Across all of MLB history, there are many beloved players who get a lot of attention, but what about the infamous players? The players who might have been great, but for any number of reasons, are either hated now or have always been hated. Here are the 10 most hated players in MLB history:
10. Alex Rodriguez
There are a lot of reasons why A-Rod is on this list. Firstly, he was thought of as arrogant and a selfish player. That is never a good thing, but what bothers people the most about him is that he played for the Yankees eventually and, of course, that he was involved in PED use.
9. John Rocker
Rocker irritated many people as a player simply because of his intense entrances out of the bullpen. What really upset people, though, is the comments he made about teammates and other cultures and races. He was quickly chased out of baseball.
8. A.J. Pierzynski
He was a solid catcher, but he had an attitude, and he liked to get in people’s faces. He has become more well-liked since retiring, but during his playing days, there was an obvious distaste for him.
7. Armando Benitez
He is likely best known for starting the massive benches-clearing brawl between the Orioles and Yankees back in the ’90s, but even after that, Benitez did a lot of trash-talking on the mound and never shied away from plunking someone.
6. Barry Bonds
The all-time HR leader in MLB is arguably one of, if not the greatest players in MLB history. Still, there are way more people who dislike Bonds than who like him. His selfishness as a teammate, coupled with his PED use, has certainly played a role in keeping him out of Cooperstown.
5. Roger Clemens
He was one of the greatest pitchers in MLB history, yet Clemens is remembered mostly for his involvement in PED usage and his memorable line about “MIsremembering”. Let’s not forget his feud with Mets catcher Mike Piazza, which peaked in the 2000 World Series when Clemens threw part of a shattered bat in Piazza’s direction and then claimed: “I thought it was the ball”.
4. 2017 Houston Astros
Although this is the most recent of everyone listed here, it will go down as one of the wildest and most infamous seasons and scandals in MLB history. The Houston Astros flat-out cheated, specifically at home. Their upper management and manager were eventually given 1-year bans from the game, and you can still hear Yankees and Dodgers fans crying about how their teams were robbed of a World Series.
3. Pete Rose
Pete wasn’t very well-liked as a player, but following his betting scandal, he seemingly became one of the most hated athletes in the United States. To this day, even though he is MLB’s all-time hit leader, he remains out of the hall of fame.
2. Ty Cobb
Cobb was known as a wild man. He would always slide cleats up, he would fight with fans and groundskeepers, and he has been labeled as a racist. It is hard to know the exact truth, considering these incidents happened over 100 years ago, but to this day, he is still and likely always will be one of the most hated players in MLB history.
1. 1919 Chicago “Black” Sox
This scandal might be 106 years old, but it still will go down as the biggest to ever affect the game of baseball. Eight members of the 1919 White Sox were accused of conspiring with professional gamblers to lose the World Series on purpose. Until the White Sox won the World Series in 2005, many fans believed in the “Curse Of Shoeless Joe” because the team failed to win a championship for nearly 90 years.
