What makes your favorite player your favorite?

[HumnHilghtFreel]

What do you look for in a player, or what was it about players past that made them so appealing to you?

Is it their obvious love for the game, their intensity, flashy playmaking ability, raw power, or something else that drew you in?

For me, I've always had a fascination with speedy players. I think it's because they have all the skills I never did when I played baseball. Watching a guy glide his way into a triple or swipe a base is one of the greatest things to watch in baseball for me. Growing up in Columbus in the 90's I had easy access to both Reds and Indians baseball and I loved watching guys like Kenny Lofton and Deion Sanders. Now I'm naturally a fan of Freel, who also possesses another great quality in "scrappiness."

So what is it for you?

[Degenerate39]

I really couldn't tell you Griffey has always been my favorite player since 95. I don't remember why I started to like him.

[Homer Bailey]

"I'm not upset at all. I still want to finish my career here," Phillips said. "I want to be a Red. I want to get a long-term contract and just stay here for the rest of my career. I love Wayne. I love Jerry [Narron]. I don't want to go anywhere else."

This is why Brandon Phillips is my favorite.

[dougdirt]

Ken Griffey Jr.
Watch him swing a bat.

It is poetry in motion.

[Natty Redlocks]

Plate discipline. When everybody does their part to wear down pitchers, a team can be unstoppable.

[creek14]

Chicks dig the long ball.

[Ltlabner]

That certian X factor that makes his swing a little more smooth, his hits a little more exciting, his homers a little more dramatic, his plays a little more dynamic.

[MrCinatit]

We always try to grasp onto our younger years, somehow.
During my younger years, the Reds were the best team in baseball - and some would say the greatest of all time.
Of course, those players got older and retired. Some even had kids.
I think it was around '87 or so that I began hearing about this kid in Seattle's minor league system who was "someone pretty special" in Junior.
He is only a year and a half younger than me, so it is almost like we have gone through our early adulthood together - and it has been a lot of fun watching one of the greatest players of all time.
And though he is in his twighlight years, it is fun watching him in a Reds uniform.
So, in a sense, I guess it is simply grabbing onto something from my childhood.

[RFS62]

There have been two guys who became my favorite player the first time I saw them play.

[MaineRed]

Talent!

Its the only reason I liked Eric Davis more than Chris Sabo.

[RedFanAlways1966]

I don't have a fav player. I just have a fav team. If you play for the REDS, then I like you. You might stink as a player, but I will still be optimistic and root for you everytime. If you go elsewhere, then I will not dislike you. I will wish for the best in your career, but rest assured that I will hope you don't do squat when or if you play against my fav team.

If are a RED, enough said. I like and root for you. You are one of my fav players.

[macro]

I'm stuck in the past. My favorites wore numbers 5, 14, and 24. I exclude 8 because he started his career elsewhere and finished it elsewhere, and because I haven't cared much for him since I got to know him better as a broadcaster.

What made those three my favorites? For Johnny and Tony, it was their talent and class. For Pete, it was his hustle and his legendary status.

[Triples]

Yeah...all those things!!

[RichRed]

My first favorite player, George Foster: Loved the way he whipped that black bat through the strike zone. Tremendous power for a fairly skinny guy.

My favorite from the 80s-early 90s, Eric Davis: Every game, you knew there was a chance you'd see something spectacular. Diving catch, tape-measure HR, terrorizing the base paths, you name it.

[bucksfan2]

Larkin was my favorite player growing up. He was the best player on the reds, he played the position I played in little league, and he was good in the community. Now I am a little partial to SS but I also like players who are productive and dont make mistakes.