I think it’s fair to say that in 1966 Hank Aaron was everyone’s favorite Brave. So the way you differentiated yourself from your friends is by specifying who your second favorite Brave was. I was torn between Felipe Alou and Rico Carty. Eventually, Carty became my second favorite Brave, but not in 1966. In 1966, I wanted to be Felipe Alou. (No one thought they had any chance to be Hank Aaron.)
Sports biographies are generally abominable. Indeed, they are so routinely abominable that when Ball Four or The Bullpen Gospels rise to the level of readable it is noteworthy.