Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Hall of Fame? Really?

Maybe I'm wrong. But there is the slim possibilty I am right.

The Hall of Fame seems to be hellbent upon electing someone (and some years, ANYONE) just to have a ceremony and create news.

This years class will get a quick eval from me. And, then a snide comment at the end.

Walter O'Malley - Yeah. This surely makes sense. A man who alienated a multigeneration fan base by moving his team west for one reason. Greed. O'Malley was despised by the owners and wasn't very benevolent with the players. Plus he squeezed out some of his management who brought him there. Bad Call. Grade: F

Bowie Kuhn - A commissioner getting into the hall is not uncommon, but Kuhn was very paradoxical in my view and caused the apple cart to drop more apples than grow trees. He literally crucifed Jim Bouton for Ball Four. And, how could a team like the Pilots founder after only 1 year in the Big Leagues? Grade: D

Billy Southworth - Don't know much about him to comment.

Barney Dreyfus - As Above

Dick Williams - Sure Williams was a good manager and led the A's to 3 straight world series and had a boatload of wins - but to put him in the same gallery as Casey Stengel, Miller Huggins, Joe McCarthy? I'm not sure about that.

I think the Hall of Fame needs to redefine what really is a SUPERSTAR.

Anyway, I look forward to next years election. Here's hoping that Scipio Spinks, Mike Hedlund and Manager Frank Quilici are enshrined.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I couldn't agree with you more.

I actually thought a re-name of the Hall is in order. From the Hall of Shame to the Hall of Blame, the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Myths is another corporation whose only function is to make enough money to sustain itself and to elect future mediocre baseball magnates into its politically correct shrine.

How about the Hall of Baseball's Lame Brains?