Author: Shannon Shark @metspolice

Not bad.  Looks kinda 1988 but it has big stars on the cover….maybe we could have flipped Hojo and Carter do that Carter’s face isn’t blocked, but not bad at all!

Back around 2000 there was a cover story (I think for Sports Illustrated) asking who was the best of the young shortstops – Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Jeter, or Alex Rodriguez. Nomar went on to marry Mia Hamm, Jeter won some World Series rings, and ARod, well, he became one of, if not the, greatest shortstop to play the game.

ARod had power (696 HRs), speed (329 SBs) and he could hit for average (winning the batting title in 1996). In the field, while he wasn’t Ozzie, he would win 2 Gold Gloves before he moved to third base.

Along the way he won 3 MVPs and finished 2^nd two other times.

Yes, he did use PEDs, that is a documented fact. As has been discussed before though, PED usage is not a factor when determining HOI eligibility.

Regardless of what he did off the field, for his playing career Alex Rodriguez is definitely an Immortal.

For some background on what this is, check out the introduction post here.

 

Yikes, do I have to make a selection?  I’m going to go with Brian McRae because at least he had a long MLB career.  Fortunately for me, 57 will be much easier despite the number only being issued 7 times.

Seriously?   That sucks.  Surely we can do better.

There ya go…,.now THAT’S a cover!

High numbers, slim pickings.  I don’t want to dismiss Frank Howard’s contribution to the Mets but I am trying to keep this to players – and Kelly was on a pennant winner, and lots of Mets were not.