Steve Dilbeck makes a list of the “Top Ten Coolest Dodgers” over at the L.A. Times. The top four -- Sandy Koufax, Jackie Robinson, Fernando Valenzuela and Jackie Robinson -- were pre-selected. He picks 5-10. Click through to read them. Milk/cow/free, don’t you know.
With the understanding that “cool” is about as subjective an adjective there can be, I can’t argue too much with his list. Buster Olney -- in whose column I saw the link to Dilbeck’s piece -- disagrees with one particular ranking:
There’s the famous story about how someone pranked Kirk Gibson on the first day of Spring Training in 1988 by putting shoe polish in his hat. Gibson went crazy and tore everyone a new one. That is often cited as his claim to leadership over the team. A clear signal that with Gibson in town shit just got real. The time for joking was over and the time for winning was now. When the Dodgers won the World Series that year -- complete with Gibson’s MVP and his stunning home run -- he more than backed up his bluster. This is the stuff from which legends are made.
But dudes: that ain’t cool. The shoe polish thing was funny. Lighten up, Gibby. That’s how you make the cool list, and having Manny above you is just the way it’s gotta be, babies.
Oh, and the dude to the right is Casey Stengel when he was with the Dodgers. If that ain’t cool, I don’t know what is.