MLB fans: New evidence reveals each fandom tough crowd by themselves

New evidence suggests that each group of MLB fans and fandom are tough crowds to deal with.

MLB fans have the general reputation of being the most genteel fans of the four major pro sports. Hockey fans are lunatics. NFL fans in some cities are Lunatics with a capital L. Basketball fans are so “difficult” players have left the court to attack them, but MLB fans generally just sit there taking in their leisurely sport with an overpriced beer and wildly overpriced hot dog. Or so the story goes.

However, I have uncovered incontrovertible evidence that beneath the generally quiet demeanor of baseball fans see some long-held and well-nurtured grudges proving the commonplace remark, “You’re a tough crowd all by yourself.”

This is how the discovery was made. I checked into one of the Facebook groups of MLB fans I touch bases with every now and then. It’s called “Baseball 1857 through 1993,” and there I found a prompt for members to answer: Name a player who never lived up to his potential. It had just gone up a few minutes before I saw it.

The members did answer. In a torrent.

Mind you now, this group is likely made up, for the most part, of middle-aged people or those nearing that point in life, people one might reasonably expect to be somewhat mellow. The answers poured in for a solid hour, however, and I began to gather them.

It became clear a lot of people can come up instantly with MLB players who might reasonably be called “bums,” as well as some who would only unreasonably be called “bums.” Some came up with several at once, and again, the responses flew in at a rate that made transferring them to a document challenging. It all began to seem personal, and some people supplied rationales indicating they were at least miffed, and at worst, sort of angry.

Two names appeared to be added just to start an argument, or possibly just to be obtuse: Hall of Famers Ken Griffey, Jr. and Babe Ruth. No explanation was given for Griffey (really high standards; a comment about reckless play?), and the Ruth rationale was just odd: “He should have kept pitching instead of trying to be a hitter.” Trying?

For the most part, though, players were named who were, by some definition, MLB disappointments. One commenter pointed out that the cutoff date in the group’s name wasn’t being observed. (Pedro Alvarez is still playing, people.) I kept adding to my document for an hour, then came back to it the next morning for another half hour. Names are likely still being added.

MLB fans: The Results?

Some people clearly can’t be pleased. In addition to Griffey and Ruth, other declared underachievers included Will Clark (“never really achieved ‘the Natural’ status that swings of his indicated”), Nomar Garciaparra (mentioned twice), and Mike Greenwell (twice).

For the record, the career slash lines of these three players were, respectively, .303/.384/.497, .313/.361/.521 and .303/.368/.463. All three played at least 11 years. Little kids fall asleep at night begging their gods to make them disappointments like Clark, Garciaparra, and Greenwell.

One post included three players who shouldn’t even be considered neighbors to the disappointment zip code, Eric Davis (282 HR, three Gold Gloves), George Bell (1002 RBI, three All-Star teams), and Vince Coleman (Rookie of the Year, 1985; three straight 100-plus stolen base seasons). Coleman did tail off – for ten years after his ultra-hot start.

Some people’s minds went immediately to injury-hampered players, which seems odd. Tragic Tony Conigliaro was listed twice, basically because he was hit in the eye with a pitch. He made a valiant attempt to rally from that injury, but maybe that doesn’t count if you had been “hyped,” a term that didn’t even exist in the late ’60s and early ’70s.

It’s hard to understand the impulse to list him as a player who “never lived up to his potential,” however. I’d like to see how a “talented” carpenter would do after someone took a ball peen hammer to both his hands.

The same applies to the even more tragic Herb Score, who was never the same after he was hit in the face with a line drive by Gil McDougald. He, too, “never lived up” despite a 20-9 season in 1956 with five shutouts.

There were also thoughtful answers and correct answers if you remove the purely malicious hand of fate that injured Conigliaro and Score. Todd Van Poppel, whose name was misspelled a couple of different ways, was mentioned four times. David Clyde showed up.

Interestingly, Joe Pepitone made the list more than once, with an explanation, apparently the price of playing in New York. These comments followed Pepi years after he retired: “That’s not just my opinion! A pretty good baseball man named Lawrence ‘Yogi’ Berra felt Pepitone did less with his talent than any player he’d ever seen.

Yogi thought he should have been an all-time great!!” That’s two exclamation marks, dammit!!! Another fan wrote simply, “Too much time with the hairdryer.” Pepitone won a World Series ring in his rookie year, three Gold Gloves, and hit 219 home runs.

MLB fans: All Were among The Best in the World

More from Call to the Pen

Here’s another couple statistics: There were 868 MLB players counted by MLB.com on April 5, 2015, counting disabled and restricted MLB players.

In any year, now, somewhere between 1000 and 1100 players get at least a “cup of coffee” in The Bigs, and they are the very best baseball players anywhere.

They include every single player listed by “true” fans as disappointments, people who years after the fact seem to like pointing out that someone like David Clyde was a flop, rather than someone who may have been a victim of too much publicity (or poor coaching at the highest level).

Or maybe I’m taking this too seriously. Even with a “mind candy” list like the one I saw, it must be acknowledged that MLB players have made a lot more than the average American since the institution of free agency, and fans do have expectations.

Also, even from a sometimes weirdly mean-spirited list, you can learn. One of those listed was Balor Moore. My first two thoughts were the first name has to have been misspelled, and who is this guy?

Moore was the singular name on the list I didn’t recognize. It turns out he was the first player taken by the Expos in their expansion draft, and Balor was, in fact, Balor. A southpaw, Moore made his MLB debut at 19 and retired at 29 with a won-loss record well underwater.

Next: Ichiro has no idea who the *expletive* Tom Brady is

When he was interviewed at the age of 65 in Feb. 2016, he said:

“There’s not a single person in baseball that I have ill feelings towards. I’ve played in some old-timers games where you sit around and you’re drinking a beer and someone will say, ‘Oh, that son of a gun. We didn’t get along.’ I don’t have ill feelings towards anybody.”

After baseball Moore eventually became the owner of an international pipe supply company. This doesn’t sound like a “bum” to me.

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