OT: Baseball - to Big Jeff
I don't think it is possible to compare players from different generations and I really haven't seen enough of the greats to compare them. I thought the all-steroid team was the best thing going so I am going to suggest different categories.
If people find this baseball talk offensive, let me know and I will private message but there may be some baseball fans wanting to remember some of the characters of the game they may have let slip their mind and chip in to the discussion to remind us of oddballs we may have overlooked.
Crazy team: Jimmy Piersall (he did sadly have bipolar disorder),
Mark "The Bird" Fidrych (will never forget his antics on the mound),
Ricky Henderson (always talked in the 3rd person - How you doing Ricky? Ricky is doing just fine." - Still laugh my tail off when he got traded to San Diego and on one of the first times the team was getting on the bus a rookie told him he didn't have to walk to the back because with his experience in the big leagues he got to sit in the front because he had "tenure". His response? "Ricky don't have tenure, Ricky has 14 year." He was a flake, but I also think Ricky is the best leadoff hitter in the history of baseball with his multi-talented way to get on base or put it out of the ballpark.
"Tin Can Boyd",
Al Hrobosky " The Mad Hungarian" He looked like he was going to punch himself out on the mound.
This is just a start. Will think of others later and will come up with different categories.
Samples: Craziest coaches, Pitchers most likely to take your head off, best clutch hitter, best outfield arm
BEST ALL AROUND PLAYER: I think Ichiro Suzuki may be someone to be seriously considered. His ability to get on base, speed, arm, and fielding are all well known. What most people don't realize is his power at the plate. He regularly beat Ken Griffey Jr in batting practice home run contests to the point that it became almost legendary. He didn't try to hit with power in games because he said the leadoff batter had one job, to get on base and he was great at that. He also had many well known game preparation crazy antics. One is that whenever he got a new shipment of bats he would hold them and hit them with a fingernail. From the sound he determined those that would be used in games and those that would be given to other players when they asked for souvenirs from him. He didn't just hit home runs, he supposedly hit amazingly long home runs.
