E-Mail This Article to a Friend Running rings around it logically: Baseball fingers its champs BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Sports, like life, often is unfair. Red Sox fans know about unfair. Cubs fans definitely do. So do Indians fans. Yankees fans think they grasp the concept after three long years in the wilderness, but as far as the Big Picture goes, they probably don’t quite. Fans of the Florida Marlins and Minnesota Twins, which each picked up a pair of world titles within six years, probably shouldn't even think about discussing the concept around here.

Today we will wind our way around the idea of "unfair" by way of talking about "deserving." We will talk about players winning championships. Some players deserve it and some do not; some win it all their very first season, and some have to wait until their very last season. Some guys play 20 years and never taste the Champagne, and some play three months and sip it. Like it or not, it happens every year.

Do you know which player won the most World Series rings during his playing days? We’ll post the answer at the end of the column. You’d be on the right track if you guessed a pinstriper, because one has to look long and hard to find any Major League Baseball player who won more than three rings and didn’t win any of them as part of the New York Yankees organization. As far as I can tell, the only non-Yankee in the post-’60s era to win more than four titles in his playing career was journeyman catcher Gene Tenace, who was fortunate enough to be part of the Oakland A’s "Mustache Gang" that won three straight series in the early ’70s, and then picked up another one in 1982 with St. Louis in the penultimate season of his playing career. Others of an earlier era who won four non-Yankee titles include the immortal Jack Barry, Frankie Frisch, Larry Gardner, Jim Gilliam, Stuffy McInnis, Eddie Collins, Harry Hooper, and Amos Strunk.

There are a lot of players who got World Series rings and were very deserving. A couple of those guys in fact just won them in recent years: Mike Lowell and Pudge Rodriguez of the Marlins, Troy Percival, David Eckstein, and Kevin Appier of the Angels, and Matt Williams, Mark Grace, and the pitching tandem of Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson for Arizona.

Here are a few long-term guys you probably assumed have a bunch of rings but in reality have only one: Tim Raines (Yankees ’96), Dave Winfield (Blue Jays ’92), Mark McGwire (A’s ’89), Paul Molitor (Jays ’93), Cal Ripken Jr. (Orioles ’83 — his rookie season), Bruce Sutter and Jim Kaat (Cardinals ‘82), Fernando Valenzuela and Dusty Baker (Dodgers ’81), Willie Mays (NY Giants ’54), and Hank Aaron (Milwaukee Braves ’57). Nolan Ryan pitched in four different decades and for a total of 27 years, but he only won it once — in only his third season with the Miracle Mets of 1969. Amazingly, he never reached the Fall Classic again.

Pitcher David Cone, despite changing uniforms six times, collected five rings, as he grabbed one in Toronto a decade ago, then picked up four more during the recent Yankees’ dynasty in the late ’90s. Same went for former Yankee Paul O’Neill, who, upon his retirement nearly two seasons ago, had five rings — four from his days in the Bronx, and one for the surprising Reds in 1990. Lonnie Smith won three championships in six years with three different squads (Philly ’80, St. Louis ’82, and KC ’85), and could have had a fourth if not for a base-running blunder as a member of the Braves in the deciding game of the ’91 series against the Twins.

Quite a few members of the current Yankees roster not surprisingly have at least one ring, and a few have as many as four (Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada). Jeter in fact won those four championships in his first five full seasons, so he’s been more than a little spoiled (though you’ve got to feel for him after this interminable three-year drought).

Some people win rings that make you wonder just how they managed to stumble upon such good fortune. Nearly every member of the 2003 Marlins comes to mind, but there are also some ring-bearers on the All-Name team: Benji Gil (’02), Homer Bush (’98), Chili Davis (’91, ’98, ’99), Candy Maldonado (’92), Lance Blankenship (’89), Buddy Biancalana (’85), Dane Iorg (’82, ’85), Barbaro Garbey (’84), Tippy Martinez (’83), Joaquin Andujar (’82), Burt Hooten (’81), Bake McBride (’80), Enrique Romo (’79), Cesar Geronimo (’75, ’76), Duffy Dyer (’69), Chico Salmon (’70), Tom Phoebus (’70), Moe Drabowsky (’66, ’70), Bob Veale (’71), Horacio Pina (’73), Hal Woodeschick (’67), Barney Schultz (’64), Stuffy Stirnweiss (’47), Nippy Jones (’57), Johnny Kucks (’58), Dick Groat (’64), and the unforgettable Vinegar Bend Mizell (’60).

Some folks who made real names for themselves in the sport after their playing careers were over also boast the hardware, including Joe Garagiola (’46), Don Zimmer (’55 and ’59), Tim McCarver (’64, ’67), and Bob Uecker (1964).

The idea of some of these lunkheads brandishing championship gear could make you want to gag, but here they are nonetheless: Ugueth Urbina (’03), David Justice (’95, ’00), Luis Polonia (’95, ’00), Jose Canseco (’89, ’00), Chuck Knoblauch (’91, ’98, ’99, ’00 — blimey!), Darryl Strawberry (’86, ’99), Bobby Bonilla (’97), Rickey Henderson (’89, ’93), and Steve Howe (’81).

Of the players on the current Red Sox roster, only three players sport World Series rings: reliever Mike Timlin (who’s got a pair of ’em from the back-to-back Blue Jay titles in the early ’90s), closer BK Kim (despite his struggles in Yankee Stadium, he still got one for the D-Backs in ’01), and, of course, Ramiro Mendoza (his recent performance for Boston belies his claim to have four rings stashed away from his stint with the Yanks).

How about those Soxers who never won here but found greener pastures — and a World Series title — elsewhere? One cannot forget one William Roger Clemens (’99, ’00) winning his pair in the Bronx, nor can one erase the tear-stained memory of Mr. Wade Boggs on horseback when he won his lone ring in 1996. Others who went on to bigger and better things post-Fenway included Todd Benzinger (’90), Dave Henderson (’89), Carney Lansford (’89), Midre Cummings (’01), John Tudor (’88), Danny Heep (’88), Don Baylor (’87), Bobby Ojeda (’86), Sparky Lyle (’77, ’78, ’80), and Billy Conigliaro (’73).

On the flip side, here is the list of top-flight major-leaguers who have still never won a championship ring in their long, illustrious careers. These tough-luck fellows include such Hall-of-Famers as Yaz, Billy Williams, Don Sutton, Tony Gwynn, Phil Niekro, Ted Williams, Willie McCovey, Ernie Banks, Rod Carew, Bobby Doerr, Carlton Fisk, Ferguson Jenkins, Harmon Killebrew, Ralph Kiner, Juan Marichal, and Gaylord Perry. And for those who recently retired without ever tasting the ultimate victory, that list includes Fred Lynn, Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Andre Dawson, and Dale Murphy.

And finally, there’s a huge number of active players who are still searching for their first ring, and who probably deserve one a helluva lot more than Marlin Braden Looper does. That collection of players still hopin’ and a-prayin’ for just one more chance includes such future Hall-of-Famers as Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, Nomar Garciaparra, Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, Vladimir Guerrero, Mike Piazza, Edgar Martinez, Alex Rodriguez, Jeff Bagwell, Ken Griffey Jr., Sammy Sosa, and Mike Mussina.

The answer to the quiz at the beginning of the column is Yogi Berra, who won 10 rings over the course of his 18-year career with the Bronx Bombers. The overall record for championship memorabilia goes to Frank Crosetti, who was a coach and a player for the Yanks from 1932 until 1968. Overall, he was part of 17 World Series–winning teams, but after his first 10 rings he decided to take rifles instead as his post-season prize.

Fair or unfair, some baseball players walk away from their careers with more rings than they deserve, while others hang up the spikes without ever getting to slip on the diamond-studded jewelry. That’s just the way it is, and for better or worse, that’s the way it will continue to be.

And if that’s the case, then the future undoubtedly holds that more Yankees will wear more rings, and more Red Soxers will go away empty-handed and -fingered. But for now, for the second time in seven seasons, a group of fish — whose entire league history covers just 11 seasons — will be fitted for championship rings this off-season, while the likes of Barry, A-Rod, and Nomah wait yet another year to find out if the baseball gods will ever smile down on them as they have for hundreds of other worthy (and unworthy) candidates since this maddening game was created.

Sporting Eye runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com, and Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com