Let's revisit a great subject we covered once before in our OPEN THREAD series.
Question: Who is your all time favorite first baseman?
Some candidates to consider...
Ed Kranepool Keith Hernandez.... John Olerud...
Pete Alonso Carlos Delgado Donn Clendenon...
Alonso has to be near the top of everyone's list. Kranepool was before my time, but a New York kid spending nearly two decades with the hometown team surely had a lot of fans.
ReplyDeleteJohn Olerud has a longer solid track record and had defense to boot
ReplyDeleteMine is all from the heart... Gil Hodges
ReplyDeleteKeith Hernandez. Case closed. Having a Gold Glover at First (as opposed to Dave Kingman) made a tremendous difference. Players knew they just had to get the throw near first and Keith would catch it. The second baseman could shade more up the middle as Keith had tremendous range at first. It made everybody better.
ReplyDeleteHe also was a walking encyclopedia of baseball knowledge that he would impart to pitchers as tough batters came up. Before Keith, the Mets were a last place laughing stock. After he got there, they were legit. Strawberry and Ron Darling arrived as well from Tidewater that year, Doc Gooden came up in 1984 and the rest is history.
Keith was a big reason, if not the biggest reason why they won in 1986 and why they became a winning baseball team in the mid to late 80’s.
Favorite minor league First Baseman, Ronald McDonald - no joke. Look him up.
ReplyDeleteKeith is the man - but Alonso is charging like a rhino to overtake him.
ReplyDeleteI was tempted to say Lucas Duda, but my doctor just administered the antidote and so I am no longer delirious.
Jack, I always wonder what Kranepool, who looked like he left his cushy mid-manager's office job and threw a uniform on, would have been like with today's training methods. I think he would have hit a lot more homers. Still the only Mets major leaguer at age 17.
ReplyDeleteEd Kranepool is the very first Met ever screwed up by the organization. He had no business playing in the major leagues before his 18th birthday. He probably shouldn't have even been on the radar until 1965 and given time to learn and grow not only as a player, but also as a person.
ReplyDeleteGil Hodges, an all time great.
ReplyDelete"Favorite" isn't the same as "best" or "most talented." Overuse & Hernandez were very talented and remember when he retired Gil was the the all-time RHB HR king.
ReplyDeleteBut I am the same age as Kranepool and he lived my dream as a 17 yr old playing along side the Duke on opening day.
Clendenon, the 1969 World Series MVP who batted .357 with 3 home runs in the Series which currently remain tied for most home runs in a five-game Series, that says it all
ReplyDelete