Gutzon Borglum chose George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln for Mount Rushmore because, “from his perspective, they represented the most important events in the history of the United States.”
If you were to extend that thinking to baseball, you would have to pick four players to represent the history of each franchise. Sports website Stadium Talk decided to do just that.
Credit: AJC photo illustration, rwatkins@AJC.com
Credit: AJC photo illustration, rwatkins@AJC.com
In compiling which four from each of the 30 MLB teams would be honored, Sports Talk had one stipulation: players only. "Space is at a premium, kids. No executives, managers, coaches, broadcasters, ballgirls, batboys or mascots allowed," it wrote.
Here is the Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves foursome chosen to be immortalized on Sports Talk’s fictional Mount Rushmore:
Henry ‘Hank’ Aaron
Position: Outfielder Career: 23 seasons (1954-76) Years with Braves: 21 seasons (1954-1974) Career stats: .305 batting average, 3,771 hits, 755 home runs Stats with Braves: .310 batting average, 3,600 hits, 733 home runs World Series championships: 1 (1957)
The team recently honored the Hall of Famer with the dedication of Hank Aaron Way at the Braves new spring training facility in North Port, Florida.
“Today we get to celebrate the greatest player to ever wear a Braves uniform, Henry Louis Aaron,” chairman Terry McGuirk said as he introduced Aaron. “But for our organization, Hank is much more than a ballplayer. He’s helped guide us ever since his playing days ended. His community outreach and philanthropy has surpassed any major-league record he’s attained.”
» Relive the night Hank Aaron hit No. 715 in Atlanta
» Photos: Four decades ago, Hank Aaron became home run king with 715th homer
Larry “Chipper” Jones
Position: Third baseman Career: 19 seasons, all with Braves (1993, 1995-2012) Career stats: .303 batting average, 2,726 hits, 468 home runs World Series championships: 1 (1995)
Jones was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot with 97.2-percent support from voting members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
"The first overall pick of the 1996 draft out of The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Fla., Jones was the Braves' Golden Boy and became a face of the franchise for baseball's team of the '90s. He was an Atlanta sports icon whose performance, good looks and self-assured demeanor contributed to first-name fame that stretched throughout the Southeast and well beyond the Mason-Dixon Line. In New York, Chipper was 'Chippuh!' — often preceded by an expletive," the AJC wrote when Jones was elected to the Hall of Fame.
» Chipper hits for emotional cycle in Hall of Fame speech
» Photos: Chipper Jones' final season
Eddie Mathews
Position: Third baseman Career: 17 seasons (1952-68) Years with Braves: 15 seasons (1952-66) Career stats: .271 batting average, 2,315 hits, 512 home runs Stats with Braves: .273 batting average, 2,201 hits, 493 home runs World Series championships: 1 (1957)
The Hall of Famer is the only player in franchise history to play for the Braves in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta. He averaged more than 30 home runs per year in his career, and holds club records for RBIs in a season since 1900 (135) and career walks (1,444). He was an All-Star nine times and played in three World Series.
Warren Spahn
Position: Pitcher Career: 21 seasons (1942, 1946-65) Years with Braves: 20 seasons (1942, 1946-64) Career stats: 750 games, 363 wins, 245 losses, 3.09 ERA Stats with Braves: 714 games, 356 wins, 229 losses, 3.05 ERA World Series championships: 1 (1957)
No left-handed pitcher has more wins than Spahn, who is fifth of all pitchers with 363 victories. He won 20 or more games, a National League-record, 13 times. He led the NL in wins eight times and complete games nine times, both major-league records. He was an All-Star 14 times, won the 1957 Cy Young award and threw two no-hitters.
Stadium Talk admits Pitchers Greg Maddux and Phil Niekro deserve a spot on the monument, but couldn’t replace any of the aforementioned players.
“Mad Dog and Knucksie deserve better,” it wrote, “but this is one tough crowd.”
What do you think? Would you pick these four, or would you replace one of them?
You can read which players Stadium Talk picked from other franchises here.
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