The Baseball 15

  I subscribe to "The Athletic", a sports website with hundreds of writers that cover all the major sports, you get college football, NFL, NASCAR, NBA, Soccer, college hoops, MLB, pretty much whatever you want. Right now one of the writers at "The Athletic", Joe Posnanski is doing a series called the "Baseball 100", where Joe is "ranking" the 100 best baseball players ever and each day he writes a story about the players. I love this series, I read it every morning and am sad that it's going to end when baseball begins. So far Joe is up to #24 and he's included dead ball, live ball, negro league, and Japanese baseball players, it's just outstanding and worth every penny I pay for the subscription. Joe's list got me thinking, if I did a baseball 100 who would I pick? To me that seemed like a bit much and I couldn't do 1% of the work he's done, so I'm going to do something the same, but with a catch. I present "The Baseball 15" the 15 best baseball players I've ever watched play live in person. My first ball game was 1992 (2 guys from that game will be on the list) and my last game was in 2019 (also 2 guys from that game will be on the list) so that's 27 years of players to choose from. It isn't the largest sample size but I don't double up very much. Before we start though I have 1 player I must name who I've never seen play in person, we've been in the stadium together often but I tend to go to day games and Buster Posey often takes get away day off. Buster won't make the list and hurts me so much I've never made it to a game he's played in, not even a pinch hit. Him and Madison Bumgarner are my 2 biggest misses in Giants uniforms over the years, I've seen Matt Cain pitch twice and once saw a man with just a t-shirt on run towards Brandon Crawford https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocwaLWo7Hz4 Alas, no Buster.

#15 Robby Thompson, yes he doesn't belong on this list full of Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers, but Robby Thompson is my favorite baseball player hands down. He is related to me, 4th cousin once removed or something, but either way we are related. He is why I'm a Giants fan, as he played for the Giants in the late 80's and early 90's. He's one of the guys I saw play in Wrigley Field in 1992, my first ever game. Afterward, we got to meet Robby which was awesome, he was very gracious with his time and gave 10 year old me the thrill of my life. That was a special day I'll never forget and I'll probably always be his #1 fan.

#14 Ryan Braun, I've seen Braun multiple times, as I've gotten older I just like the way Milwaukee works for a game, it's easy to get to, traffic is alright, can get home in a decent time, it just works. Braun has nothing done anything memorable while I've watched him, that's why he's down here at 14. He is a good player and he does damage, but he's just ok when you see him live.

#13 Paul Goldschmidt, saw Goldy in 2016. He's a pretty good player and I do remember wanting to watch him swing the bat every time he got up. That day he didn't do much damage, 2 for 3 with a Run scored and a walk.

#12 Christian Yelich, Yeli made the news today as he signed an extension with the Brewers. I've watched him twice. Once in 2018 and once in 2019. He hit a homer last year vs the Giants, just an absolute laser shot to center field that hit the green background below the scoreboard. He's fun to watch patrol the OF as well. Seeing guys in their prime is pretty special.

#11 Nolan Arenado, 4th guy in a row I saw at Miller Park, but Arenado hit an extra inning homer that day and it was so cool. We also sat 3rd base line and got to watch the master at work down there, just awesome. He is one of the top 10 active guys right now, along with Yelich, just great to see greatness.

#10 Ryne Sandberg, I was trying to figure out how to do this list without including a Cub, but this dude is a hall of famer. He played that day in 1992 and honestly I can't remember what he did. The Cubs were the enemy and I was 10 so I wasn't having any of their success. You do though have to include hall of fame types when you have a list like this, especially with such a small sample size. Again nothing memorable that day but still very cool to be able to say, I saw that guy.

#9 Alex Rodriguez, Right after I moved to Arizona in 2004, my girlfriends co-worker had tickets to the Yankees vs D-backs and they offered to take us, I jumped at the chance. That night was the best I ever saw the BOB, the AZ fans were screaming and the Yankees fans were screaming louder. A-Rod didn't have a great game going 1 for 5 with a homer, but I was there and I booed the shit out of him.

#8 Miguel Cabrera, Oddly I've seen Miggy twice. 2007 I saw him with the Marlins in Milwaukee, and I saw him in 2013 in Kansas City with the Tigers. The 2007 game I was with my high school friends and I made some comment about what a cock Miggy looked like in his picture on the scoreboard, next pitch he went yard. My friends gave me so much shit, guess he can be cocky now and stuff like that, just incredible. He is very talented and getting to watch him work in the box was a thing of beauty, glad I got to see this great in his prime.

#7 Derek Jeter, Remember that night in 2004, yeah Derek Jeter went deep, 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored, 2 RBIs and of course a homer. He got the loudest cheers and boos, it was crazy to watch. I'm not the biggest Jeter fan but watching him play was pretty cool.

#6 Albert Pujols, The Machine wasn't as shiny when I saw him in 2014 at Target Field. The Angels had him as the DH that day so he didn't play the field and the game was a blowout in September so he was quickly out of the game because they had a game the next day in Cleveland. Albert did go 2 for 4 with a RBI and 2 runs scored, so he did bat 4 times in limited duty. The guy is an unquestioned Hall of Famer and probably on the short list of best players in the 2000's but he wasn't still Albert when I saw him so he checks in here.

#5 Frank Thomas, In 1994 I took a trip to New Comiskey with Boy Scouts to watch the Tigers play the Sox. That day was very cool as we got to walk on the field before the game. It was also a cool day as Julio Franco and Robin Ventura hit back to back home runs in back to back at bats, that's something you never forget, even if you're 12. The Big Hurt went 1 for 4 that day with a run scored. I remember watching him play though, it was so cool seeing him and Cecil Fielder stand by each other at first base, just 2 large humans, I still remember that.

#4 Justin Verlander, The highlight of JV I'll remember from that game in Kansas City in 2013 was watching him warm up, my wife and I were at the game early and seeing him long toss about made me lose my mind. He did get roughed up that day by Salvador Perez, but watching him throw from left center field to the RF foul line is something I'll always remember. The thing with pitchers is, the chance you have at seeing them is very slim, especially when you're me and go to maybe 2 games a year, that's why it took till now to get to a pitcher. Verlander was special to watch, and I felt privileged to witness his greatness.

#3 Mike Trout, Trout hit a homer the day I saw him in 2014, again it was a blowout and he was pulled early. He played outstanding though in his short work. That though isn't what I'll remember him for, instead I have this story. Again my wife and I were there early, as the Angels were warming up there was a gathering of fans around their dugout and foul line, everyone wanted Trout or Pujols to sign something. After the anthem, Trout found a kid, probably 12 with a sign that said "all I want for my birthday is Mike Trout's autograph" and he walked over to that kid and signed that sign. Just incredible the dude is about to go to work and instead of being a jerk and saying hey I gotta do my job, he signs for the kid and talks to him and gives him a photo opp, just amazing. Again another thing I'll always remember.

#2 Randy Johnson, Friday night in 2004, I was walking into the BOB when a guy selling programs stopped me. "Randy Johnson vs Barry Bonds you want a program to remember this night." I didn't buy one, if Barry Bonds (who was chasing 700) hit a homer off Randy Johnson I would remember it. We sat in the LF corner for this game because I was certain Bonds wasn't going deep, so we bought the RF tickets for the Saturday game. So we sat by the bullpen and had a perfect view of Johnson pitching to Bonds. Big Unit went 7 innings with 8 K's and 1 ER allowed. He did hit Bonds with a pitch in the 7th inning which I remember booing, because we were there to see Barry go deep. It was an epic match-up that Unit probably won, at least that night, and damn was it fun.

#1 Barry Bonds, I've seen Barry play 3 times, twice in Arizona in 2004 and once at old County Stadium in 2000. He never hit a homer in my presence but watching his at bats were incredible. As noted while talking about Randy Johnson, that battle was epic and we were living and dieing with every pitch. That night in 2004 was so cool to watch him patrol the Outfield, I yelled trying to get his attention and he did lift his glove up towards me, which I assume was acknowledgement. Only downside to that weekend was we decided to stay home Sunday, and he hit #699 that day, bummer.

The list is very distinguished and sorry to the honorable mentions of Joe Mauer, Prince Fielder, Cecil Fielder, Matt Cain, Lorenzo Cain, Robin Ventura, and Salvado Perez. Baseball games are my favorite sport to attend, they lend themselves to a relaxing day of visiting with your friends and enjoying some beers without assholes being jerks like at football games. Enjoy my list and please read Joe Posnanski list and subscribe to The Athletic for $5 a month.