Once again, Ron Santo and Gil Hodges have fallen short in balloting for the Hall of Fame.
The Rascal has been arguing for years that the Hall is a sham, a disgrace, a blot on our National Pastime. Some of the players enshrined therein don't belong -- Dizzy Dean? Come on. The guy won a piddling 150 games -- and some who haven't been so honored should have been.
It's altogether fitting that the Hall of Fame is located in Cooperstown, N.Y., a town whose only connection to baseball arises from the ridiculous myth that the game was invented by Abner Doubleday. There's no good evidence that Doubleday ever saw a baseball game, much less devised the sport.
By the way, the Doubleday myth was the nefarious work of Albert G. Spalding, a native of Byron who spent his formative years in Rockford.
Anyway, this is the year that The Rascal finally will come up with a respectable alternative to the Hall of Fame, one in which unqualified dipshits are not part of the selection process.
So long, Diz! Welcome, Charlie Hustle!
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3 comments:
Sorry Rascal, but you're way off base on this one. Ron Santo was a good ballplayer but does no deserve to be in the hall of fame. Why you ask? Most of his career he batted between two hall-of-famers while playing in the bandbox they call Wrigley Field. His numbers should have been phenomenal, not just good. His fielding stats are also padded because of the tall infield grass a Wrigley that allowed him to have more chances and assists. I do admit he annually was among the league leaders in one category, grounding into double plays. He simply did not hit in the clutch and had many of his home runs in lopsided games when the wind was blowing out. It's a shame what's happened to his health, but that's not a reason for hall entry. I do agree that many of those in the hall should not be there, but that's not reason do put in Santo. This wouldn't even be up for discussion if he weren't a member of the Cubs radio broadcast team and whined about it all the time.
As for Hodges, his numbers aren't even close for first baseman. You could argue that his career as a manager puts him over the top, but once again he falls short.
If you looking for some deserving former Cubs, try Andre Dawson and Lee Smith. They are much more deserving than Santo or Hodges.
Mr. B: Tall grass? Shun Santo because of tall grass? Come on. And as for hitting into double plays, isn't Hank Aaron the career leader in that category? So, how did he ever get into the Hall? I'm not going to argue with you about Gil Hodges. You seem to know more about him than I do. Anyway, your comments are welcome, but coming so long after this thing was posted makes them akin to the tree that fell in the forest when no one was there to hear it.
What, is there a statute of limitations on responding to one of your blogs? I just recently read this one. Also, Hank Aaron's numbers in other categories were just slightly better than Santo's and Aaron did have just a few more at-bats than your pal Ron.
Keep up the good work on the other issues.
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