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I’M NOT A FAN OF THESE BALL CLUBS AND NEVER WILL BE, BUT I DO RESPECT THEM
If you have partaken of this blog,
The fact that I’m a Dodger fan, and have been for decades, is no secret.
However,
Being a general baseball person, there have been and are Major League teams that, while I’ve never really been a fan of theirs and and not currently a fan of theirs,
I respect and admire.
Here are the five big league franchises that fit that bill, with the reasons why they have my respect…
NEW YORK YANKEES
Let me count the ways that this pinstriped ball club from the Bronx has my respect:
- 27 World Series championships – and counting, considering the kind of season they’re having now
- The most iconic uniforms in the game (along with the Dodgers)
- Babe Ruth – people who hate baseball or know nothing about it know who he is; he’s THAT much of an icon
- Lou Gehrig, the “Luckiest man on the face of the Earth”. Speaker of the most famous speech in sports history.
- Joe DiMaggio. The 56-game hitting streak. Married Marilyn Monroe. Enough said.
- Mickey Mantle – Arguably every kid’s sports hero in the 1950’s. And from what I’ve gathered, arguably the greatest teammate in baseball history; if only he wasn’t always injured and took better care of himself.
- Reggie Jackson – Also known as “The straw that stirs the drink”. Along with owner George Steinbrenner and manager Billy Martin, the focus of the “Bronx Zoo” Yankees of the mid-to-late 1970s.
- Derek Jeter – The best player from the last Yankee dynasty of the late 1990s-2000.
- Mariano Rivera – Baseball’s all-time saves leader. The first man to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame with 100% of the vote. The last player to wear number 42.
- 1927 and Murderer’s Row
- The House That Ruth Built, also known as Yankee Stadium (the current one notwithstanding)
Need I say more?
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Besides the player in the above photo, here’s why those Redbirds from the banks of the Mississippi River on the Missouri side has my respect:
- Stan Musial, “The Man”. The greatest Cardinal of all time in my opinion. And not only that, from what I’ve heard he’s also one of the nicest guys in the history of sports.
- Bob Gibson, the greatest Cardinal pitcher of all time who had a reputation of being MEAN on the mound in a “You don’t mess with him” way. Had the lowest earned run average in the modern era in 1968.
- Curt Flood, the man who took on the indentured servant-like Reserve Clause when he refused to go to the Philadelphia Phillies after he was traded there in 1969. Took Major League Baseball all the way to the Supreme Court to get the right to play where he wanted; he lost, and it cost him his career, but without him baseball players in particular and athletes in general wouldn’t be millionaires able to play where they want to today.
CHICAGO CUBS
Four reasons why this team is on my list…
- Ernie Banks, “Mr. Cub”. The greatest Cub of all time. The first Black Cub player. Had such a joyful persona with his “Let’s play two!” attitude.
- Harry Carey, My favorite baseball sportscaster next to Vin Scully. SO passionate about the Cubs and the city they played in.
- “Let’s get some runs!” The best seventh inning stretch in all of baseball.
- Wrigley Field. Back in 1987 I took a trip to Chicago, the first time I ever ventured out of Southern California. I was scheduled to see a doubleheader at that famous North Side ballpark with the ivy-covered walls but, most unfortunately, it poured rain the whole time I was there. Which is why going to Wrigley is still on my bucket list.
Of course I was happy for those Cubbies when they broke that 108-year curse and won the World Series in 2016.
ATLANTA BRAVES
There’s one overwhelming reason why these current and defending champion Braves are respected by me:
- Henry Louis Aaron, “Hammering Hank”. 755 home runs. The classiest baseball player of all time, particularly for all the pure bigoted racist hell that he went through as he was breaking Babe Ruth’s home run mark.
Enough said.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Even though they haven’t been very good for the bulk of this century due to their lack of money from being in a small market,
I’ve always felt a connection to this team from Steel Town for three particular reasons…
- The fact that in 1971, they were the first team to field an all-Black and Latino starting lineup
- Roberto Clemente. The greatest Latino ballplayer of all time in the view of me and countless others. He was also SUCH a great humanitarian with his charity work, which ultimately and tragically cost him his life on New Year’s Eve in 1972 when his plane that was carrying supplies to a Nicaragua that was devastated by an earthquake crashed into the Caribbean Sea.
- Willie Stargell – “Pops”. If I were forced to choose a favorite non-Dodger ballplayer, it would be this guy as this massive slugger personified leadership and class. He was a big influence on me in 1979 (the year I played Little League) when his “We Are Family” Pirates won the World Series.
A brief note regarding the Dodgers’ biggest rivals and why they’re not included on this list…
I have always said that I’m the only Dodger fan in existence who does not hate the San Francisco Giants.
This is the reason for that sentiment:
WILLIE MAYS
Quite simply and in my book (along with millions of others), the best baseball player who ever lived.
And I admired Willie McCovey, too.
However,
I simply can’t include the Giants on this list because it would make me seem like a traitor to my fellow Dodger fans due to what is baseball’s oldest rivalry, which dates back to 1890, Brooklyn, and Upper Manhattan.
That’s all I have to say about that.