Growing up, my first favorite baseball player was Dave Kingman. I was a Mets fan by birth, and Kong was the sole star on some unspeakably awful teams. Kingman hit home runs and didn’t do much else. He struck out a lot, was beyond surly with the media, and must not have been much of a hit with teammates either, as he once played for four teams in the same season. All that said, I still want a No. 26 Mitchell & Ness Mets jersey. Happy birthday, Kong.
