When You Don't Go to Cooperstown, Cooperstown Comes to You
Baseball Hall of Famers and a 2X MVP That Should Be in the HOF
Is this heaven? No, it’s Iowa. Okay, it’s actually Rosemont but who’s really counting. Anyway, it was so much fun to meet a number of Baseball Hall of Famers and a should-be-Hall-of-Famer during The National Sports Collectors Convention over the long weekend in Chicago.
First up was longtime DH/outfielder Harold Baines. A 6-time All-Star, Baines fell 134 hits short of having 3,000 career hits. He fell off the BBWAA ballot after 2011 and was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2019 by the Today’s Game Era Committee. There’s no doubt that he was hurt by the fact that he primarily played a DH.
I’ve been a big supporter of inducting Dale Murphy into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In fact, I had to go through the Wayback Machine to pull up my original piece on the campaign to get him elected. It’s now published on these pages since the site itself is gone. After the following photo was taken, the 2X MVP gave me a fist bump when I told him that he’s a Hall of Famer in my book.
As a St. Louis Cardinals fan, the biggest highlight for me was getting to meet The Wizard of Oz, Ozzie Smith. I started watching baseball in the early 1990s. Because the hometown Louisville Redbirds were the then-AAA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, I adopted them as my team and the allegiance has stuck ever since. Cut to 2013, I was writing about the St. Louis Cardinals and had an opportunity to interview the Cardinals legend for about six minutes as he was promoting the Pepsi MAX Field of Dreams Game in Rochester, NY. I would later have opportunities to interview Tony La Russa, John Smoltz, and Bob Gibson.
Smith was inducted on the first ballot in the Class of 2002. After starting his career with the San Diego Padres, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals after four seasons. Smith would play the next 15 seasons with the Cardinals, were he would further define himself as the greatest defensive short stop of all time, and retire at the conclusion of the 1996 season. His 44.2 Defensive WAR ranks #1 in baseball history. Unfortunately for me, he had the day off during my first visit to Busch Stadium II in 1996.
Sunday was an epic day with an opportunity to meet ten Baseball Hall of Fame members!
Juan Marichal—the Dominican Dandy—was inducted in the Class of 1983. Despite being a dominant pitcher in the 1960s, the longtime San Francisco Giants pitcher never won a Cy Young Award because he just happened to play in the same era as Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax.
Rollie Fingers may be best known for his mustache but he was one of the first pitchers to redefine what it meant to be a relief pitcher and closer. He won the World-Series in three consecutive seasons (1972-74) with the Oakland Athletics, winning the World Series MVP in 1974. Fingers would later win both the AL MVP and Cy Young Award in 1981. He was inducted in the Class of 1992.
Goose Gossage, like Fingers, was one of the first modern closers. A 9x All-Star, Gossage didn’t get inducted until the Class of 2008.
Andre Dawson played for four teams but is best known for his stints with the Chicago Cubs and Montreal Expos. An 8x All-Star, The Hawk was one of the premiere defenders in the outfield, winning 8 Gold Glove Awards. He won the 1977 NL ROY and would later win the NL MVP in 1987. It took 9 ballots before Dawson was inducted in the Class of 2010.
Dawson teased me about my Cardinals cap—I’ll have to make sure to have a Baseball Hall of Fame cap on hand in the future. I wish the photo could have been retaken because of the glare in the photo. It was very minimal in other photos but is really showing here.
Trevor Hoffman was the first relief pitcher to record both 500 and 600 saves during his 18-season career, mostly spent with the San Diego Padres. He was the all-time saves leader during the 2006-11 seasons before Mariano Rivera passed him up. Hoffman did for the NL was Rivera was doing for the AL—he just didn’t have the World Series rings to show for it. He was inducted in the Class of 2018. Interestingly, of the four players elected by the BBWAA in 2018, Hoffman was the only one that I never saw play in person.
Wade Boggs is one of the best contact hitters of his generation, winning 5 AL batting titles. He played in 12 consecutive All-Star games, won 2 gold Gloves, and 8 Silver Slugger Awards. He became the 23rd player to join the 3,000 hit club and finished with 3,010 career hits. After starting his career with the Boston Red Sox, he played five seasons with the New York Yankees (where he won his only World Series title) and two final seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays. While he retired in 1999, his career was similar to that of Tony Gwynn in they both dominated the game as contact hitters with multiple batting titles to their name. Boggs was inducted in the Class of 2005.
This was my second opportunity to meet Wade Boggs. I first met him in June 2013 when he was signing at the at the Ted Williams Museum prior to a Tampa Bay Rays-Boston Red Sox game. Proceeds went to Boston Strong fund so it was for a good cause. Of course, I since came out as transgender and needed a new photo!
Bert Blyleven is a member of the 3,000 strikeout club with 3,701 career strikeouts. Despite the career standard for induction, Blyleven waited his time before joining the Class of 2011. It probably didn’t help his case that he finished thirteen wins shy of 300 career wins.
Tony Oliva was one of the best hitters during the first part of his career, winning 3 AL batting titles. He played his entire career for the Minnesota Twins and just barely squeaked into the Class of 2022 with the minimum 75% required for induction by the Golden Days Era Committee. It took eight attempts to get elected by the Veterans Committee but better late than never! Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame second baseman Tony Pérez previously endorsed Oliva’s candidacy back in 2000 when he was inducted.
Ted Simmons was an 8x All-Star that played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, and Atlanta Braves. One of the best hitting catchers of his era, he happened to play during the same time as Johnny Bench so he never got the same attention. When he retired in 1988, he led catchers in both career hits and doubles. His RBIs were second only to Yogi Berra and he was also second in total bases behind Carlton Fisk. It wasn’t until winter 2019 before he was elected into the Class of 2020. It was an election that was long overdue after dropping off the BBWAA ballot on his first year and falling short of joining the 2018 class by one vote.
Paul Molitor is a member of the 3000-hit club with 3,319 career hits, which are currently ranked 10th all-time. A 7x All-Star, the Ignitor is only one of five players in history to finish his career with 3,000+ hits, a lifetime .300+ batting average and 500+ career stolen bases. He was inducted in the Class of 2004.
Next year’s convention will be in Cleveland so it’s probably unlikely that I attend. I’ve had a few other in-person Hall of Fame encounters outside of meeting Boggs back in 2013 as I’ve previously met the late Jim Bunning (college) and Joe Morgan (Reds Caravan). Unfortunately, Jim Palmer and Robin Yount were unable to make it to Chicago this weekend.