Four Best All-Time Mariners (and other AL clubs)

by Double06 on Feb 26, 2009 11:11 PM PST

Well news is far and in between in recent days, so how about a round of ESPN bitching?*

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=schoenfield/090224_al&sportCat=mlb

*(Yes, I know it's practically a dead meme, but in all seriousness this is just good discussion material.)

Edgar Martinez, Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro Suzuki, Dave Niehaus
Rationale: Niehaus is the team's beloved announcer since its inaugural season in 1977. During the many lean years, he was often the only thing that kept Mariners fans going. Also considered: Randy Johnson, Jay Buhner, Jamie Moyer and Lou Piniella. Not considered: Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Silva or George Argyros.

I really don't get why Alex is left off. He did so much this organization that you really have to look through rose-colored glasses to leave off arguably the best player to ever put on a Mariners uniform, and he wore it for several seasons as well. However, it really is tough to leave Dave off the list.

My other "Let's Switch 'Em!"s:

Baltimore: Wouldn't change a thing.

Boston: Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker, Jimmie Foxx, Wade Boggs > David Ortiz.

NY Yankees: Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra > Derek Jeter, although it's kinda close.

Tampa Bay: Really, like the article says, let's revisit this in a few years.

Toronto: I think they got it right.

Chicago: Dunno if they got it right, but it's hard to argue.

Cleveland: Ditto Chicago.

Detroit: With a 100+ year history, I don't know why they went the broadcaster route here. Why not make room for Sparky Anderson or Harry Heilmann?

Kansas City: No argument on this end.

California/Anaheim/LAAA: No Frank Tanana?

Oakland: Nailed it.

Texas: Nailed it.

What's yours?

Edit: NL found here.

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Alternate discussion as follows...

Keeping this a players-only list by subbing out Niehaus for A-Rod (or RJ), how many clubs’ top 4 would you take over the Mariners’ top 4?

Call me biased, but the only ones I might take over Griffey-Rodriguez-Ichiro-RJ are Ruth-DiMaggio-Mantle-Gehrig and Pedro-Williams-Yaz-Speaker. And even then it’s a pretty close call.

by Double06 on Feb 26, 2009 11:17 PM PST reply actions

I'd put on Buhner instead of Dave, A-Rod, or RJ...

He’s clearly not the HoF level talent, but he’s so much more iconic and loved.

by SethGrandpa on Feb 27, 2009 12:40 AM PST reply actions

That might be some strong language, Edgar was pretty good. The biggest strike I've heard against him is the position he played.

Honestly I think that helps him. It was a lot of years before relievers were recognized by the Hall, and Edgar is the yardstick DH’s are measured against. So many of the players in his era being toxic probably doesn’t hurt his chances too much either. Somebody has to be the first, who better than Edgar.

by Kermit. on Feb 27, 2009 1:40 AM PST up reply actions

And he's still a top-notch talent when it comes to ass-grabbing

by cwel87 on Feb 27, 2009 5:50 AM PST up reply actions

I read this as removing Edgar, I must have keyed on the 'iconic and loved' part.

Sorry about that.

by Kermit. on Feb 27, 2009 8:32 AM PST up reply actions

Randy was iconic and very much loved until he left.

Unfortunately, the love seemed to be a one-way street.

by waldo rojas on Feb 27, 2009 9:32 AM PST up reply actions

I dunno

I’ve always blamed ownership for showing him no confidence. He would have won his other Cy Youngs in Seattle if they hadn’t gotten scared away by his “bad back.”

by pygmalion on Feb 28, 2009 10:23 AM PST up reply actions

Toronto...

Leaving Roberto Alomar off of Toronto’s list is absolutely ridiculous. All he did was put up wOBAs of .364, .391, .407, .370, and .361 while playing otherwordly defense at second base and leading the team to two World Series championships.

by slamcactus on Feb 27, 2009 9:42 AM PST reply actions

Robbie's probably the best player they've had

with the possible exception of those two seasons from Clemens.

I like using semi-colons; they make me feel smart.

by Llewdor on Feb 27, 2009 10:34 AM PST up reply actions

So your ESPN bitching is about the decision to leave Alex off for Niehaus,

which you then sort of agree with? I’m confused.

by Matthew on Feb 27, 2009 9:46 AM PST reply actions

by Double06 on Feb 27, 2009 8:42 PM PST up reply actions

They left off Randy Johnson???

by JI on Feb 27, 2009 10:42 AM PST reply actions

It'd be hard to argue for Randy over any of the on there, honestly

Griffey is the greatest baseball icon of all time here, Edgar played in Seattle considerably longer than Randy (and had his best/only years in Seattle), Neihaus is the only person associated with the Mariners in the Hall of Fame, and Ichiro has been the first (and best) of what very potentially could be a huge influx of Asian-born position players into Major League Baseball.

by seattlebruin on Feb 27, 2009 5:26 PM PST up reply actions

Johnson is the best LHP ever

I think thats a pretty good argument.

by Edgar for Pres on Feb 27, 2009 7:31 PM PST up reply actions

But he only spent the beginning of the good part of his career in Seattle

What he did for the Diamondbacks and Yankees has no bearing on how much he meant when he was a Mariner

by seattlebruin on Mar 2, 2009 8:59 AM PST up reply actions

Neihaus doesn't even play baseball.

by JI on Feb 27, 2009 8:05 PM PST up reply actions

You know what bothers me about ESPN?

They are constantly trying to declare which athlete, coach, sport, moment, team, etc. is the greatest of all-time. It gets annoying, especially because the voting is always bias toward New York, Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles anyway. But the sheer frequency of voting about the same things over and over again, only using various titles to make it sound different (like this stupid Mt. Rushmore thing over the last few weeks), is by far the worst thing about these type of subjective lists.

It’s a pointless debate and I refuse to decide who are the four greatest Mariners of all-time.

by Wilder. on Feb 27, 2009 6:31 PM PST reply actions