seven player theory - baseball

A friend of mine sent me this, basically a meme from tiktok that’s been doing the rounds around some parts of the internet. Anyway, had done this with a couple of other people and it’s pretty fun. I didn’t think too long about any of my answers.

The template:

1. the player who made me fall in love with baseball =
2. my new favorite player =
3. my comfort player =
4. the player I go crazy for =
5. the player I miss the most =
6. the player I’d protect with my life =
7. the player I’ll always root for =

And my answers which you could probably guess:

1. the player who made me fall in love with baseball = Shohei
2. my new favorite player = Spencer Strider
3. my comfort player = Brandon Belt
4. the player I go crazy for = Tim Lincecum
5. the player I miss the most = Tim Lincecum
6. the player I’d protect with my life = Tim Lincecum
7. the player I’ll always root for = Triston Casas

1. the player who made me fall in love with baseball = Sandy Koufax
2. my new favorite player = Spencer Strider
3. my comfort player = John Smoltz
4. the player I go crazy for = Max Scherzer
5. the player I miss the most = Mark Prior
6. the player I’d protect with my life = Brandon Pfaadt
7. the player I’ll always root for = Mark Prior

1 - Willie Mays
2 - Acuna Jr.
3 - Pedro
4 - Acuna Jr.
5 - Pedro
6 - Votto
7 - Bryce Harper

Votto such a good shout

1. Kershaw
2. Emmet Sheehan
3. Adley Rutschman
4. Rich Hill
5. Missing Corey Seager from the dodgers a lot right about now
6. Mookie Betts
7. Cody Bellinger (come home 😢)

1. the player who made me fall in love with baseball = Roger Clemens
2. my new favorite player = Pablo Reyes
3. my comfort player = Jackie Bradley Jr
4. the player I go crazy for = Andrelton Simmons
5. the player I miss the most = Manny
6. the player I’d protect with my life = Casas
7. the player I’ll always root for = Mookie

1. the player who made me fall in love with baseball = Ted Williams (via books/history), Dave Stieb (real life, home team homerism)
2. my new favorite player = Shohei Ohtani
3. my comfort player = Tony Fernandez
4. the player I go crazy for = Kevin Pillar
5. the player I miss the most = Roy Halladay
6. the player I’d protect with my life = Larry Walker
7. the player I’ll always root for = Jose Bautista

1. the player who made me fall in love with baseball = The MacMillan Baseball Encyclopedia (1974 edition)
2. my new favorite player = Yordan Alvarez
3. my comfort player = too many to name from the '70s--"comfort decade" would be more accurate
4. the player I go crazy for = it's the moment more than the player
5. the player I miss the most = same as above: Fidrych, Reggie, Tiant, Brett, it's just too long a list
6. the player I’d protect with my life = ?
7. the player I’ll always root for = well...I guess someone like Cabrera put that to the test; if a guy plays poorly for long enough, I lose interest

I have a hard time differentiating these questions and I think it’s because I don’t watch enough baseball

Player that made me fall in love with the game - Rickey

Current favorite player - Shohei, but if I watched more bb I might have a more interesting answer

For the other questions: Hunter Pence

1. the player who made me fall in love with baseball = Ryne Sandberg
2. my new favorite player = Corbin Carroll
3. my comfort player = Frank Thomas
4. the player I go crazy for = Ichiro
5. the player I miss the most = Adrian Beltre
6. the player I’d protect with my life = Kyle Schwarber
7. the player I’ll always root for = Kris Bryant

1. the player who made me fall in love with baseball = Reggie
2. my new favorite player = Gunnar Henderson
3. my comfort player = Orel Hershiser
4. the player I go crazy for = of all time, Kirk Gibson; currently, Félix Bautista
5. the player I miss the most = Kirk Gibson
6. the player I’d protect with my life = Hank Aaron (RIP)
7. the player I’ll always root for = Freddie Freeman

xp

Kris Bryant & Anthony Rizzo reunited again 🥹❤️

(📸: @t13uch) pic.twitter.com/Z4U4iV7Vcn

— Cubs Zone (@CubsZone) July 16, 2023

In no order, just mix/match to your fancy:

Parker, Stargell, Clemente, Bonds, Bonilla, Candaleria, Tekulve, Dock Ellis.

1. the player who made me fall in love with baseball = Joe Carter
2. my new favorite player = Juan Soto
3. my comfort player = Lloyd Moseby
4. the player I go crazy for = Kris Bryant (he's dreamy)
5. the player I miss the most = Roy Halladay
6. the player I’d protect with my life = Munenori Kawasaki
7. the player I’ll always root for = Joey Votto

1. the player who made me fall in love with baseball = Orel
2. my new favorite player = Strider
3. my comfort player = Mo
4. the player I go crazy for = harper
5. the player I miss the most = Bartolo? Possibly the last truly weird player. I would have liked to have seen Old Bonds in the AL. Would have been great for jackie robinson to have become a wise spokesman who lived to a ripe old age. Same w/ Clemente.
6. the player I’d protect with my life = pedro i guess?
7. the player I’ll always root for = Mookie maybe? Acuna seems like a good egg

So many good answers, now I want to change some of my own...

do it - there's no rules here!

1. the player who made me fall in love with baseball = CC Sabathia - I always liked baseball but his half season in Milwaukee was just insane. for the first time in my life it felt like Brewers baseball was must see TV (well, every 5 days at least)
2. my new favorite player = Yelich
3. my comfort player = Rowdy
4. the player I go crazy for = after last night, Kyle Schwarber
5. the player I miss the most = Prince Fielder. glad we didn't sign him long term but Milwaukee always needs a fat dude who slugs .500
6. the player I’d protect with my life = Yelich
7. the player I’ll always root for = Ohtani, love the constant barrage of "NO ONE HAS DONE THIS BEFORE"

do it - there's no rules here!

this is ILB though you have to be wary of the unwritten rules

Munenori!

Filled out my answers quickly this morning just before a class of kinders descended; was able to think on these a bit more. I should have gotten Tony Gwynn in there somewhere. He's almost a category unto himself: the player who amazes me once a week with some new factoid on my Facebook wall (latest: that he hit .302 or something with two strikes). Plus he had a voice like a seven-year-old on Christmas morning.

Which leads to another category that overlaps with the first: players/managers who automatically make me smile just thinking about them. Joe Schultz, Casey Stengel, Earl Weaver, Oscar Gamble, Al Hrabosky doing his Mad Hungarian shtick in 1977, Fidrych of course, Carew waving his bat around, Tiant looking up at the sky mid-delivery, etc., etc.

OK, here we go again with a different set of players (this list can easily change depending on the day):

1. the player who made me fall in love with baseball = Jesse Barfield (I should think of non-Jays here as well ... Reggie and Carew were legends and very much the talk of the playground when I was growing up, but I only saw the tail end of their careers).
2. my new favorite player = Julio Rodriguez
3. my comfort player = Clayton Kershaw
4. the player I go crazy for = Pedro Martinez
5. the player I miss the most = Barry Zito
6. the player I’d protect with my life = Buster Posey (MUNENORI = great answer and one that I considered too).
7. the player I’ll always root for = Marcus Stroman

Jesse Barfield played for the old Knoxville squad in AA and it was pretty special watching him hit homers through the windows of the old knitting mill behind the left field wall.

Maybe the player who made me fall in love with baseball was really Rafael Santana aka "Señor Smoke". He played on that team with Barfield. A power pitcher but wilder than a box of frogs. Never made it to The Show. But when he pitched - it was something to see. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=santan003raf

Look at this guy. you know he could light it up.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/okcAAOSwPDxkrxXu/s-l1600.jpg

Barry Zito! I’m so glad I started this thread. Now Tracer has to start Baesball.

Barry Zito!

#notjust me

NoTime and Thermo have named lots of Jays. I don't know where I'd slot him--maybe the "makes me smile" question I made up--but I might go with Devon White. I was thinking about how underappreciated (or taken for granted) he was on those two WS teams, surrounded by HOF'ers and stars everywhere. He was such a great fielder--the kind you don't notice because he makes most great plays look routine. Except for his phantom triple play, which everybody noticed. He led off for the '92 team, finished second on that team in bWAR, led off in '93 again until they got Henderson, again finished second in bWAR. And he was just so easy-going and unassuming and all that.

i wasn't really sure what a "comfort" player was supposed to be; so i figured it had to be a nostalgia thing. and i always think back to that late 80's outfield, how Moseby/Barfield/Bell might be the best continuous outfield the Jays ever had and how those teams felt good-on-the-cusp-of-great and at the same time super underrated.

with you on white. he did have his fair share of jaw dropping catches – absolutely i loved the guy at the time (my glove at the time was a "devo" glove). three straight years of 6+ war – not sure the jays are a playoff team without him out there.

Wish I had time to Photoshop a "Devo" glove with the first album cover pictured on the palm.

Switching my #6 to ichiro