Who's your baseball "crush" this Valentine's Day?

Monday, February 14 2011 @ 11:10 AM EST

Contributed by: Mick Doherty

Okay, it's Valentine's Day, so 'fess up ... who's your all-time baseball "crush"?

Not your favorite player, necessarily; not even necessarily a player on your favorite team. In fact, let's make that a rule -- step outside the "family" boundaries of your favorite team(s) and tell us who that one player is who, for whatever reason (one you might not even be able to articulate) you just could not help yourself, you had to root for him.

For me? That's easy. It was The Red Baron himself -- Thurman Clyde "Rusty" Greer ...

The year I decided to move from New York to Texas, Rusty (admit it, until a few seconds ago, you didn't even know his real name, did you?) hit .332/18/100; the year I actually did move here, he "drpped" a bit to .321/26/87, then followed that with two years of .306/16/108 and .300/20/101.

He played an intoxicatingly kamikaze left field, and was somehow never fully appreciated -- in those four years mentioned, annually posting numbers exceeding a .300 batting average, 20 dingers and 100 RBI, Rusty never even made an All-Star team! (That's criminal!!)

It was impossible to not appreciate -- and root for -- his sweet lefty swing and this defensive derring-do, with the patented diving catches and rocket throwing arm.

Happy Valentine's Day, Rusty. Thanks for the memories. Over to you, fellow Bauxites ....

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https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20110214111056573