The Tuesday Discussion: A Fictional Baseball Rushmore

March 31, 2026

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This week we asked our writers to respond to the following:

Which four fictional baseball players would comprise your Fictional Baseball Mount Rushmore?

From ChatGPT

Here are their replies...

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Paul Semendinger - I would go with Roy Hobbs, Casey, Charlie Brown, and Who.

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Andrew Hefner - Arson Judge, Pablo Sanchez from Backyard Baseball, Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez from The Sandlot, and Willie Mays Hayes from Major League

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Cary Greene - There have been a number of fictional baseball players and believe it or not, many comic book heroes also played baseball in various issues. Since I always loved comic books, my Fictional Baseball Mount Rushmore is composed of super heroes. I'll start with my pitcher. SUPERMAN! He'd be throwing to Captain America who would be handling the catching duties. Batting cleanup for the team would be Colossus and of course Spiderman would play shortstop. 

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Ethan Semendinger - Whenever it comes to making a "Mount Rushmore", I always find that the first three names are the easiest to place. In this, I'm going to focus on four different mediums of entertainment: cinema (movies/television), written works (books), video games, and performance works (plays, music, etc.). 

First, is clearly Roy Hobbs. The Natural is arguably the best baseball movie ever (if not for Field of Dreams), and Roy Hobbs is the fictional cinema baseball player you'd want up at the plate at the biggest moments.

Second, is clearly Casey from Casey at the Bat. Mount Rushmore is about fame as much as performance, and Casey is the greatest fictional ballplayer from a written work ever, so much so that his likeness has been used in movies, television, comic books, music, and even operas. If not for Babe Ruth, it may be Casey who is the most famous baseball player ever.

Third, I would put Pablo Sanchez from the Backyard Baseball series. This isn't just a personal nostalgia pick, as it's the best pick for any baseball video game. If you don't believe me, ask Bobby Witt Jr. For this pick, I'd also like to give an honorary mention to some of the other great backyard kids: Pete Wheeler, Keisha Phillips, Achmed Khan, and Kenny Kawaguchi.

Finally, we get to the performance work, and one performance stands out above the rest. It isn't a song, nor is it a play. It's a player from a short sketch that has been on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame for decades, a player who is recognizable by only one word: "Who". Though we have no physical imagery of Who, he who is Who is the most famous of all. Thank you, Abbott and Costello.

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John Nielsen - My Mt. Rushmore of fictional baseball characters from movies/literature/etc.

1. Manager Jimmy "There's No Crying in Baseball" Duggan - as played by Tom Hanks in "A League of Their Own" - No cryin' indeed!

2. Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh - as played by Tim Robbins in "Bull Durham" - the epitome of a pitching prospect in the Low Minors

3. Roy Hobbs - as played by the late/great Robert Redford in "The Natural" - the definition of the legendary redemptive hero archetype

4. Crash Davis - as played by Kevin Kostner in "Bull Durham" - the quintessential minor league careerist taking his last lap and doing his best to mentor Nuke LaLoosh - deeply authentic character

Honorable Mention - also Bull Durham-based - Larry Hockett, the Asheville Tourists’ pitching coach who goes to the mound during Nuke LaLoosh’s meltdown and, instead of talking pitching/game strategy, casually suggests candlesticks as an ideal  wedding gift—to change Nuke's focus and inspire him to pitch out of a jam!   I used that line (or one resembling it) about 50x at various stops in my own youth baseball managing career (kids from 8 to 18) to positive effect over 90% of the time!

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Ed Botti - I’d have to go with Roy Hobbs, Crash Davis, Moonlight Graham and Jimmy Dugan.

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Andy Singer - Roy Hobbs, Dottie Hinson, Steve Nebraska, and Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez

Hobbs was quite simply, The Natural; it's tough to beat that.  Dottie was the best player in the All-American Girls Baseball League, and was clearly heads and shoulders above her peers.  Steve Nebraska threw a 27-strikeout perfect game on 81 pitches in the World Series at Yankee Stadium in "The Scout," which gets him up on the carving just on his peak alone.  Benny pickled the beast and had a long, productive big league career - after all, "Heroes get remembered, but legends never die."