Happy Memorial Day! I am thankful of those that gave their lives so that I may enjoy this day with my family.
My first thought - easy enough! Even though I don't have a single favorite
player nowadays, my childhood favorite would be a logical choice!
Then I thought about it. There's a good reason why I don't have a single
favorite player now. Sometimes, the guy that childhood-aged you hung a poster
of on your bedroom wall does stupid things. Stupid things like
take PEDs, or
engage in an affair with a 15-year old. And that's all after he stupidly became a Yankee.
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2008 Topps #105 Roger Clemens
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Yeah, sorry. I can't have the focus of a bat-around be a Yankee card of great
ball player/lousy human. At least my personal fandom with The Rocket (who I
still have a soft spot for, not going to lie) taught me to engage more in a
player's story or the connections I feel towards that player rather than the
individual himself.
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2011 Topps #123 Mike Lowell
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Players like Mike Lowell, who like me is a
testicular cancer survivor. He was a secondary piece in the trade that brought him to the Red Sox, a
throw in the Marlins practically begged the Red Sox to take in order to trade
Josh Beckett. All he did was become a fan favorite and World Series MVP. It
wasn't until after his career ended that I learned he also played for
my hometown's summer collegiate league
- one more connection we share!
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2018 Topps #591 Daniel Nava
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Players like Daniel Nava, who had one of
the most inspiring journeys to the Major Leagues
as anyone in recent memory. I've always said his story would make a great feel
good movie in the vein of "The Rookie". He's a guy that worked hard for every
opportunity that baseball ever gave him. Guys like that often become
journeyman if they are lucky enough, which is why Nava's final base card is
for a team he never suited up for in a regular season game.
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1983 Topps #178 Luis Tiant
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Players like Luis Tiant, who finished playing Major League baseball when I was
in grade school and someone I can say confidently that I never saw pitch.
Tiant is one of those players that I always recognized that's to that glorious
mustache, but never really counted as a favorite. That changed in 2013, when I
had my first opportunity to attend Spring Training games in Florida. Of course
the Red Sox facility (JetBlue park in Fort Myers) was one of the stops. We got
there early to take in some batting practice, and hopefully get an autograph
of one of the players. As I stood along the the 3rd base line, a cart drove
down the field. The man driving the cart stopped near us, and out stepped his
passenger, the one and only El Tiante. He spent some time signing autographs,
and made his way to me.
That one small act made me delve more into his career and become a fan (even
though he too joined the Yankees after his Boston tenure. He's forgiven,
though!)
So how about you, fellow bloggers? Care to join the bat-around?
