Thanksgiving is here! As you face the busiest travel weekend of the year, dreading the wait in first one airport and then the next, may I present one minor distraction to pass the time.
An MLB guide to the US’s busiest airports
With the help of the ever-useful Baseball-Reference.com, I've managed to find the MLB "spirit animals" of some of the busiest airports in the US. You'll never guess how (okay, you'll probably guess right away). Still, as you board your plane in Atlanta, layover in Chicago, and finally wind up in Seattle, it might help your day go by a little faster when you realize that you're traveling with a pair of All-Stars and a Hall of Famer watching your back.
| Airport Rank (Busiest in US) | Airport Code & Name | MLB "Spirit Animal" |
| 1 | ATL Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Aiport | Atlee Hammaker |
| 2 | ORD O'Hare International Airport | Magglio Ordonez |
| 3 | LAX Los Angeles International Airport | Bill Laxton (243 IP in 1970-77) |
| 4 | MIA Miami International Airport | Bart Miadich (11 IP in 2001-03) |
| 5 | DFW Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport | Floyd Weaver* |
| 6 | DEN Denver International Airport | Dennis Eckersley |
| 7 | JFK John F. Kennedy International Airport | Jeff Kent* |
| 8 | SFO San Francisco International Airport | Marco Sforza (Italian Baseball League) |
| 9 | CLT Charlotte/Douglass International Airport | Cesar Tovar* |
| 10 | LAS McCarran International Airport | Lastings Milledge |
| 11 | PHX Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport | Steve Phoenix* (6 IP in 1994-95) |
| 12 | IAH George Bush International Airport | ?? |
| 13 | MCO Orlando International Airport | Willie McCovey |
| 14 | EWR Newark Liberty International Airport | Ed Wright* (398 IP in 1945-52) |
| 15 | SEA Seattle-Tacoma International Airport | Tom Seaver |
* No players have names matching this airport code. The MLB “spirit animal” was found through an alternative method (usually through the player’s initials instead).
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