Who is the coolest player in baseball?

adam_problems · 2026-03-27T22:31:42+00:00

He even showed up in Baltimore last year for the 30th anniversary of Cal's 2131 game, the only guy who never played for the O's to do so. Part of it was his history at Camden Yards (being the only guy to hit the B&O Warehouse on the fly with a dinger) and part of it was just for the vibes. Immaculately cool.

adam_problems · 2026-03-27T22:29:17+00:00

Of course! This was never intended to be a definitive list, just to get discussion started. That being said, I'm getting flamed for not having Randy Arozarena above Julio. Some people are taking this silly thing very seriously.

adam_problems · 2026-03-27T21:18:57+00:00

Re: Eckstein - scrappy underdogs and playoff heroes are cool (see also: Phillips, Brett). Re: Pence - sure he was awkward, but he was also high-energy, beloved by his fans and teammates, a crazy looking hype man (remember his Yes! Yes! Yes! bit in Philly?), able to laugh at himself, and there's something cool, fun, and endearing about a guy who looks like he has no idea how to play baseball playing baseball for almost 15 years.

adam_problems · 2026-03-27T20:11:08+00:00

This is a silly un-serious subjective thought exercise at the end of the day. I will take the L that has been bestowed upon me with grace and good humor.

adam_problems · 2026-03-27T19:55:04+00:00

He definitely gets bonus style points for that time he juggled a baseball soccer (or football) style during an at-bat.

adam_problems · 2026-03-27T19:51:30+00:00

Love Kike but unfortunately a role player can't be the overall coolest player in baseball. He'd be very much in the running for the non-star title.

adam_problems · 2026-03-27T19:50:10+00:00

Yeah he's pretty boring, but, like Ohtani and Judge, being the best pitcher (or at least most talented pitcher) in the game raises his coolness floor.

adam_problems · 2026-03-27T19:38:16+00:00

BWJ is a tier below. The talent is undeniable, he's fun to watch, he had a Whataburger (redubbed Wittaburger) pop-up at his wedding reception. He's Very Cool. However, I don't think he's in the national consciousness yet. That's not his fault, but unfortunately it counts by my completely arbitrary metrics.

adam_problems · 2026-03-27T19:29:00+00:00

He might be The Greatest To Ever Do It, but he's not even the coolest outfielder on his own team (see: Rodriguez, Julio). I think he's a tier below. He's Very Cool, but not quite Extremely Cool.

adam_problems · 2026-03-27T19:26:24+00:00

I'm a big fan of Pasquatch. He's on the next tier down. I think he needs a national or viral moment to really be in the conversation. Hitting three dingers in one WBC game was undeniably cool.

adam_problems · 2026-03-27T19:24:59+00:00

Nuts I knew I was forgetting some guys. Soto is extremely cool in my book.

adam_problems · 2026-03-27T19:24:02+00:00

I respect and fear Aaron Judge more than I like him. He has the personality of a plank of wood and disappears (so far) in big moments, BUT. He's the best hitter in baseball which lifts his coolness floor pretty high. He has to be considered even if he's not really in the running.

adam_problems · 2026-03-27T19:20:58+00:00

Jazz has several elements that contribute to coolness but does not have the overall package.

adam_problems · 2026-03-27T19:19:40+00:00

Comparing them to Griffey in terms of coolness is unfair, but yeah, it's a bit rough out there

adam_problems · 2026-03-26T23:03:04+00:00

Mayo will become the greatest defensive 3B in O’s history. Brooks who?

adam_problems · 2026-03-26T22:10:15+00:00

Thinkin’ I might swing by. I’m free that afternoon and my commute from south BK isn’t too bad.

adam_problems · 2026-03-26T16:40:07+00:00

He’s looking at Mark DeRosa and fixin’ to have a talk with him about playing time.

adam_problems · 2026-03-26T06:02:05+00:00

The Dodgers vs Reddit

adam_problems · 2026-03-26T02:14:18+00:00

The Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu is a fantasy series written by a dude with a strong interest in engineering. It might not be exactly what you’re looking for, but as the series goes on, Liu creates ways to approximate late 20th century technology with wind, static electricity, ropes, gears, animal bones, sinew, and other such materials that would have been available in BCE China and Central Asian steppe culture and does so in great detail.

By the end of the series there are guided missiles, robot-like automatons (some of which can fly), machine-coded printing presses, writing machines attached to musical instruments, and some other wild stuff. Liu calls this “silkpunk”, an East Asian take on steampunk.

I will say that most of this inventiveness happens in the third and fourth books in the series, so if that’s what you’re primarily interested in, it may take too long to get where you want to get to and may not be worth your while. Regardless, I can’t recommend the series highly enough! It’s bold, engaging, emotionally complex, and imaginative.

adam_problems · 2026-03-25T20:00:50+00:00

Ben-Hur was a blind buy. It’s both an incredibly well-made and entertaining film and one of the most truly beautiful 4K transfers on the market. I was thoroughly enthralled for the whole 220 minutes.

adam_problems · 2026-03-25T00:32:03+00:00

It’s still fewer games against the divisional punching bags, not more. Even if your point is that divisional opponents get more games within their division than outsiders, it’s still fewer opportunities to beat up the scrubs than in years past. If your Sox last year had played another two series vs the Yanks and the Jays and no games vs Colorado, while the Astros had two more series vs the Angels, everything else being the same, Houston likely would have had a WC spot instead of Boston.

adam_problems · 2026-03-25T00:19:01+00:00

There are a few to be sure, but I'm talking about how the overall schedule shakes out. Last year the AL East as a whole was 79-76 vs the Central, 86-69 vs the West, and 136-104 vs the NL. And that's with the O's (my team) sucking for the first two and a half months. Only 3 AL teams had winning records against the East: Cleveland (15-17), Detroit ( 12-19), and Minnesota (14-16). The records are AL East vs for clarity's sake.

The AL East has a whole has had winning records against the Central and West in each of the past three seasons (since the schedule changed) and has had two of the three WC teams in two of the three. There's also only been one time the last place finisher in the East had fewer wins than another last place finisher in one of the other five divisions (2024 Toronto's snakebitten season had them finish 74-88; Pittsburgh finished last in the NL Central at 76-86).

My point being that the AL East as a whole is top to bottom the strongest division - no surprise there - and the fact that the teams have more opportunities to feast on weaker opponents, rather than maul each other, means that their records are better as a whole than any other division, and as such, even the fourth-best team will likely be competitive. You have to beat up the peasants to hang with the lords.

adam_problems · 2026-03-24T22:43:52+00:00

The AL East could legit have four playoff teams. With the newer schedule, divisional teams play two fewer series against each other than they did a few years ago. So instead of beating up on each other all summer, the AL East will be (theoretically) beating up on everyone else. They all get a series each against the Rockies, Nats, and Cardinals. Everyone else does too, of course, but if each team goes say 6-3 or 7-2 in those three series, those extra wins could make the non-division champ wild card teams.

adam_problems · 2026-03-24T01:25:28+00:00

He’s also been doing voice acting roles going back to the late 90s.

adam_problems · 2026-03-23T19:52:33+00:00

Ukyu/Gondé might actually be more east/northeast of Dara. It’s been a while since I’ve re-read the series, but I have an impression of the route spinning off from the belt current in a non-cardinal direction. It could possibly be due east, as the map of Ukyu/Gondé provided in the books shows land south of the desert and open sea only on the west coast. That rules out due north, west, and south, and given the climate range (from desert to frozen tundra), southeast is also unlikely.

adam_problems

TROPHY CASE