I lost my temper this week.
Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
That’s not a bad thing, but the process by which they were elected, is so flawed it’s comical.
That’s because baseball allows sportswriters to vote players in — or out, depending on the mob’s current point of view.
Henderson, the greatest base stealer and, arguably, the greatest leadoff hitter of all time, was elected with 94 per cent of the vote. That’s great to a degree, but what were the other six per cent thinking?
ESPN radio found an editor named “Barry” who evidently had a vote. Barry did not name Henderson on his ballot. Barry went on the air and defended his insanity by saying he thought Henderson dogged it from time to time and he was going “to punish Rickey for dogging it.”
What an ass crack! Michael Jordan dogged it occasionally. LeBron James takes a mental vacation for the odd quarter. Rickey was weird, no question, but he was still a first-ballot unanimous Hall of Famer.
Sadly, these self-important baseball writers see themselves as the moral compass of their sport. That would be funny if it weren’t so sad. Fact is — and the FACT is — most of them are fat, drunk, arrogant womanizers who have never thrown or caught a baseball and don’t get as much on the road as they like to tell people.
These are the same clowns who won’t vote Mark McGwire into the Hall because they’ve decided — even though there is no real, actual proof that he was ever guilty of committing any sin against nature — that McGwire did steroids, won’t get down on his knees and admit it personally to them and therefore, isn’t worthy of the Hall.
It was the 1990s. They ALL did steroids you morons! They did steroids and worked in the gym while you were being judgmental and drinking your noses red.
To make themselves look even more stupid, the members of the BBWAA, voted in Jim Rice and left Andre Dawson and Tim Raines out. Both have better numbers — in almost all categories — than Rice, but evidently, because it was Rice’s final year of eligibility, he made the grade. That’s sheer, unadulterated insanity. You are either good enough or NOT good enough to be in the Hall. This voting system is a travesty.
Trouble is, it’s also become evident that if you get a handful of experts around a table and try to select honoured members to the Hall of Fame, you still run into the same problems.
That’s the curse of the Hockey Hall of Fame where Clark Gillies gets in but Butch Goring doesn’t. Where Jim Gregory gets in but John Ferguson doesn’t.
Lately, my friend Ed Sweeney, the brilliant former curator of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame and the historical researcher on my book, “The Winnipeg Jets: A Celebration of Professional Hockey in Winnipeg,” became quite ill. This year, he will not be able to write his annual letter to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
However, every January, for a decade or so, the 74-year-old Sweeney sat down at his computer, turned on the juice and fired off a letter to Bill Hay or Jim Gregory (He was not only inducted into the Hall, he helps select the Hall of Fame members. Can we say “Gill Stein” children?) or Harry Sinden or somebody on the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee, just to let them know that he’s still thinking about them.
“I have a list of five men, coaches, builders and players who should be in the Hall, but for reasons I don’t understand, are not,” Sweeney told me last year. “There are probably even more people than the men on my small list who deserve to be in. But, for now, I’ll just keep reminding the Hall of the people from my part of the country.”
Sweeney is an old baseball player and bowling champion (he used to set pins at Billy Mosienko Lanes in Winnipeg’s North End) who has always had that deep, abiding love for hockey that only a Canadian can have. By last winter, his list of the slighted had been refined and studied. Sadly, he can’t stand up for the people the Hall has ignored this year because of his illness. That means the Hall’s selection committee will remain conflicted and ignorant.
So on Ed’s behalf, here’s “Sweeney’s List”…
Robert “Butch Goring: He played 16 years with L.A., Boston and the New York Islanders. Was a Masterton, Lady Byng and Conn Smythe Trophy winner and helped the Islanders win four Stanley Cups in the early 1980s. “If Clark Gillies is in the Hall, then Butch Goring should be in the Hall,” said Sweeney. There is an outstanding profile of Goring at
http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=12752
Murray Murdoch: The NHL’s original Ironman, Murdoch played 11 years with the New York Rangers from 1926-27 to 1936-37, won two Stanley Cups and never missed a game. There is a tremendous profile of Murdoch at http://www.newyorkrangers.com/tradition/bio.asp?Player=Murdoch
Billy Reay: “Most people don’t believe me when I tell them Billy Reay is NOT in the Hall of Fame,” said Sweeney. Reay retired as one of only two players to win a Memorial Cup, an Allan Cup and a Stanley Cup (with the Canadiens) and after retiring as a player he went on to coach the Chicago Blackhawks. He left coaching in 1976 with 598 wins — at the time, the second most in NHL history.
Lorne Chabot: Port Arthur’s “Old Bulwarks” won a Stanley Cup with the Rangers and had 73 shutouts in his career back when the NHL was in its infancy. There is a fine profile of Chabot at
http://www.legendsofhockey.net:8080/LegendsOfHockey/jsp/SearchPlayer.jsp?player=18462
John Ferguson: “Even if you don’t count the fact, he was the best fighter in the NHL and a pretty good player during his time, John has to be in as a builder,” said Sweeney. “He was assistant GM with Team Canada ’72 and then GM of the Rangers. He built the Winnipeg Jets and had a lot to do with building the Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks of today.”
Last year, Sweeney wrote his annual letter and received another terse reply from the Hall, telling him that only the Hall’s 18 selection committee members can nominate a candidate.
But Sweeney didn’t care. He showed me all of his rejection letters.
He just hopes that someday, the gatekeepers will pull their tiny little pointed heads out of their butts and give them all a collective shake.
