Your favorite player growing up

Dick "Richie" Allen -

When he played for the Chicago White Sox in the early '70s - I never seen 1 player literally carry an entire team into contention. He kept the White Sox in the playoff hunt each year against the Oakland A's in their heyday years and IMO was underrated and a marvel to watch. A bad reputation followed him from Philadelphia and LA but all was forgiven by White Sox fans who played second fiddle to the Cubs. Guy just wanted to play ball (no practice.. LOL) and be left alone. When he was batting, especially pinch-hitting in game 2 of a DH - the whole city stopped to watch because he lived for those moments - just ask Sparky Lyle !

LJs

Well he also wanted to train race horses.
The "chili dog" story is classic even if it may not be entirely true (was it mustard or chili?).

jerry grote, he got the best out of that young mets staff

Tim Raines. First time I saw him play live, Tony Pena threw him out stealing.

I've been thinking about this for awhile. Growing up in the Bay Area in the late 60s and 70s, we were blessed with some of the greatest players ever to grace the diamond: Reggie, Marichal, Perry, Fingers, Catfish and of course the Say Hey Kid himself. Not to mention some of those wonderful next level players -- Rudi, Bando, Campy, Vida, Bobby Bonds, Garry Maddox, Speier, Kingman -- and then players like Tito Fuentes, Ken Henderson, Jim Barr, and the Count. But when it comes down to it, I think I've got to go with Willie McCovey. Sure, Willie Mays was the great sparkplug, even at his "advanced" age (I still see him running around the bases in the '73 World Series like an old dog with puppy memories), but there was a palpable sense that anything could happen when Willie Mac came to the plate; the world stopped just for that moment. He had a grace around first base even with those arthritic knees that I oh so tried to emulate in Little League...to very little avail. The homeruns were large, the strikeouts were large: there was a generosity to the way that McCovey played the game. You could never be disappointed with McCovey: he might not have driven in the run that would have won the game, but it was by no means from not giving his all...and you knew that tomorrow would give him another chance. We Giant fans in the 60s and 70s thrived on tomorrows and next years and next at bats.

I saw Bill Buckner, Ferguson Jenkins, Bill Madlock and a few others signing autographs at a Cubs spring training game last week. They were charging for autographs, but were happy to just sit and chat for a bit. Also saw Vida Blue and George Foster at a Giants game. George noticed my niece's Willie Mays jersey and told us that breaking in with the Giants and playing next to Willie in the outfield made him nervous. "Willie never called the ball. I was afraid I was gonna run into him!"

I can remember "K" corner at Shea. BANNER DAY was the best ! My favorite player probably was any NY MET from the 80's...but Mazzilli in the 70's / early 80's and then Cone later on. (before he became a Skankee).

As far as Gooden, I was sitting 3 rows off 1st base in his rookie year when he was pitching a no-no vs the Cubs until Ray Knight booted a slow roller (ruled a hit). He was as dominant that year as anyone I ever saw.

While we're on the METS on a STRAT BOARD, does any recall the 1st SOM card for Gregg Jefferies? He came up in late '88 on the push run when they lost to the Dodgers. His card the next year for those limited number of games was the best SOM card I ever saw up to that point. If they ever used it here, it would definitely be in the UNLEASHED SET. That card was part of the supplemental deck. Love to see that card again.

I also grew up a Mets fan and remember both Dominant 80's teams , plus that Jeffries Card. I was a bigger fan in the 70's - the You Gotta believe Mets from 73 , But Favorite was 1 than 2 , Tom Terrific and Dave Kingman!! I cried the day Tom Seaver was traded to the Reds in 1977 ( Kong was traded same day so a tough day for me. But Seaver was brilliant ) better than any performance that his Strat cards reveal.

I have to agree with your Strat./ Seaver observation , the two greatest pitchers I ever saw was Tom Seaver and Sandy Koufax and for some reason I rarely get any thing close to who they are when I draft them. I keep going back to the well but they don't translate for me the same way some lesser and cheaper Stratomatic pitchers have for me . Chance, Gooden and Pasquale are consistently better for me. Like you, watching Seaver was something special and I'm not a MET fan but he was truly a great one. Sandy of course was the one and only [except in Stat.] Bill

Jim Abbott. His was an inspiring story for a kid like me growing up. I felt like if you have the ability and enough desire, you can achieve your dreams, whatever they are. I really liked that he was very humble and grateful as well.

Big red machine my grandfather got me hooked and he died in 1975 and his last wish was they win world series and they did!

Mickey Mantle, need I say more?