My Top Five Favorite Baseball Players

Baseball season is so close that I can smell the hot dogs - so I'm going to write about my Top 5 Favorite Baseball Players of MY Lifetime.

For those of you who don't know, that would mean that only those players who played all or part of their careers between 1960 and now are eligible. Don't worry, though, that still leaves plenty of top shelf ball-players to talk about.

Naturally we'll start the list with number 5;

My Fifth Favorite Baseball Player is Kirby Puckett.

Kirby Puckett was one of a rare breed for many reasons.

First, he played his entire career (1984-1995) with the same team - the Minnesota Twins. Anybody who follows sports will tell you that in the days of free agency and player "restlessness" that is an impressive accomplishment.

Second, he was an amazing baseball player. He is the all-time Twins leader in hits, runs, doubles and total bases. He had a career batting average of .318 and in his first five years in the bigs he had 1000 hits, not too shabby.

Third, he seemed like a great guy. Obviously I never met him, but from watching him play, seeing the way he got along with his own teammates as well as players from opposing teams and from seeing him in interviews, I could tell that he was the kind of guy that you would want on your team. It seemed like he was always smiling, how can you not like a guy like that?

My most memorable Kirby highlight moment? That's easy, although I don't remember the details, it was the bare-handed catch of a fly ball. I wish I could remember who hit it and other pertinent details, but it was a long time ago and even with the power of google I can't find any info on it. It doesn't matter though, I saw it and it was cool.

Kirby Puckett was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility and he truly deserved it. He was a great baseball player and had the numbers to prove it.

Kirby's career was cut short by glaucoma and he died in 2006, one week shy of his 46^th birthday. I don't think there's any question that the baseball world felt the void.

Coming in at number 4 is Reggie Jackson.

Mr. October. Need I say more?

Actually I do.

When I was young I never liked Reggie for the same reason I never liked Muhammad Ali, he talked too much and always about how great he was. As I got older I realized that he wasn't just talking - he backed up everything that he said. (Much like Ali)

Reggie Jackson played for four different teams in his twenty year (1967-1987) career. He started with the (then) Kansas City Athletics. The team moved to Oakland the following year and Reggie went along and helped the team win three World Series titles.

In 1976 he played for the Baltimore Orioles where he collected 27 home runs, 91 RBI and finished with a .277 batting average.

Reggie played the next five seasons with the New York Yankees where he earned his often imitated - never duplicated nick-name "Mr. October." (from Thurman Munson)

During his time in The Big Apple (or as us Red Sox fans like to call it - The Evil Empire) Reggie and the Bronx Bombers won two championships.

1982 saw Jackson on his third team, the California Angels where he would play for five seasons, making it to the playoffs in two.

His final season was a return home (so-to-speak) to the Oakland Athletics. The A's played .500 ball that year and finished third. On the final at-bat of his career Reggie Jackson hit a single.

Jackson had a lifetime batting average of .262, hit 563 home runs and knocked in 1,702 runs. He was also the first player to hit 100 home runs for three different teams.

Most memorable Reggie highlight moment(s); The 1977 World Series where Reggie hit four home runs, off of four different pitchers on four consecutive pitches. Impressive, period.

Number three on the list - Bo Jackson.

I know, Bo was more known for playing football than baseball, but think about it for a minute...he played both - and played them both well.

As a running back for the Los Angeles Raiders, Jackson played second fiddle to the amazing Marcus Allen and still managed to put up impressive numbers.

As a left fielder and designated hitter for the Kansas City Royals he didn't put up superstar numbers but in 8 seasons (five with the Royals, two with the White Sox and one with the Angels) he hit a respectable .250, collected 415 RBI and had 141 home runs. Not too dusty when you consider that he played baseball from April to September (he played in one post-season series) then went right into a punishing season of football after which he would have only a few months to rest before starting all over again.

I also liked his "Bo Knows" commercials. I thought they were very creative. The series of ads for Nike claimed that Bo knew about all kinds of sports, including golf and tennis. The funniest one though, was when they tried to say that Bo knew blues...only to have him be told that he "didn't know diddley" by legendary bluesman Bo Diddley himself. Of course the Sonny Bono cameo was hilarious too (Sonny claiming he thought it was "another Bono's commercial")

My favorite Bo highlight moment; it's tough but I'm going with the time he threw out Harold Reynolds at home. After chasing a ball into the left field gap Bo turned and launched a missile to home plate to nail Reynolds. The throw was a strike and never touched the ground. Bo knows throws...

My Second Favorite Baseball Player is Cal Ripken Jr.

Ripken is one of those players who deserve to be called a legend.

Another player in the post-free agent era, Ripken played his entire career with the same team, the Baltimore Orioles (1981-2001). In that time Ripken redefined the word perseverance. I say redefined out of respect for Lou Gerhig, who defined it by playing in 2,130 consecutive baseball games.

On September 6, 1995 I was a disgruntled baseball fan.

With baseball players engaging in their eighth "work stoppage" (ya gotta love semantics!) I was outraged. Mostly because I didn't understand how they (the players) could think they weren't making enough money - but mostly because in August of 1994 I was given two tickets to a Red Sox game by a colleague. Two seats, about ten rows behind home plate. Did I mention they were free?

Anyway - that game was cancelled due to the strike and my anger was un-chartable. How could they to this to me?

There was only one thing to do...boycott.

I announced to all who would listen that I was boycotting baseball. I wasn't going to watch it, listen to it or discuss it at the water cooler. I was done.

Believe it or not, my boycott lasted until 1998 when a shortstop in Boston named Nomar Garciaparra was becoming more fun to watch every day. Anyway - whole other story.

So back to the strike. More than one year after I announced my boycott the baseball world was buzzing because of one man.

Cal Ripken Jr. who was about to pass Lou Gerhig's mark of 2,130 games.

On September 6, 1995 I declared a temporary repeal of my baseball prohibition and watched the game. It was incredible. Ripken, who was on of the classiest acts to ever lace up a pair of cleats, handled the adulation with dignity, modesty and as a bonus, a home run.

Probably one of my all-time favorite baseball moments. (sounds like yet another article)

Once the game was declared "official" (after the top half of the fifth inning) the huge countdown banner on the warehouse in right field dropped to reveal the number 2,131. For me, as well as most baseball fans, it was a moment I'll never forget.

Ripken wasn't just a guy who played in a bunch of games. He was nicknamed "The Ironman" and he earned every bit of it. The streak ended at 2,632 games when, on September 20, 1998, he took himself out of the line-up.

"I was going to take the last day of the season off in Boston, but I thought about it a long time and decided if this is going to end, let it end where it started in Baltimore,"

Ripken posted hall of fame numbers for sure (lifetime .276 avg., 431 home runs and 1,695 RBI) but it was his longevity and sheer durability that make him a legend.

My favorite Cal Ripken highlight moment; His fourth inning home run in the record setting game. I remember watching it and saying to myself "This is why I love baseball."

The Number One Baseball Player of My Lifetime is Carl Yastrzemski.

I no longer need to tell you that I am a lifelong (boycott notwithstanding) fan of the Boston Red Sox so this selection should come as no surprise.

If you think about it though, there have been a slew of Red Sox that could have taken the spot.

Fred Lynn, Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk, Jim Lonborg, Dwight Evans, Nomar Garciaparra, David Ortiz or Dave Roberts (Roberts achieved lifetime-legend status in Boston by virtue of one stolen base...do you know which one?)

As impressive as that list is, and it could be much longer, I am sticking with Captain Carl.

Yaz came to Boston in 1961 and was given the not-so-enviable task of making Boston fans forget about the recently retired Ted Williams.

That's the equivalent of trying to find a suitable replacement for John Lennon to Beatles fans.

Yastrzemski played for 23 years - all with the Red Sox and was an All-Star 18 times. He won seven gold gloves and he is the Red Sox all time career leader in hits, singles, doubles, total bases, RBI and games played. He is second in home runs behind none other than Ted Williams. He ranks third in stolen bases, and second in walks.

His best season was easily 1967 when he led the Sox to their first pennant in over twenty years. During that season he hit 44 home runs, recorded 121 RBI and finished with a .326 batting average. Numbers good enough to win him American League MVP and also earn him the coveted Triple Crown. (nobody has won it since)

The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Sox in a seven game World Series that year.

He made it to the World Series again in 1975 (arguably the best World Series ever played) only to lose to the Cincinatti "Big Red Machine" Reds.

In the 1975 All Star Game Yastrzemski was called to pitch-hit in the sixth inning, with two men on base and the American League down 3-0. Without wearing a batting helmet, he hit Tom Seaver's first pitch for a home run to tie the score.

In 1989 Yastrzemski was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

My favorite Yaz highlight moment was actually more like ten or fifteen minutes. It was on "Yaz Day", October 1, 1983 - his second-to-last game at Fenway Park. During a pre-game ceremony Yaz ran two laps around the park, shaking hands, slapping high-fives and waving to the fans. Although I was watching from my sofa in Rhode Island, it was still a very stirring sight.

"I wanted to show my emotions," he said later. "For 23 years, I always blocked everything out. I wanted to show these people that deep down, I was emotional for all that time."

So there you have it, my Top Five Favorite Baseball Players of My Lifetime. I'm sure that many of you have your own top five and I'd love to know who they are. Leave a comment below and let me know who I missed and why they made your list.

See you at the ball park.