Well-Rounded Players

SI Staff | Jun 7, 2006

Well-Rounded Players /

Well-Rounded Players

David Wells

Infamous for his oversized mouth and bellyful of nightlife, the portly port-sider (6' 3", 248) is an outsized icon for the motorcycle rebel crowd. Boomer, who has 227 wins in 20 seasons and is now toiling in Beantown, made no secret that his hero (as in icon) is Babe Ruth and pitched a perfect game for the Yankees in 1998. "He understands Yankee tradition. That's hard to say about a guy who looks like a beer-league softball player," George Steinbrenner noted to SI.

C.C. Sabathia

C.C. stands for Carsten Charles, but could easily mean "Cubic Centimeters" as Cleveland's ace has got a whole lot of `em at 6' 7" and 290 pounds -- up from 260 during his rookie season when he won 17 games for the Tribe. Fast and bulbous, Sabathia packs a 95-mph heater and was a three-sport star (football, basketball, baseball) at Vallejo (Cal.) high school.

David Ortiz

He's rightfully known as Big Papi -- and lesser so, as Cookie Monster. FenwayNation's Player of the Year for 2003, 2004, and 2005 underwent a breathtaking transformation from anonymity in Minnesota to clutch monster-masher in Boston. Ortiz has topped 40 taters and 130 ribbies in each of the past two seasons. Playing a large roll, er, role on Boston's 2004 World Series champions qualified him for sainthood.

Rich Garces

The term "middle reliever" seems apt for this 6', 250-pounder known as El Guapo, who spent 10 years in the bigs. Garces was short of a neck, but not on guts or affection from the Fenway faithful, especially when he went 5-1 with a miniscule 1.55 ERA for the Red Sox in 30 appearances in 1999.

Cecil Fielder

The living definition of heavy hitter at 6' 3" and 260 pounds, Fielder was Detroit's Big Daddy, cracking 51 homers for the Tigers in 1990. He began his career on Toronto's bench and spent the 1989 season in Japan, where he was received with much affection. Back in the states, Fielder exceeded 30 HR and 117 RBI four seasons in a row and was an imposing presence on the Yankees' 1996 World Series championship team.

John Kruk

At 5'10" and an ample 204, Kruk was the personification of everyman with his stubbled chin, cigarette, and shirt hanging out. Admonished by a female fan for being an unfit role model as an athlete, he famously retorted, "Lady, I'm not an athlete, I'm a baseball player." And good one: he had a career .300 batting average during 10 years in The Show.

Rick Reuschel

At 6' 3" and a plushy 250 pounds, the aptly-named Big Daddy was a double-chinned sinkerballer with pinpoint control and an uncanny ability to change speeds. "He's able to do things you'd never think anyone like that could do," Giants trainer Mark Letendre marveled to SI in 1989. Those things included winning two Gold Gloves, 214 games -- including 20 for the Cubs in 1977 -- and even stealing three bases during his 19 seasons.

Sid Fernandez

"Six feet from shoulder to shoulder and five feet from the ground, iron fists, a head like a boulder, a friend like that is good to have around." So goes "Wide Boy" by the late, great Lonesome Dave Peverett, a tune that could have been inspired by the expansive southpaw from Hawaii. Mets fans enjoyed having Sid around for 10 seasons, especially in 1986 when he went 16-6 with a 3.52 ERA for New York's World Series Championship team.

Fernando Valenzuela

The jovial, barrel-chested southpaw came out of Mexico to inspire Fernandomania in 1981 when he went 13-7 and became the first pitcher to win both Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award during the same season. He earned additional love by tossing a complete-game victory against the Yankees in the World Series and went on to become a mainstay in L.A., winning 21 games in 1986.

Babe Ruth

He remains larger than life -- his listed dimensions (6' 2", 215) and this photo woefully inadequate at capturing his magnitude. He was up to 256 by 1925, when he missed spring training, allegedly due to overindulging his love of beer and pickled eels. "You've never seen a man eat the way he did," Yankee pitcher Waite Hoyt said. "If you cut that big slob in half, most of the concessions at Yankee Stadium would come pouring out." If true, it makes everything Ruth did at the plate even more remarkable.

Published Jun 7, 2006

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