In honor of Opening Day, former Daily Quickie honcho Dan Shanoff offers this challenge:

Speaking of MLB, the blog Rumors and Rants had a thing where they asked people for their favorite all-time MLB player. My answer: Ryne Sandberg.

It was interesting that I immediately filtered the question as my favorite CHILDHOOD player, as if your favorite player back during your formative years of fanhood (ages 10-14 or thereabouts) have greater weight than a player you may develop a love for as an adult.

So, obviously, I want to know who was YOUR favorite MLB player? (Or "is," if that's the case.)

First of all, my favorite childhood player was always Darrell Evans, a BLTR first baseman who, at 38 years old, slugged 40 homers for the 1987 AL-East winning Detroit Tigers.

My favorite current player is probably Justin Verlander. I really got a kick out of seeing his MLB debut with my dad in Cleveland on July 4th, 2005. And it was made that much more special seeing him pitch in the World Series.

I have plenty of love for Carlos Guillen, Kenny Rogers, and Joel Zumaya, but if I had to choose, I think JV is my favorite.

So, the obvious question for the peanut gallery: Who's your Tiger?

(Fine, Tracy, you can pick a Red Sox player.)

Additionally, I have a few responses to Dan's meta-analysis of the "politics" of picking your favorites:

First, I think the era you identify with your favorite player has a lot to do with how your sports fandom evolves. I think he's right that for most people - even a professional sports write link himself - they hit their fan peak as a little kid. There's just nothing sweeter or more "innocent" than a little kid digging baseball.

For me, however, I'm a bigger sports fan now that I was as a kid. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty close. You're talking to the kid that stole the Sunday sports section back when they used to publish every player's stats across 4 pages and analyzed every last batting average for every last team.

(1987 AL Batting Champs: Boggs, .363; Molitor, .353, Trammell, .343)

But in my adulthood, sports has become the major way I stay connected to my Michigan roots. My parents and virtually all of my childhood friends have moved away from Flint, so this is one of the only ways I feel connected.

Add to that a pretty unprecedented level of success (3 Stanley Cups, 1 NBA Championship, 1 College Football Title, 1 World Series Appearance) that almost precisely corresponds to my absence, and it's easy to see why I feel a closer tie to sports today.

All of that is a fancy way to say that I like Justin Verlander more now that I liked Darrell Evans as a kid.

I will add two additional corollaries to picking your favorites.

One, I don't trust people who pick their "favorite player" from anything other than their "favorite team." I have all the respect in the world for the Cal Ripkens and the Ken Griffeys and the Alberrt Pujols, but you gotta pick your favorites from the team you live and die with. You just gotta.

Second, picking the All-Star from your favorite team is just too easy. This choice is about who you are as a person and what values you will instill in your long-distant offspring. Your "favorite" player has to show some style!

Happy Opening Day, BTP readers. Here's to a big (ain't no party like a) Detroit Party in Hart Plaza roundabouts Halloween.