Around the Hornsby

If I had seen this poll about ten years ago, there would have been only two second basemen on this list for me. Joe Morgan and Ryne Sandberg. When I was a little kid, Little Joe was the man. I emulated that funky pre-swing stance and everything. Then came Ryno. I had never seen anyone like him at second base. He was outstanding in the field and hit monster shots to boot.

At that time, I had little knowledge of the older players. I thought they served merely to pave the way for the players who were actually good, the ones that I watched. Youthful ignorance gave way to passionate curiousity about baseball and I learned through research and conversations who and what I had missed. Suddenly, I wanted to have seen the sweet stroke of the Splendid Splinter and the awesome fireball of Sandy Koufax. But I still didn't believe that anyone could be a better second baseman than Morgan and Sandberg. Then, one day, I was watching some baseball game and I heard Joe Morgan himself say that Rogers Hornsby was the greatest second baseman who ever played. Whoa! Hold on there Little Joe. You must be mistaken. Well, he wasn't. That day, I decided to do a little research on "Rajah".

He refused to read newspapers or books for fear it may hurt his precious eyesight. He once said, "People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." His lifetime batting average is second only to the Georgia Peach. They say that a rookie pitcher threw him three balls once that just missed and was frustrated and probably frightened of the Rajah. "Ump", the rookie said. "Those pitches were strikes!!" The umpire took off his mask, looked out at the rook and said, "Young man, when you throw a strike, Mr. Hornsby will let you know."

All the players on this list that deserve recognition among the greats. Even Alomar. I know he's young but his numbers last year (.323 BA, 24 HR, 120 RBI, 138 Runs, 37 SB, and an OPS of .955) are comparable to any season ever achieved. I disagree with spitting in Hirschbeck's face whatever he said, but there is no denying that Roberto is one of the greats.

Okay, one more baseball poll and then we head back to the cinema. The new poll wants to know: who is the 6 to go along with Rogers' 4 in the all time team?

I need noms for the Sunday poll. What was thre greatest animated movie of the nineties? I want all the nominees, not just Disney. If it had animated characters, I want it in there. Send them to me at lawdogusc@hotmail.com.

Poll Topic: Greatest 20th Century Second Baseman
Rogers Hornsby	28.1% - (120 Votes)
Joe Morgan	18.5% - (79 Votes)
Jackie Robinson	15.4% - (66 Votes)
Ryne Sandberg	14% - (60 Votes)
Roberto Alomar	6.3% - (27 Votes)
Rod Carew	6.1% - (26 Votes)
Bill Mazeroski	4.2% - (18 Votes)
Napoleon Lajoie	2.8% - (12 Votes)
Eddie Collins	1.1% - (5 Votes)
Bobby Doerr	1.1% - (5 Votes)
Charlie Gehringer	0.9% - (4 Votes)
Joe Gordon	0.4% - (2 Votes)
Bobby Grich	0.2% - (1 Votes)
Frankie Frisch	0.2% - (1 Votes)
Total Votes: 426