A: Hank Aaron - MLB's all-time home run king*.
B: Ernie Banks - Let's play two.
C: Steve Carlton - Phillies legend.
D: Andre Dawson - Eight Gold Gloves, four Silver Sluggers, and one of the more memorable SI covers of the era.
E: Dennis Eckersley - Closed for Oakland when they were my #2 team.
F: Mark Fidrych - The Bird flew high, but the landing was rough.
G: Tony Gwynn - San Diego State basketball's all-time assists leader.
H: Trevor Hoffman - Cue AC/DC.
I: Monte Irvin - Negro League star and World War II veteran.
J: Derek Jeter - Bo Jackson didn't last long enough.
K: Al Kaline - I love the smell of Gold Gloves in the morning.
L: Kenny Lofton - 622 steals and four Gold Gloves.
M: Tug McGraw - Phillies legend. Got his autograph.
N: Phil Niekro - Hall of Famer who pitched 24 seasons in the bigs.
O: Amos Otis - 341 steals and three Gold Gloves.
P: Chris Pritchett - Went to the same h.s. though he had graduated by the time I started. Saw him contribute to a playoff win by sending the game into OT with a half-court buzzer beater.
Q: Dan Quisenberry - Good pitcher / weak letter.
R: Jackie Robinson - The man.
S: Mike Schmidt - The legendest Phillies legend of them all.
T: Jim Thorpe - American bad ass.
U: Chase Utley - Phillies legend.
V: Justin Verlander - Two Cy Young Awards and three no-hitters.
W: Devon White - 346 steals and seven Gold Gloves. Plus, we share a birthday.
X: Joe Jackson - As Kevin pointed out, there has not been a major leaguer with a surname starting with X. So I'm going with an extremely talented and controversial illiterate player.
Y: Robin Yount - MVP as a shortstop. MVP as a center fielder.
Z: Don Zimmer - 65 years in professional baseball.
Anyway, I have to go remove Fuji from my will for picking Suzuki over Schmidt.
Credit to Kevin for getting this topic started.
Great list, 8 the same as me. And I didn't really expect to learn about any new players doing these lists, but nice personal tie in with Chris Pritchett.
ReplyDeleteI originally had it more Phillies-centric.
DeleteI like Verlander, too. ... Joe Jackson will be on my list, but at the customary letter.
ReplyDeleteIf it hadn't been for his wife, I might have picked Vizquel. But I probably have enough Gold Glove guys.
DeleteJackson could hit. Sucks that he got caught up in the Black Sox scandal.
Jim Thorpe! Yes!
ReplyDeleteSomebody had to.
DeleteI already feel bad about choosing Suzuki over Suzuki. That being said... the Verlander photo cheered me up.
ReplyDeleteAs for Schmidt... he's not even in my Top 5 S's. Stieb, Stewart, and The Wizard would be ahead of him.
Humph.
Delete