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This series in St. Louis has caused me to ponder on yet another irrelevant topic. Over the years, the Reds have faced a number of opponents that I loved to watch play: Greg Maddux, Barry Bonds, Adam Dunn (unfortunately), Albert Pujols, and, going a little further back, Mike Schmidt. These are guys that I always wished the Reds could acquire, for obvious reasons.
On the flip side of that coin, there really haven’t been any opponents that I have genuinely disliked. I’ve been trying to think of some, but none are coming to mind. Until now….
I really, really can’t stand the St. Louis pitcher Chrissy Carpenter. That guy kills me.
What about you? Is there one guy on another team that just gets under your skin?
I’m sure you’ll think of them. They don’t have to be Bill Hall types, either.
Edmonds would’ve topped my list. I guess he still does, as an opponent.
Shane Victorino. I can’t stand him. I don’t like Yadier Molina either.
Several Braves pitchers spring to mind. Glavine, because he always seemed to win. I hated Gene Garber.
I grew to despise Bonds and McGwire. I guess we know the real reason why now.
#1 most ‘under your skin’ guy has gotta be Carpenter. Don’t care much for Jayson Werth or Alfonso Soriano either. Going way back – I never could stand Steve Garvey. Managers? Gotta be Larussa. Didn’t like him in Oakland, can’t stand him in St. Louis.
On the flip side…Most respected player not a Red – Gotta be Pujols.
@Python Curtus: I despised that staff in Atlanta because of that pitch 4 inches off the plate that always seemed to be called a strike for those guys(mainly Glavine and Maddux)
I dont like Dempster – mainly because of how he bombed with the Reds. Yes I know he got hurt – I dont care – I still dont like him. It doesnt even matter that he has a career 2-5 record vs the Reds with 5 saves (if I counted right). It just irritates me whenever he pitches well now.
I never liked Jim Edmonds, and going back a bit, Ray Knight. Of course, both those guys eventually ended up with the Reds.
Showing my age, but it’s still the Dodgers…Cey, Lopes, Russell, Garvey, Baker…all of them, hated them then, still hate the blinkin’ Dodgers.
Every New York Met.
Two words: Will Clark.
Edmonds.
Does Tommy Lasorda count?
Jason Werth.
He just, so, UGH. I mean, Howard and Rollins are good players, but Werth… I heard a rumor we were trying to get him, he is just such a jerk.
Fukudome. I hate him. HATE HIM. 1. he’s horrible. 2. Cub fans love him because they are dumb as rocks.
Haha. Nyjer Morgan
Aaron Harang.
Oh, wait. Has to be an opponent.
Well, then, if I can’t choose Harang I’m not choosing anyone.
Here’s a quick hate list:
Dodgers from ’61 thru ’65, especially Drysdale and Maury Wills.
1970′s Dodgers, mainly LaSorda.
The 1970′s Pirates, especially the 1979 Pirates, with their wives dancing on top of the Reds’ dugout in the NLCS, singing “We are Family.”
1976 Yankees – Billy Martin. What a sweet sweep.
The Mets from ’86 thru ’90. The most arrogant bunch of a_holes I can remember, from Hernandez to Ray Knight to Dykstra, smiley Carter, Backman the lunatic, Darling the male model, Daryl. In 1990 they said of the Reds; “These guys think they can beat us !”
Tom Glavine and Maddux, even after they left the Braves.
The Astros Killer Bs: Biggio, Bagwell, etc., later Berkman. The hatred peaked when Jeff Kent joined them.
The Cards: LaRussa, Chris Carpenter.
I forgot Will Clark. How could I forget Will Clark ?
SIngle most disliked player: Roger Clemens.
I always hated Rickey Henderson. Growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, I always hated his arrogance.
I started hating Barry Bonds more and more when he kept breaking records and you knew he was cheating to break them. But for now, I may have to go with Chad on this one and go Carpenter and Molina. I always have a tough time hating Molina because I think back to when I used to watch him play rookie ball in Johnson City, TN. The year that Ankiel got sent down to the minors to figure out his control was the same year that Yadier was catcher for the Cardinals rookie league team. I just like the fact that I saw this guy play rookie league ball. But as a player now, I hate him.
The worst losers ever: Dave Stewart and Ricky Henderson, who insisted that the A’s would beat the Reds “70 out of 100″ after we swept them in ’90.
Stewart went out of his way for years afterwards to insult Jose Rijo, who beat him twice.
I mean I could name most of the cardinals roster, but it focuses on a few main players. I already didn’t like them, but after the brawling incident this year Yadir Molina, Chris Carpenter, Jason Larue, and most of all Tony LaRusa. I can’t STAND the man
George Steinbriner, and all the yankees.
@shadow32: Harang.
@pinson343: Don’t know how I forgot about Stewart. Hated him.
Never was a Ricky fan, but came to respect him late in his career when he kept playing just ’cause he loved the game. He even played in a independent league just caused he loved to play. It wasn’t about the money, he had been smart with his money and was set for life – he just wanted to play baseball.
I hated the Braves pitchers. They got strikes no one else got, and if an ump did actually call the correct strike zone, they complained about being squeezed – like they were entitled to a larger strike zone than anyone else. That infernal tomahawk chop drives me nuts too (part of the reason I also hate Florida State).
I can’t point to many specific Cardinals players. All of this has been said before, but the whole of that team grates on me. The have this sense of entitlement, this arrogance, have (or have had) way too many miracle players over the years who seemed to come from nowhere (Pujols, Ludwick, Ankiel) or mediocrity (Carpenter, Franklin). I call shenanigans.
Jim Edmonds used to embody everything I disliked about the Cardinals. I can’t believe that d-bag plays for the Reds now. I’m going to have trouble rooting for him if he sticks around. If that makes me a bad fan, sorry.
Also, I refuse to like or respect the entire category of former Reds who stunk here, only to magically remember how to play baseball when they left, or who became Reds killers and Reds killers only. Really, pick any era and find the Reds killers of that era, and you’ve got who I dislike the most.
Maybe I do need therapy. This season has been very good for my mental state.
@John: I doubt Edmonds is sticking around. No reason to keep an expensive, injury-prone OF (or 1B) around next year with so many young guys chomping at the bit for playing time.
Soon, I hope, you can add Harang to the category of former Reds who stunk. Then perhaps you can add him to your “most disliked” list. Really. I hate that guy (as a baseball player – I think he’s a perfectly respectable human being). More than anyone in baseball. Too bad he’s on my favorite team.
@shadow32: I don’t get the Harang hatred. His worst season was because he got practically no run support. He’s a #3 or #4 on most teams, but the Reds tried to make him an ace, so everybody else’s ace beats him.
He won 16 games twice, led the league in strikeouts and complete games once each. The Reds rode him like a rented mule there for a while because he was all they had — I can’t fault him if his arm’s about to fall off now.
Up until Dusty got here, he was a hammer. You really can trace the arc of his career to that meaningless extra inning game against San Diego in 2008. That’s when everything got screwed up, and he hasn’t been the same since. Amazing, but true.
He’s a shadow of who he was in 2006-07, but there’s still something left in the tank. He just can’t find it. He’ll go somewhere else, get a fresh start, get back into a routine, and come back to beat the Reds. Or they’ll re-sign him at a tremendous discount based on the last few years.
Always and forever will hate the LA Dodgers; love the Brooklyn Dodgers though, go figure.
Most hated:
70s: Garvey, R. Jackson, Claudell Washington
80s: Murphy, Carlton, Dave Parker (even as a Red)
90s: Puckett, Bonds, R. Alomar, A.Belle, Canseco
00s: Schilling, A-Rod, Victorino, Tony LaRussa
@therumtrader:
Oooh, Claudell Washington! Hated him, ever since a game in ’82 when he snagged a sure game-winning homer away from Wayne Krenchicki. After that his personality seemed to be unpleasant (refer to fights with Soto).
Another Braves pitcher I hated was Rick Mahler. It really galled me having to start liking him in’89-’90
Funny how many Braves players I hated, but as a team, I never hated the Braves as much as, say, the Mets, Astros or Cardinals
Throughout the 90s I hated the Braves. In the area I live in, most baseball fans like the Reds or Braves (like most places we have the yankees and red sox bandwagon fans). Since the Braves were so successful in the 90s, I grew to hate them around here since so many people liked them. i still have buddies who are Braves fans.
But now, I hate the Yankees more than any other team.
I Forgot, Ted Turner when he owned the Atlanta Braves & also the Dallas Cowboys football team, Their motto was America’s Teams, I thought this was a democracy I never heard of this being voted on or some sort of resolution being passed.
I’ve got to go back to my roots as a Reds’ fan and that means several of the cast of characters on the 70′s Dodgers. Maybe at the top–Mike Marshall, the closer who made dissing the Reds an almost daily thing. I still remember the Reds rallying and beating him in a critical game, maybe in Brennaman’s first year in a mid-summer pivotal game, and hearing Marty shout out, “How d’ya like that, Big Boy?” Still a classic! You can always add Tommy Lasagna and Steve “Gong Show Regular” Garvey to that list of hated Dodgers, too! Also from 70′s, even though a true great player and outstanding, likeable person, gotta have a thorn in my side for Brooks Robinson for all that incredible thievery in the 70′s-era series. Later villians: Rickey Henderson (’90 Series); Edmonds (Heartbreak Kid with clutch hitting and D against us, may he give us something before it’s done this year); Carpenter (a stud P but oh-so-arrogant); almost anyone Mets, any era.
Yeah, Ted Turner and Jane Fonda got under my skin. Especially with that hypocritical “We won’t do the chop anymore since it offends people”, while playing the war music over your pa system and selling millions of those stupid foam tomahawks to, ah, chop with. “I might still be making millions off the thing, but I personally won’t do it at the games.” Still upsets me.
As far as players: Jose Canseco, Albert Belle, Chrissy Carpenter, Dennis Eckersly, Alfonso Soriano, Palmerio (most overrated player ever), Jeff Kent, Mark Lempke, whoever the other Braves infielder at that time was: the one with a hatchet face, Anything in a Cubs uniform, any Cardinal with stupid facial hair, and the whole Cleveland Indian/Atlanta Braves World Series. I had absolutely NO ONE to root for.
@preach:
You’re thinking of Jeff Blausser
I used to hate Scott Rolen. Now, not so much. Couldn’t stand Jeff Kent even when I was in CA and going to a lot of Giants games. Larry Wayne Jones. Curt Schilling. John Smoltz after I found out what a bigot he is. David Eckstein. Lance Berkman. John Rocker. Yadier Molina. Bobby Bonilla. Just some off the top of my head.