Your Franchise Player(s)

Chicks dig the longball....and so does mikey. Take that for what it's worth.

Seriously, mikey, I think your suggestion that Bonds' years in Pittsburgh are "inflated" by what he did after that is a bit unfair to buckdub and myself. We're both capable of judging him on what he was just as a Pirate, which is a very different player from what he became.

As sluggers, Bonds as a Pirate does not compare to Kiner, but he was so much more than that. People forget, or never realized in the first place, just how good he was in the outfield. If anything, his years in San Francisco and that one crappy throw against the Braves have come to give people a wrong impression. He covered the kind of ground a guy like Kiner could only dream of, not just with his speed, but with the tremendous jump he used to get off the crack of the bat.

And you may not care about the steals, but it belongs in the discussion. Bonds was a tremendous threat on the bases. Kiner never was.

 

Kiner's numbers are very impressive for his era, too. I don't know if that puts him ahead of Bonds (I happen to think he is), but I think it's worthy of consideration.

 

Oh, on that last point we can definitely agree. I'm just saying he was a different player than what most people think of now.

 

I'm curious: how in the hell is anyone listing Rod Carew as the Angels' franchise player?

His best years were in Minnesota, not Anaheim. In his best year with the Angels he batted .319 with 88 runs and 44 RBIs. He finished 26th in the MVP voting.

Nolan Ryan threw 4 no-hitters as an Angel. He was runner-up in the Cy Young voting in '73 and came in third twice.

Vladdy was in the top 10 in MVP voting in each of his first 4 years as an Angel, and he won it in 2004. He has more RBIs in his first season there than Carew did in his first three seasons combined. About all Carew did was hit for average... and Vlad has a better average as an Angel than Carew.

Carew was a great player for the Twins. He isn't even top 10 with the Angels, or anywhere close.

 

Right on, Buck. I'd never try to put words into anyone's mouth or insinuate anything of the sort. Bonds is No. 4 on my Pirates list.

 

Johnny Bench over Pete Rose

Duke Snider and Sandy Koufax are as baseball worthy as Jackie Robinson

I'd take Brooks Robinson or Frank Robinson over Cal Ripken Jr and Maybe even Palmer, too.

Walter Johnson is the Minnesota franchise's best player. The Twins were the Washington Senators in their first incarnation.

 

Hell, I'd take Eddie Murray over Brooks or Cal. With Frank, the only debate is if he's the guy for the Reds or the Orioles.