Yesterday we looked at popular baseball search terms in general. Today we've scanned last week's top 50,000 Web user queries for the names of specific baseball players. We found 23 names, both active and retired. The results are below -- active players marked with an "*".
1. Jackie Robinson
2. Babe Ruth
3. John Rocker *
4. Derek Jeter *
5. Mark McGwire *
6. Hank Aaron
7. Sammy Sosa *
8. Ken Griffey, Jr. *
9. Joe DiMaggio
10. Roberto Clemente
11. Mike Piazza *
12. Chipper Jones *
13. Willie Mays
14. Mickey Mantle
15. Satchel Paige
16. Lou Gehrig
17. Deion Sanders *
18. Pedro Martinez *
19. Alex Rodriguez *
20. Nomar Garciaparra *
21. Ted Williams
22. Jose Canseco *
23. Ty Cobb
Gosh, look how many of these players are retired (or dead): 11 of 23, nearly half. It's hard to imagine that ratio occurring in any other sport, except perhaps in boxing where today's interchangable sluggers compete with long memories of Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis.
Even so, finding Jackie Robinson and Babe Ruth atop the list is startling. Robinson was quite popular during Black History Month, and we presume that some of his popularity now is due to student reports on his role as a civil rights trailblazer. And Ruth is, of course, forever the Bambino, the king, baseball's own large-livin' Henry VIII.
The other retired players are just as colorful: Aaron the home run king, DiMaggio the smooth operator, Clemente the martyred hero, Gehrig the Iron Horse. And probably half the Satchel Paige searchers are looking for his famous rules of living.
The active players seem to fall into three camps:
BASHERS: McGwire, Sosa, Griffey, Piazza, Canseco. We'd have guessed McGwire, Griffey or Sosa would be at the top of the entire list; perhaps later in the year, when their annual home run derby heats up? All three have a shot at besting Hank Aaron's career home run record someday. (And just how did Canseco beat out Ty Cobb?)
HEARTTHROBS: Jeter, Rodriguez, Garciaparra, Jones. The first three just appeared on the cover of GQ magazine and all four are 27 or under -- prime teenybopper territory. (Hey, there are older members of 'N Sync.)
MEDIA SPECTACLES: Rocker, Martinez, Sanders. Rocker's in a category by himself this year, of course. Martinez is last year's Cy Young award winner and was on the cover of a recent Sports Illustrated, while Sanders is trying to re-establish himself as the quote-spouting two-sport "Neon Deion" of old.
