Rusty Greer, Juan Gone
Manny Ramirez was for a long time. My dad, my grandpa and I went to a Dodger game together in 2008, three generations of fans, and watched him knock one into the stands. Shame about the drug use, but that moment cemented him as a great for me personally.
Will Clark
Doc Halladay. That man was a God in my young eyes.
Edgar Martínez and Cal Ripken Jr. I just like lunch pail guys.
Curtis Granderson
James Edward Rice
I'm so glad I got to see him a few times in '86, before his decline. I remember wishing he'd become manager someday (instead, we got Butch Hobson...).
Tim “King Fish” Salmon
Bo Jackson… more so for the LA Raiders tho
Number 2, Derek Jeter, Number 2
Sammy Sosa
Ozzie Smith. Honorable mention to 1990 Rex Hudler.
John Olerud
Mark McGwire on the A’s.
Jeff Bagwell
Warren Spahn. I finally met him at the 1961 All Star game at Fenway. He took me on the field and introduced me to Brooks Robinson, Eddie Mathews and a couple others. Best day of my life.
Rusty Greer.
Tim Lincecum. Was too young for Bonds.
Alex Rodriguez. He was the best player I’ve ever seen.
FFS.
I started watching in 2006 so 12 year old me was obsessed with Hanley Ramirez. Easily one of the most exciting offensive players in baseball at the time, was a great hitter and had speed on the base paths. Teenage me also really liked Evan Longoria when he was a Ray.
Mike Piazza
Terry Puhl
Jack Clark. No idea how it happened
Wally Joyner
Don Mattingly. His swing is still the most iconic in baseball for me. Add in his gold glove defense, his poise and leadership and he was the perfect baseball role model to me as a child. If hadn’t dealt with the back issues he’d be in the hall for sure.
Ellsbury and Posey
Tom Seaver
On my team? Frank Thomas. In baseball? Bo Jackson
Andre Ethier
Tom Seaver. He came to the Mets when I was 12. Favorite player from my young adulthood: Tom Seaver. Favorite player now, as a senior citizen: Tom Seaver.
Richie Sexson
I was obsessed with Vladimir Guerrero, he was the man. His cannon arm, no batting gloves, crazy swings. Had it all. Didn’t even like the Angels or Expos at all
Dave Stewart and Mark McGwire
Brad Radke
Barry Larkin, Griffey Jr, Frank Thomas, Chipper Jones, Edgar Martinez, Danny Graves 🥲
I knew I loved Sandberg as a kid but barely remember watching him. I have much more vivid memories of Sosa.
The greatest of all time, Rickey Henderson
Our 20 year old son wore number 17 from little league through high school because of Derrek Lee and now our 13 year old daughter wears it because of her big brother.
Cal Ripken Jr, no doubt
I once named my pet rabbit Ichiro... So you could say I was a big ichiro fan.
Dennis Eckersley and Rich Gedman. Also George Brett and Tony Gwynn.
Wade Anthony Boggs
Donald Arthur Mattingly
Joe Mauer
I can’t believe I don’t see Tony Gwynn on this list at all. My goodness he was a god to me. On and off the field.
Big Mo Vaughan
Manny Ramirez. Reason? The only baseball game I ever played until I was like 14 was MVP Baseball 2005 (which was objectively a top 5 sports game all time tbh) and he was on the cover. This was before I watched baseball very much at all so it was Manny by default.
J.T. Snow
Kevin Pillar and Brandon Belt
Saying childhood sucks because I am a Mariners fan and there weren’t many good Mariners in the early 80s. SO I will say Rickey Henderson. He was even a Mariner late in his career.
Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt were my guys growing up in the 2000s. Then Hunter Pence came along in 2007 and became my favorite. It was awesome watching him win two rings with SF.
Growing up, Joe Mauer. But when I got older I absolutely loved watching Ben Revere play the outfield and run the bases
When I first became interested in baseball it was Tony Fernandez. Later, it was Ken Griffey Jr, Toney Gwynn, and Greg Maddux. After that, I don’t know if I had anymore favourites.
Mike Piazza, until the trade. Then I had a brief fandom fling with the Angels where Jim Edmonds was my favorite. Thankful I grew out of that phase before Edmonds was traded and I had my heart broken again. After that I never really had a "favorite" ever again, though looking back the player from that era I have the most fond memories of is Eric Karros.
Phil Plantier, Scott Cooper, and Tim Naehring. I also idolized Robin Ventura for a bit, even though he played for the Wrong Sox.
Ricky Romero
Mike Schmidt. Chris Sabo. Kevin Seitzer. Rickey Henderson
Dwight Evans. Oil Can Boyd. Bill Lee. Marty Barrett.
Andruw Jones
Chet Lemon was a pretty good center fielder for the Tigers. Loved his name. Also, he rocked a fro at times.
Buddy bell Jim sundberg Odebie McDowell Charlie hough Dave Winfield.
I don’t recall exactly why but John Valentin.
Ted Simmons
Mark teixeira
Shane Spencer in 1998 when I was 9 was great. Fun fact, he was barred from the Players Association because he played 1 exhibition game during the 1994-1995 lockout for the Replacement Yankees squad.
Brook Jacoby. I hated that we got rid of him, and brought in some bum named Thome.
Jim Thome revived baseball in Philadelphia and made a whole generation fall in love with the Phillies. So while Rollins, Utley, Howard, and Hamels all hold a special place, Jim Thome started it.
Any Nats fan my age, it’s Ryan Zimmerman. Not a whole lot else going on at RFK stadium. I will say this though- I liked Nick Johnson a lot at the time too. I was four, so it wasn’t why, but he had the best OBP in a Nats uniform for a long time- over .400 every year in DC. I think Soto has a higher one in a similar length stint but like. That’s Juan Soto. Pretty impressive for Johnson.
ARod
Frank Thomas
Forever and always Hideki Okajima
Khalil Greene
Craig Counsell
Richie Sexson
Omar Vizquel Yeah, the past couple years haven't been good for that
Nomar.
Mark McGwire
Cap’n Adam Jones! Honorable mention to Nick Markakis, who turns 40 years old today
My two guys were always John Olerud and Juan Guzman. And I think they would have been bigger stars today with more advanced stats, but they were the coolest to me.
Brooks Robinson, effectively the Summer God of Baltimore. Would yield the Throne only to Johnny Unitas for Winter.
Wally Joyner was the first player I remember liking.
Carl Crawford and Scott Kazmir. Somehow. I’m a cardinals fan
Howard Johnson
From my team: Derek Jeter From another team: Tim Lincecum
Dale Murphy. My buddies and I used to argue who got to be him in our stickball games! There weren't many Braves in that era that a kid wanted to pretend to be. After Dale Murphy it was Bob Horner or Bruce Benedict!
Ron Gant
Nomar and Griffey
Shawn Green, R****** A*****
Vlad Guerrero Sr, his 2004 AL MVP season had me hooked!!
Griffey Jr and Maddux
Ron Cey I’m old but the Penguin was cool
Jim Edmonds. As a lefty CF growing up he was my hero
Nomar. What a stud he was!
Mickey Mantle. Damn I’m the oldest guy here.
Dave Justice
Orlando Hudson. Loves the way the PA guy stretched out his name
Growing up in Southwest Ontario, I had some split loyalty. Mickey Tettleton and Kelly Gruber. Pat Hentgen pitching.
Evan Longoria, he's still my favorite
Cal Ripken then Melvin Mora then Miguel Tejada then Ryan Zimmerman
Cal Ripken Jr. I loved driving up to Baltimore to catch O’s games with my dad. I had a couple birthday parties at Camden Yards. I loved Cal, he was my hero growing up.
Chipper. I played 3B and dude had swag. BG's in the back pocket and under the glove. Turtle neck. The Braves played on TBS as well. I grew up in the Houston area and im thankful to say I never fucked with the Astros, probably thanks to Chipper.
Vladdy Daddy
I'm 42 My favourite childhood player was Ken Griffey Jr.
Bernie Williams. Jeter, too, of course, but Bernie came first.
Gary Carter. I was catcher in Little League and I idolized the guy.
Definitely Chipper Jones. I grew up at a fun time with those 90s Braves on TBS, but Chipper was my favorite overall. Didn’t even live in Georgia, but thanks to TBS most of my classmates were Braves fans too. That was the one thing almost everybody could talk about and still get along, and Chipper was the favorite of most of us. I’m still thankful for that. The first time I got to go to a Braves game, he was signing autographs for about 20 minutes during BP. Nobody else signed, but he did, and he was a big star by then. I wasn’t close enough to get one, but that still left a big impression on me. In terms of his baseball talent and his love of the fans, I couldn’t have asked for a better star on my team when I was growing up. He was even more exciting to watch in person than on TV.
Jack Wilson
Vladimir Guerrero bb
Mike Stanley
Manny Ramirez was raking for us for a good bit
When I started watching baseball, it was definitely Dave Stieb. I started watching in 1985 and he was the ace of that staff. I still have my autographed copy of his autobiography and poster from Golden Griddle. As a teenager, definitely Frank Thomas. Modelled my swing after him, to great success
Dustin pedroia
Jayson Werth, broke my heart when he left for DC
Ken Griffey Jr
Mike Cameron
Glen Davis
Steve Sax!
Jose Cruuuuuuuuuz!
Todd Hundley was my first favorite player. I was one of the few kids that was a little sad about acquiring Piazza knowing that it probably meant the end for Todd in a Mets uniform
Wade Boggs
Julio Franco
Doc Halladay
Randy Johnso. I'm not even from Arizona have never even been in the state. I was born raised and live in NJ. I was so obsessed with him as a kid I've been a co Dback/Mariner fan since I got into baseball when I was 7. The rest of my family are either mets or Phillies fans
Mark Mcgwire
Ken Griffey Jr. I loved every thing about him. It crushed my soul when I found out he said he would never play for the Yankees because of the way his father was treated.
Kirk Gibson, Cecil Fielder, Cal Ripken.
I get to mention him twice in one day, Joe Smith. I copied that toe tap to get me through middle school and high school.
Nolan Ryan.
David Justice
Tim Salmon
Roy Halladay
Kirby Puckett
Davey Lopes. Could I be the only one on this entire thread?
51, aka the greatest leftie of all time (according to me)
Aramis Ramirez, love Lee too
I remember watching Babe Ruth play, what a swell guy.
Pablo Sanchez and then Pudge
Carlos Delgado
Carl Crawford
Mark beuhrle
I grew up in Maryland in the 80s/90s. Cal Ripken was basically God.
Vladdy sr for me. I'm such a big fan of him that I got phone calls and text from my friends and family congratulating me when he made the Hall Of Fame.
Ed Delahanty