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Try this at work. Interesting thoughts from non-baseball fans

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cbrandtw

Active member
Sep 12, 2008
1,573
1
Daphne, AL
A couple of instances recently prompted me into trying to determine what non-baseball fans knew of the game. About a month ago I picked up a Christy Mathewson card during works hours and told someone in the office about it. That individual quickly said, "I thought you collected baseball cards. Why are you getting a card of a girl?" About a week or two after that I was reading a baseball message board where everyone was offering opinions on who they believed would be the 4 members of the Baseball Mount Rushmore. That thread led me to wonder who non-baseball enthusiasts would give that deserving honor to. I started my next staff meeting with baseball talk and passed out index cards to 14 managers who range in age from 26-61. I then asked them to keep to themselves and not share anything with anyone in the room but simply write down what four players in the history of the game of baseball would create the Baseball Mount Rushmore. I also said if you don't know 4 players then write down what you do know and then hand their results in to me. Here are the results:

Babe Ruth- 11
Hank Aaron- 7
Ted Williams/Lou Gehrig- 3
Rose/Wagner/Dimaggio/Cobb/Mays/Mantle- 2
ARod/Ryan/Doubleday/Tug McGraw/Griffey Sr./Griffey Jr./J. Robinson/Cy Young/Koufax/Jeter/W. Ford/Sosa- 1
(Football player) Reggie White- 1
And how one person actually thought Wayne Gretzky played baseball is incomprehensible

Four people were not able to come up with four players.
By the way, I believe the original thread I read that prompted me to do this came up with Ruth, Aaron, Jackie and Mantle.
 

MrMet

Well-known member
Apr 6, 2010
13,556
612
The Poconos
Surprised with the younger people there aren't more newer players, when I asked a few baseball guys at work [MENTION=11924]AnthonyCorona[/MENTION] trivia question he posted a couple days ago, they didn't get either, but said Rick Ankiel would have probably been easier to get than Babe Ruth...really?!


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finestkind

Well-known member
Aug 17, 2008
3,986
901
Massachusetts
There are some funny Youtube videos where Jay Leno ask people on the street about American history or about the US government. Some pretty dumb people in this country.
 

mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,187
4,087
Believe me, I agree with you on that last part 100%. However; history, government and current events are much different than sports, especially when you are talking about past sports. I believe that you will find more people who have very little clue about sports much more frequently than the first couple of subjects. The same can be said for other special interest areas. Ask me to name artists, for example, and I can probable;y rattle off some more famous names who would be featured in the news, movies, etc and that would be it.

There are some funny Youtube videos where Jay Leno ask people on the street about American history or about the US government. Some pretty dumb people in this country.

This may sound sexist, but how many managers were women in that sample? I would be willing to bet that they would be more likely to struggle with the 4.
 

mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,187
4,087
I decided to ask my wife this question as well, after telling her about your work poll. Now keep in mind that although I don't spend a great deal of time discussing sports with her, nor is she overly interested when I do speak of it, she has probably picked up some additional knowledge along the way that the average wife wouldn't.

Her Baseball Mt Rushmore was as follows:

#1 pick, she quickly and boldly proclaimed "Babe Ruth".

#2 pick, equally as quick and boldly was "Jackie Robinson".

#3 pick was where she started to stall out. "I'm not sure I can come up with 4" before blurting out…"Oh yeah, what about that dead guy!" and after a brief pause…."Lou Gehrig".

#4 pick requiring some prompting. My 14 year old son shouted "Ty Cobb" and my wife took as her own that, but I rejected it because she didn't come up with it. Then she complained that she didn't know any more older players. I reminded her that it didn't have to be old time players, just someone who defines the game. "Cal Ripken. Wasn't he famous for his batting average or his home run total?".

So there you have it. The Mt Rushmore from a 48 year old female non-sports fan who is married to a baseball card collector.
 

finestkind

Well-known member
Aug 17, 2008
3,986
901
Massachusetts
I asked my wife to name 4 famous baseball players. She could only name Babe Ruth. I asked her to name two others, she came up with Reggie Jackson and Pete Rose after putting some thought into it. For football, all she could thing of was Joe Namath. She doesn't follow sports at all. She thought I was teasing her.
 

gamecockfanatic

Active member
Jun 17, 2009
945
25
Gamecock Country
I disagree on Jackie Robinson *duck*


frankly i think who should be considered as the big four would depend upon the criteria being defined a bit more

do you mean the 4 :

with the greatest overall physical ability ? mays , winfield , bonds , henderson

with the greatest overall on-field productivity ? mays , aaron , ruth , bonds

with the greatest popularity among fans ? ruth , mantle , griffey , jeter

with the greatest historical impact in ESTABLISHING the game ? doubleday , mack , ruth , young

with the greatest impact in CHANGING/REVOLUTIONIZING the game ? ruth , robinson , aaron , ripken

i'm sure there are many other criteria that could be used and many qualified candidates for each of them....above are just a few and my personal 4 for each...
 

WoundedDuck

Active member
Aug 23, 2008
2,904
2
My wife's responses:

Babe Ruth - blurted out instantly

Mickey Mantle - small pause but she settled on Mantle pretty quickly

Hank Aaron - she really worked for this one. It didn't come quick but once she had it she was confident.

Nolan Ryan - Thought she was going to give up before getting a fourth. Nolan was the only name she could come up with and there was a lot of reservation. She figured he was a pitcher, but wasn't sure.



All said, she did pretty well in my opinion.

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