Pretty standard lineup for the Washington Nationals has Jason Werth and Bryce Harper batting back-to-back. Both are known for a fairly high level of doucheiness.
Is there currently another pair of back-to-back hitters in MLB that can out-douche this pair?
I think Kent and Bonds used to hit back to back for the Giants, so that may be the historical winner. Anyone got another nominee?
Historically? Canseco and McGwire would be my pick.
How about Mark Teixeria and A-Rod?
Actually, A-Rod with anyone should do it.
Ty Cobb 4th, Jesus 5th.
The 2001-2003 Texas Rangers sported many lineups with Alex Rodriguez and Rafael Palmiero hitting consecutively. I win. They outdouche any combo I can think of.
Palmiero was a huge, huge douchebag even before the steroids thing.
Ty Cobb went into the stands and beat the shit out of a cripple. There needs to be some weighting to account for that or else, like hrhomer points out, Cobb pretty much overshadows anyone by himself.
Can I ask what makes Werth and Harper douches? The son of a colleague plays ball with Werth’s son and says he’s a regular guy.
Good question. I made my glib contribution about Cobb as a knee-jerk reaction, but I also haven’t heard about Werth being a jerk. Harper, a little.
Has A.J. Pierzynski hit next to any other choice assholes?
Anyways, OP, I didn’t know you were Jeff Pearlman. BTW, I need to get around to reading “Boys Will Be Boys”, I understand it’s quite good.
In all seriousness, I’ve never met either guy. The MLB players I have met—I haven’t met many—have had…exaggerated opinions of their worth. It would take a lot to stand out as a d-bag in that group of people.
Although some of the examples in this blog post on Werth would qualify.
Harper? I know people expected him to be kind of a douche based on how he carried himself in the minors but pretty much all sportswriters have said he has turned out to be a pretty classy guy. Yeah he’s had his outbursts, he’s a 19yo playing in the majors, but he hasn’t been any more of a douche than the rest of the league.
I thought the “clown question bro” quote was great. The reporter was trying to get Harper to say that he can drink a beer in Canada, but not in the uptight US. I think Harper is also a Mormon, so the reporter’s question was also culturally insensitive.
Werth doesn’t like to sign autographs for adults, but he will sign them freely for little kids. He has said that he doesn’t like to sign stuff just so it can go up on ebay. Sounds kid of classy to me.
It WAS a clown question.
I guess McGwire’s PED use and performance before the congressional committee makes him an a-hole, but he’s not much of one compared to some of the others on this list.
Historically, Rogers Hornsby comes in second behind Ty Cobb. While Hornsby wasn’t violent, he was despised by almost everyone he came in contact with. Hornsby seemed to take pleasure in offending people - Bill James described him as “creatively rude.”
Hornsby and Ducky Medwick played together on the 1933 Cardinals. Medwick was also widely hated - he got in a lot of fights. I don’t know if they ever batted back-to-back, but if they did I’d say they should get the all-time award for joint a-holery.
I’m not sure that any Philadelphia fan can be credible on the subject of douchiness in player-fan relations. And even in some of those examples, as presented, I’m inclined to side more with Werth.
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Wow, so the 2 best pure hitters of all time were major douchebags? With Bonds and Ruth the best power hitters, that makes 4 pretty awful people at the top of the offensive charts (although Babe was a love’im AND hate’im sort of guy apparently). Hopefully Albert Pujols can continue his run and be the token decent guy up there, along with Ted Williams I guess.
The cripple was bench jockeying Cobb, calling him a “n*****r”. Not that Cobb was any great shakes, he was a bigot and a mean person too, most of the time.
I don’t think Babe Ruth was ever regarded as a bad guy, except for a few managerial disputes. A big, overgrown kid who loved booze, food and women. But people were fond of him, or at least in awe.
Bill James once noted a lot of left fielders, are jerks: Jesse “The Crab” Burkett, Ducky Medwick, Dave Kingman, Barry Bonds. Something about their personalities makes many of them not practice defense and they end up in left, the least challenging defensive position.
Ted Williams is tough to figure out. He is highly eulogized today but many Boston sportswriters of his day didn’t like him. I remember coming across a Sporting News article from the early 1950s and it is amazing how many teams said openly they didn’t want him, would not trade the likes of Hoot Evers, Ned Garver, Ferris Fain or Chico Carrasquel for him.
In the early 1920s the Yankes had two pitchers, Carl Mays and Bullet Joe Bush who were unlikeable. Manager Miller Huggins, on his deathbed, said he would have helped any of his players, except those two. Mays and Bush he would kick into the gutter.
Werth and Harper are anything but assholes, but perhaps I feel that way because I am a Nats fan. Either way, it was absolutely hilarious to me what he did to Phillies fans at last nights game.
Bill “Spaceman” Lee said,
I’m not sure I agree with him, but it’s an interesting perspective.
Especially the part where he followed it up with batting in two runners, locking in the win.