Hall of Fame Archives - Page 2 of 3

Football, Baseball, Obits

So who had the Cardinals vs. the Eagles in the NFC title game in their preseason picks? I’m going to need to see some proof.

In the past two weekends, I’ve seen at least parts of all eight games, which is more football than I watched the previous 18 weeks combined. Thanks to the magic of the DVR, I actually saw the Pittsburgh/San Diego game on Monday morning. The only one of the eight I saw in real time was the Eagles/Giants game on Sunday afternoon. To which I can only say, How do people actually watch commercials anymore? Not only are they annoying, they are replayed endlessly; a particular Subway commercial was effective in making me wonder if I’ll ever go to one of their restaurants ever again.

So now I have to pick my rooting interests for the rest of the way:
1. Philadelphia Eagles – making the playoffs through an improbable set of circumstances the last weekend (two potentially playoff-bound teams losing to lesser opponents while the Eagles demolished the Cowboys) with a quarterback, Donovan McNabb, who was benched for a time this season. I always like McNabb, who played in Syracuse (yay, upstate NY!) and whose pick was booed by some of the Eagles’ fans before he’d even put on his helmet for the first time.
2. Pittsburgh Steelers – yes, I’m rooting for the two PA teams. Call it geographic bias. But I like the QB, Ben Roethlisberger. I especially like receiver Hines Ward, who really embraced his Korean heritage a couple years back.
3. Arizona Cardinals – the Cinderella team, though it’s been the Team of Destiny for Couch Slouch, Norman Chad for a few seasons now. The problem is that: 1) I can never remember where the Cardinals actually play. Chicago? No, that was many years ago. St. Louis? No, not any more, though St. Louis has the Rams that used to play in Los Angeles. 2) I’m not a big Kurt Warner fan. I’m sure this has something to do with his excessive religiosity. He also was less than stellar in his brief stint as Giants QB.
4. Baltimore Ravens – I just don’t like the Ravens. And I particularly don’t like Ray Lewis.

BTW, I really enjoyed Jaquandor’s take on football. It’s not a football blog, but he has some good insights:
Odd synchronicity: this weekend saw action by all three quarterbacks who lost Super Bowls to Tom Brady (Kurt Warner, Jake Delhomme, Donovan McNabb) and the one who beat Tom Brady (Eli Manning).
But on one point, I think he’s wrong:
I think there should be no points but the team recording the safety should automatically take possession at the 50 yard line. The problem with that is that a team could intentionally go out of the back of the end zone and the team would have potentially better field position than it would if it had to punt from the back of the end zone. Now, talk about putting the ball on the 20-yard line of the team suffering the safety; THAT might be better than two points and receiving a free kick.
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I thought Rickey Henderson’s vote to the Baseball Hall of Fame was obvious. My only surprise was that he was eligible. I thought he was still playing ball somewhere. He probably won’t, but Rickey should go in as a member of the A’s.

As for Jim Rice, I’ve favored him getting in for as long as I can remember. This is what I wrote two years ago: Jim Rice 13th year. PRO: Eight All-Star teams (1977-’80, ‘83-’86). Seven .300 seasons, four 200-plus hit seasons, three 100-plus run season (consecutively from 1977-’79),30-plus HR four times, 40-plus HR once, and 100-plus RBI eight times. Led AL in total bases four times in 1977 (382), ‘78 (406), ‘79 (369) and 1983 (344). One of 31 players with 350+ home runs and a .290+ career batting average. Only player in history with three straight seasons of 35+ home runs and 200+ hits. CON: Prickly relationship with the press, who would note that the one time his Red Sox got to the World Series (1986), they didn’t win.
That he got in during his final year of eligibility suggests that the voters spent less time on his personality and more time on his stats.
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Patrick McGoohan has died. I watched The Prisoner religiously. I also saw him in other things such as Braveheat, but The Prisoner was his signature role.
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Ricardo Montalban also has died. I wrote about him only three months ago.

ROG

QUESTION: Baseball Hall of Fame

COOPERSTOWN, NY – Ten former major league players, whose careers began in 1943 or later, will be considered for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009 by the Veterans Committee, with results to be announced December 8 at baseball’s Winter Meetings…

Dick Allen 0/7
Gil Hodges 0/8
Jim Kaat 7/3
Tony Oliva 0/7
Al Oliver 4-/7
Vada Pinson 2-/4*
Ron Santo 4c/9
Luis Tiant 0/3
Joe Torre 5/9
Maury Wills 2/7*
will be considered for election by the Veterans Committee for enshrinement in 2009, with votes to be cast by Hall of Fame members this fall. Any candidate to receive 75% of the vote on all ballots cast will earn election to the Hall of Fame and will be enshrined on July 26, 2009. There are 64 living Hall of Famers.

The ballot for the 2009 Veterans Committee election of players whose careers began in 1943 or later was devised by Hall of Fame members, who served as the Screening Committee in narrowing the list from 21 to 10 names during the month of August. Earlier this year, the Historical Overview Committee of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, comprised of 11 veteran baseball writers and historians, selected 20 finalists from a list of all eligible players, those whose careers spanned at least 10 major league seasons and started in 1943 or later. Concurrently, a screening committee comprised of six Hall of Famers selected five names for the ballot, and the two lists were merged for a total of 21 candidates.

The 21 candidates considered by the Screening Committee: Allen, Ken Boyer, Bert Campaneris, Rocky Colavito, Mike Cuellar, Steve Garvey, Hodges, Kaat, Ted Kluszewski, Mickey Lolich, Roger Maris, Lee May, Minnie Minoso, Thurman Munson, Oliva, Oliver, Pinson, Santo, Tiant, Torre and Wills.

Also in December, a 12-member voting committee will consider the candidacies of 10 former major league players whose careers began in 1942 or earlier:
Bill Dahlen
Wes Ferrell
Joe Gordon
Sherry Magee
Carl Mays
Allie Reynolds
Vern Stephens
Mickey Vernon
Bucky Walters
Deacon White
Any candidate to earn votes of 75% of ballots cast will earn election to the Hall of Fame, with enshrinement on July 26, 2009.

The 12 members of the voting committee who are scheduled to meet on December 7 at the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas to consider the pre-1943 candidates include: seven Hall of Fame members (Bobby Doerr, Ralph Kiner, Phil Niekro, Robin Roberts, Duke Snider, Don Sutton and Dick Williams), along with five historians (Furman Bisher, Roland Hemond, Steve Hirdt, Bill Madden and Claire Smith).

The 10 former major leaguers whose careers began in 1942 or earlier were screened by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) appointed Historical Overview Committee, comprised of 11 veteran members: Dave Van Dyck (Chicago Tribune); Bob Elliott (Toronto Sun); Rick Hummel (St. Louis Post-Dispatch); Steve Hirdt (Elias Sports Bureau); Moss Klein (formerly Newark Star-Ledger); Bill Madden (New York Daily News); Ken Nigro, (formerly Baltimore Sun); Jack O’Connell (MLB.com); Nick Peters (Sacramento Bee); Tracy Ringolsby (Rocky Mountain News); and Mark Whicker (Orange County Register). This committee also served as the Overview Committee for the post-1943 ballot, screening names to 20 from the universe of eligible candidates.

The process to consider players whose careers began in 1942 or earlier occurs every five years, next in 2013 for election in 2014. The committee to consider players whose careers began in 1943 or later will consider candidates every other year, next in 2010 for 2011 election.

The Veterans Committee process also features ballots for Managers/Umpires and for Executives, with both of those committees meeting every other year for even-year election, next meeting in 2009 for election in 2010.

So the obvious question: who should go in, and why?
I went to Baseball-Reference.com at least for the younger layers and noted just two things: how many players with similar stats were in the Hall and how many All-Star Games were they selected for. Tiant 0 on the comparison stats and only 3 All-Star appearances – out. Vada Pinson (love that name) 2 HOF, 4 AS but over only two years; there was a period (1959-1962) when thee were two All-Star games played – out. Tony Oliva and Dick Allen, both 0 HOF but 7 AS – tougher call, but no.
Gil Hodges – 0 HOF, but 8 AS, and he won the world series as a manager and died tragically early – maybe. Maury Wills – 2 HOF, 7 AS (but over 5 years), but he transformed the game with his speed – maybe. Al Oliver – 4 HOF (and one on the ballot now, Pinson), 7 AS. One batting title – maybe.
Jim Kaat -7(!)HOF, though only 3 AS. But he fielded his position well (16 Golden Gloves), and contributes to baseball as an announcer, plus longevity – yes. Ron Santo – 4 HOF (oddly, all catchers, though he mostly played 3B), 9 AS. Add his announcing gig, plus the torture of being a Chicago Cub – yes. Joe Torre- 5 HOF, 9 AS, and he was a catcher for much of that time. add his managerial success (OK, not the Mets, but with the Braves, Cards, Yankees – I believe the Dodgers are in 1st place right now) – yes.

ROG

The Last Hall of Fame Game

You may have heard that the Hall of Fame Game in Cooperstown, an exhibition contest between two major league teams, will be having its last outing this coming Monday. Some writers have suggested that it’s a “que sera sera” moment, that “all things must pass”, that should end because it’s not practical. I wonder if they’ve actually ever gone to this game.

Have they seen the parade?

Have they checked out the guy guy in the No. 7 Yankee car who looks a little like Mickey Mantle – and who, incidentally, is a bartender at a local resort?

Have they seen the kids who scurry for the candy being tossed from the cars, snacks that they can easily get cheaply at the local CVS? It reminds me of tourists grabbing for cheap beads they pass out during Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

And then you get to see the players in the trolley cars, with you trying to suss out the ones you actually might recognize.

You get to the stadium and you have the home run hitting contest, where almost inevitably some player you’ve never heard of beats out the league home run champion from the previous season.

You take your score card and you dutifully mark down the names of the starting lineups, but it’s of no use, for they brought in all these extra players from AA, whose names aren’t all on the rosters – check out all those uniforms with the numbers is the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s – and the managers put them in and out of the game like origami.

My father-in-law Richard and I have gone to this game for 8 of the last 9 years. The only season I missed was the year after the Red Sox first won the World Series this decade, and he was able to secure tickets for that game the day of. Not so incidentally, he took all of these pictures.

Last year when I went to the game between Toronto and Baltimore with my father-in-law, there were five home runs hit just in our outfield section. One landed to my right and then careened to my left in front of my face. Another was just beyond our reach.

But my favorite part of the Hall of Fame Game involved begging the center fielder to throw the ball to your outfield section after his warm-ups with the left fielder. In fact, last year’s center fielder for the Toronto Blue Jays, Vernon Wells, was a master, systematically taunted each section with the ball, throwing it to one area only to reveal a secret second ball in his pocket, which he then tossed to the other section. It was marvelous theater, and great fun.

I understand the logistical difficulties of Major League teams showing up in this tiny Otsego County burgh, but I don’t think the solution to this game/issue is to put an International League game there as some have suggested. There was an IL game played this year between Syracuse and Rochester, and the Syracuse team perhaps can continue to host the game, but it would be a weak substitute. Did you know the single A (short season) Oneonta Tigers already plays a game on Doubleday Field annually and before them, the Oneonta Yankees? It’s hardly comparable.

What would be more interesting would be to have an old-timers’ game played at the Field. In fact, this suggestion was floated about by the long-time fans of the game when they were standing in line waiting for tickets on a cold winter afternoon. There are already many baseball veterans who line the streets on the two Hall of Fame parade weekends selling autographs, so it is a natural extension of what’s been going on already in the town.

A more radical idea is to have a game between a couple teams there count in the standings. I’m not suggesting it – yet – but the notion intrigues.

In some form, Doubleday Field deserves Major League baseball.

ROG

Unsettling

I had the TV on last night just before 7:30 pm, when there was a scroll along the bottom of the screen indicating that an Amber alert had been called. I’ve seen them before and they’re always a bit scary, but not as much as this one. The address listed is the school in my neighborhood; indeed, we were at that very school on Saturday, checking out the Pre-K and kindergarten programs. Fortunately, the boy and the man who allegedly took him were found not far away in Cohoes less than one hour later.
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Saturday as a very busy one for us. First, we went to a pancake breakfast to benefit the FOCUS Churches food pantry, then to the school. We went to our credit union to put money into an IRA to mitigate our taxes, using some of the money we’re going to get from the stimulus package. (Shhh! Don’t tell President Bush!!) Then, that evening, we got a babysitter, went to the Troy Music Hall, and listened to an exquisite performance of the Brahms Requiem and other pieces by Albany Pro Musica; here is feedback from one of the singers.
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My computer at work uses Microsoft Office for e-mail. Friday, and again yesterday morning, when I would click on a hyperlink within my e-mail, it would look as though I were trying to download an executable (.exe) file. Apparently, the problem was that when I downloaded an update to iTunes last week, I also downloaded Safari, and it did not play well with Microsoft Office. Eliminate Safari, reroute the e-mail – which someone else did, trust me – and I was good to go again.
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The big news in the area is that Pat Riley, oh, and some other folks, got into the Basketball Hall of Fame. It’s a huge local story because Riley was a high school star in Schenectady; the high school gym there is named in his honor.

ROG

Rock Hall QUESTIONS

A couple weeks ago, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominated these folks to be voted on:
Madonna
Afrika Bambaataa
The Beastie Boys
Leonard Cohen
Donna Summer
The Ventures
Chic (third year)
The Dave Clark Five (third year)
John Mellencamp (second year)
The results will be announced early next January, with the awards ceremony in March.

1. Who will be selected this year? I’m guessing Madonna, Afrika and the Beastie Boys – I don’t think you can pick the Beastie Boys (or indeed most hip hop/rap artists) without picking Afrika; but as to the other two, I really don’t know. Maybe DC5 and Chic because they’re repeaters. Leonard Cohen should be in the Hall as a songwriter, not a singer.

2. Who would you like to be selected this year? For me, Madonna, Afrika, and DC5.

3. There are a number of people, some of whom are listed here (lower half of the page) who’ve been bypassed for the Hall. Who would you like to see? My picks: Peter Gabriel and/or Genesis, Graham Parker. I also would love to see some consideration to some more commercial bands such as – OK, I’ll admit it – the Doobie Brothers.

Oh, and on another topic:

4. What do you think of the FCC plan to ease limits on media owners?

ROG