Gall Of Fame: Baseball’s Most Loathed Players
Which baseball player do you despise above (or perhaps “below”) all others?Which name, upon its mention, sends your heart rate up into a hate gyre?
Do you hate the same players now that you did when you were a kid — or have other players replaced the Rich Gedmans and Von Hayeses in the blackest precincts of your heart?
Who wins a dickfest: Dick Allen, or Barry Bonds?What if it’s a douchefest?Who wins that?
Do you hate any players that you used to love because of comments they’ve made (or assy behavior they’ve engaged in) after their careers ended?
Have any of your hatreds mellowed into grudging respect?
Talk to me.Talk to me about baseball players you hate, baseball players your friends hate, baseball players your grandpa hated.Used to hate?Tell me.Want to hate, but can’t? Let it out.I want to hear about the cherished loathings of baseball fandom, even if it’s just you who hates the guy.
I also want to hear the ways, if any, in which the sharing of these abhorrences contributes to your experience of watching/consuming baseball.When you invite, say, Jonathan Papelbon to eat a handful of bees at the top of your lungs in the bleachers, does it make you feel a part of things?Does the ritual telling of Dave Kingman stories on the porch or at the bar contribute to your sense of being a baseball fan?
Or do you just want Dave Kingman to go very far away and take his iron glove with him?
No player too old or insignificant; no grievance too random or inconsequential.It’s over a month ’til pitchers and catchers report, I’ve got a discussion session to plan, and I HATE KEVIN BROWN.HATE HIM.STILL.PUNCH A BEE WITH YOUR NON-PITCHING HAND, BITCHFACE.Haaaaate!
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Tags: Barry Bonds bees curmudgeoning Dave Kingman Dick Allen Gregg Jefferies Jonathan Crapelbon Kevin Brown Rich Gedman Von Hayes
A-Rod, or as we call him in Texas, Pay-Rod…his entire emphasis on being M-F’in-V-P, then asking to be traded because…wah…he wanted to be part of a…snif…winner – who could afford to buy his record contract. BARF! Would have paid off A-Rod to get another Mark McLemore who quietly led and inspired the youngsters in the clubhouse. Sorry, I just got my season ticket renewal from the Rangers, had to vent.
Honorable mentions: Robin Yount, Mike Sweeney (would add Vladimir Guerrero but I guess I now have to learn to – urp – like?)
Vlad is definitely one of those “‘hate’ actually means ‘fear'” guys for me, along with Ortiz. Neither of them is all that terrifying anymore, but I spent their at-bats ping-ponging between “ahhh Gahhhhd THAT guy we’re toast” and “man, that guy can really hit.”
A. Rod again, forever. I’m even angry that Seattle doesn’t hate him anymore, they can’t manage the effort, or tried to “forgive” pfft.
My father hates Bud Selig with the florescence of a thousand suns, going back to the Seattle Pilots and their relocation.
Mark McGwire’s probably winning this one right now though. I’ll be in the other thread.
I’m a born-and-bred Clevelander, so please excuse me for sounding bitter.
Albert “I knew you when you were Joey” Belle. JOEY JOEY JOEY. He threw things at us, he chased trick-or-treaters with his car (and *hit* one of them–they had eggs, but *still*!), he’s a nasty, nasty man. (My parents’ house is about five minutes from where he used to live; we always used to joke about trick-or-treating there, and then he chased the kids with his car). But the whipped cream on the nausea was him badmouthing Cleveland after he left here. You DO NOT do that. We Clevelanders have a fierce pride about our city–we are unfairly the butt of national jokes, and many of us almost take it personally when someone disses our city.
Unfortunately, we’re also kind of like an abused spouse where sports are concerned. We just want to be loved (read: win something for once). So we put up with all sorts of crap from Joey while he was here and let him treat us badly because he bought us flowers sometimes (read: hit pretty well) And then he had to rip us just before peeling off west on I-90. Fuck you, Joey.
I went to college in Chicago, where a group of transplanted Northern Ohioans all found each other and attended a White Sox-Indians game together, taking great, great pleasure in heckling him. Incidentally, Comiskey II? HAAAAAATE, if you’ve got a ballpark division.
Ok, my contribution for the Phillies Phanatic haters in the crowd: I was at a convention (don’t judge me!) (oh, okay) and he was being a TOTAL DOUCHE to me, so I KICKED HIM IN THE HEAD. While in full evening dress. In high heels.
This one’s for you, haters!
Hate is a strong word but Barry Bonds, your goal was individual achievement in a team sport. Don’t know why you lost your love of the game but the self-centeredness (is that even a word?) but in baseball the goal is to win as a team. If you set an individual record in the process of achieving that goal, great. Wow, I didn’t realize this bugged me so much!
BellaDonna, I kowtow in your general direction.
MaryAnne, your post made me laugh. It’s nice to know that someone understands why, after all these years, the mere name “Bobby Ayala” can send Mariner fans of a certain age into a case of the vapors.
Strangely enough, I always quite liked Paulie, though. First off, I thought he was hot, and he did have a sweet swing.
He also played a starring role in one of my favorite of many stupid baseball-related adventures. My sister and I had a friend visiting from China, and we thought it would be great fun to take him to an Ms/Yankees game. He didn’t know baseball AT ALL, and was bored senseless from the get-go. It turned out to be a great, epic game, and went into extra innings, and at one point Paul O’ Neill threw the first punch in a bench-clearing brawl that got one manager and several players tossed.
Our friend sat quietly through it all, looking more and more distressed, until we finally asked what was wrong. “I thought there were nine innings,” he said. He’d been counting down to his escape the whole time, and couldn’t figure out why the game was still going.
Jeter! I haaaaaaaate Jeter! Can’t really explain it. The sun rises and sets, the tide comes in and goes out, and I HATE Jeter!
*side note: yesterday, my sister took a drink of her soda and realized, too late, that there was a bee in it. The bee stung the inside of her (now fat) lip. We now have definitive proof that drinking a bee is painful. I’m sure eating a bee would be just as painful.
Ryan Klesko. Pissy, potty-mouthed diva. So glad to see the back of him from Atlanta. And Steve Garvey, mega-douche.
Curt “Table for One” Schilling: That bloody sock bullshit — plus he’s one of those “Republicans are the only ones who know how to Live Right” douchetards. Haaaaaaaaate.
Youkilis, Varitek, Papelbon: OH MY FUCKING GOD THE HATE!
Damon: MONKEY! He is a MONKEY! Oh how I hate the monkey!
Anybody who hits Mariano Rivera: You go to hell. You go to hell and you die.
Pretty much the entire Oakland A’s organization, past and present, players and fans included, with particular shining fiery hate for Billy Beane and his stupid stupid moneyball.
There is more, so much more …
On what the hate does for me: It’s as much a part of the game as the love. I have bonded with people over my hate for players from A-Rod to Eckstein for my entire baseball-loving life. If I had to curb my hatey, ranty outbursts during games, I would have no goddamn fun at all. Thankfully my husband is the same way — we get a good old rage on, pretty much every game. Our neighbors probably think there’s a cult murder type thing going on in our house, about 150 times a summer, what with the yelling and the screaming. Good times!
Ron Santo. His opponent-dissing heel-clicking is why he’s undeserving of the Hall of Fame.
I realize I stumbled upon this 5 years too late but I need to meet (if not marry) Sarah D. Bunting!
Easy for a Cubs Fan. Steve Garvey. Mike Schmidt. Mark Prior (for blowing a shot at the WS) and Alex Gonzalez for blowing routine grounder same inning. And Dusty Baker for destroying Prior and Kerry Wood career. And Rob Dibble for throwing a ball at Doug Dacenzo intentionally in the back running out a ground ball.
I also must remind all of the infamous tirade by Lee Elia (Cubs mgr in 1983) he ripped all the fans. It is STILL on u tube. Must hear it.
Larry Bowa was a dick with the Phillies and a dick with the Cubs but I don’t hate him.
Milton Bradley wins the hate award.
U can also have a “stupid award” for Kyle Farnsworth going on the DL for kicking a cooling fan in the clubhouse.
And most Sox fans especially the Father Son duo who ran on the field and tried to fight the 1st base coach. Lol. And pit Disco demolition night there too. Thank God for these gems on Utube.
Brian “Fun Police” McCann! You better not even crack a smile in front of this guy because he’ll interpret it as disrespecting the game and breaking the unwritten rules.
Steve Garvey has porked more women and screwed them over than any ball player in history, he is a despicable Repugnican and will get his butt destroyed by Schiff this November. I hate the Dodgers almost as much as I hate Trump, Garvey and Margie Taylor