Brian Wilson of SF Giants and the Best Facial Hair of World Series Winners
The San Francisco Giants just won their first World Series since 1954.
Their previous championship seasons had left various memories, such as John McGraw refusing to play the Boston Americans in 1904 and then presiding over the franchise's next three championships. He later handed over the reins to Bill Terry in the 1933 championship expedition.
And of course, who could forget the underdog Giants in the 1954 World Series and Willie Mays' dramatic over-the-shoulder catch leading to a sweep of the Indians?
This World Series, however, will have a different legacy.
No, it's not that it is the first title to come to San Francisco since the team arrived in 1952. It's not even that it's two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum's first ring.
No, this one will have a much more profound meaning in history.
The legacy of this series will be, of course, Brian Wilson's beard.
This is a great moment in baseball facial-hair history, of which there have been many in its storied past.
The annals of Cooperstown are littered with Grizzly Adams-style beards, Fu Manchus, handlebars, mutton chops, chinstraps, soul patches, goatees, pencil-thins, Marios and an endless array of five o'clock shadows.
Here are the top 10 facial-hair-having champions in baseball's storied past.
Best of Other Sports
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It isn't just baseball players that have all the beard/mustache fun.
The hockey playoff beard has become a religion (unless you're Sidney Crosby). Football in the '70s had some of the fiercest chin scruff of any era and even some golfers, tennis pros and a cricket champion have gotten in on the action.
Hockey
Mike Commodore (pictured at left): A Bill Walton-Zach Galifianakis combo.
Lanny McDonald: Best...mustache...ever.
Derek Sanderson: Ranged from full bushy 'stache to bushy sideburns and straight-up beard.
Ken Morrow: 1980 gold-medal winner, 1980 Stanley Cup champion, 1980 great beard.
Football
Joe Namath: He Fu Manchu; can you?
Mike Ditka: No list is complete without Chicago's favorite mustache.
Franco Harris: His beard is the only thing near as immaculate as his reception.
Basketball
Walt Frazier: His beard was not weird.
Bill Walton: This is what happens when you cross a hippie with a bear.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Before Kareem's bald days, Abraham Lincoln himself would have loved the man's chin strap.
Golf
Old Tom Morris: Won the Open, had a beard.
Craig Stadler: Wilfred Brimley, anybody?
Tennis
John Newcombe: Seven Grand Slams and one bad-ass mustache.
Racing
Richard Petty: The King's mustache was as consistent as his victories and his feathered cowboy hat.
Dale Earnhardt: Intimidating 'stache.
Others
Steve Prefontaine: Who says mustaches aren't aerodynamic?
William Gilbert Grace: Commonly known as the greatest cricketer of all time, and the only other place to find a beard like his is in ZZ Top or on some dude on a Harley somewhere.
Michael Phelps: Gold medal-winning mustache.
Worst Championship Mustache Ever
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Ladies and gentlemen of the American Mustache Institute must cry themselves to sleep tonight thinking that the man with that sitting across his lip has a ring.
It outshines Larry Bird's nearly-invisible caterpillar mustache for the worst mustache belonging to a champion.
I'm not going to even mention whatever it is he is housing on his chin.
Okay, let's get to it, people—here comes No. 10...
10. Jeff Reardon
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Jeff Reardon, like Brian Wilson, used a massive dark beard to intimidate batters in the ninth inning.
The four-time All-Star was a member of the 1987 World Series-champion Minnesota Twins and collected 367 saves in his career, good for seventh all-time.
The bearded hurler was such a dominating force in Montreal and Minnesota that he earned the nickname "The Terminator" and he had batters' knees knocking when they saw his big bushy beard walking to the mound from the bullpen.
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9. Scott Spiezio
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By far the most controversial on the list, Spiezio is on it due to his status as a local fan-favorite everywhere he goes.
Spiezio is a two-time champ, winning a ring with the 2002 Anaheim Angels and the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals. He is known for being a scrappy guy and a classic utility man.
Despite the fact that it is goofy-looking, that little strip of red running down his chin is like a shining beacon of light that automatically draws every fan's attention to his hustle and hard work.
It's a strip of hair that has made him infinitely more popular than he would have been without it.
8. King Kelly
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Mike "King" Kelly was a man's man of the late 1800s.
He played baseball, he inspired songs, women loved him, he was a vaudevillian, he was paid handsomely and he had a pretty ballin' mustache.
One of the first superstars of the National League, Kelly was an innovator, being one of the fist catchers to wear a glove and chest protector, and he was one of the first to use a feet-first slide when stealing.
Kelly was part of a Chicago White Stockings team that won five pennants between 1880 and 1886.
7. Johnny Damon
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Johnny Damon was the one player that could sum up the 2004 curse-breaking Red Sox team.
He was a goofy guy with a personality that anybody could like, and he had the hair and the beard.
While still with Boston, he sported one of the best beards in the game, and it was always the first thing that you noticed about him.
Note: He may have been a top five on the list had he not shaved it off for the money that the Yankees offered him.
6. Bruce Sutter
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He may be an old man now, but he's still rockin' the chin whiskers.
Sutter had one of those beards that was a mix between a well-manicured homeless man and an angry Amish farmer.
Another man who used a beard to intimidate in the later innings, Sutter amassed 300 saves in his career, earning him an induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
He won his ring in 1982 as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals in their seven-game victory over the rival beer-brewing town of Milwaukee's Brewers.
5. Phil Garner
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Phil Garner was last seen with a graying, dwindling mustache as the manager of the Houston Astros in 2007.
Back in his heyday he was a World Series champion with the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, with a jet-black 'stache of the Yosemite Sam variety.
Garner, nicknamed "Scrap Iron" for his scrappy way of playing the game, was a career .260 hitter with 109 home runs, but he went 12-for-24 in the '79 series.
It seems Garner could be coming back to the majors, as his name is being tossed around for a position with his old Pirates team.
4. Thurman Munson
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If ever there was a man and a mustache that died too young, it's Thurman Munson.
Munson could have been considered the greatest catcher in Yankee history had he not died in a plane crash in 1979.
The greatest athlete to ever come out of Akron, Ohio (yeah, I'm still bitter over LeBron, what of it?) was a perennial All-Star and the only Yankee to ever win both the Rookie of the Year award and the MVP award.
He was the team captain from 1976-79, a two-time World Series champion and owner of a villainous-looking handlebar mustache.
3. Brian Wilson
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Someone may want to alert Stephen Hawking, because I'm pretty sure this man's beard is made out of a black hole.
Light cannot escape it.
His beard is sucking all of the life out of opposing batters as he bears down on them with crazed ferocity.
To go along with his beard, he appears to be a bit off-center and to be a downright near-crazy man.
Wilson burst onto the scene a few years ago and has put up 127 saves in the past three years, with a 48-save outburst coming this season along with the growth of his beard.
Coincidence? I think not.
2. Keith Hernandez
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While your mustache was out making wisecracks in some bar, his was in Game 6!
Keith's 'stache helped him to two rings with the Mets (you know, back when the Mets were actually a good team) 11 Gold Gloves, the 1979 NL MVP award and five All-Star selections.
It also landed him a recurring role on Seinfeld and endeared him to the hearts of the people in New York.
His 'stache made him into the Burt Reynolds of baseball and was a constant throughout his career.
1. 1972-1974 Oakland A's
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Thankfully, A's owner Charlie Finley was both a kooky dude and had some cash to throw around.
He promised his players a $300 bonus for those who grew mustaches, leading to the growth of Rollie Fingers' trademark handlebar train-thief pencil-curled mustache.
These teams sported mustaches and/or beards from players such as Fingers, Reggie Jackson, Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter, Joe Rudi, Sal Bando, Billy North, manager Dick Williams and countless others.
The A's will permanently be in the No. 1 spot so long as Josh Hamilton doesn't decide to grow one of these and win himself a ring.
Did I forget your favorite mustachioed champion? Let me know!
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