One On One - It's Your Call

[Xanadu Dragon]

If you were given the chance to sit down and talk with any player in baseball history for two hours - any player, living or dead (but only one player) - - - -

Who would you choose?
Why would you select him?
What three questions would you have on your "must ask" list?

All that completely and sincerely respond to this thread will be entered into a raffle to win a NetShrine Mug. We'll keep this thread open for 5 days - then make the pick from a hat.

Looking forward to your replies! Just one per member - thanks!

1)Fernando Valenzuela
2)Because he is the player that got me into watching baseball in the first place, the excitement in México when he pitched hasn´t been equaled yet.
3)What is your favorite moment from the Fernandomanía???
What was it like to pitch against the Yankees in the ´81 world series??
How did you feel when the DOdgers won the ´88 W.S. while you were injured??

I would choose Babe Ruth, since he's considered by many to be the one of the greatest, if not the greatest to have ever played the game.

Q1: Did you (or your ghost) curse the Boston Red Sox?

Q2: Did you call that shot?

I'll have to get back to you on Q3, since I'd rather not waste it knowing I can't think of anything intelligent offhand.

PS,

Q3: What would you consider to be your very best years, each as a pitcher, hitter and fielder?

[Mexicani Blue]

1 - Turk Wendell
2 - I think he's kinda neat (I LIKE weird)

Q1 - Are you a morning person or a night person?
Q2 - If you didn't play baseball as a profession, what would you have liked to do as a career?
Q3 - Would you like to come to dinner one night? (no hanky panky behind that question! - buzz would be there. i think he'd be cool to hang out with)

Mex

[hmrsf]

Mex you crack me up!!! We have missed you and your humor!!

[KCBOOMER]

Well maybe I'm being a homer, and I know he wasn't in the majors, but, I'd go with Buck O'Neill.

Why: He is enormously entertaining with a personality that is a pure delight. Let's not forget that at age 90 he's still alive and speaks English.

Q1. Who are the Negro League players you feel deserve to be in the HoF who are not in yet.

Q2. Would you tell the story about Babe Ruth, Josh Gibson, and Bo Jackson again?

Q3. What can be done to improve the quality of the Negro Leagues Museum.

[mandamin]

I'd pick Lou Gehrig, because he's been my hero since about fifth grade, and also because I think he's one of the most underappreciated players in history, and one of the only ones in the all-time top twenty-or-so that I can see myself having an intelligent conversation with, for various reasons.
The questions...first, I'd get him to talk for as long as he could about the real Babe Ruth. I know it's been covered a lot, but I'm sure there are still thousands of things that never made their way out of Gehrig's head (at least not publicly)... I realize that's not really a question, but I'm sure I could find some way of making it sound like one.
Then, assuming this fantasy world is one in which Lou and I are talking today, I'd ask him how he feels about Cal Ripken. I picture Gehrig as he'd have been if he were a 70 year-old, grumpy ex-player in 1996 (or was it '95?). I picture him supporting him publicly, but complaining privately about how he was a much better player, clearly more durable because he could uphold his standard of play through the streak, etc....but, then, Gehrig wasn't your average superstar, and I doubt he would've become your average elderly ex-superstar, either (and of course he'd have been long dead by the mid-nineties regardless), so who can say how he'd have handled it? I suppose that's why I'd want to ask him.
Third, I'd ask him to describe all the ways he can think of that the game has changed since his time. I know that sounds trite, but no one alive today has a really clear, fresh memory of the game in the 20's and 30's, and there's little film, and what there is isn't very descriptive; I imagine that a guy who was in the game every day from that time, if you could magically transport him from 1939 to 2002, would have a ton to say about the changes in the game that nobody's ever thought of before. I can't imagine what it would be, but hey, nobody can prove me wrong...

[nyy26wc]

I'd choose Casey Stengel.

Why? He was one of the most interesting characters in baseball history. He's also someone who was seemingly capable of talking for 2 hours straight, without coming up for air. So, I'd get a full 120 minutes of baseball talk.

I hope this isn't considering copping out, or not answering sincerly, but I really don't know what I'd ask him. But, in Casey's case, it doesn't really matter what I ask. Casey never seemed to really listen to the question and instead provided whatever kind of answer he felt like giving.

[Xanadu Dragon]

Originally posted by nyy26wc
But, in Casey's case, it doesn't really matter what I ask. Casey never seemed to really listen to the question and instead provided whatever kind of answer he felt like giving.

Motion accepted.

[HistoricBBall]

I'll answer in two parts.
If I could speak to anyone alive or dead, I would choose Chino Smith because he was a black baseball player who played in the 1920s and died in 1930 and there's not much information available on him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now to pick the person I would really want to interview most...

I'm going with the person I think may have possibly been one of the most misunderstood players of all time -- Roger Maris.

I think Roger Maris had a quiet personality that was a stark contrast to the New York press. I'd like to ask him these three questions:

* What did you really think of Mickey Mantle?
* How much did it hurt to know you could break that record and have so many people who didn't want you to do it?
* How did that asterisk affect the rest of your life.

Originally posted by mandamin
I'd pick Lou Gehrig, because he's been my hero since about fifth grade, and also because I think he's one of the most underappreciated players in history

Underappreciated?! He's only the "Luckiest Man Alive", per his famous speech.

He's only considered one of the most revered Yankees, second only to you-know-who. Ahead of even Joe D and Mickey, based upon what other Yankee fans have told me, some of whom have been fans for 40+ years.

[gyb13]

Who would you choose?
- Don Mattingly

Why would you select him?
- Became a baseball and Yankee fan because of him

What three questions would you have on your "must ask" list?
- If you could change your career, in what era and for what team would you have liked to play?
- Are you upset you didn't have a single fielding chance in your single appearance at 2B?
- In the time it takes to watch a baseball game in 2002, give me a rundown of the best clubhouse stories/personalities you encountered in your career.

[hmrsf]

I took a straw poll in my house. My husband wishes he could talk to Shoeless Joe, my daughter could care less, and I have waffeled on three players. Only one has had the most impact, and it would shocked my family.

Babe Ruth has cast a spell over my whole baseball existance.

Q1. What would it take for you to remove your curse?
Q2. Is it almost over?
Q3. Who is the next Babe Ruth?

He would be great to hang out with for a couple of hours.

I'd talk to Jim Bottomley. He lived in my hometown and that's also where he's buried, and he even brought the Cardinals through town on a barnstorm in the '30s, so he's a personal favorite of mine. I'd ask him who the best player he ever saw was, what his proudest moment in the game was, and what is most different about Sullivan, Mo now as opposed to when he lived there.

If allowed to ask a Q4, I'd ask Babe who did he play against that was his toughest opponent or who he worried the most about losing to?

Originally posted by hmrsf
Q1. What would it take for you to remove your curse?
Q2. Is it almost over?
Q3. Who is the next Babe Ruth?

A1: Tear down the house and that may work. Of course, George wouldn't be that stupid. They don't call it The House That Ruth Built f/nuthin'! He planted the seed so the foundation still stands.

A2: Nahhhhhhhhhh!

A3: Like Arthur Fonzarelli (Ayyyyyyyyyy, the Fonz) from Happy Days once said, "There is only one me".

Originally posted by gyb13
Who would you choose?
- Don Mattingly

Being selfish and in a mood today, I'd ask him how he felt about being so beloved by Yankee fans today, yet never getting a ring nor recent mention of entry into the hallowed halls of Cooperstown.