MLB's Most Hated Players of the Decade

With 2009 ending the decade, there is going to be an insane amount of “all decade” teams and plays coming out, especially in baseball. The “player of the decade” is sure to be one of the most heated, as it definitely comes down to Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols. 

On one hand, A-Rod had an entire season on Pujols, which gives him a significant advantage.  However, the steroid stuff is going to sway a lot of people Pujols’s way (editor’s note: Jason Major pleasures himself to an Albert Pujols Fathead). 

The Player of the '90s was a pretty heated argument in itself, down to Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr.  Griffey ended up getting it, but it was a similar situation—Bonds was not a very well-liked guy even then, and that is probably what put Griffey over the top. 

Both of these instances lead into this week’s Top seven– the most hated players of the decade.  This would be an “in-general” list, who the average baseball fan hates.

7. John Rocker

If there were a list for “most overplayed stories of the decade,” it would have to be Rocker’s comments in Sports Illustrated about taking the train to Shea Stadium.  It was completely beaten into the ground.

Then to top it off, the first time that he went to New York after the article was written was one of the two most-hyped New York games of the decade, with the other being that time that Roger Clemens was going to be thrown at in retaliation for the Mike Piazza beaning (and was missed). 

If Rocker didn’t seem to be such an overall d-bag, he probably would have gotten a bit more sympathy.

6. J.D. Drew

He started off his career on the wrong track, playing in the Northern League (and against female pitcher Ila Borders!) instead of reporting to the Phillies—not the best fans to get on your bad side. 

Once his career started, he was also able to piss off fans of the Cardinals, Braves, and Dodgers because of his tendency to stay out of the lineup for injuries that were less than believably painful.

He was in the midst of driving Red Sox fans absolutely insane before he hit the grand slam in Game Six of the 2007 ALCS. Had he not done that, he may be quite a bit higher on the list.  Gaining the intense hatred of four franchises is hard enough, but five is near impossible.

5. A.J. Pierzynski

This list originally was going to be about random books that have been written about baseball players. Can you believe that Kelly Gruber had an autobiography?  It’s true (“Kelly Gruber: At Home on Third”), and you can buy it for one cent on Amazon.

I realize that his ’86 Topps card used to be a hot item and all, but an autobiography?  Where’s Pete Incavilia’s autobiography? 

As far as Pierzynski goes, he’s one of those guys  that White Sox fans like to use the phrase “if he were on your team, you would like him too” for, but it’s still kind of hard to believe.

4. Curt Schilling

Baseball’s greatest expert.  Schilling knows all.

3. All Other Red Sox and Yankees

The Yankees owned the first half of the decade as baseball’s most hated team, but the Red Sox have made some extremely fast gains on their turf. It began after the 2004 season and continues each time that their ownership complains about the Yankees spending money when they themselves spend more than 28 other teams.

Also, Red Sox and Yankee fans hate the opposite team so much that you could easily make the case that all of their players are just about as hated as anyone.

You don’t see too many shirts outside of Boston accusing their rival’s players of having AIDS. Not that this is a bad thing for society at all.

2. A-Rod

Keeping with the Red Sox/Yankees theme, his recent exploits are going to make those games pretty fun to watch this year. They should just have split-screen on the entire time showing various signs in the crowd, with microphones in the most drunk-prone areas instead of announcers so we can hear some of the better heckles.

A-Rod is in for some good times this season.

1. Barry Bonds

This one really isn’t close. Baseball fans love to see records fall, even if they are accomplished by the opposing team. When Mark McGwire was going on his 70-home run binge, he would sometimes have to give curtain calls even when he was on the road. 

Even though Sammy Sosa was competing with McGwire, even he got cheered when he was in St. Louis during 1998.

The fact that Major League Baseball was worried about Bonds being booed should he break the home run record on the road tells you just about all you need to know about how hated he was throughout baseball.

As I said in the opening, he wasn’t exactly a fan favorite even before the steroid stuff came out. It wasn’t just that he was disliked because he was a great player either—people genuinely despised the guy.

It’s not the same without him.

The Top 7 is written by Jason Major. He always hated Kevin McReynolds when he was a kid. Email him at [e-mail].