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Who is in the Hall of Icons?

Frobby

By Frobby
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OFFNY Hangout Grand Counsel

OFFNY

Posted
Posted
I'd put Clemente in.

Reggie?

In his lone season with the Orioles, Jackson set the franchise record (1901-Present) for most consecutive games with a home run (6), which Chris Davis tied in 2012.

Also, he set a career-high in stolen bases (28) that same year, even though he missed the first month of the season due to a holdout.

Reg made a mark everywhere he went ...... even if it was only for one season. :cool:

What I remember about that season was that he held out for the first month (despite being under contract) and then was pretty terrible for the next six weeks (.649 OPS on June 15 in 35 games). The O's were 25-31 at that point. From there until the end of the season, Reggie hit .302/.375/.552 and the O's went 63-43. If Reggie hadn't held out that year, we might have made the pennant race pretty interesting.

I remember that year very clearly.

Earl Weaver once stated that he believed that the Orioles would have won the division had Jackson not held out.

Well, in my rat's ass of an opinion, there is NO WAY that the Orioles would have won the division that year. It was the Yankees' year, all the way, and nothing ....... not even having Reggie Jackson for the 15 games in which he didn't have him due to his holdout, and/or if he had heated up sooner than he did that season had he been in spring training from the get-go ...... was going to change that. The 1975 Orioles had slipped a bit from the '73 and '74 division winning teams, and the 1976 Orioles had slipped a bit from the '75 team.

The Orioles went on a big winning streak near the end of the season, winning 13 out of 16 games, including a 4-game sweep of the Yankees ....... but by that time, even though the Orioles had not yet been mathematically eliminated, the race for the flag had been long over. The Yankees were coasting, similar to the 2000 season in which they lost 15 out of their final 18 games, but still easily held off the Red Sox to win the division title.

After beating the Royals in that year's A.L.C.S., the Yankees were swept in 4 games in the World Series by the Reds.

The one missing ingredient that those American League champion Yankees didn't have in 1976 that pushed them over the top in the World Series in 1977 was ...... Reggie Jackson. The Yankees had lost 17-game winner Dock Ellis in a trade with the Athletics, but Mike Torrez (acquired in the Ellis trade), along with free-agent acquisition Don Gullett, and young upstart Ron Guidry made up for that loss.

Fortunately for the Orioles, the gradual downturn that they sustained during the 1974, 1975, and 1976 seasons did not continue in 1977, as many were expecting ...... thanks to the emergence of a few young rookies named Eddie Murray, Rich Dauer, Denny Martinez, and Mike Flanagan, and a big trade with the Yankees from the previous season, which netted them Rudy May and a few young, up-and-comers named Scott McGregor, Tippy Martinez, and Rick Dempsey, all of whom contributed greatly to that 1977 Orioles team.

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backwardsk Hangout Grand Counsel

backwardsk

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I like the thought behind the list - maybe it's like "players my mom knows." I would also add Clemente (despite the bias from his being my Dad's favorite player, the plane crash tragedy put him in the minds of everyone from that time) and Koufax (different tragedy, similarly visible).

Stan Musial probably doesn't belong on this list. He's obviously a top-10 and maybe top-5 player but there's a reason he's often cited as the most underrated all-time great. For whatever reason (St Louis?) just not as memorable as others.

I think it depends on where you grew up. If you grew up in between the coasts, he was the hero for kids from Arkansas to North Dakota. A

I'd also consider Yogi Berra. Contribution to popular culture in addition to his outstanding on-field performance.

Bonds/Clemens have "a status that will last forever" - not sure if you meant purely positive icons.

I think it depends on where you grew up. If you grew up in between the coasts, he was the hero for kids from Arkansas to North Dakota. As a sidenote, Grisham has a nice book called Painted House where the main character grows up on his farm pretending he's Stan Musial.

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scOtt Hangout Grand Counsel

scOtt

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Posted
I think it depends on where you grew up. If you grew up in between the coasts, he was the hero for kids from Arkansas to North Dakota. As a sidenote, Grisham has a nice book called Painted House where the main character grows up on his farm pretending he's Stan Musial.

Thanks to AM radio too. ;)

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