Pat Burrell - if you've lived in the Philadelphia area anytime in the last half dozen years, you probably at least know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody that Pat Burrell has hit on. P.I.M.P. You can't deny it. He gets more tang than an astronaut. But it doesn't stop with the women. He also partakes in other redeeming activities, such as smoking Marlboro red cigarettes and drunk dancing (see pic). He has a powerful swing that occasionally results in a ball flying over the left field fence. It's a long, sometimes awkward swing that often results with his right knee resting on the ground. But that is what Burrell does, he goes long and makes knees dirty. Don't hate the player, literally. And sure, he strikes out a lot (a lot...) and can't run. But who cares. He is eveything that many of us dream to be; a young, good-looking, drunk, womanizing, homerun hitting professional baseball player. He could have gone "Paul Byrd," started a new chapter of Baseball Church, stayed in on Friday night playing Minesweeper and maybe he wouldn't be so inconsistent, but he decided to have some fun at any expense. Well, God bless you Pat the Bat, you're my favorite Phillie.
Greg Luzinski - We never saw Luzinski play for the Phils as he ended his career in South Philly at same time Carson and I were celebrated year of life one. But we've heard stories. Mainly, "Bull hit ball, ball go far." (Apparently retarded people told us stories...) And this quote from the baseball-reference.com's Luzinski page: "At 225 pounds he is a doorway and a half. They could hold the Winter Olympics on his shoulders, balance Rhode Island on his knees, and plug up leaky dams with his feet."--Phil Elderkin (1979). Good enough for me. Also, he grills meat. Mmmmmm.
Pete Incaviglia - a member of the last great team...and in typical '93 fashion, Pete sported the mustache, stubble, and mullet. Also in line with the '93 team, Pete put the team first, embracing the leftfield platoon with Milt "Nintendo White Boy" Thompson. Mullet, facial hair, mammoth homeruns, platoon - he deserves a spot on the all-time favorite Phillies leftfielder list. On a personal note, in '93 I found a newborn puppy in a ditch while mowing my grandma's lawn. I took the pup home and named him "Inky," after my favorite Phillie at the time. I gave the dog away to a friend and he turned out to be a big, mean, loud dog. Perfect.Honorable Mention:
Ron Gant - Played only a season and a half with the Phils, but anybody that goes from being a skinny second base prospect to a bulked-up HR-hitting outfielder deserves honorable mention, because steroids prove dedication to a cause. Also, his trades to and from the Phils involved Ricky Blowttalico, Jeff Brantley, Garrett Stephenson and Kent Bottenfield. Good company.
Milt Thompson - The other half of the '93 LF platoon. Milt is best known on this blog as the white guy from the Nintendo game Major League Baseball and as the Phil's hitting coach. Milt never hit over 7 homers in one season and was a sub-.300 hitter with the Phils, but he was on the '93 team and that trumps any stat.Corey
31 comments:
Great post...Burrell is our boy! People hate on him, namely Los, but Pat doesn't let that keep him down.
Inky was awesome, that entire '93 squad was awesome!
P.I.M.P. = Pat Is My Phather
I would like to give a shout-out to a Phillie LF who was way before our time, Del Ennis. Ennis was a steady year-in year-out producer, you could pencil him in for around .285/25 HRs/100 RBIs, but yet was reamed on a daily basis by Phans who singled him out for wrath when the Whiz Kids underachieved after their 1950 pennant. Ennis seemed to have been a gentlemanly type who took it in stride, but it had to have sucked hearing constant boos, especially when he was a local boy made good who grew up in North Philly. I dont know if he was wall-shy like Bobby A, but Phans despised him. Of course,when he was traded to St Louis, the first time he came back to Philly he got a huge standing ovation when he came to the plate. As far as Pat the Bat, I'm looking for a return to the
quietly efficient run-producing machine he was in 2005. Pull the trigger on some of those called-third strikes and we're talking in the vincinity of .280/.400/.510 with 33 jacks and 119 RBIS.
Luzinski was awesome ... he was part of that great Phillies team of the late 70's and '80, and man could he hit the ball far. Where is Joe Lefebre (sp) on this list?
is not mentioning joe lefebvre an oversight? here he is, what a stellar career...
of course, i didn't mention sixto lezcano, either...
Pat Burrell obviously. Who else can be the most un-clutch hitter and still make millions of dollars? Even though I personally don't...many women are in love with the fool.
Maybe Pat oughta change his at-bat music clip in 2007. He has been using Holy Diver by Dio for ages and its time for a change. Any suggestions?
Had to vote for the Inkman here. Luzinski was before my time and Burrell has never gotten us to the playoffs...although if he grew a Fasano I suspect the results of this poll would be damn near unanimous...anyways do not forget that the last moments we have to hold on to from those glorious days of possibly winning the World Series ended with Inky running back to that awful blue wall in Skydome, looking up....
The Bull!!!
Das411- thanks a-f'n-lot, you made me cry bringing back memories of that last play of the '93 season...I still get all choked up.
Rumor- once again the ChiSox are possibly after Aaron Rowand. My real prediction, Rowand and Lieber are each dealt within the next 2 weeks, and the deals sure up our bullpen and we're left with a platoon in RF of Werth/Player X and Victorion moves to CF.
The Bull lived near me in Medford, NJ for a while. Whenever I saw him at the Wawa, he would walk in the middle of the double doors to get through, he's a two-door guy. Oddly enough, one time I saw him with skim milk in his arms. I think I shat myself in shock...it was at least a good sharting.
"sharting" is an awesome term.
My father-in-law and I have a conversation with Bull before a game out by his bar-b-q pit. We saw him hunting with his son on one of those hunting shows, and he welcomed a conversation of something other than baseball. Hard to imagine.
I knew his son Ryan pretty well. The kids was really big like his dad. Not a bad catcher if I remember correctly, anyone know if he made it to the minors?
Luzinski!
2 other recent canidates: Gary the Sarge Matthews and Shake n Bake McBride.
What about that ass-clown Rob Ducey?
anyone see this? the Philly Curse is for sale on eBay
Thanks for that link Furiousball, that was a funny story. I would have bought the damn curse of Philly then hooked it up with some cement shoes and dropped it in the Delaware.
As I roam around the blogsphere, I constantly encounter people who have no sense of humor or any original thoughts of their own. Loosen up people! Not any of you of course, as you're the cream of the crop.
and our crop is especially creamy too I might add
Furiousball- that sounded wrong in so many ways. You are a top notch commentor!
I voted for Luzinski. I'll never forget the time they interviewed him on local TV during a rain delay when he showed up in his uniform sans socks and shoes wearing a pair of flip flops. He was such a big man, that the flip flopped feet just looked out of place.
In reality, the best Phillies left fielder of all time was Ed Delahanty from the 1890's era. Burrell doesn't even belong on the list. Honorable mention goes to Del Ennis.
When you do right field, don't forget Johnny Callison from the 1964 Phillies.
Del Ennis was a helluva outfielder, but way before Corey and my time. That's not to say he wasn't better than Burrell, Inky, or the Bull because he was, we just don't remember him from anything besides what we read.
it isn't "greatest" phillies left fielder, it's "favorite." and although i should have put delahanty on the list because of his alcoholism and funny/tragic death, i limited the list to players most of us have seen...at least alive, let alone in a baseball uniform. likewise, callison will not be on the list for RF...but glenn wilson, jim eisenreich, ron jones, and wes chamberlain might be.
I with ya Corey, as how can a player be your "favorite" if you never got to see them play? And Wes Chamberlain damn well better be on the RF poll.
Wait a minute. Do I sense age discrimination on this site? I can understand that none of your readers saw Ed Delahanty, but even though I wasn't around for Del Ennis, I'm sure potential readers of your blog have. Same for Johnny Callison. Guys who were 12 in 1950 and Whiz Kids fans would only be turning 69 this year, mere youngsters in this internet age.
Lake Fred- you know we don't discriminate, that would be policitically incorrect, as we're always model citizens here at WSBGM's. You're know we're just messin' with ya bro.
LOL. If 1993 is the cutoff year in the wayback machine, then I'll vote for Jim Eisenreich in RF. That 1993 team was special, but such a heartbreaker. It contributed to my bipolar fandom.
Bipolar, manic depressive, whatever you want to call us, we're Phillies fans and we're passionate.
These "favorite position" polls will mostly include players from the 80's until present, although Corey may break some out from the 60's/70's too.
it is total age discrimination. and i'm proud of it
up next is shortstop....could we have a steve jeltz siting? or maybe a dickie siting? that's right, i said dickie siting, stay tuned for more...
Wow, having to decide between Dickie Thon, Steve Jeltz, and I'm assuming J-Roll and Larry Bowa is going to be a difficult task indeed.
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