Time wasting exercise of the day: Who goes on the Blue Mt. Rushmore?
There have been 43 Presidents of the United States, and in 1927, when they started chipping away at Mt. Rushmore, there had only been 30. Still, picking four faces for that bad boy was a tough proposition, despite the fact that Washington and Lincoln were slam dunks.
So if you make one of those for the Dodgers (perhaps carved into one of the hills around the stadium, or maybe next to the Hollywood sign), which four faces do you choose? We're talking one hand, minus the thumb. That's all you get from a franchise that's been in business, under one name or another, since 1884. I'm not counting all the players you have to choose from, but it's a lot. Hell, there are 49 players alone whose last names start with W. And what about managers? Certainly Walter Alston or Tommy Lasorda could be candidates.
Just off the top of my head, here's how I see it. Jackie Robinson is a given. A) he was really good, and b) Robinson is simply too freakin' iconic both as a Dodger and in baseball history to leave off. After that, I think you need a Koufax. He is the Dodger pitcher in team history (unless you think it's Danys Baez...). The other two? Yikes. If you go old school, there are the Babe Herman, Dazzy Vance, and Zach Wheat types. What about Reese, Newcombe, Snider, Wills, Drysdale, or Campanella? Piazza, if you want someone from the more recent past. Or Fernando. Or Cey, Garvey, and Sutton.
It's a tough one. Your thoughts?
Four faces from a franchise that has been in business, under one name or another, since 1884.
BK
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AK,
We could pretend and all be watching the tube...we need something to break this losing streak
Posted by: K T (feeling retired) | May 29, 2008 at 11:33 PM
garvey, lopes, russell, cey
Posted by: johnnie b. baker | May 30, 2008 at 01:44 AM
my gawd!..........campy HAS to be included as one of 4, as all he did was win 3 MVP awards during the brooks' hey-days of the 50's.....then so sadly/tragically his HOF career was cut short one icy Jan. eve.........also, of course, jackie and sandy......... so, who is gonna be #4?........the duke (who ironically wore #4)..........leaving duke off would be akin to giants snubbing mays, or yanks omitting mantle
Posted by: bigunit | May 30, 2008 at 06:35 AM
If we're going with the bizarro Rushmore, how about:
Todd Hundley, Delino DeShields, J.D. Drew, and Paul DePodesta?
Posted by: SaMo | May 30, 2008 at 09:37 AM
There are a lot of ways to go here, I guess. The wasted money Mt. Rushmore (Dreifort must be there somewhere), the anti-Dodger Mt. Rushmore, some category that lets us enshrine Odalis Perez, and more.
The possibilities are endless, really.
BK
Posted by: Brian Kamenetzky | May 30, 2008 at 10:55 AM
Zach Wheat (who?), Jackie Robinson (a nod to the icon), Sandy Koufax, and Vin Scully.
My reasoning behind this:
1) Wheat is STILL the all-time leader in Dodger franchise Win Shares, and an inner-circle Hall of Famer. His number one and two Baseball-Reference similarity comps are Tony Gwynn and Roberto Clemente, two Cooperstown names from radically different offensive eras. His name still graces many of the franchise top ten lists, and he still owns the all-time franchise career records for plate appearances, at-bats, singles, doubles, and triples.
2) Robinson I do not believe I need to explain in any way.
3) Koufax is mainly emblemic; as difficult as it probably is to swallow for some, he is not an inner-circle HoFer, mainly because of the brevity of his period of dominance. (He is on a lot of the single-season recordbooks, but in career marks he tends to be in the middle, with the exception of career strikeouts.) However, from 1962 on, he was as dominant a pitcher as the league will ever see, and for that and his incredible postseason runs, he deserves enshrinement. Koufax epitomizes the success of the mid-60's Dodgers, and ironically like the Dodgers whom he followed to Los Angeles, was from Brooklyn.
4) Scully? Sure. One of the great things about having Extra Innings is that you get to compare broadcasters. Can fans of any other major market team even begin to compare? Not really; Vinny's got a story for every occaision. He's got a few simple rules in the booth: he works it himself, doesn't start stories on two out, and lets the crowd tell the story when something good happens. I don't know what fate will befall the Dodgers in the standings this year, but every day with Scully at the mike is a treasure.
Posted by: Rob McMillin | May 30, 2008 at 11:37 AM
It has to be Koufax, Robinson, Scully and LaSorda. If you're building a monument out of a mountain it has to have faces that are truly emblematic of the organization. Nobody embodies the Dodgers more than the 4 I listed. The only other viable candidates in my mind are Fernando, Branch Rickey and Roy Campinella.
Posted by: heyblue | May 31, 2008 at 12:53 PM