The A's moved to Oakland in 1968, the Padres were established in 1969, and I was born in 1972, so I'm going to skip the 60's and kick things off with the 70's...
Favorite Athletic of the 70's: Joe Rudi
1972 Topps #209
This was a much more challenging task than I anticipated. I might have attended games at the Coliseum during the 70's, but I honestly don't remember rooting for specific players until the 80's. So I utilized Baseball Reference and after analyzing statistics, I was impressed with Rudi's all-around game. He was able to hit for average and power, was solid in the field, and hit a home run for the A's on the day I was born.
Favorite Padre of the 70's: Rollie Fingers
1978 Topps #140
I didn't start rooting for the Padres until the mid 80's, but if I had been a fan of them in the 70's, I think Rollie would have been my favorite player. He had been successful with my other favorite team and rocked the coolest mustache in the game. Plus I eventually discovered a few years later that he was my buddy's uncle.
Favorite Athletic of the 80's and 90's: Rickey Henderson
1984 Topps #230
1991 Topps #670
Before Tony Gwynn, Rickey was my favorite baseball player. In fact, he's a big reason I fell in love with the sport. His tenure with the team could be described as sporadic, but when he was here... he was my favorite.
Favorite Padre of the 80's, 90's, and 00's: Tony Gwynn
1985 Topps #660
1993 Topps #5
2002 Topps #99
He's my favorite athlete of all-time... and I rooted for him from the mid 80's until he hung up his cleats at the end of the 2001 season.
Favorite Athletic of the 00's and 10's: Kurt Suzuki
2008 Topps #226
2010 Topps #285
Kurt Suzuki started playing right around the same time I really started embracing my heritage. It's as if the stars were aligned. Even though he hasn't played with the Athletics in over six years, he's still one of my favorite players in the game.
Favorite Padre of the 10's: Fernando Tatis Jr.
2019 Topps #410
I realize this might be a head-scratcher to most of you, since Fernando has only played one season in San Diego. But he's the first Padre in nearly a decade that I'm excited to collect cards of. I think the last guy was Heath Bell and it's been a long time since he sprinted out to the mound wearing a Padres uniform.
Well those are my picks for my two favorite teams. Now it's your turn...
Who are your favorite players from your favorite team(s) for each decade?
I look forward to reading your responses.
Happy Thursday and sayonara!
23 comments:
I was born in '82 so I have to start with the 80s:
1980s: Chris Sabo
1990s: Barry Larkin
2000s: Barry Larkin (the '00s were a bad time to be a Reds' fan)
2010s: Joey Votto
1960s Billy Williams
1970s Rick Monday
1980s Andre Dawson
1990s Dwight Smith
2000s none
2010s none
Phillies
1970s and 1980s: Mike Schmidt
1990s: Lenny Dykstra
2000s: Jimmy Rollins
2010s: Roy Halladay
One of those "two-team" guys, eh?
1970s: Cey
1980s: Cey/Hershiser
1990s: Nomo
2000s: Kershaw
2010s: Kershaw
50s--Brooks Robinson
60s-Frank Robinson
70s-Jim Palmer
80s-John Lowenstein
90s-Eddie Murray (OK, I'm sort of cheating here so I could squeeze in Lowenstein. Sue me.
00s-Hmmm. This is tough. I sort of wasn't looking at the O's a lot. I'd say Nick Markakis
10s-Adam Jones, no doubt
It would be tough for me.to do it by decade since, for example, steve garvey was only a dodger in the 80's until 1982 but he was my favorite. I did a post along these lines a while back
http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2010/02/evolution-of-my-favorite-dodger.html
And I stand by those players. It's been long enough, however, to add Clayton Kershaw to the list as my current favorite (since 2012 or so - for sure as of opening day 2013).
Mets
- 1980s: Mackey Sasser (really only remember part of the 1989 season)
- 1990s: Mackey Sasser (Edgardo Alfonzo for the back half)
- 2000s: Edgardo Alfonzo
- 2010s: Jacob deGrom (do not really consider myself a fan of any team now, though)
I was born in the 80s
Pirates:
80s: Kent Tekulve
90s: Andy Van Skype
00s: Ryan Doumit
10s: Andrew McCutchen
Steelers:
80s: I didnt watch football until 90s
90s & 00s: Jerome Bettis
10s: Ben Roethlisberger (it took him until his 1st SB defeat for me to believe in him as a leader and of a community)
Penguins:
80s & 90s: Mario Lemieux
00s & 10s: Kris Letang
Pacers
80s-00s Reggie Miller
2010s Paul George
Oh this is fun. I'll do Giants and start in the 60s with SF.
60s: Willie Mays
70s: Willie McCovey
80s: Will Clark
90s: Rod Beck
00s: Matt Cain
10s: Buster Posey
Other sports are tougher. I guess I could do soccer.
FC Barcelona
70s: Johan Cruyff
80s: Andoni Zubizarreta
90s: Romario
00s: Carles Puyol
10s: Xavi
USMNT
90s: Claudio Reyna
00s: Brian McBride
10s: Clint Dempsey
USWNT
90s: Michelle Akers
00s: Kristine Lilly
10s: Megan Rapinoe
I was born in the 1970s, but not around for long so I will start with the 1980s
Cardinals
80s- Vince Coleman
90s - Ray Lankford
00s- Albert Pujols
10s- Yadier Molina
Durham Bulls
80s- Ron Gant
90s- Chipper Jones
00s- Evan Longoria or David Price
10s- Chris Archer
Yankees: I've only been around as a fan for the 2010s, but I'll go back to the 70s:
1970s: Bobby Murcer ( My Dad's favorite)
1980s : Don Mattingly
1990s: Mariano Rivera
2000s: Mariano Rivera
2010s: Rivera/ Aaron Judge
Tigers
50's Kaline
60's Lolich
70's Fidrych
80's Trammell
90's Higgonson
00's Pudge Rodriguez
10's Cabrera
Cubs would be an insanely long list given they've been around since the 1870s, and it's not like a have a "Favorite Cub of the 1890s" so I'll just limit it to the relatively modern era.
1950s-60s: Ernie Banks
1970s: Fergie Jenkins
1980s: Dave Kingman
1990s: Mark Grace
2000s: Ryan Theriot (even I'm surprised by this one)
2010s: Anthony Rizzo
Hey Fuji, I just finished Jason Turbow's "Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic" book about the 70s A's and it's really great. Rudi gets his due in the book, although Catfish and Vida get more airtime - as does Gene Tenace.
I will have to do some head work on my NY Giants lol. Will be hard to narrow down
nachos grande - i liked pete rose in the 80's and votto for the aughts. nobody really stands out in between... except eric davis was pretty cool too.
runforekelloggs - hmmm. i'd go with maddux for the 80's and 90's and munenori kawasaki for the 2010's
elliptical man - 80's was steve carlton and shane victorino during the 00's. mind is drawing a blank with the other decades in regards to the phillies
night owl - yeah. i've always liked having one team in each league/conference. although, the a's are my true favorite. i was more into the padres when gwynn was playing. my favorite dodgers would be... fernando valenzuela in the 80's, nomo in the 90's, gagne in the 00's, and kershaw in the 10's
commishbob - 80's = lenn sakata, 90's = cal ripken jr... can't think of any orioles i really, really liked the past two decades
gcrl - nice post. i probably should have done something like that too. forgot about sax. i liked him in the 80's, but i think i'd still pick fernando over him as my favorite
mike - 80's = dwight gooden, 90's = can't think of anyone, 00's = david wright, and bartolo colon for the 10's
collecting cutch - 80's: kent tekulve, lynn swann, didn't watch hockey, and reggie miller
90's - can't think a baseball player, rod woodson, kevin stevens & jaromir jagr, and byron scott
00's -troy polamalu, sidney crosby, and can't think of a pirate or pacer
10's - cutch, polamalu, crosby, and haven't really followed basketball in a decade
nick vossbrink - 80's will clark, 90's & 00's barry bonds, 10's buster posey... as for the other sports, i can't really comment on overseas soccer. but i liked brandi chastain (went to high school with her brother), mia hamm, and alex morgan for women's soccer. eric wynalda, landon donovan, and chris wondolowski for men's soccer
the snorting bull - 80's & 90's ozzie smith, 00's albert pujols, and 10's yadier molina
gtt - 80's ron guidry. gotta say i really dislike the yankees, so rooting for any player is kinda hard while they're actually playing for the team. i didn't even root for ichiro while he wore yankee pinstripes. but i do admire guys like jeter, mariano, and posada.
friend11 - 80's lou whitaker and 10's miguel cabrera. completely drawing a blank for the decades in between. as for fidrych... i really love that guy. but honestly i became fascinated with him after his career ended. kaline falls into the same category as fidrych.
nick - lots of great cubs over the last four decades, but other than greg maddux none of them are players i really rooted for. and i actually became a fan of maddux when he went to the braves. i did really like kawasaki though and if i had to pick a favorite current cub, it might be rizzo.
jay - i have that book and tried to read it. i got bored and set it down. i'll give it a shot eventually. as for catfish and vida, i'll be featuring them in a post next week
sport card collectors - 80's - lawrence taylor, 90's michael strahan, then i kinda draw a blank after that.
You can't go wrong with Gwynn and Henderson!
This would be a tough one for me. I wasn't really following the Red Sox in the '80s but it would probably be Roger Clemens even though I couldn't stand him by 1996. In the '90s I was a big Nomar fan but once they signed Pedro Martinez he was my favorite Sox star - and he overlaps into the '00s. Problem there is that's Big Papi time. Dustin Pedroia was my guy in the 2010s even though Ortiz was still there for half the decade.
Since you mentioned Tatis I'll go ahead and predict that my favorite Sox player of the 2020s will be.. Jeter Downs. But I'll pump the brakes on his prospect status and say Raffy Devers for now ;)
Yeah I left Bonds off on purpose. I didn't dislike him nor is this about steroids. But the way the press covered him (emphasizing what he did to the point where I often couldn't figure out who won the game when reading the game story) and the circus surrounding him did more to drive me out of following the sport than the strike did. He was probably my favorite at the time. But looking back on those years I can't distance myself from the BS.
nick vossbrink - you called it. i remember the media focusing on bonds way more than the team as a whole. if i were a giants fan, i could see that bugging me. but i just wanted to see bonds crush the ball... or at the very least scare the opposing pitcher. if the game was on the television, think he's the only giant i ever stopped what i was doing to watch whenever he entered the batter's box.
chris - 80's = rice and evans, 90's = nomah, 00's & 10's = ortiz
With home runs becoming more and more popular (and common), people seem to forget how unbelievable Tony Gwynn was. One of the best contact hitters in baseball history for sure.
Now, onto the favorite players by decade. I'm going to try to include as many guys as possible, so I won't be doing any repeats.
Red Sox
50s -Ted Williams
60s -Carl Yastrzemski
70s -Fred Lynn
80s -Wade Boggs
90s -Ellis Burks
2000s -David Ortiz
2010s -Mookie Betts
Might turn this into a post someday but here you go for my Rockies:
1990s: Andres Galarraga
2000s: Todd Helton
2010s: Nolan Arenado
henry blanchette - i was actually surprised that gwynn hit 135 career home runs, but i guess that's due to him playing so many years. ted williams is one of my favorite red sox players of all-time. the fact that he served his country and he was one of the game's greatest hitters will do that for his popularity.
adam kaningher - 90's would be walker, 00's helton, and 10's arenado.
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