My all-time top ten list?

I love lists.  And since I’ve been having a little writer’s block, what better way to snap myself out of it then by blindly following MLBlogs directive to create a top ten list of my all-time favorite Red Sox players?

Who am I kidding?  I have no idea who my ten favorite players are.  There’s no way for me to whittle down all the Red Sox I’ve watched over the years and say "these ten guys are my favorites".  Besides, I’m pretty bad at taking direction, so I’m going to be a little creative with my list.  Instead of it being my favorites, it’s just going to be summaries of some of either the best, most memorable or just most colorful guys to walk the hallowed field of Fenway.  (And who played in my lifetime.)

I’m going to get all bohemian on you all and not even put them in alphabetical order (I’m a wild woman, I know).  So in NO particular order:

10.  Fred Lynn.  Think, Johnny Damon, with brains.  And an arm.  And a better average until he left Boston.  In fact, don’t think of Johnny Damon at all.  Fred Lynn was the Nomar Garciaparra of his day.  Young and wildly popular with projections of being a first ballot hall of famer (sadly, that went the same way Nomar’s chances seem to be going).  My first memory of him was a catch he made while doing practically a somersault and I was mesmerized.  He was amazing to watch…especially for a  young girl.  He was my reason for watching baseball…nothing else.   Until 1979, baseball MEANT Freddy Lynn to me.  Heck, even IN 1979, I had to write an essay on the person I admired most.  While everyone else wrote about their parents, siblings or grandparents…I wrote about Fred Lynn.  To this day, he is the one ‘famous person’ I most want to meet.  I have a baseball with his autograph on it and the legend  "MVP and Rookie of the Year 1975" that was given to me as a gift.  I will treasure it forever.

9.  Pedro Martinez.  It would have been tougher to write this one last year, but it’s even TOUGHER to deny that being able to see Pedro pitch in person as many times as I have is a baseball-related honor I will probably never top (unless I get to meet Fred Lynn!).  Between 2000-2004, I was in attendance for approximately 20 games pitched by Petey.  He lost a few, he won most…and in every appearance he gave everything he had…and usually made a few batters look foolish.  His antics on his off-days were fun to watch too.  Pedro was all business on game day, but he was a lot of fun when he wasn’t pitching.  That’s a strange combination.  A superstar pitcher who fools around like a rookie when he’s off the mound.  Pedro meant everything to the fans of Boston, myself included.  After his performance out of the bullpen in the 1999 ALDS, he will forever be a pitching hero in my mind.  His departure brought a lot of bad feelings around, but for me those are mostly gone now.  I’d really like to be in Fenway this year when the Mets arrive, because I want one last chance to say ‘thank you’ to Pedro.

Okay…there you have two…more to come.  🙂