Posted By:
Ryan ChristoffOn Buck O'Neil:
"Sadly, one of the great gentlemen of baseball, Buck O'Neil, 94, fell one vote short, putting a damper on a big celebration already prepared for him. Buck didn't have the numbers for a Hall of Fame first baseman (though neither did Ben Taylor), but well-meaning fans, ignorant of the facts, raised his hopes cruelly.
If the Hall ever opens a wing for great citizens, O'Neil should be the first man in. He has been a great ambassador for the black leagues, and for all of baseball, and should be honored as such. As manager of the KC Monarchs, he sent 35 men to the majors, include Ernie Banks and Lou Brock."
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On Minoso:
"Gratefully, Minnie Minoso was not elected in a back-door attempt to get him into the Hall after only two years in the Negro Leagues. I'd be in favor of putting him in the Hall the right way, but this was the wrong way."
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I agree with most of Holway's opinions regarding the recent election, but Pete Hill and Louis Santop are legitimate HOFers. He didn't even mention Dick Redding, who is the biggest omission, in my opinion. This isn't a surprise to me since I know he feels about Redding the same way he feels about Pete Hill (his numbers don't justify his reputation).
Holway is great and his research has advanced our knowledge of the Negro Leagues tremendously, but I think he relies too much on the numbers and fails to see that sometimes the numbers don't tell the whole story. The lack of statistics for pre-Negro League players isn't reason enough to disregard their careers. It just makes it harder to compare them to others.
Even if there were stats, the same problem would exist because you'd be comparing players from the dead-ball era like Pete Hill or Grant Johnson, often playing in parks with no outfield fences, to players from the live-ball era like Gibson or Stearnes. Have you ever seen a picture of the kind of bat Pete Hill used? Let's see Cobb hit with that tree trunk!
-Ryan