A Fun Exercise

A few weeks back someone on Net54 started a thread asking folks to name the best player they saw in person.... 1) in the first game they attended and 2) ever (in a game you attended). High school and college games were OK. 'Best player in the first game' meant 'best guy on the field', not necessarily the one who had the best game that day. You were supposed to answer for the Big Four sports but, as is usually the case with internet things, not everyone followed directions. And some replies stated they had never seen a game in a certain sport in person, etc. A few dolts, like me for instance, tossed in an extra sport or two.

I thought it was interesting and it wasn't as easy as it sounded at first.  There were certainly no wrong answers. I was entertained by some of the responses and I also immediately thought it would make a fun blog post if I could find cards of each player I named. Turns out I could. So here it goes.

Best player, first game attended, baseball.

July of 1960 at Yankee Stadium, Yanks vs White Sox. Mickey Mantle

It was a doubleheader and Mantle batted fifth. He whiffed, doubled and singled off Billy Pierce and hit a sac fly in the ninth off Frank Bauman in a 6-3 Sox win. The Yanks were loaded, of course, and the Sox had some big-name stars but Mickey obviously wins as 'best guy to play' in that game. He'd be close to being the best player I saw live, ever. But after some internal debate I have to go with this guy:

Best player, ever seen live, baseball.

Willie Mays

I considered Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, and some others but Willie was Willie. There wasn't anything he couldn't do on a ballfield. I was fortunate enough to have seen him while he was still in his prime in the early 60s. Interestingly one of the responders had these same two guys but in the opposite category. I know there are no 'wrong' answers here but ...whatever.


Best player, first game attended, football.

Circa 1961 Nutley N.J. High School games. Ben Hawkins

My original answer was Keith Lincoln. I was thinking of pro sports exclusively at first and he was likely the best player in the first pro game I saw, an Oilers-Chargers affair in 1967.

Then I remembered that I had seen plenty of football in the Nutley Park Oval growing up. I can't specifically recall seeing him but Ben Hawkins was the star at Nutley High in those days. He went on to glory at Arizona Stae and had some great days in the NFL with the Eagles. He led the NFL in yards in 1967.

Best player, ever seen live, football.

John Unitas

I wouldn't even venture a guess as to how many football games I've witnessed. From high school (even disregarding coaching), University of Houston games since 1970, Giants game with my Dad, Oilers, and Texans as a season ticket holder, etc.. I've seen plenty. I never saw Jim Brown play in person but I have seen about everyone else in the modern game, Brady, Gale Sayers, Manning, Marino, Lawrence Taylor, Earl Campbell and so on. None of them tops Johnny Unitas. I don't care how many rings any of them wear. Unitas is the best I've ever seen at imposing his will on a game. Are there better quarterbacks? Maybe. Better FOOTBALL PLAYERS? Nope.

Best player, first game attended, basketball.

Circa 1965 NBA doubleheader, old Madison Square Garden at 49th and 8th. Wilt Chamberlain

 My uncle, the Secaucus pharmacist, used to get tickets to everything through his connections. But he wasn't a sports fan at all and those tickets got passed to my father and so I saw plenty of games I ordinarily wouldn't have. Lots of Knicks games, for example. They used to have NBA doubleheaders at the Garden in the early/mid-60s. You'd see Pistons-Sixers and then the Knicks and Hawks or someone.

I wouldn't want to guess what year I saw the game but I remember Wilt and his Philadelphia crew playing in that old, dank' dingy Garden.

Best player, ever seen live, basketball.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Here's why: "Abdul-Jabbar was Rookie of the Year, a member of six NBA championship teams, a six-time NBA MVP, a two-time NBA Finals MVP, a 19-time All-Star, a two-time scoring champion and a member of the NBA 35th and 50th Anniversary All-Time Teams."

That's not even considering that he was clearly the best high school player and best college player prior to his pro career. His skyhook was unstoppable. You want Jordan? I'll take Jabbar.

Best player, first game attended, hockey.

1959-60/1960-61 Leafs-Rangers at the old MSG. Dave Keon

I'm not sure which Leafs-Rangers game I attended. I remember the Rangers lost. Davey Keon was a Leafs legend. I looked at the rosters for both teams during those seasons. Keon was no doubt the best player on either team.

Best player, ever seen live, hockey.

Gordie Howe.

Saw him with the Wings and Aeros. He's Mr. Hockey. I could have put Bobby Orr here, he was astounding and changed the game. I never saw Gretzky live. But no matter...it's Gordie.

Best player, first game attended, soccer. 

At Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands w/the Cosmos circa 1975/76. Pele

I can't pin down which game it was I attended with my father and uncle but I remember that it rained a bit and Pele was a huge deal. LOL

Best player, ever seen live, soccer.

Pele.

Like Gordie Howe, he's the all-time face of his sport, at least IMHO. I've seen Lionel Messi play, he's a magician on the pitch and maybe one day I will put him in this spot. But not yet.

That was kind of fun to put together. I dug up some fun memories for myself.

Icee Bear Hoops Stars

Remember that time you threw a pot luck dinner and your cousin brought a bag of store-bought mini donuts? That's cousin is me whenever I post basketball cards in the middle of Topps new set release season. I get a funny look from most people and then they move on to the bloggers who found the advance copy of the new Gypsy Queen checklist.

But then there are the two people at the party who LOVE store-bought mini donuts. So I'm posting for them today.

I'm nearly done with the '72 Icee Bear set. Added several of the more costly stars in recent weeks. I don't look at a ton of basketball cards so I can't say offhand if many cards listed this guy as "Kareem Jabbar". I almost never see anything but the full "Kareem Abdul Jabbar".  Sometimes hyphenated, sometimes not.

Interesting picture as are most in this set.

Wilt's card is a completely different style of photo than the others in the set. I think that's one of the things that got me interested in these things...20 cards with almost as many different types of photos.

Check out the Icee Bear Fact on Wilt's card. He was ROY, MVP, ASG MVP and the league scoring and rebounding leader in 1959/60. Not a bad year.  At 7' 1" and 275 lbs. he'd have made a helluva tight end if he had taken up football.

I hardly have any John Havlicek cards which is surprising because I was a big fan of his and the Celtics growing up. My kids have a hard time believing that but it's true. 

Anyway check out this great piece of NBA history. "Havlicek Stole The Ball!!! It's All Over!!!" Oh that Johnny Most call is fun.

I had a friend who was a fan of the Lakers and in particular Jerry West. We got into some big debates over who the best NBA guard was. I always took up for Oscar Robertson. He never backed down from his Jerry West argument.

Pistol Pete Maravich is the only card I've picked up with a noticeable flaw. The stain along the bottom left is also on the reverse. I can live with it as it brought the price down quite a bit.

The 1971 Topps set used the same photo..with a different but equally fake background. Interesting that the Icee Bear card has washed out colors, at least for the jersey.

And finally here is The Hawk, Connie Hawkins. He almost never smiles.

EDIT: I just realized that I posted this card not long ago after I got it at the TriStar show. That's OK, you can never get too much Hawk goodness.

I think this is the same photo as the one on the '72 Topps. 

The rest of the set (there are twenty in all) is now in my sights. Once I'm done I will be able to concentrate on the '70-'71 Topps basketball set. I have a baseball project lined up to follow that one though.

Have another donut why don't you?