MLB Hometown Heroes: American League

Major League Baseball has opened up voting to determine the "most outstanding player in each club's history." It is like an All-Star roster, where each team is represented only once. I already made my picks for the National League, so here are my selections for the Hometown Heroes roster in the American League.

Baltimore Orioles: Cal Ripken Jr. (1981-2001) The Iron Man is my, and many others, favorite player of all-time. Ripken won the AL MVP in 1983 and 1991, and he probably should have won in 1984 as well. The high amount of errors made Ripken's defense underrated in the '80s. He could get to almost any ball put in play and deserved more than two Gold Gloves. My most vivid memory of Ripken was in his final All-Star game. He took Chan Ho Park deep to leftfield for a solo homer in the third inning. The American League went on to win the 2001 All-Star Game 4-1, and Ripken was named the MVP of the game. This made Ripken the first two-time AS MVP winner in the AL, and the oldest player to homer in an All-Star game.

Boston Red Sox: Ted Williams (1939-1960) In 1941, the Splendid Splinter posted a .553 OBP, with a .735 SLG. While his career .344 batting average is impressive, it is the .482 OBP and .634 SLG that show off his greatness. Twice, Williams won the Triple Crown, and twice he won the AL MVP. These two accomplishments never occured in the same year. Williams is the all-time leader in career OBP(no, it is not Barry Bonds) and second in career SLG. He won the batting title six times in his career.

Chicago White Sox: Eddie Collins (1915-1926) Although not a nominee, Collins was the best hitter on the 1917 world championship team. During the regular season, Cocky hit .289/.389/.363 with 12 triples and 53 steals. His defense at second base was well above average. The New York Giants saw Collins at his best in the World Series. He hit .409/.458/.455 with 3 stolen bases in the six game victory.

Cleveland Indians: Nap Lajoie (1902-1914) The year before moving to Cleveland, Lajoie won the 1901 Triple Crown. Still, Cleveland did manage to enjoy three consecutive batting titles by Lajoie from 1902-1904. Lajoie holds the Cleveland franchise record for hits, with 2046.

Detroit Tigers: Ty Cobb (1905-1926) Ummm... let's see. Well, he hit over .400 three times, won the Triple Crown, and the MVP two years after, and led the league in OPS ten times. The Georgia Peach led the league in steals six times, topping out at 96 steals in 1915. Detroit made the World Series three years in a row, from 1907-1909, but lost all three. Cobb drove in 9 runs in 17 World Series games. Detroit's franchise record in batting average (.368) and OBP (.434) are both held by Cobb.

Kansas City Royals: George Brett (1973-1993) Brett spent all 21 seasons of his career with Kansas City, hitting .305 with 201 stolen bases. Kansas City made the playoffs seven times, twice making it to the World Series and once winning a ring in 1985. Between both the World Series, Brett hit .373/.439/.529. In the 1985 ALCS, Brett slugged three home runs and won the ALCS MVP.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Tim Salmon (1992-2004) Salmon has never won an MVP, a Gold Glove, nor made an All-Star game. He has, however, accumulated the franchise record OPS, .886, home run total, 290, and scored more runs than any Angel in history, 956. Salmon was a key to the franchise's lone World Series victory in 2002. He hit .346 with two home runs to help defeat the Giants in the World Series. In Game Two, Salmon hit a two-run homer, his second of the game, in the eigth inning of a 9-9 ballgame to lead the Angels to an 11-10 victory.

Minnesota Twins: Harmon Killebrew (1954-1974) This man was a pure slugger. Eight times, he surpassed the 40-homer mark, peaking at 49 homers. Nine times, Killebrew drove in over 100 runs, with 140 in 1969. 1969 was also the year he won his only MVP. Killer was an eleven-time All-Star.

New York Yankees: Babe Ruth (1920-1934) Do I need to say anything about him or why he was selected? Here is his career batting line .342/.474/.690, which also includes 714 homeruns and four World Series rings. Five times, Ruth had an OBP over .500 and twice slugged over .800. Six times, the Bambino posted better than a .370 AVG, with a career best of .393.

Oakland Athletics: Rickey Henderson (1979-1984, 1989-1993, 1994-1995, 1998) The Man of Steal changed teams throughout his career as quickly as he moved from base to base during games. This didn't stop the greatest leadoff hitter of all-time from setting the Athletics' franchise record in runs, 1270, walks, 1227, and stolen bases, 867. With Oakland, Rickey Henderson won an MVP in 1990 and a World Series in 1989. Henderson had a tremendous postseason in 1989. During the ALCS, Oakland defeated Toronto in 5 games, with Henderson, later named the ALCS MVP, hitting .400, with two homeruns and eight stolen bases in eight attempts. Then, in the World Series victory, he added on another homerun and three stolen bases, hitting .474.

Seattle Mariners: Ken Griffey Jr. (1989-1999) Griffey, as a Mariner, posted some hefty power numbers. In fact, Junior holds the top five single-season home run marks in Seattle history, as well as four of the top ten RBI seasons for Seattle. Seattle fans didn't just witness Griffey drive in runners, but they saw him cross the plate frequently. The Kid has four of the top ten franchise seasons for runs scored. In 1997, Griffey won his only MVP with 56 home runs, 147 RBIs, 125 runs, and a .646 SLG, all league-leading numbers.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays: Fred McGriff (1998-2001, 2004) Tampa Bay did not get the best years of the Crime Dog, but they are not exactly a team rich in history. McGriff holds the franchise record in AVG, OBP, SLG, and HR/AB. Someday Scott Kazmir, Carl Crawford, or a playoff appearance may give the Devil Rays a true hero.

Texas Rangers: Ivan Rodriguez (1991-2002) Pudge spent his twelve seasons in Texas as a perennial All-Star, Gold-Glover, and Silver Slugger. In 1999, Rodriguez 35 home runs, with 113 RBIs and 116 runs. It was also another season in which he threw out more than 50% of baserunners. Only Mike Piazza has won more Silver Sluggers at catcher than Pudge(10 to 7), and no one has won more Gold Gloves at catcher than Rodriguez.

Toronto Blue Jays: Dave Stieb (1979-1992, 1998) Stieb spent all but one of his sixteen seasons in Toronto. No Blue Jay has won more games, 175, than Stieb. Stieb and Jimmy Key own the Jays' franchise record for starter's ERA with 3.42. In four seasons, Stieb had at least four shutouts and threw 103 complete games in his career.

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Date

Thu 07/27/06, 3:47 am EST

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I am a cpcpMajor Leaguer

1223 days ago

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I really think MLB has messed up this concept as much as they have the All-Star game. They call it "Hometown Hero" but yet they say to pick the "most outstanding player." These two concepts don't always match up at all. In Cleveland, most people have never heard of Nap Lajoie, let alone know he hold the record for best batting average. The Cleveland hometown hero would have to be either Bob Feller, who fills up so many autograph sessions that his sig is worth maybe a buck, or Omar Vizquel who may have left the biggest shoes ever to be filled when went to San Fran. Those two are considered hero's in Cleveland. Nap Lajoie's name is barely known. (Yes, he's a major reason for the team's name, but people don't know that and the large group of Native American protesters outside the stadium all the time don't seem to care that he be considered a hero.)

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