Players from rival teams you have a secret crush on

[Claude]

Garvey, Russell, Lopes and Cey

[Angel Dog and Beer]

As a teen living in NorCal in the early 90's I got to watch a lot of A's games. I was in awe of Mark McGwire, due to his superhuman physique and how far he could smash a ball. Really liked him, even when he went to StL and during the entire roid era and fallout.

Rickey too. Dude was a beast. So fun watching him play. 

[Docwaukee]

49 minutes ago, RendZone said:

Garvey, Russell, Lopes and Cey

the op wanted to know players from rival teams.  

[Tank]

i'm a fan of the young guys on the braves. can't remember any of their names, but those kids are impressive.

how's that for specific? 

[failos]

21 minutes ago, Tank said:

i'm a fan of the young guys

Me too

[oldguy]

4 hours ago, floplag said:

For the longest time, for me, it was Beltre.  Knowing how close we came to getting him, how great a fit he would have been all those years, how much better we would have been, and yes how he always seemed to rub our noses in it. 

 

 

Same here, it was hard to watch him play for Texas knowing what coulda been...

 

[Claude]

46 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

the op wanted to know players from rival teams.  

Ha ha. Hope you’re doing well Doc.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Also forgot to add, and he plays right into the rival card.

Was always a huge pudge rodriguez fan. He was the perfect player for several years. MOTO bat, and an absolute beast catcher. Funny how hes been pretty much forgotten.

Also had a crush on Piazza, but i think its because hes so dreamy.

I was never a frank thomas guy, but always really admired him. He too never seemed to get as much attention as youd think. 

[ukyah]

On 5/4/2020 at 1:14 PM, ten ocho recon scout said:

Going further back I go with Ricky Henderson. I think hes the most underrated MLB player ever. At his peak he was young trout. 

ricky henderson is my all time favorite player. he was awesome. gets a bad rap from some people too. you tell me another 1st ballot hof'er that goes and plays in the independent leagues for pennies because he loves playing the game so much. i saw him set several all time records in person and i was at gwynn's last at bat. made sure to catch all those as opportunity presented itself here in san diego.

[eligrba]

[T.G.]

Torii Hunter as a Twin... so I was thrilled when he became an Angel.

Piazza as a Dodger.

Roberto Clemente.

Ichiro.

[Brandon]

Bobby Bonilla

[MarcusJF91]

Joey Belle. he killed that dude on the brews

[ten ocho recon scout]

13 hours ago, True Grich said:

Torii Hunter as a Twin... so I was thrilled when he became an Angel.

Piazza as a Dodger.

Roberto Clemente.

Ichiro.

Yeah.... i didnt want to admit it to the board... or myself... but i too liked piazza. And ichiro.

For shame.

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 5/6/2020 at 7:42 PM, ukyah said:

ricky henderson is my all time favorite player. he was awesome. gets a bad rap from some people too. you tell me another 1st ballot hof'er that goes and plays in the independent leagues for pennies because he loves playing the game so much. i saw him set several all time records in person and i was at gwynn's last at bat. made sure to catch all those as opportunity presented itself here in san diego.

I think henderson is a top ten player, personally. I think he gets overlooked because he wasnt a big home run guy. But i think hes the same (at his peak) of pittsburg bonds, and young trout 

[ukyah]

13 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

I think henderson is a top ten player, personally. I think he gets overlooked because he wasnt a big home run guy. But i think hes the same (at his peak) of pittsburg bonds, and young trout 

he wasn't a homerun guy in the moto class of hof'er, but he brought power that had never been seen by a leadoff hitter before. 297 career homeruns and the mlb record for leadoff homeruns of 81. i doubt that he's a top ten player overall, but he's without a doubt the greatest lead off hitter of all time, and it's not really close. it's interesting that you said pittsburgh barry bonds. i think that henderson is more like barry's dad, bobby, who introduced power as a lead off hitter, but rickey has significantly better bat to ball skills a la tim raines. ricky makes both those guys look ill-equipped by comparison.

my favorite quote by rickey is when he broke the all time runs scored record and said something to the effect of, this is the one that is most important to him. because scoring runs is the whole reason you play the game. it's the singular goal of the hitter.

i thought that showed a tremendous amount of depth of character, all wrapped up in the trippiest third person talker i've ever heard. love the guy.

[ten ocho recon scout]

Yeah, i think henderson is underrated for his skill set. The reason i put him top ten is that, where you could make the case he wasnt as dominant as big named sluggers, total package offense hes pretty tough to beat.

I havent looked at his numbers for a few years. But i think at his peak he was roughly a .400 on base guy year after year, with 25ish home runs, and 50 or so stolen bases..... like ichiro with power. And it wasnt just a few freak years, it was pretty sustained for a decade or so.

Im not sure there will ever be someone who replicates that.

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

Reggie before he arrived - 77 series 

Dick Allen smoked in the dugout during games. 

Rickey Henderson - talked about himself in 3rd person. 

Arod 

Ichiro 

 

 

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

11 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Yeah, i think henderson is underrated for his skill set. The reason i put him top ten is that, where you could make the case he wasnt as dominant as big named sluggers, total package offense hes pretty tough to beat.

I havent looked at his numbers for a few years. But i think at his peak he was roughly a .400 on base guy year after year, with 25ish home runs, and 50 or so stolen bases..... like ichiro with power. And it wasnt just a few freak years, it was pretty sustained for a decade or so.

Im not sure there will ever be someone who replicates that.

Trout would like a word with you. 

[ukyah]

3 hours ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Yeah, i think henderson is underrated for his skill set. The reason i put him top ten is that, where you could make the case he wasnt as dominant as big named sluggers, total package offense hes pretty tough to beat.

I havent looked at his numbers for a few years. But i think at his peak he was roughly a .400 on base guy year after year, with 25ish home runs, and 50 or so stolen bases..... like ichiro with power. And it wasnt just a few freak years, it was pretty sustained for a decade or so.

Im not sure there will ever be someone who replicates that.

he's top 9 to me in the sense of building an actual all time mlb lineup where guys hit in the relative or actual spot that they hit in their careers. in my mind, rickey's your all time mlb starting lead off hitter, probably at DH.

[failos]

Gimme some of dat Ichiro

[ten ocho recon scout]

5 hours ago, The Ghost of Bob Starr said:

Trout would like a word with you. 

Young trout for sure... and thats still the version i like best.

But hes no longer the 50 stolen base guy... way more power now

I know the power is great... and more valuable overall... but i personally liked the 30/30 trout version better than the 50/15 version.

Rookie trout was the most exciting player ive ever seen.

[ten ocho recon scout]

5 hours ago, The Ghost of Bob Starr said:

Reggie before he arrived - 77 series 

Dick Allen smoked in the dugout during games. 

Rickey Henderson - talked about himself in 3rd person. 

Arod 

Ichiro 

 

 

Reggie was my favorite growing up.... if i was old enough i probably wouldve hated him.

[Lou]

3 minutes ago, ten ocho recon scout said:

Rookie trout was the most exciting player ive ever seen

I agree 

[ten ocho recon scout]

9 minutes ago, Lou said:

I agree 

Again, the 50 home run version is cool as hell. Hes bonds lite almost... home run or walks left and right. And maybe thats the most valuable thing overall.

But man, rookie trout.... every night was like 3 hits, two of them doubles, and a stolen base. Dude was insane.

I maintain to this day he got robbed stealing 2cd against the dodgers... replay showed him safe... but this was before replay.

That gives him 50, and i think the only 30/50 guy ever... as a freaking rookie, who missed a month! And i think, off the top of my head, he was only caught 4 times that year....