It seems like the contradictions never end when one takes a closer look at some of the former baseball players now enshrined in Cooperstown, or those that maybe should be -- but aren't.
Everybody remembers Sandy Koufax. He only pitched for 5 or 6 years, was absolutely dominating, and an arm injury cut his career short, right? Not exactly. He pitched for 12 years. The first 6, he had a not-so-good record of 30-40. The final 6 he was indeed dominating, and that's what people remember. He developed arthritis in his pitching arm and retired with a career 165-87 record. He was a shoo-in for Cooperstown when he became eligible, but based on those numbers -- was he worthy?
Compare him to Jack Morris, who played for 18 years, and was the dominating pitcher for an entire decade. Morris was not only known for being able to bring serious " heat" with a fastball, but is sometimes credited as being the first to perfect the "split finger" pitch, which not many hurlers to this day have mastered. They both were on multiple World Series' winning teams, and Morris finished up at 254-186. Yet, 17 years after Morris retired, he's still not in.
On the other hand, Bert Blyleven, who played 22 years and was known for his extraordinary curve ball, and giving up a lot of home runs in the process, wound up at 287-250. He was inducted last year. Is justice, or even fairness, being served here?
No doubt, longevity plays a big part, but even that seems to be twisted.
Consider two shortstops. Alan Trammell of the Detroit Tigers and Ozzie Smith of the St. Louis Cardinals. Tram played 20 years. Oz 19. Tram had more homers, RBIs, and a career batting average of .285. Oz had more Golden Gloves and a career batting average of .262. Both were on one World Series championship team. Oz was flamboyant, back flips and all. Tram was not. Oz has a plaque in Cooperstown and Tram hasn't even come close. Why is that? You need only check something out. Do a Google search, only type in the name Alan, and see what pops up for suggested topics. When I did it, I saw Alan Jackson, Alan Rickman, Alan Colmes, Alan Ladd, Alan Thicke, and Alan Jackson's wife's cancer. Even ALANis Morissette made the list, but no Trammell. I never even heard of some of those people. Talk about no respect for Tram. Type in just Ozzie, and he comes in third, behind Ozzie Nelson, and Ozzie and Harriet, which seems redundant. Evidently, after all these years, he's still more popular than Ozzie Guillen, or Ozzie Osbourne, or even that guy behind the curtain in the Emerald City. Certainly more so than Trammell, to say the least. My personal opinion is I don't care if Smith never made an error in his whole career, and won multiple gold medals as an olympic gymnast, a.262 career batting just flat out isn't good enough for the Hall of Fame. But he's in.
The epitome of longevity would be comparing Lou Gehrig to Cal Ripken Jr. Gehrig went roughly 17 years to set the former mark of consecutive games played. During the course of that time, he had 493 home runs, 1993 RBIs, and wound up with a career batting average of .340. Everyone knows his life was cut short by ALS, an incurable disease to this day that bears his name. What most don't realize is that in the last full year he played, when it now seems quite probable that he was already beginning to suffer the symptoms of that disease -- his performance dropped off -- all the way down to hitting 29 home runs, 114 RBIs, and batting a mere .295. Even when he was stricken, he put up numbers that would likely get him on a modern-day All-Star team. Conversely, Ripken played roughly 21 years, without missing a game to break his record, and if it hadn't been for the strike-shortened 1994-95 seasons, his all-time record number would certainly be higher. But let's not forget that many of those seasons, Cal Jr. had his dad for a manager. Would another manager have given him a day or two off when he was dinged up or in a slump? Maybe. At that, with all the extra games, Ripken wound up with 431 home runs, 1695 RBIs, and a not-so-impressive career batting average of .276. He couldn't have carried Gehrig's jock strap, but he was a nice guy, so first ballot -- bang -- he's in. Was it justified?
Everybody remembers the name Roberto Clemente as well. He began his major league career in the same year as Sandy Koufax -- 1955. Played for 18 years. A 15 time All-Star, 12 Golden Gloves, also was on one World Series championship team with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and was the National League MVP in 1966. He wasn't known as a big time home run hitter, clubbing only 240 over his career, but he racked up 1305 RBIs, stole a lot of bases, threw out many opposing runners with his rifle arm, and had a lifetime batting average of .317. Very impressive stuff. Though a native Puerto Rican, tragically, he died in an airplane crash, while trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Nicaragua in 1972. To my knowledge, he was the first "latino" player ever inducted into the Hall of Fame. At that, something strange happened. The mandatory 5-year waiting rule for eligibility was waived so he could be immediately inducted. He was the first and, to date, ONLY player that was granted such immunity. Why? He was going to get there anyway in due time. Not to be callous about it, but lots of guys, including the above mentioned Lou Gehrig, got inducted posthumously -- after the 5 year wait. Why should Clemente have been any different? By all accounts, they were both very fine men to be admired. It can't be about suffering. From what we know today about ALS, Gehrig likely suffered horribly in his final weeks, days, hours, and minutes. Plane crashes? In most cases, maybe a minute or so to contemplate doom when it's going down, but then BANG, lights out -- no suffering. It's just the way it is.
Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson, drunks, womanizers, steroids, and a bad guy next time.
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