I'm going to try a little experiment here. It's your job to tell me how off-base I am (easiest job in the world, right?)Living in the Northeast, I have a pretty good idea of how the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry works. There is always a certain player on each team that the opposite side finds absolutely hateful. This is the player who is heckled the most, jeered at, and generally ridiculed from inning one to inning nine.
That player, for many Yankees fans, is Kevin Youkilis. I can't find a Yankee fan who has ever said something good about him. Personally, I love the guy because he gets under so many Yankees fans' skin. Keep doing what you do, Youk, maybe a few more Yankees fans will have to spend money on blood pressure pills.
I think it's fairly safe to say that the most despised player on the Yankees, from a rival fan's perspective, is Alex Rodriguez. I, personally, have issues with Mark Teixeira, but he hasn't built up a history of irksomeness that can match A-Rod. Yet.
Now, what I am going to do here is guess who the most despised player is on each major league team, at least from the perspective of fans of that team's rival. This is going to be difficult, because I don't have a vested interest in many of these teams. So, it's up to you to tell me how far off I am. Think about it. Think about the teams you dislike. What player on those teams do you dislike the most? Did I get it right?
OK, here we go:
AL East
Yankees: Alex Rodriguez
Red Sox: Kevin Youkilis
Rays: Toughy. Personally, I found Grant Balfour annoying during the postseason.
Blue Jays: Kevin Millar
Orioles: No idea. Melvin Mora?
AL Central
Tigers: Magglio Ordonez
White Sox: A.J. Pierzynski
Twins: Delmon Young? Gosh I don't know. Do people actually heckle the Twins? That seems mean.
Indians: Grady Sizemore (somebody's got to be jealous of all his lady friends)
Royals: Kyle Farnsworth. Again, if you're heckling the Royals and you're not a Royals fan ticked off at their ineptitude, then you might have issues
AL West
Angels: Bobby Abreu
Rangers: Josh Hamilton (wherever there's someone trying to clean up his life, there will always be haters)
Mariners: Well, my first problem is I don't recognize half the names. Is Richie Sexson still on the team? No? Um, how about Kenji Jojihma.
A's: Nomar Garciaparra
NL East
Phillies: Jimmy Rollins
Marlins: Dan Uggla. That's a total guess.
Braves: Chipper Jones
Mets: Either K-Rod or Sheff, that is if he's still on the team.
Nationals: Got me. Elijah Dukes?
NL Central
Cardinals: I want to say Ryan Franklin, just because of that monster Amish tribute hanging from his chin. But I'm guessing Pujols gets his share of boos.
Cubs: Milton Bradley
Astros: Miguel Tejada
Brewers: Prince Fielder
Reds: Bronson Arroyo
Pirates: Lastings Milledge (again, if you're booing Pirates, shame on you. Do you go to hospitals and heckle people waiting in the emergency room, too?)
NL West
Dodgers: Manny Ramirez
Rockies: Troy Tulowitzki
Giants: It's just not the same without Big-Head Barry. Pablo Sandoval
Diamondbacks: Stephen Drew (guilt by association)
Padres: Heath Bell
OK, that was even more difficult than I thought it would be. The problem is I have no connection to a lot of these teams, so I don't know the individual personalities and season-long history between clubs. But I'm sure you do.
Comments
I think Manny will soon be replaced by Padilla, he'll even be hated by Dodgers fans.
When I listen to the Phils play away games, J-Roll, Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino consistently receive the most boos.
Yankees...we in Baltimore are still foaming at the mouth about Teixeira. Stupid frat-boy who spent years giving lip service to his hometown, then as soon as the Yanks ponied up 180 million bucks he had a phony story about Don Mattingly being his favorite player...feh. He may nudge out A-Roid, who gets heaps of abuse from all directions anyway.
Melvin Mora's not well-liked by his hometown fans, either. When you're 37 years old and you've got 4 HR all year and you're whining about being "disrespected" when the manager benches you, you won't win many folks over.