Baseball Names You Should Know, Part One

People who love baseball love to talk about baseball. So here, girlfriend, is an abbreviated history lesson of some of the names you should know. Of course, any time you start doing “Top Ten” lists (actually 14 names in this case), dozens of people start arguing passionately about “how could have possibly not included (insert name here)!!” So don’t look at this entry as a list of top players from history or even a definitive list of names. View it as Baseball Names You Should Know Because People Often Mention Their Names When Talking About Baseball And You Don’t Want to Look Stupid Asking Who They Are. Got others? Write me a note and I’ll post your nomination. This following list includes the first seven names that I think you should know.

1. Of course, any list of baseball greats has to start with Babe Ruth , also nick named "The Bambino", and "The Sultan of Swat". He played from 1914 to 1935, for both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. He was a colorful figure and filled with personality and charisma, but more importantly, he was a great hitter. He was the first player to hit 60 home runs in one season (1927), a record which stood for 34 years until broken by Roger Maris in 1961. He had a lifetime total of 714 record home runs which stood as a record for 39 years, until broken by Hank Aaron in 1974. His batting lifetime batting average was .342. But he is known even better for three other things: He brought excitement and the crowds back to baseball in the Twenties after the Black Sox scandals; he supposedly put The Curse of the Bambino on the Red Sox in retaliation for being traded to the Yankees which prevented the Red Sox from winning the World Series for 85 years; and he was on fire for the Yankees who built the current Yankee Stadium during his tenure (known as “The House That Ruth Built”) which is being torn down at the end of the season, while a new stadium right next door will be ready for business starting in 2009.

2. Cy Young I put Cy Young in the list because there is a prestigious pitching award given in his name every year and I had no idea who he is. Turns out his real name is Denton True Young and he was born in 1867. He pitched for five different teams including the Cleveland Spiders and the Boston Rustlers, (got to love those names) and get this, had a lifetime Earned Run Average of 2.63. He had a lifetime 511 wins and 316 losses, had 76 career shutouts, pitched 3 no hitters, and pitched 7,355 innings. (Holy cow, I say!) In honor of this incredible feat, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937, and in 1956, Major League Baseball created the Cy Young Award given to a pitcher from each league voted most effective. Roger Clemens has won the Cy Young Award 7 times and Randy Johnson has won it five times. CC Sabithia, who is going to pitch the Milwaukee Brewers into the National League wild card slot, won it for the American League last year.

3. Jackie Robinson is definitely a name you should know because he was the first black baseball player to walk across the baseball color line in the Major League Baseball in the modern era. He made his Major League Baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers and that appearance ended approximately eighty years of baseball segregation and opened the door to a whole bunch of great players. Robinson played with the Dodgers from 1947 to 1956. He was Rookie of the year in 1947 and had a .311 lifetime batting average. Before Jackie Robinson, black players had the Negro Baseball League. Someone had to be the first, and it was Jackie Robinson. Major League Baseball retired Robinson’s jersey number 42 in 1997, the 50 year anniversary of his debut, across all MLB teams in recognition of his accomplishments both on the field and off the filed in the civil rights movement.


4. Yogi Berra Yogi was a good ball player, catcher, and manager, but the reason you should know him is that he is much better known and quoted for murdering the English language in interesting ways. He played most of his career for the New York Yankees and is now featured in AFLAC commercials (you know, the ones with the duck?). You’ll recognize him for “It ain’t over til it’s over.,” "Ninety percent of this game is half mental." "It's like déjà vu all over again" “that restaurant is so crowded that no one goes there any more” and “When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

5. Reggie Jackson During the playoffs, you will always hear right fielder Reggie Jackson’s name mentioned. He was nicknamed "Mr. October", not for any magazine centerfold appearances , but for his clutch hitting in the postseason. Teams going into the post season liked to have Reggie on their team and he played for five different teams from 1967 to 1987. He played for the Oakland A’s in the early 1970s when they won three consecutive World Series titles and also won 2 consecutive titles with the New York Yankees. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1993. And those guys that sat behind me at the Anchorage Bucs baseball game back in July think he is a pretty good dresser, too.

6. Willie Mays I think the first baseball glove I remember in my house growing up was a Willie Mays edition. Willie Mays is considered by some to be the best ball player ever to play the game. He played with the New York Giants, then the San Francisco Giants and finally with the Mets during 1951 to 1973. Mays had a lifetime career of 660 home runs and made twenty-four appearances in the All-Star Game. Plus by all anecdotal accounts, he was a genuinely nice and charismatic man. Here’s a cool stat that you can use during a game of extra innings: Mays is the only Major League player to have hit a home run in every inning from the 1st through the 16th.

7. Ted Williams I almost got in real trouble with The Boyfriend for overlooking this guy. Boston loves this man, though to be honest, he could be a son-of-a-bitch. But he was one of best ball players to play the game. He played 19 seasons with the Red Sox and is best known for a career batting average of .344 and being the last player to bat over .400 in a single season. He also won the Triple Crown twice which means he ended two seasons leading leads the league in home runs, runs batted in, and batting average. This guy played with the Red Sox from 1939 to 1960 with two breaks out for military services and was in the All Star Game a total of 17 times. Boston has retired his number 9. A tremendous player all around and one of Boston’s best ever. He is also remembered for spitting on a fan, refusing to tip his ballcap to acknowledge the crowd, and was frozen after his death in 2002 (in a process called biostasis) by his daughter who hopes to bring him back when medical technology gets better. Oh yeah, they named that big tunnel thingy in Boston after him, the one that gets you out to Logan Airport faster. Boston loves this guy.

Click below to see footage of Ted Williams at bat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwogLVGtDa8


More names to come in the next entry….