Wrigley Roundtable

Once again it's time for our weekly segment in which we debate a selected matter of interest. The topics could range from the Cubs to baseball or other sports, to movies and music.

Our panel of bartenders will weigh in, and we invite any of our readers to offer their two cents as well. So grab a beer and a handful of stale popcorn and tell us what you think.

Today's topic: The Best of All-Time......on Celluloid.

Well he finally did it. Barry Bonds hit home run number 756*. Yes I will include the asterisk anytime I mention that number. The asterisk is somewhat fitting punctuation for Bonds, being that it kind of looks like an asshole.

Anyway, now that it's finally happened, I'm sure every sports blog, newspaper column and talk radio show is going to drone on about Mr. Bonds today. I don't really feel like following suit. So instead of discussing Mr. Asterisk's merits and whether he's the greatest ballplayer ever, I thought we could argue who's the greatest of all-time on the silver screen.

What ballplayer from cinema was the best? Of course one of the first one's to come to my mind is Roy Hobbs, one of the most gifted all-around players. But Roy was hindered by the gunshot wound in his youth, and never quite fulfilled his legacy. There's also Crash Davis, but how much merit do you give a lifer in the farm system? Greatest minor leaguer is a somewhat dubious honor. Then there was the young protege Nuke LaLoosh. We never see how is career ends up in the big leagues, but we can always speculate. Of course we also have to assume that someone with a delivery as piss poor as Tim Robbins' in that movie would be able to even make it to the bigs.

And there in lies the beauty of this argument. There isn't any wrong answer and you can let your imagination fly with this one. You can be as technical as you want. Or you can cast out realism and exclaim that Henry Rowengartner from Rookie of the Year was the greatest ever.

The only rule is they have to be fictional. So forget movies like 61* and Pride of the Yankees.