Now that Mike Trout is signing for what will surely be the balance of his career to play for the Angels, he has a distinct opportunity to join what has become a shrinking club: the great player who plays every moment of his career for one team.
This is something that fascinates us as sports fans and it’s intriguing why: after all, there is an equal if not a better thrill when your favored team makes an acquisition (Mark Messier, Gary Carter, Dave DeBusschere) that puts it over the top, and those players are just as revered as anyone else.
But when you run the table in one uniform, there’s something that adds an extra level of endearment to your legacy (and given the exodus of guys we thought might be lifers around here, Kristaps Porzingis and Odell Beckham Jr., this seems especially relevant now). Who are our nine iron soldiers? As with most of the fun subjects we discuss here, that’s a subjective answer. Here are mine. Do you disagree? Let me know!
Yankees: Lou Gehrig. As with just about every other category you can think of, the Yankees overwhelm with achievement and thus overwhelm with nominees, although for once you can eliminate the consensus all-time Yankee, since Babe Ruth sandwiched his time with the Yankees between stints with the Boston Americans and the Boston Nationals.
And the candidate pool is absurdly deep for this one: Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Thurman Munson, Don Mattingly. You can probably make an equal case for Gehrig, Mantle or DiMaggio, and I hope some of you share those cases. But it’s the Iron Horse for me. Some of his yearly stat lines you have to stare at twice to even believe them.
Mets: David Wright. And, as with almost every historical comparison between the Yankees and the Mets, we are talking about one extreme and the other. Before Wright took his leave of the sport late last year, the holder of this spot would have been Ed Kranepool — a fine player, an Original Met, one of the most popular players in team history … but not exactly Gehrig.
As colleague Joel Sherman pointed out, the real shocking thing is that, for now, the only pitching candidate for this honor has to be Jacob deGrom (with all of four full seasons on the books) because the only other one is … Bob Apodaca.
Giants: Lawrence Taylor. When someone reinvents a position as LT did, he has to get the nod over a two-time championship quarterback like Eli Manning, even though Manning would surely get the citizenship medal. Also receiving votes: Frank Gifford, Phi Simms, Tiki Barber, Michael Strahan.
Jets: Wesley Walker. It tells you how fickle this subject is that the three names that ought to be no-brainers for this list — Joe Namath, Joe Klecko, Gerry Philbin — aren’t even eligible thanks to one-season cameos elsewhere late in their careers (Namath in Los Angeles, Klecko in Indianapolis, Philbin in Philadelphia).
But Walker is certainly a worthy placeholder, probably the most electric player to wear a Jets uniform, the only one he ever wore from 1977-89. Others receiving votes: Freeman McNeil, Mark Gastineau, Larry Grantham, Nick Mangold.
Knicks: Willis Reed. All 728 of The Captain’s regular-season and postseason games were played in a Knicks uniform, he was the heart and soul of two champions, won two Finals MVPs. If not for Patrick Ewing’s late-career wanderings, this would’ve been a fun debate; instead, Reed wins in a comfortable and almost unopposed race against Bill Bradley.
Nets: N/A. And finally, we hit a snag. You can argue that at least the 25 best players in Nets history all played elsewhere, too — Kerry Kittles, who played one year with the Clippers, is the closest, but he did play that one year with the Clippers. So, really, the choice is yours to figure out, because far as I can tell, the late, lamented Yinka Dare (110 games, all with the Nets) might actually be the pick here.
Rangers: Rod Gilbert. Gilbert played every minute of his career with the Rangers, and he did so elegantly — though he never did win a Stanley Cup. If that’s your standard, then it’s just as easy to go with Mike Richter, a Ranger for all 14 of his seasons, all 666 of his regular-season games and all 76 playoff games.
Devils: Patrik Elias. You forgot that Marty Brodeur finished up in St. Louis, didn’t you?
Islanders: Mike Bossy. Maybe John Tavares would’ve had a shot. Oh, well.
Vac Whacks
As you already read in the excerpt that ran in The Post last week, “Inside the Empire” by Bob Klapisch and Paul Solotaroff is the first must-read of the baseball season. Some excellent behind-the-scenes reporting from cover to cover.
Phil Martelli was a terrific coach at St. Joseph’s, but he has also been one of the sport’s sage voices and ambassadors.
And I’ll never forget how he publicly stood up for St. Bonaventure when the Bonnies got snubbed by the NCAA Selection Committee in 2016. College basketball certainly could use an ombudsman.
If he’s done coaching, they should create that job for him.
If you want to see just how fun the business of calling basketball on TV can be, go find the last few minutes of that Nets-Kings game the other night and listen to Ryan Ruocco and Sarah Kustok. Just fantastic.
If you haven’t seen the “One Shining Moment” Lakers video … do yourself a favor. Go to @Showtime-Forum and watch it.
Whack Back at Vac
Scott Wolinetz: The beauty of sports is Ichiro Suzuki’s standing ovation in Japan for his final game.
Vac: One of the great thrills of my life as a sports fan is that I got to see Ichiro hit a baseball. He was a privilege to watch.
Stuart Marvin: Sad but true, St. John’s didn’t belong. The trouble with too much data dependency is it doesn’t recognize emotion and heart. I’d love to see a stat of another team in prior years getting an at-large bid with a stretch run record remotely close to SJU’s. This was likely unprecedented.
Vac: We were told the teams wouldn’t be judged as closely by how they finished the season as they were in past years. St. John’s inclusion proves that was true.
@PTonero: I personally don’t get why Shamorie Ponds would not come back, but I understand it is a very difficult decision, as returning brings great risk as well.
@MikeVacc: That’s the delicate part. If he can make good money, he has to go. If staying can help guarantee he’ll make better money? I really think he has to ponder staying.
Ron Perri: Are there any photos in existence of Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Pavano standing next to each other?
Vac: As George King might say: American Idle 2.0.