Top Five Fridays: My favorite ballplayers

In an attempt to post more regularly, I'm trying out a new feature called Top Five Fridays. It was going to be Top Ten Tuesdays, but that would be too much work and let's be honest here....too much work is why I've gone long stretches with no posts in the past. I'm going to use Top Five Fridays to list some of my favorite things, such as, Top 5 Ways to Annoy a Michigan Fan or Top 5 Most Overrated Athletes (cough cough, Brett Favre, cough cough)..... Have no fear, we'll get to both those topics in good time. At the end there will also be a section for those that just missed the cut. Finally, I need to give a little "Thank you" to Mrs. Sizemore for the pretty logo.

In honor of opening day in baseball finally arriving, today's topic is:

Top 5 Favorite Baseball Players of My Lifetime

1. Kenny Lofton

Lofton will forever be number one in my eyes. He was Spiderman in the outfield climbing the walls of Jacobs' Field to take home runs and extra bases away from opposing teams. He slapped ground balls through the holes, dropped down precision bunts, roped liners to the gaps, and would swipe a base at any moment. I'll never forget the 1995 ALCS when he scored from second base on a passed ball against the Seattle Mariners. He went from first to third better than anyone and during the mid-90s was the most feared leadoff man in the game. When Kenny finally made his way back to the shores of Lake Erie for the playoff run in 2007, I went out and bought myself a jersey. I wish I'd had it all along, and even though he probably won't play for Cleveland again, I figure this jersey will stand the test of time with Tribe fans.

2. Omar Vizquel

If you ask me, there is only one shortstop that can even hold a candle to Omar, and that's Ozzie Smith. However, I'll take Omar every day of the week and a doubleheader on Sunday. Sure, the Wizard of Oz was more flashy and had slightly better range. But Little O was a throwback during the era of the power hitting shortstop. He won ELEVEN Gold Gloves and was robbed of a couple more. He was a better hitter than Ozzie. And best of all, he always made the most difficult plays in baseball look routine.

3. Mark McGwire

Steriods or no steriods and Congressional hearing testimony aside, I still love Big Mac. I thought he was the greatest when I was a kid even through he played way out West for the Oakland Athletics. He was the only Starting Lineup figure I ever had. I defended him tooth and nail throughout his career saying that he would have had a shot at the career home run record if not for all the injuries and I still believe that to this day. And during the summer of '98, I watched almost every time he swung his bat. My Tribe was playoff bound that year and I swear I watched more Cardinals' baseball that year than Indians'....no doubt about it. Bob Costas once said that McGwire didn't just hit home runs, he hit "gravity defying moon shots." Do you remember where you were when he hit #62? I do.

4. Roberto Alomar

Okay, another Indian, I know. However, Robbie was only in Cleveland from 1999-2001 and wasn't on either of the World Series teams. I was very anti-Alomar after his famous spitting on the umpire incident. Despite him being the best second baseman in the league, I didn't want him playing for my Tribe. But watching he and Vizquel up the middle for three seasons was magical.

He was also excellent with the bat in his hands. I once heard Peter Gammons tell a tale about Alomar's batting practice habits. During BP, Robbie used to bunt the ball so that it will intentionally go just barely foul. The reason, Alomar said, was so that he could bunt a first pitch foul and see how the defense was going to react to the bunt.

Who else would practice things like that?

5. Greg Maddux

I'm supposed to dislike this guy since he helped the Braves topple the Tribe in the '95 World Series. However, I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for him. How could I not? Maddux looked like a regular Joe Schmoe off the street with skinny frame and his stupid reading glasses that he wore in the dugout between innings. He dominated big league hitters for a long time without ever having an over-powering fastball. Very impressive if you ask me. He was also the single greatest pitcher at fielding his position in history....seventeen Gold Gloves.

"Juuuuust a bit outside. He tried the corner and missed."

Jim Edmonds - A Pi Kappa Phi from Cal State - Fullerton....AND one of the better center fielders of the modern era.
Julio Franco - He'll turn 50 this year, and he' still playing ball. Wow.

Jim Thome - Unlike most Indians fans, I don't blame him for leaving and I'll never boo this man even though he's in a White Sox uniform. Wouldn't do it even he was in a Red Sox or Yankees uniform either. Class act all around.

Mark Prior - My first Cubs game at Wrigley Field was a seat in the bleachers during Prior's first start in the big leagues against the Pirates, so there will always be some man love for him. Now, my Cubs jersey of #22 is pretty much worthless, so that's annoying, but I still hope he is able to overcome the injuries and make it back to the bigs.

Sandy Alomar, Jr. - Big brother of Robbie, he was the first player in MLB history to be MVP of an All-Star Game played in his home ballpark. Little trivia for ya.

Grady Sizemore - Only 25 years old and one of the most feared leadoff hitters in the game as well as a classic five tool player, by career's end, he could make his way into the Top 5. And Mrs. Sizemore won't shut up about how hot she thinks he is. There might be hope for turning her into a Tribe fan yet.

Cal Ripken, Jr. - I was never a big fan of Cal's, but I always respected the tremendous talent he had and the way he played the game.

Tony Gwynn - Simply put: the best hitter I've ever seen in person.

Enough Already

On the way home from work today, I was listening to ESPN Radio and the Mike Turico show. Kirk Herbstreit is a regular co-host on the show and today they opened with a brief discussion on Jose Canseco's new book. As a faithful Ohioan and college football enthusiast, I've always been a big fan of Herbie. This morning, I found myself agreeing with the man more than ever.

Enough.

Seriously people. I couldn't care less about Jose Canseco's new book. I didn't waste my time reading his first one. I didn't read the Mitchell Report. I didn't watch any of the 289 different episode's of Outside the Lines that have covered the topic. I turned off the Roger Clemens/Brian McNamee hearings with Congress after about 15 minutes. I'm just kinda over it all.

If I never again hear about the steroid use of Clemens or Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire or Rafael Palmeiro....whoever....I'd be a happy man. In the words of Kirk, "If they did it, fine, whatever. If they didn't, good for them. I just don't want to hear about it anymore. I want to be excited to watch baseball."

I think it's despicable what they players and the MLBPA did during this era of baseball. I also think it's outrageous how MLB and the owners turned their backs because they were making money like never before. But at this point, I don't want to hear it anymore. Do your jobs and clean it up.

And Jose? Go away. Seriously. In my opinion, this new book about Alex Rodriguez is just a shameless attempt for him to stay in the public eye a bit longer and make some more money. If he hates A-Rod so much, and he's known this all along, why wasn't this in the first book? I don't even like Rodriguez and here I am saying this book is total crap. I still think my favorite Canseco moment is still when a ball bounced off his head for a home run back in 1993 against my Cleveland Indians.

I suppose I'm being hypocritical by blogging about it, but I'd be willing to bet this is one of very few (if not the only) posts about steroids on this blog. With the exception of one of my favorite players being caught, you won't hear from me on the subject again.

Things overheard at The United Center

On Easter Sunday I spent the afternoon with Mrs. Sizemore over at The United Center for her first ever NHL game. It had been awhile for me as well, considering how bad my St. Louis Blues have been over the last couple seasons and the fact that they're only in town a couple times each year. But, I feared this could be my last chance to see Keith Tkachuk in a Blues uniform. And not only that, time was running out to take Mrs. Sizemore to a game and convince her to become a Blues fan before she bailed and started rooting for the Maple Leafs or some damn shit.

The Blues scored first and then took a 3-2 lead with 1:18 left to play on a Tkachuk break away goal. Conditions seemed perfect. We were winning, we had great seats thanks to my buddy Shipper in the UC Box Office, my favorite active player scored the potential winner.... and then the Blackhawks scored to tie it just seconds later and got the winner a little over a minute into overtime. All things being equal, this was a fun hockey game to see in person and I'm honestly just glad the Blues didn't completely embarass themselves for the little lady's first game.

After the game, I heard what could be the quote of the year to date. Our dear friend Gene is the public address announcer for the Blackhawks as well as the Chicago White Sox, DePaul basketball, The Final Four, The Big Ten Tournament, the Chicago Marathon and many other events. We sent him a text during the game and had him meet us up for a couple beers in the Brew Pub on the concourse level after the game. As he walked in, I said to Mrs. Sizemore how Gene could walk through the UC and barely anyone would even know who he was. After the three of us sat and chatted for awhile, we were approached by two of the most creepy, obsessed Gene Honda fans I have ever seen. These two dudes had a big man-crush on Gene and wouldn't stop gushing over him. I asked Gene later if he knew them, and his response was (in a very Gene-like way) "Hell no." So, amidst them drooling over him, one of them actually said this directly to Gene:

"Your voice is synonymous with a good time."

Wow. Just wow. Gene has crazy fans.

National Pryor Day

I know this happened yesterday, and that today is the start of the NCAA Tournament, but I needed to post this before I forgot.

On Wednesday, the most coveted recruit in the nation finally signed his National Letter of Intent to join The Ohio State University. It has been a highly publicized and criticized process thus far for Terrelle Pryor, but I think this kid has shown throughout the ordeal that he not only has the athleticism, but also the mental toughness to make smart decisions and succedd at the next level.

When the football season ended and his Jeanette Jayhawks won the Pennsylvannia State Title, he immediately jumped into basketball season. This is something many of us did when we were in high school, jump from one sport or activity to the next. What the entire nation, including the national media, seemed to forget about on signing day was that Pryor, unlike many of the other football recruits, never had time to officially visit campuses that he was interested in. He was one of the star players on a basketball team that was competing for, and eventually won, the state championship as well. So, while many people were claiming he was selfish and just wanted the limelight, he appears to have not been so selfish afterall. He said that he didn't want to interupt his season and hurt his team's chances and he also wanted the proper time to focus and evaluate the different schools before choosing.

Going further, he was being pulled in a number of different directions by the people that were closest to him and he had a tough call to make. His father went so far as to publicly say that he wanted his son to go play for Joe Paterno at Penn State.

He had also been recruited since he was a Freshman to play for West Virginia, whose coaching staff has since moved to the University of Michigan to take over for the retired Lllllloyd Carr. At Michigan, he would have been the starter from day one. The savior of a traditional football power that has struggled in recent years to win bowl games, defeat their arch-rival and is now in the process of breaking in a new coach, with a new offensive system and they are almost certainly not prepared to contend for championships right away. While going there would have been comfortable for Pryor with the familiar schemes and coaches, ultimately he didn't think that was best for his future.

At Ohio State, Terrelle won't be the starter right away. He will be stepping into the headset as the backup to Todd Boeckman and an offense that is geared up to head back to the BCS National Championship game for a third consecutive year. Pryor will learn the offense slowly, in bits and pieces, and won't be thrown to the wolves and set up to fail. He will also learn how to become a passer. Not in the mold of Boeckman, but more like Troy Smith or Vince Young. This will help him to mature into a better NFL prospect in the future then the Pat Whites and Shaun Kings that Rich Rodriguez produced at West Virginia. We all know Terrelle Pryor can run, but how far did that get Michael Vick (dog-fighting aside?) As a Buckeye, he'll learn to take snaps under center, he'll learn footwork, he'll learn how to throw and he'll learn what it takes to win consistently.

You can knock Ohio State for getting blown out in back-to-back title games all you want, but you also can't forget that they only lost one regular season game in two years. And the officiating in that game was sketchy at best and the crew that worked it is still under investigation by the Big Ten and the NCAA. Sure, the schedule was weak last year, but don't forget the year before the Buckeyes took down two #2 teams in the regular season, one of them the defending national champion Texas Longhorns on their own field. This year, Ohio State heads down to USC in week three. Next year the Trojans come to the Horseshoe. In the few years after that Jim Tressel has put the Miami Hurricanes and Oklahoma Sooners on the schedule.

Overall, I'd say this was the perfect place for Pryor to play and succeed. Now that this is behind us, let's move onto some bigger things and win the BCS title again. It's been six years and I've already forgotten what it feels like.