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World Series, all-star game and the Hall lift baseball
of TheColumnists.com
You know what keeps baseball a base ahead of other sports?
The All-Star Game and the Hall of Fame.
Football has lightning passes, basketball thunder dunks. Golf has Tiger Woods, tennis Serena Williams. Hockey has the Stanley Cup, soccer the World Cup.
Only baseball hits a triple: its huge show, the World Series; its hot exhibition, the All-Star Game; and its fun exhibit, the Hall of Fame.
That’s called bench strength.
Baseball’s All-Star Game is the only one that anyone follows. I mean, who won the NFL’s Pro Bowl last season? Exactly.
Ditto Baseball’s Hall of Fame. We argue who should make it every year. No other sport draws Hall hysteria. Heck, no other country does. You think Germans sweat over whether some Bayern midfielder reaches the Hall? No.
This year’s Baseball All-Star Game
swings into Detroit’s Comerica Park July 12. It will be
a big deal whether Dontrelle Willis of the Florida Marlins starts
on the mound for the National League, and Jon Garland of the
Chicago White Sox for the American League.
After all, the league that wins the game will have home-field
advantage in the World Series. That alone makes the All-Star
Game more than an exhibition.
So does fan interest. Millions vote for their favorite players.
It’s no flood like “American Idol.” But it sure submerges Pro Bowl in-house voting, which no one cares about.
My baseball ballot went this way:
National League:
First base: Albert Pujols, Cardinals;
Second base: Jeff Kent, Dodgers;
Shortstop: Cesar Izturis, Dodgers;
Third base: Troy Glaus, Diamondbacks;
Catcher: Jason Phillips, Dodgers;
Outfield: Milton Bradley, Dodgers; Juan Pierre, Marlins; Miguel
Cabrera, Marlin.
American League:
First base: Darin Erstad, Angels;
Second base: Brian Roberts, Orioles;
Shortstop: Derek Jeter, Yankees;
Third base: Alex Rodriguez, Yankees;
Catcher: Pudge Rodriguez, Tigers;
DH: Dmitri Young, Tigers;
Outfield: Scott Podsednik, White Sox; Hideki Matsui, Yankees;
Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners.
And if I could vote for best player period: Florida’s Cabrera.
The Hall of Fame: Voting among sportswriters is announced every January.
This year the winners were Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg. They’ll be inducted into the Hall on July 31 in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Boggs, a third baseman on the Boston Red Sox, was a lock. He amassed 3,010 hits and five batting titles.
Sandberg, a second baseman on the Chicago Cubs, was a surprise. How he made it when the most feared reliever of his day, Goose Gossage, failed leaves me dazed.
That’s exactly why the Baseball Hall of Fame sounds like a winner. Debates run into extra innings. Recently my online group exchanged reams of e-mails pondering whether Keith Hernandez should be in the Hall (I say yes) and, if so, what about Don Mattingly (no)?
When I asked Vance in New York to weigh in, he laid down a heavy law: Only the big guys should be in the Hall.
Don’t bore him with Phil Rizzuto, Enos Slaughter, Tony Perez and other Famers from the fringe.
Don’t fast talk him into keeping Dizzy Dean, Ralph Kiner and Don Drysdale in there.
Don’t even bug him with Willie Stargell, Duke Snider and Al Kaline, who powered their way in.
Vance would bounce them all to foul territory.
His is a serious Hall. It has room for a hard-core 50:
First base:
Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Willie McCovey, Eddie Murray.
Second base:
Eddie Collins, Rogers Hornsby, Jackie Robinson, Joe Morgan.
Shortstop:
Honus Wagner, Ernie Banks, Cal Ripken, Ozzie Smith,
Robin Yount.
Third base:
Brooks Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Mike Schmidt, George Brett.
Catcher:
Yogi Berra, Johnny Bench, Mickey Cochrane.
Outfield:
Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Babe Ruth, Paul Waner, Joe DiMaggio, Ted
Williams, Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron,
Frank Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Lou Brock, Reggie Jackson,
Pete Rose, Mel Ott.
Pitcher:
Christy Mathewson, Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Lefty Grove, Carl
Hubbell, Bob Feller, Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson,
Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Jim Palmer, Grover Cleveland Alexander,
Nolan Ryan.
Invitations are pending for Rickey Henderson, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux when they’re eligible.
No debate there. Just baseball.
©2005 by Bucky Fox.
The illustration is from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895
Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA. This column
first posted May 30, 2005
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