“And I, get sick when I’m around,
I, can’t stand to be around
I, hate everything about you!
Everything about you, everything about you,
Everything about you”

~Ugly Kid Joe

The Dodgers are finally making moves, and adding to the team.  This week, they traded for Logan Forsythe and Brett Eibner. It remains to be seen whether Eibner will make the 25-man roster. But Forsythe will be the starting second baseman, and most likely the leadoff batter. Thoughts on the trade vary, but one thing is for sure — Forsythe is by all accounts a very good person, as well as a pretty good player.  A leader in the dugout. His former teammates with the Tampa Bay Rays were incredibly sad to see him go. So it stands to reason that once the season starts, Dodger fans will definitely grow to love him.

But that got me thinking, piggy-backing off of last week’s Fan Friday piece, what if the Dodgers traded for someone that you hated?  Someone that you couldn’t see yourself rooting for? So today’s question for Dodgers fan is this — what player on the Dodgers did you most hate? And which player from another team did you love to hate?

We’ll start with the player on the Dodgers that you didn’t ever really feel comfortable rooting for, and we’ll start with mine — Shane Victorino.  Several people agreed with me:

There were also a few replies that had words not suitable for print here.  People felt strongly about him. I don’t know that I could ever really put words as to why I disliked him so, but I agree with Jordan — he gave me the creeps.

Juan Marichal was another player mentioned a few times:

This is before my time, so I went to do a little research.  I don’t know how I’ve missed this story before, as it is referred to as the Nastiest Brawl in Baseball. I’m sure you all know it but I’m going to revisit it anyway. Marichal was a San Francisco Giant before he was a Dodger, and on August 22, 1965, he was facing Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers at Candlestick Park. Maury Wills lead off the game with a bunt single, and Marichal didn’t like this one bit. When Wills came up to bat in the second, he threw a pitch at him that sent Maury sprawling to the ground. Koufax sent a pitch over Willie Mays‘ head in the bottom of the second in retaliation.  Marichal then threw at Ron Fairly, also causing him to fall to the ground. Marichal came up to bat in the third, and expected Koufax to throw at him, but instead, catcher Johnny Roseboro threw it back to Koufax, right past Marichal’s ear. Juan confronted Johnny, who jumped out of his crouch with his fists clenched. Marichal said he thought Roseboro was going to attack him, so he hit Johnny over the head twice with his baseball bat, causing Johnny to get 14 stitches. The kicker about the story is that Marichal was suspended for eight games, which caused him to miss two starts.  The Giants were in a tight race with the Dodgers, and the Dodgers ended up winning the division by two games. And, after many years, Roseboro and Marichal ended up becoming close friends.

There are also some other random players, of with whom I all agree:

There also quite a bit of the fan base that would not like to see Ryan Braun in a Dodgers uniform. I am among this group.  Anyone who can so completely throw someone else under the bus, and ruin their career to cover up your lie is not someone I could root for.  Even if he hit 50 home runs and batted .350.

On the other side, the player that we all love to hate as Dodger fans? I’m sure this will come as a huge surprise — it’s Madison Bumgarner.

Begrudgingly I have to say, to hate someone on another team, they have to be a pretty good player.  But there are plenty of good players out there that are not hated universally (see Andrew McCutchen, Mike Trout). They have to be good, and have that attitude, or have hurt your team in the past. MadBum embodies all of these, and we all know why. Just the constant blowing snot of his nose on the mound is enough to not like him. I can’t wait until Clayton Kershaw gets his World Series win so that comparison will no longer be able to be held over his head.

It may seem sort of macabre to think about all of the players that you really don’t like, but that’s what adds interest and intrigue into the game.  What would it be without the Giants rivalry? Rather blah and ho-hum, I’m afraid. And while it’s fantastic to love every player on your team, that isn’t always feasible.  Still, I’ll just be sitting here, waiting for Spring Training to start, and hoping that the Dodgers never acquire Ryan Braun.