It was much harder to come up with a list of players I don't like. If you google search most hated MLB players most lists have guys like Arod and Puig. The steroid stuff and bad clubhouse guys just don't effect me much. I try to keep my love and hate to actual play on the field.
Here is my list of 7 guys. The numbers don't represent a degree of hate, I just kept adding guys until it got hard to think of somebody.
1. John Lackey - He is the kind of guy that bitches and moans about strike zones and will make note if you spend too much time admiring your homerun. AJ Burnett was like this to a certain extent with the Pirates, but at least he seemed like he had fun every once in a while. Lackey seems to have the proverbial stick up the ass.
2. Brandon Phillips - I'm sure most Pirate fans would have him on the list. By all accounts Phillips is a pretty good dude in the community. He will show up to random community events unannounced and is for the most part is fan friendly. Where things get bad is when he was quoted that his 72 million dollar contract was a slap in the face compared to the deal Joey Votto got. He also ridiculed a reporter for calling out his OBP by calling him a "fat mother Fu*ker. I found both of those events kind of funny.
The event that really sealed the deal for me was when Phillips accused Pirates reliever Jared Hughes of saying a racial slur after hitting him with a pitch. Obviously those are some serious allegations but all the umpires and other players said they heard nothing. Also their was review of the tape and Hughes was swearing at him, but no racial slurs.
3. Ryan Braun - I don't really care about the steroids, but throwing the tester under the bus and getting off on a technicality was bullshit. Karma caught up with him a few months down the road when he was named in the Biogenesis scandal.
4. Jonathan Papelbon - He just seems like a huge douche. Perhaps the biggest douche in MLB.
5. Brian Mccann - He has actually been pretty quiet as a Yankee, but for the longest time he was president of the MLB no fun police.
6. Adam Wainwright - As a Pirate fan I'm obligated to have one Cardinal on here. Probably the most annoying thing he did was telling the media he let Derek Jeter get a hit off of him during his last All Star game. Way to make the moment about you Adam.
7. Chris Coghlan - In case you forget he is the one who destroyed Jung Ho Kang's leg last September in a slide. Coghlan was just playing the game the way he always played, but as a Pirate fan I'm allowed to be bitter that we lost a key component right before the playoffs. I'm glad they changed that rule because it was getting old seeing shortstops getting their legs broke. Maybe I should have put Chase Utley.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some good ones, but these were off the top of my head. I know I'm probably one of the few that won't have Arod on the list. I just don't care about him enough to dislike him.
Feel free to share you own list of love/hate players.
Thanks for reading.
PS...This was supposed to go live last night but I started watching Total Recall. I think that might be my favorite Arnold movie.
I had a feeling Coghlan might show up on here... just a hunch.
ReplyDeleteHa. That is me being bitter is all. That could have easily been a Pirate taking out Addison Russell. The timing couldn't have been worse for the Pirates.
DeleteInteresting to see this list from an NL fans perspective. As a Yankees fan, I have a much different list (although Lackey and Papelbon are fantastic choices regardless of league). McCann has been very quiet since he was a Yankee...I'd kind of like to see him get fired at some point, unless it's for something stupid like the Carlos Gomez thing.
ReplyDeleteGet fired up* He doesn't have to get fired.
DeleteI almost took McCann off because he has been so quiet. Most of the other guys that came to mind were just guys that have a habit of killing the Pirates....it really had nothing to do with damn being huge assholes. Certain guys like David Ortiz and Jose Bautista are not well liked but they don't really bother me.
DeleteOrtiz would be number one for me. Any called strike he just looks so offended and annoyed. His body language is awful. Plus he can act like a complete lunatic and it's just dismissed as "passion" instead of rage. I don't love Bautista, but don't have as big of an issue with him.
DeleteI just don't see him enough to be annoyed. It does get old when a player thinks every bad call by an umpire is a personal slight against them.
DeleteNo matter how quiet he is now or in the future, McCann will always be on my list.
DeleteHe was a dick for a solid 5 years with Atlanta.
DeleteYes! I was waiting for this. I'm not sure how long my list would be and who all would be on it, but I know 3 names I would include
ReplyDeleteYadier Molina (I can't stand him, also I fully believe he meant to spit and bump the ump that time).
A.J. Pierzinski (I think he's still playing, I call him Prickzinski, he is a dirty player and I can't stand him).
Brett Lawrie. I just can't stand the jerk.
I'm not sure after that. Some others I'm not a fan of, but I don't outright hate them.
AJ Pierzinksi is usually on every most hated list voted by other players. He is probably more in the Papelbon mold. AJ is still active, but as a Brave so no one really cares about him anymore.
DeleteBrett Lawrie is a good pick. That guy is just way too intense.
DeleteAs a bandwagon White Sox fan during their WS run in 2005 (when I was living in Chicago), I was a big fan of Pierzynski, but I totally get why everybody hates him.
DeleteIf I had done this list 5 years back he would have probably made it.
DeleteI did a list like this a few years ago. I need to update it.
ReplyDeleteBumgarner is an ass. Stop worrying about what other players are doing and pitch. It's even more annoying because he doesn't have to do that bitchy crap because he's actually good.
Colby Rasmus. Why does he make us look at him?
I know I could come up with 10. Maybe I will update my list.
Bumgarner is another guy that just missed my list. He will stare a guy down after striking him out, but will get all butt hurt when someone admires a homerun.
DeleteColby Rasmus seems to always be more moist (moister?) than everyone else. It's like he's got a personal mister that follows him around. I can't complain too much about him, though, as he's done all right for the Astros. He just looks a bit musty all the time.
DeleteThe hair looks like Razor Ramon from the mid 90's.
DeleteMy list probably begins and ends with Ryan Braun.
ReplyDeleteYeah I think he would be on everyones list minus Tony L. Maybe even Tony hates him too....
DeleteJust catching up on posts and I see my name taken in vain here!
DeleteI don't hate Braun. I'd love for the Brewers to trade him, but a guy who still is a damn good player and who holds the places he does in team history is tough to flat out hate.
I may need to do this list myself. My list would include the Pirates' own no-fun police officer Gerrit Cole along with McCann and Pierzynski and historical references to Kent Hrbek, Pete Rose, Jose Canseco, and Reggie Jackson.
I agree with Cole. He had that meltdown with Gomez last year. Although he has been pretty quiet since that incident.
DeleteNick Swisher. David Justice. C.C. Sabathia. It's a short list.
ReplyDeleteI like several players that other people hate- Bonds, Manny, Sheffield, Albert Belle, A.J. Pierzynski, Pedro Martinez. Not a lot of current players that bother me. Bryce Harper gets a lot of heat, but I think he's just willing to be honest to a fault.
Oh and Andy Pettite. Hate that guy. I realize he's retired (like Justice),but yeah.
DeleteAlbert Belle flexing to the other dugout after a homerun is one of my favorite clips of the 90's.
DeleteI love Pedro Martinez.
I've never seen Pettite on a list. That is an interesting one
Swisher is a good one. He just seemed like a frat bro to me. Lots of them in my town so I guess he never bothered me that much.
DeleteI just have a thing about the Yankees in general, and of the core four I couldn't hate Mo Rivera, he's awesome; I couldn't hate Jeter, as it would look like sour grapes; and Jorge Posada I guess I felt a little bad for the way his career ended so I couldn't hate him. That left Pettite, who used HGH, lied about it until he got caught, then seemed to receive none of the heat that Bonds, Clemens, Raffy Palmeiro, etc got... It felt unfair to me and his handling of the situation kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Truth be told I hate that they constantly crushed the Twins in the regular season and worse, in the playoffs.
DeleteIt is funny how the steroids thing played out. The guys that admitted it early on ended up not facing near as much backlash. Look at players like Giambi and Johnny Peralta. You barely hear their names mentioned anymore.
DeleteI have respect for one of two responses to a positive test. If the player admits it, apologizes to team, fans, family, and serves the time? Great. I am actually also ok with Bonds. He probably used lots of things that are banned now, but he never failed a test.
DeleteI don't have much respect for the guys that deny it, try to blame it on someone else, and or loudly moralize on the use of peds right before they test positive.
Last paragraph ='s Ryan Braun
Deletejust active players? lackey, papelbon, bumgarner, harvey, pedroia, braun, and more recently, odor make my short list.
ReplyDeletePedroia has a little of the Sidney Crosby effect where every other team hates him except his own.
DeleteHarvey is a good choice. He seems like an entitled dick.
I think you mean the Theo fleury effect.
DeleteHa. You are right!
DeleteBrian McCann - He's Irish and is stealing playing time away from my favorite Yankees catchers.
ReplyDeletePapelbon - His face is so punchable. He's also probably of either German or Irish descent.
Daniel Murphy - Homophobe.
Jose Reyes - Domestic violence.
Aroldis Chapman - Domestic violence.
John Lackey - Punchable face.
I'm just glad that at this point the likes of Josh Lueke and Delmon Young are no where near the majors.
Nice post BTW.
I forgot about that Daniel Murphy stuff. My buddy wanted me to choose Chapman just because he almost killed Cutch by throwing at his head.
DeletePucker Boy Papelbon is a top three choice. Then my Nats go and put him on the team.
ReplyDeletePedroia is right there with him if for nothing else but adjusting his gloves after taking a pitch. Human Rain Delay II. Has he been fined yet since they started timing that stuff? At least the commentators don't gush all over him for anything he does like Squidney.
AJ is another I would think of easily.
If we could branch into umpires, I'd say Country Joe West, for garnering attention every game. Umps should be invisible if they're doing it right.
Can't come up with any original players choices right now...
Bob Davidson and Angel Hernandez are two other umpires that drive me nuts. They look for conflict.
DeleteOf course I agree with you except for Waino-the only player not on this list I actively despise is Johnny Cueto for kicking a guy in the head and ending his career. Hence Kung Fu Cueto.
ReplyDeleteI don't dislike A.J. Pierzynski but I always liked the quote "you hate him, but when he is on your team you hate a little less_ or something like that.
Yeah, I think most Card fans would have Philipps and Cueto.
DeletePhillips, I have forgiven him
DeleteThe weird thing is Cueto has never really had much trouble other than that epic meltdown.
DeleteNo A-Rod...I am disappointed lol
ReplyDeleteYou know after MLB tried to make an example of him I wanted him to succeed even more. He never really bothered me.
DeleteA-Rod was a great villain last year. No issues with A-Rod as a player.
DeleteI was just upset he didn't embrace his villain status
Delete