It is officially time to learn who would be on......baseball's Mount Rushmore! The way I evaluated who made the cut is based on his contributions to baseball and his similarities to the President that he represents. Hope you enjoy:
George Washington - Babe Ruth:
Washington was the first President of the United States and helped the nation gain independence from Great Britain. Ruth was the first real baseball star who everyone knew and helped baseball gain publicity throughout the country because of his exciting play.
Thomas Jefferson - Lou Gehrig:
Jefferson, overshadowed by Washington, was a great leader in his own quiet way. He was also one of the first Presidents of the United States and performed this task with great consistency. Gehrig, overshadowed by Ruth for most of his career, was the first captain of the Yankees and led the team with a quiet fist. Also, he performed the act of captain of the Yankees with great consistency, playing in 2,130 consecutive games, the all-time record for more than 60 years.
Theodore Roosevelt - Willie Mays:
Teddy was an all-around person in his skills and interests. He was also the youngest president in U.S. history. Willie was very good in MLB at a very young age. He was in baseball at the age of 20, won Rookie of the Year in 1951, won his first MVP Award at the age of 23, and made his famous World Series catch only three years into his career. Willie is also considered the best all-around player of all time.
Abraham Lincoln - Jackie Robinson:
Abe had a big impact on civil rights during the time of his presidency and brought the country together by ending the Civil War. Jackie broke the sports color barrier and, in simple words, integrated baseball forever.
Hope you enjoyed this blog post. Please tell all your friends about it, if you did.
Cool idea and good choices. Only half Yankees, but all associated with New York so maybe we are showing our biases but you know what they say- "if you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere."
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGood start, but I think we need more than four people up there.
ReplyDeleteThere have only been 43 presidents - that's right, Grover Cleveland's 2 terms were non-consecutive so his are counted as two separate presidencies, 22nd & 24th.
Only a few presidents are worthy of consideration for Mt. Rushmore while there have been many great baseball players who are worthy of consideration.
I have only one guy who must be up there: Ted Williams because he is probably the greatest hitter other than the Babe. He has the highest on base percentage in MLB history and he missed 5 seasons in his prime to be an ace fighter pilot in two wars. He still hit 521 homeruns and he won the triple crown twice. He finished with highest batting average of any player to retire after WW II. And no one has more career homeruns with a higher batting average. The Babe is the only one who even compares.
Also, if I’m picking players for my field of dreams team, Mickey Mantle is way up there on my list. He was Ted Williams' favorite player and mine too. The Mick could do it all and he was clutch, but so were the four guys you picked.
That's a good point, but I wanted the number of players on baseball's Mt. Rushmore to be equivalent to the number of Presidents on the real Mt. Rushmore. Also, I definitely agree with you about the Mick on your dream team. Actually, I have already posted my all-time dream team. Go check it out.
DeleteGreat article kid. Great choices as well. The beauty of the game is that it is so subjective and filled with amazing players that we can talk about for days on end as being on our Baseball Mt. Rushmore, and other Mt. Rushmore's. But you've chosen well — given our one Mt. Rushmore.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Mr. Biancalana.
DeleteMy personal mt rushmore (players I particularly love) — Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, Willie McCovey, Cal Ripken Jr.
ReplyDeleteI see your a big Pirates fan. Anyway, I really like your picks and I think I can connect each of the players you chose to a president on Mt. Rushmore. Stargell-Washngton, Clemente-Jefferson (recently wrote something on the Pirates HoFer), McCovey-Roosevelt, and Cal-Abe.
DeleteHey Matt, I enjoyed this blog very much. I like the idea of a Mt Rushmore in baseball Very creative and entertaining. Good job.
ReplyDelete