Ticker: ESPN the Magazine picks MLB players' minds – Detroit Free Press
So, what’s on baseball players’ minds entering the 2015 season?
ESPN the Magazine’s “MLB Preview Issue” — on newsstands now — asked 117 anonymous big leaguers exactly that with a variety of questions.
A sampling:
■Who is the best overall player?
L.A. Angels outfielder Mike Trout was an easy winner with 61% of the vote.
Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera was a distant second with 10%, and L.A. Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw was third with 8%.
■If you were commissioner for a day, what’s the first thing you would do?
“Shorten the season” got 19% of the vote.
One AL player said: “We get two days off a month. People with regular jobs get more days off than that!”
■Which player would make the most entertaining reality show star?
One player said: “Didn’t Madison Bumgarner bus down his cattle for spring training? And he bought his wife a baby bull as a wedding gift. You’re telling me you wouldn’t want to watch that?”
■If you could trade lives with another famous athlete, who would it be?
Tom Brady and LeBron James tied with 14% of the vote each.
Said one AL pitcher: “I’d be Tom Brady. Playing in the Super Bowl, sleeping next to Gisele? C’mon!”
Quick tweets
■Andy Nesbitt, foxsports.com: “Just overheard Brian Williams telling someone about the time when he came up with the phrase ‘March Madness.’ “
■Seth Davis, CBS and SI: “A Tom Izzo-coached team peaking in March? Did not see that coming.”
Quick hits
■Christian Laettner, asked by fansided.com how he felt about Bill Laimbeer, another former Piston who some might see as a kindred spirit: “I was not a fan of his nor did I respect him a lot when I was younger, and I never wanted to be viewed like that. Sometimes, if you are a big, tall white guy who is really competitive, maybe that perception gets thrown around.”
Wow! Guys like that, they don’t even like each other.
■Headline at theonion.com: “Bench players given some time in first quarter of game against Knicks.”
Bottom line
■From sportspickle.com’s signs your bracket is busted: “You had Baylor and VCU in the Final Four, which is impossible because they’re in the same region, so one must assume your bracket is full of other idiotic mistakes.”
Compiled from staff reports and news services by STEVE SCHRADER: [email protected] or 313-222-6710. Check out his live Ticker at freep.com/ticker and follow him on Twitter at @schradz.
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