Most Legendary Players

[Chris D.]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

MARIO MENDOZA

A legend is a nonhistorical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical.

Mario alone through his prowess in the batter's box defined mediocrity, both inside and outside baseball over 30 years ago. The Mendoza Line began as a clubhouse joke in 1979 when from mid April to mid May George Brett's batting average dropped from .341 on 4/17 to .244 on 5/11. Teammates chided Brett that his average was going to drop below the Mendoza Line in the Sunday newspaper's listing of major league batters (older members remember how the batters were listed by average in the Sunday papers before the internet). On May 11th Mendoza was batting .202 that year. I believe that .200 became the generic Mendoza line.

The legend of the Mendoza Line was popularized in the early days of ESPN by Chris Berman, who attributed the reference to Brett. Although the original Mendoza line in the Sunday newspaper may still be used to describe mediocrity in baseball, dropping below the Mendoza Line can be applied to mediocrity in any field and hence the legendary status of the term.

Interestingly Mendoza ended his career with a batting average of .215, somewhat above the generic Mendoza Line. He was also known to be an above average fielder.

With this background who can argue that the 1980 Mendoza card imaged below is not undervalued at 2 cents.

Good stuff!

[GasHouseGang]

I can't get as poetic about it as Frank, but I'd say Stan Musial has to be on that list. Most of his cards are quite reasonable yet he was considered one of the greats of the game. The only reason his cards aren't more highly valued is he didn't play in New York.

Some quotes about Stan from those that saw him play:
An outfield composed of (Ty) Cobb, (Tris) Speaker and (Babe) Ruth, even with Ruth, lacks the combined power of (Joe) DiMaggio, (Stan) Musial and (Ted) Williams." - Connie Mack

"He could have hit .300 with a fountain pen." - Joe Garagiola

"He didn't hit a homer in his last at-bat; he hit a single. He didn't hit in 56 straight games. He married his high school sweetheart and stayed married to her, never married a Marilyn Monroe. He didn't play with the sheer joy and style that goes alongside Willie Mays' name. None of those easy things are there to associate with Stan Musial. All Musial represents is more than two decades of sustained excellence and complete decency as a human being." - Sportscaster Bob Costas in ESPN SportsCentury (ESPN)

"How good was Stan Musial? He was good enough to take your breath away." - Broadcaster Vin Scully

And those that had to pitch to him:
""I throw him four wide ones then try to pick him off first base." - Preacher Roe

"I've had pretty good success with Stan (Musial) by throwing him my best pitch and backing up third." - Carl Erskine

"Once (Stan) Musial timed your fastball, your infielders were in jeopardy." - Warren Spahn

[Chris D.]

My father-in-law had the good fortune of being at a wedding where Stan Musial was also in attendance. Stan was as gracious as can be and shared some great stories. I wish I was with my wife at that point. I might have been able to tag along.

[esd10]

my vote is for jake duabert one of the best players from the teens but does not get the respect he deserves.