Over the years, sports fans have witnessed foul trades, foul
play and foul balls with some of baseball's greatest players.
When ESPN.com's "The List" catalogued the most beloved
ballplayers of all time, fans sounded off about their own major
league favorites of the past and present with the possibility
that Sinatra was right, and the best is yet to come.
ESPN's list included infield favorites like Derek Jeter, Ernie Banks, Cal Ripken Jr, and Mark McGwire. Minnesota
Twins center fielder Kirby Puckett made the list with fellow
outfielders Ichiro Suzuki, Willie Stargell and Sammy Sosa. Of
course, the number one spot was reserved for who else, but the
"Sultan of Swat," Babe Ruth.
While ESPN's compilation covered its bases, ( pun intended) some
fans missed their favorites on the field, and had their say.
>From an overwhelming amount of letters, ESPN formulated another
list by the fans, for the fans. Red Sox Nation wrote 114 letters
to put Nomar Garciaparra in the lineup with pleads of "Nomah!
How can you not love this guy?" Fans wrote in for Boston's Teddy
Ballgame too, claiming that the reason there was never a movie
made about Ted Williams is, "because no one would believe
it." Of course, Red Sox fans were walking around with an 86-year
old chip on their shoulder from a mildly poor judgment call back
in 1920, until the fall of 2004. But, team loyalty in Beantown
is far from fair weather, and despite player trades (Village
Idiot, Johnny Damon as New York's newest lead-off hitter) and
player errors, (Buckner in '86), fan loyalty to Boston's boys
of summer rarely wavers for the Fenway faithful.
At the other end of the spectrum, Yankee fans put Donny Baseball
and Mickey Mantle on the list for the Bronx
Bombers with fans begging "How could you forget Mickey Mantle? A
mixture of power, speed, grace and personality." The Mick
replaced fan favorite Joe DiMaggio in centerfield, and it wasn't
until the summer of 1961, during a hunt for the homerun title
against Roger Maris, did Mantle finally gain the acceptance of
fans as the underdog. Now, he's a legend.
Rookies strive to become them, and fans refuse to let go of
them. Legends never die. Fans buy jerseys of players past from
Mitchell
& Ness Nostalgia Co., one of the better known manufacturers
of authentic, vintage throwback jerseys, just to relive the
glory days. It doesn't matter if you were alive to see them, or
raised to remember them. Mitchell &
Ness sales reflect player popularity from both lists, with
players like Mantle, Ruth, Stargell, and Sosa lining the shelves along with heroes like
Jackie Robinson and Joe DiMaggio.
Eventually, America's favorite past time will produce more
legends for new fans, as young talent like Ryan Howard, Scott
Kazmir and Bobby Jenks climb the baseball ranks and make names
for themselves among the legends of the past. The players will
retire, and new names will come forth. But, that is what it's
all about isn't it? The birth of the champion, the heartache of
October and remembering that there's always next year.
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