If you could have a beer and shoot the breeze...
 

with just one of these guys... whom would you choose and why?

The Babe. Im not much of a drinker, but would love to chat baseball, women, drinking and hot dogs with the great Bambino. He just seems like a natural "great guy" to hang out with.

Which player would you want to have a beer with?
 

Ruth is the obvious choice on this list because of his personality. Given the choice to have a beer with ALL players, my choice would definately be Walter Johnson! Better yet, how about Ruth & Johnson- that would work!!

None of the above
 

The Babe and Mickey would be tempting but would rather sit and talk hitting with Ted Williams for a couple of hours.

Also would be interesting to ask him how that frozen head thing is working out for him. :)

Did somebody say "Ruth & Johnson"?
 

Looks like I'm the first vote for Jackie...
 

surprising.
I wouldn't cross the street to hear what Cobb had to say, as I'm averse to hanging around with jerks.
some other fascinating choices would be Gehrig, McGraw, Mack, Joe Jackson, Hal Chase, and definitely Honus.

Excellent poll idea!!!

Shoot The Breeze
 

Jimmy,
Funny you asked that I did have dinner and(drinks many) with the Mick. We hosted an event for Babe Ruth Baseball back in 1985. After it was over we all went out and had dinner Mickey was just great to talk to. A fun guy to be around. Along with Johnny Blanchard, Bill (Moose) Skowron and we had 2 players who were up and comers at the time Brian Fisher, and Dan Pasqua.
You couldnt ask for a better man to deal with ,some great stories to! Here is my program from the Mick!

I'd have to go with Cobb, not so much for the sake of baseball, but in the hope that I could find a way of getting inside his mind. He is the most intriguing choice from a psychological perspective.

I've done the next best thing; I've had conversations and beers with men who played alongside all of the possible selections. Wouldn't trade those memories for the world.

How cool Al...
 

I kinda expected someone to have had drinks with the Mick. What a tremendous night that must have been. Very happy for you to have that memory Al.

BTW... sorry to anyone who wanted to see some other players on the list, but these are my top five.

I'm still undecided on who I would pick...

That's awesome Jodi. How did you pull that off?

I'd also have to go with Cobb. I'd like to find out where the "media" stories end and the real man begins. I find it hard to balance the stories you hear about him with some of the letters that he has written that we see in the hobby. He was obviously a driven, troubled and complex man, but would be interesting to talk to for awhile. Of course, we'd have to have a Coke and not a beer! :)

Sign me up for Cobb as well. Granted, they're ALL interesting choices with unique stories between them; for whatever reason, the Peach is the most appealing to me. I think like Mike, I'd love to try and find the line that separates the legend from reality.

At the same time, maybe he can clue me in on all of those ballpark and advertisement colors that I have trouble with from that era. :) :)

If there was a choice from someone not on the list, it might be someone like Ol' Reliable Tommy Henrich. In my opinion, he's one of the more underrated Yankees that would have been a star on any other team. I suppose it's tough to not take a backseat to people like Gehrig, DiMaggio, Gordon, Dickey and the like. I just think that playing ball in the period between 1937 and 1950 must have provided him with memories worth a million dollars...I was very sad to hear of his passing last month.

Obvious choice from the list I think is Ruth. Certainly cases could be made for each, but how could anyone pass on Ruth. To get to know him in more personal way would be incredible.

My personal choice overall would be Lou Gehrig. To get to know him would be beyond words.

I chose Ruth because he seemed like a genuinely nice guy and would have been a lot of fun to hang with. Mantle was surly when he was drunk; Cobb was completely insane; Jackie seemed too quiet and reserved; and not only was Clemente too serious but I don't think he spoke English very well, so we wouldn't have had a lot to say to each other.

Living in L.A. which is by far the true melting pot of the world...
 

And working at a casino for the last 25 years, I'm fluent in broken English in about a dozen or so dialects. So Clemente wouldn't be a problem for me :)

But Ruth might be the better tipper, Jimmy!

If there was a choice from someone not on the list, it might be someone like Ol' Reliable Tommy Henrich. In my opinion, he's one of the more underrated Yankees that would have been a star on any other team.

Very interesting that Graig mentions Tommy Henrich because I have had the pure pleasure to do exactly that--sit & drink Buds for nearly 2 hrs w/ Tommy--and it's the highlite of my card-collecting career!

As for selecting a player from the list to do the same thing w/---it's hands-down Mickey for me! I grew up w/ baseball & Mickey simultaneously and altho the Babe would be the popular choice and also probably mine---but only if Mantle was NOT on the list!

Holy crapola, Fred!! Tell me more!

:)

Ruth
 

Ruth will always be the king in my book so I picked him.

I wonder if Babe Ruth smoked pot?...it wouldn't surprise me if he did.;)

Tough choices!
I'm torn between Cobb and Ruth. Cobb could be fascinating, even if he was a bit harsh. I'm not sure about nice letters, but I passed on one I shouldn't have that was pretty strongly worded. I've wondered for years how much of the venom later on was real and how much was living down to the rep he'd built. His attitudes about some things weren't all that extreme for the 20's-30's.

But if I was going out on the town it would be Ruth for sure.

As a kid I did get to spend a little time with Feller and Brooks Robinson, not very loong, but a good deal more than just hello.

Steve

Graig----
 

Maybe you missed this great thread a short while back--and eerily just a short while before he died---I'm sure you'll enjoy reading it!

My post about meeting Tommy is #9.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...hlight=henrich

The hysteria surrounding marijuana in the 1920-1930's may have been enough to keep the Bambino from trying it.

C'mon Dan
 

C'mon Dan'o. Why do you think he ate all of those hot dogs? (answer- munchies) :)

I'm surprised to hear no one has chosen Jackie Robinson yet. Man the stories he could tell comin up through the Negro leauges and how
tough it must have been fightin' segregation in the 40's & 50's. He's my choice, hands down!!

There are good reasons to pick any one of these guys, but since my favorite player isn't on the list I picked Ruth. The best who ever played the game and you know that guy was having fun all the time.

Ty Cobb

He is one of those few athletes of any sport that truly dominated their chosen sport. I can say the same for Ruth, but Cobb is my first choice.

I would love to party with Ruth, but to talk Cobb would be very interesting. His grandfather was a confederate soldier who was shot by the Yanks and almost killed, his father had his head blown off by his mother and the rest is history. If I had the choice of anyone not on the list I would like to talk with Chief Bender, Connie Mack, John McGraw, and Lou Gehrig.

Cobb is my choice
 

I'd relish the chance to judge the man for myself and to try to seperate what might have been jealous venom and sniping from his contemporaries and modern political correctness irevisionism from the reality in a man who has engendered so much modern-day controversy.

Out of that group I chose Ruth, but I would love to spend some time with Rube Waddell. That might be quite an interesting time helping him chase firetrucks!!!

being a huge Clemente fan,I would loved to have met him in person,and maybe with a few beers he might be a little less serious,But to drink and talk to the Babe would probably be the most fun based on the Legend of the Bambino's exploits. Lou

Good call on Waddell, Rob. I think that he's one of the most interesting characters the game's ever seen. Or at least, from what I've read...

I surprised myself by choosing Mantle. Anyway, here's why:

Ruth: Babe was known to not be able to sit very still, so I'm not sure I could've retained his attention for very long. Also, he never would have remembered my name, so he would've been calling me "kid" the whole time. "Let's go back to my apartment, kid. Dugan's got the bathtub full 'o cold beers and I've got some lady friends a'waitin." No thanks, Bam. Maybe another time.

Cobb: Three drinks into a conversation with the Peach and I would've asked him about that fateful night of his father's "murder". Conversation over, and I would've lost a few teeth.

Robinson: I just don't see this as a two-way conversation. And I think Jackie would be a 1 drink minimum kind of guy.

Mantle: By process of elimination, I settled on Mantle. I think he'd be the most comfortable chatting over a bucket of beers - either fishing, golfing or hanging out at the Copa. Who knows where the night would lead? Maybe to an upstate farm for a deer hunt with Billy and Whitey?

As many of you stated, it's a tough choice...
 

and after much consideration, I chose Jackie Roosevelt Robinson, because he had the Dignity of Lou Gehrig, the Humanity of Roberto Clemente, the Talent of Ty Cobb, the Character of Christy Mathewson, and the Determination of Martin Luther King. Now that's what I call a Five Tool Player.

Thanks to all for participating. Sincerely, Jimmy

Beer
 

I would have to say Ty Cobb. I think it would be interesting to try and pick his brain to figure him out. I can just see him in the last year of his life with Al Stump who spent day & night with him writing his bio....and the Cobbie running out on the hotel balcony in Nevada shooting off his gun because everyone was partying too loudly! What a nut...

I agree with Rob and others - interesting choice with Waddell.