After some giggles and some prying, the class eventually revealed the source of that famous quote... comedian Gabriel Iglesias:
I went home and watched a few of his comedy shows... that steered me to his website... which led me to this autographed photo. In honor of Mr. Fluffy, I figured I'd share some of my favorite overweight baseball players.
#1: Tony Gwynn
Were you expecting anyone else in the #1 spot? My favorite athlete of all-time... period. Fluffy or not.
#2: Kirby Puckett
Kirby is definitely locked in at #2. From the mid 80's to the mid 90's, Puckett was one of my favorite players. His few extra pounds never kept him from doing a little bit of everything at the ballpark. It's a shame that his career and ultimately his life ended way too soon.
#3: David Ortiz
Designated hitter or not... Mr. Ortiz can hit. Throw in a sweet nickname and his touching and iconic tribute to his mother each time he crosses the plate after hitting a home run solidifies his #3 spot.
#4: Pablo Sandoval
I was probably more disappointed to see Kung Fu Panda leave the Bay Area than most San Francisco Giants fans. He was easily my favorite Giants player the past few years. And although he struggled at the plate last season, at least he's has Big Papi as a mentor.
#5: Prince Fielder
It's time to come clean. I'm not a Prince Fielder fan. I don't necessarily dislike him, but I won't be purchasing and wearing his jersey anytime soon. However... I really wanted to show off this Triple Threads relic card I recently picked up for my Special Serial Number PC. It's the first card in the print run...
What about you...
Who are your favorite "fluffy" baseball players?
Well... that's all I have for today. Happy Thursday and sayonara!
I'll go with the first thing that comes to mind as a Cubs fan, and that would be the Reuschel brothers, Rick and Paul who maybe weren't fat but were far from being stringbeans. Nice group of autos and cool Prince card.
ReplyDeleteFor all of the ish these guys get for their body weight the fact that they're some of the most durable athletes ever is quite something. I think Prince Fielder has a better track record (health wise) than Troy Tulowitzki who is built like Thor.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I question whether these players have bellies that can be considered fluffy. I've heard that their stomachs can feel like solid concrete if you punch them.
With that I nominate the immortal Bartolo Colon.
Favorite Fluffy Pitcher- Bartolo Colon
ReplyDeleteFavorite Fluffy Player- Carlos Lee
Favorite Fluffy Athlete Non-Baseball has to be BeeJay Anya
Gotta go with Big Daddy Cecil!
ReplyDeleteOh man! Love that Fluffy auto!
ReplyDeleteGotta go with Kruk. And while I'm not sure I'd call him fluffy or any other similar adjective (maybe "stocky"? "husky"?), my favorite A's player in this vein is Matt Stairs.
ReplyDeleteIf you're fluffy and you know it, clap your hands (clap clap)...
ReplyDeleteDefintely Bartolo Colon, although John Kruk gets special consideration for his "I ain't an athlete..." quote.
Bartolo Colon is a national treasure. I could watch him hit all day.
ReplyDeleteI too have always been overweight. I used to get my toughskins pants from Sears in HUSKY size. I've never been grossly overweight but my six-pack abs have always been inside a quarter or maybe 1/2 keg tops. I think in recent years the "tummy" has been closer to normal than when I was an awkward teen. Still a little far from six-pack.
ReplyDeleteDimitri Young! Do I win his card? LOL. Andre The Giant for Wrastling?
For Laughs and Giggles (old fuzzy B&W video) Allan Sherman "Hail To Thee Fat Person"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeoa0-U8-Yw
Fluffy Baseball player. Mo Vaughn
ReplyDeleteFluffy Football player. William "Refrigerator" Perry
I've always liked Cecil Fielder and Big Papi
ReplyDeleteBoog Powell. He wasn't really 'fluffy' as a player I guess, just kind of big. Chuck Thompson once described him as a 'Mountain of a man". But he's definitely FLUFFY now.
ReplyDeleteA couple of my 70s favorites Mickey Lolich,and John Mayberry
ReplyDeleteGee whiz, nobody mentioned Fernando?
ReplyDeleteFernando beats all those guys. Fernando is the best fluffy.
Gwynn's my favorite fluffy player. Nice cards and Fluffy auto! Had a front row seat at one of his shows before he got real famous, had an awesome time.
ReplyDeletehackenbush - i honestly forgot about rick reuschel...remember him from my childhood. i'll have to look up paul though.
ReplyDeletezippy - i don't doubt the hard belly. i always tripped out at my buddy's dad. he had a huge beer gut, but it didn't jiggle. it was all muscle. totally weird and unexplainable.
snorting bull - i dropped the ball on colon. been cheering for him the past few years.
tlc - considered papa fielder... but i didn't have a cool card to show off.
sport card collectors - thanks
korob - totally forgot about stairs... and kruk just missed the cut.
matthew - agree. i messed up and left him off this list.
captkirk - awesome video. mr. young is another great nomination that i forgot about
barry - mo was on my radar, but like kruk and papa fielder, he just missed the cut. didn't even think about venturing down the fb road... but fridge is a great call.
jeremy - if you only knew how many cecil fielder rookie cards i once owned ;)
commish - he's lived a good life... and has earned the right to be fluffy
sg488 - both of these guys were a little before my time. i remember both of their names, but was way too young to remember them for their fluffiness.
night owl - forgive me for i have sinned. el toro should be #3 on this list ahead of big papi. i have always been a fan of mr. valenzuela.
jafronius - i definitely want to go to one of his comedy shows at some point in my life