Favorite baseball players growing up

[MikeThierry]

I am wondering who was everyone's favorite baseball players when they were kids.

When I was growing up, I used to live in Kansas City so I was a Royals fan at one point in my youth. I can still remember how fun it was to see George Brett take the field. When I was young, he was entering the twilight of his career but Brett could still get it done. Even when he was older, he played with that hard nose attitude.

The other player on those Royals teams that was amazing to watch was Bo Jackson. I will still say to this very day he is the most athletic person I have ever seen on a playing field.

[RichRed]

George Foster. I was 12 years old when the Reds traded him to the Mets and it broke my heart. I just loved watching him swing the bat.

[cumberlandreds]

Grew up during the Big Red Machine era. Johnny Bench was favorite at first. Pete Rose eventually overtook him. But I liked all those guys from that team.
I also liked a lot of those Pirates from that time period. Willie Stargell may be my favorite non Red of all time. I used to love the way he twirled his bat while in the batters box.
The Royals were probably my favorite AL team. I liked George Brett,Amos Otis. Freddie Patek etc.. They usually came up short against the Yankees in the playoffs but they always had fun teams to watch.

[RedsManRick]

Barry Larkin -- and nobody else was even close. I started playing little league in Columbus in 1987 - played SS & wore #11. Barry was just so cool.

And on the flip-side, I had an unnatural distaste for Scott Scudder. I was like 7 or 8 and had no clue about stats beyond reading the box scores every morning at breakfast.

[HokieRed]

Robinson and Pinson for the Reds. Mays and Clemente for non-Reds.

[CySeymour]

Bench, by a mile. Once he retired, I took a liking to Ron Oester, just due to his style of play.

[Reds/Flyers Fan]

Will Clark (circa San Francisco Giants early in his career). He threw me a ball once at Riverfront Stadium and I got his autograph on a baseball card the next year. I absolutely loved his batting stance and swing so much that I tried to emulate it while playing baseball growing up. Obviously, I was ridiculously unsuccessful with that. When he left the Giants, I stopped following him religiously.

Eric Davis was another player I adored. I will never forget being able to be at Game 1 of the 1990 World Series and what he did in the first inning of that game. That cemented his place as a legend in my mind. I was also at a game sitting in the left field yellow seats at Riverfront when he hit a line drive HR directly at us. I didn't get the ball but I can still remember it vividly. Those yellow seats weren't the easiest seats to hit HRs into. I was also at the game he hit for the cycle against the Padres (the last Red to accomplish that, I believe).

[RedRoser]

1. Pete Rose (my childhood/baseball idol) :D
2. Barry Larkin
3. Ken Griffey, Jr.

[wolfboy]

Eric Davis. A glass swan of sorts. Absolutely graceful and magnificent to watch, but so brittle. His '87 campaign gave us a glimpse of what could have been, and his World Series heroics helped cement his legacy here, but we just got too little of his true ability.

Rickey Henderson. My favorite player growing up. As a quick kid, his game appealed to me. Just get on base and make 'em pay. The 80's were his prime years, and he was a disruptive force. His '85 and '90 seasons were just something else. Coincidentally, Eric Davis and Henderson are the only players in MLB history to have a 20 homer/80 stolen base season.

Don Mattingly. He wasn't the best hitter of the 80's, but he was darn good in his prime. It stinks that a nagging back ended his career before it should have.

[_Sir_Charles_]

I grew up following the Reds just prior to the BRM, so mine are pretty obvious. Rose, Bench, Concepcion are the big 3 for me. Of non-Reds, Brooks Robinson was far and away my favorite non-reds player. I could watch him play defense all day long. Later on it became Mario Soto, Gary Redus, Eric Davis. Once Junior burst onto the scene, he jumped up the charts immediately. That infections smile of his and the way he played the game with such childlike enthusiasm just resonated with me.

[BCubb2003]

Vada Pinson. What a talented, underrated player.

[Guacarock]

Vada Pinson. What a talented, underrated player.

I'm with BCubb. Vada is the Red I grew up admiring the most. No one else came close to matching his speed, power and defense, not to mention those dashingly good looks that made his baseball cards so highly coveted by every kid I knew back in the day.

[Always Red]

Other than the BRM guys, I also really liked Frank and Brooks Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Willie Stargell, Carl Yastremski, Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter, Fergie Jenkins.

And I agree with the board about Vada Pinson (I have used him as my avatar from time to time). What a great player; if you're not that familiar with him, check out his stats on Baseball Reference.com, he was a great player, and a favorite of my dads.

[Roy Tucker]

I was a big Leo Cardenas and Deron Johnson fan as a kid in the 60's.

Bobby Tolan in the early 70's. Imitated his stance.

early-era Johnny Bench for a while and then I was a big Joe Morgan fan. He was the perfect ballplayer there for a few years.

Tom Seaver was probably the last ballplayer that I had a boy-style liking of. After that, I grew up some more, became aware of the world, and ceased really liking ballplayers.

[George Anderson]

Johnny Lee Bench was my favorite as a kid. One regret I have is I was to young to enjoy his big years of 70' and 72'.

Davey Concepcion was also a big favorite of mine as was Tony Perez though again I caught Perez towards the very end of his first go around with the Reds.

A player I was really fond of later in his career was Carlton Fisk. I read about the intense off season training he did to further his career and really respected him for that and just how he played the game.

[corkedbat]

Basically the BRM. I'd go through stretches were Rose, Morgan, Bench, Perez and Concepcion were each my "favorites". So I'll just say the BRM. Loved Pedro Borbon for the comic relief. :D

[REDblooded]

Eric Davis... I was born in 1981, so I was just getting into baseball during his prime.

[OnBaseMachine]

Barry Larkin, Eric Davis, Ken Griffey Jr.

[Red in Chicago]

Pete Rose and Davey Concepcion were always my favorites. As a very young kid, being Italian and from Chicago, I had a soft spot for Ron Santo. Sadly I grew to really dislike him in later years as an announcer.

[Ghosts of 1990]

Darryl Strawberry, Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Larkin, Fred McGriff, Frank Thomas

[traderumor]

Freddie Norman. I was a junkballing southpaw pitcher in LL and liked to throw a wiffle ball scroogie.

[Griffey012]

The Kid and nobody else even close to being on the same list. All I wanted to do playing little league was make diving catches and act like I was robbing home runs. He made playing defense cool.

[RedsBaron]

My first baseball hero was Ken Boyer, back in 1964-65 when I was a Cardinal fan. After St. Louis traded away Boyer, I became a Reds fan and, like thousands of other kids of that era, Pete Rose became my favorite. Even now I have a soft place in my heart (or head) for Rose, despite all of his shortcomings. I was at most ardent in my love for the Reds between 1966-76 so most of my favorite Reds are of that era: Perez, Bench, Nolan, Gullett, Morgan, Foster, et al.
As an adult, while I remained and am a Reds fan it just isn't the same, rooting for guys younger than I am. I really do like Votto and Bruce on the current team.
As a kid, with regard to non-Reds, I liked Sandy Koufax and Willie Mays, in addition to Boyer.

[REDblooded]

Non-Reds from youth...

Nolan Ryan - SP for one of the first games I ever attended... My grandpa lived in Texas, and when we'd visit he'd always take me to a game... The first 10 or so games that I attended were in Arlington...

Kirby Puckett - Signed the first autographed baseball I ever received (step-dad sang the National Anthem at a Twins game in 1987 and received that ball from Kirby)

Juan Gonzalez - Another Rangers player... Could absolutely rake. On roids.

[edabbs44]

Bench
Eric Davis
Kal Daniels
Barry Larkin

[Spitball]

Frank Robinson
Deron Johnson
Jim O'Toole
Jim Maloney

[mth123]

Pete Rose, Tony Perez and Jim Maloney.

[VR]

Foster
Bench
Carew
Killebrew
Seaver
Rose

[PuffyPig]

It started and ended with Jim Maloney.

[Oxilon]

Vlad Guerrero with the Expos. Cannon of an arm and could gulf any ball over the plate to any place in the field.

[SunDeck]

BRM and....

I loved to watch Rod Carew bat.
For one season, my favorite pitcher was the Bird.
I thought Roberto Clemente was the greatest player ever.

[MikeThierry]

I forgot to add this guy. I guess my Cardinals fandom started around 1996 when I moved to St. Louis from Kansas City. I was in middle school at the time and was hooked to the Cardinals from then on. A guy I always appreciated on the field because of his hard nosed play and the ability to play all positions was John Mabry. No, he wasn't the greatest player in the world. He was never an All Star. He was just a dirt player that seemed to always get the job done.

Brian Jordan was also fun as heck to watch.

[RollyInRaleigh]

Rose, Bench, Perez, Lee May, Vada Pinson, Dave Concepcion, Joe Morgan and most of the Reds.

Players that I really liked outside the Reds were Brooks and Frank Robinson from the Orioles, Willie Mays and Willie McCovey from the Giants, Sandy Koufax from the Dodgers, Hank Aaron from the Braves, Roberto Clemente from the Pirates, Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ron Santo from the Cubs, Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton from the Phils, Buddy Bell from the INdians and Rangers, Bob Gibson and Ted Simmons from the Cardinals, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, and Jim Kaat from the Twins, Mickey Mantle and Thurman Munson from the Yanks, Yaz and Tony C, and Rico Petrocelli from the Red Sox, George Brett from the Royals, Al Kaline and Mickey Lolich from the Tigers.

[WVRedsFan]

I grew up in the 1960's and I fondly remember my all-time favorite, pitcher Bob Purkey. The guy got no respect because he was a knuckleballer, and yet he won 17. 13, 17, 16, and 23 between 1958 and 1962. That's an 86-57 record with an ERA of 3.62. Not too bad for a flutter-pitcher. And as I've posted before, I met Bob in the 80's when I found he was in the insurance business like me. He was probably the nicest baseball player of all time.

My other favorites were Joey Jay (who lived in Spencer, WV and who I also met as a youngster in Charleston, WV), Frank Robinson (of course), Vada Pinson, Wally Post, Gordy Coleman and many others.

Outside of those, I loved Mantle (finally met him at Watt Powell Park in Charleston, WV and got him to autograph my baseball), Mays, Ernie Banks, Aaron, and Duke Snider.

Later on, it was the BRM players, and even later, Eric Davis, Johnny Franco, Jeff Brantley, Deron Johnson, Barry Larkin and other Reds.

I guess I have always been a one-dimentional fan. Always the Reds. Always.

Other Reds that I liked were

[Big Klu]

Before I knew what baseball was, I knew who Pete Rose and Johnny Bench were. Then Rose left (I hated him while he was gone), and Bench was my favorite until he retired. In 1984, my favorites became Mario Soto, Dave Parker, and Eric Davis (though I had a soft spot for Eddie Milner)--until 8/16/84, when Pete returned. Of course, Dave Concepcion, Tony Perez, and later Ken Griffey Sr. (when he returned) automatically received "favorite" status due to their BRM membership. I also liked Buddy Bell--I had never seen defense at 3B like that, until Scott Rolen arrived.



My favorite non-Reds were:

George Brett (far and away my favorite non-Red)
Eddie Murray (I learned to switch-hit because of Murray and Simmons)
Ted Simmons
Mike Schmidt (Ohio University alumnus)
Cal Ripken (just a great guy)

I developed a great respect for Derek Jeter after watching him on a daily basis during the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He does so many things to help his team, and I think a lot of the venom spewed his way is "sour grapes" due to his status as a Yankee. If he played for your team, you would think he is great.

[Eric_the_Red]

Will Clark (circa San Francisco Giants early in his career). He threw me a ball once at Riverfront Stadium and I got his autograph on a baseball card the next year. I absolutely loved his batting stance and swing so much that I tried to emulate it while playing baseball growing up. Obviously, I was ridiculously unsuccessful with that. When he left the Giants, I stopped following him religiously.

Eric Davis was another player I adored. I will never forget being able to be at Game 1 of the 1990 World Series and what he did in the first inning of that game. That cemented his place as a legend in my mind. I was also at a game sitting in the left field yellow seats at Riverfront when he hit a line drive HR directly at us. I didn't get the ball but I can still remember it vividly. Those yellow seats weren't the easiest seats to hit HRs into. I was also at the game he hit for the cycle against the Padres (the last Red to accomplish that, I believe).

Will Clark was my favorite as well. I collected his cards and followed him his whole career. I even did a monochromatic oil painting of him in art class. :laugh:

As a Reds fan, I always like Eric Davis. It seemed like every other game he was either hitting a homerun or taking one away over the wall.

[bucksfan2]

Barry Larkin. His Reds career started when I started to play little league baseball. I loved every minute of watching his career. I really don't have a favorite player since he retired. I guess the next closest guy is Votto.

As for a non Red I loved Andre Dawson. The Cubs used to be on WGR all summer long during the day. My mom at times would kick me out of the house for watching too much baseball. He was such a good player on poor teams.

[OnBaseMachine]

Favorite non-Reds:

Ken Griffey Jr. (always loved him, loved him even more after Reds acquired him)
Mike Piazza
Mike Cameron
Vladimir Guerrero
Jose Vidro
Tony Gwynn

among many others

[Redlegs]

Cesar Geronimo, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Mario Soto, Ray Knight, Dave Parker

Lee Mazzilli, Dale Murphy, Don Mattingly, Tony Pena

....just to name a few.

[BuckeyeRedleg]

Chronological order:

Foster, Bench (tie at the time)
Griffey
Soto
Milner
Davis and Mattingly (tie at the time)
Gooden
Larkin

[Edd Roush]

I have quite a few favorite ballplayers.

My first was Barry Larkin. I loved that he was a hometown guy and I eventually went on to go to Moeller, probably in part because that is where Larkin and Griffey went. I even learned to forgive him for going to Michigan.

The one that hasn't been mentioned was Scott Sullivan. I realize he wasn't a great ballplayer, but he was a helluva human being. I got his autograph numerous times and he was always one to take time to talk to fans. He loved talking about fishing and was just a Southern gentleman.

I am/was a big fan of Adam Dunn. When I started becoming a huge Reds' fan, Dunn was tearing up the minor leagues and he always hit majestic bombs.

I also am/was a big fan of Wily Mo Pena. The man can really put on a great BP performance.

My favorite non-Reds include KGJ (How awesome was Ken Griffey Jr. Slugfest?), Derek Jeter (I don't know why I liked him but hated the Yankees, but maybe it was because he was nice to me when he gave me an autograph 6 days before David Cone's perfect game) and Carlos Delgado (probably because of his awesome name, but I really stopped following him after the whole not standing up for the national anthem thing).

[Johnny Footstool]

Bench, Davis, and Larkin were the top tier.

I also loved Ozzie Smith.

Lou Whitaker was a favorite, because we share a last name.

I also really liked Eddie Murray.

[rdiersin]

Will Clark was my favorite as well. I collected his cards and followed him his whole career. I even did a monochromatic oil painting of him in art class. :laugh:

As a Reds fan, I always like Eric Davis. It seemed like every other game he was either hitting a homerun or taking one away over the wall.

I'll make that three Will Clark fans. He just had such a great swing. Of course Larkin was one of my favorites as well. Oddly enough, I also loved Hal Morris. Looking back, I don't know why, but I just enjoyed watching him hit.