No Reds today...
Others:
Travis Hafner (35) -Roger Maris notwithstanding, "Pronk" is the all-time leader in homers by a North Dakota native.
Carl Everett (41) -His abilities on the field were overshadowed, especially in later years, by the statements he made questioning the existence of dinosaurs and the validity of the moon landing...In 2011 he was arrested after holding a gun to his wife's head.
Steve Lyons (52) -A really good utility man; after his playing career he made a career for himself out of his "lovable flake" persona until he crossed the sensitivity line too many times even for Fox.
Jim Gentile (78) -Had a great 1961 (46 HR, 141 RBI) that was overshadowed by the years Maris, Mantle and Norm Cash had. In 2010, SABR researchers discovered that Maris had incorrectly been credited with an RBI, and his adjusted total of 141 gave Gentile a share of the RBI title almost 40 years after the fact.
Johnny Bassler -Raised in a Mennonite community; he left at age 17 and eventually ended up catching for Detroit in the early 1920s. He had a .416 career OBP and a good glove, and would be a HOF candidate if his career were a bit longer. After his major league career, he played for a long time in the Pacific Coast League, and is in the PCL Hall of Fame. After he retired, he went to work as a builder on the 20th Century Fox movie lot. He built his own house, using mainly materials that he scavenged from discarded movie sets. He also had one other unusual hobby for a ballplayer: hooking rugs. He would take old silk stockings, dye them on the stove top, and weave them into small decorative rugs. He passed this interest on to his son, who became a nationally known weaver and fiber artist. An interesting life...
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Originally Posted by elfmanvt07
