Quote:
Originally Posted by clydepepper
Luis Tiant & Minnie Minoso
- let's honor these guys while they are still alive.
Don't treat them like Santo.
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Raymond,
Oh, is that a sore spot with me...still. There's nothing I hate more than seeing somebody elected to the Hall of Fame-- be it the Baseball Hall, the Pro Football Hall, or hell, even the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--after they have passed away. If they are good enough to get voted in posthumously, then they are good enough to get voted in while they are alive.
Now, I'm not a big disco fan, but the fact that the R&R HoF elected Donna Summer last year, only a few months after she'd died, well, that just ticked me off on kinds of levels. Her husband and three beautiful daughters got up there to accept in her stead. And while it was definitely a celebration of Donna and her music, there was an underlying sadness just below the surface when her husband was speaking. I thought it showed a complete lack of class by the committee that voted her in. And the Santo election is another one. He died in December of 2010, and was elected in 2012. His final game was in 1974 when I was three. I was 39 years old when they finally elected him. Why couldn't they make that happen in the nearly four decades he lived after retiring? I'm feeling the same way about Jerry Kramer, the Packer great. I know I brought him up before, and listed his accolades. But how does somebody make it on the the NFL's All Decade Team for the 1960s and the NFL's 50th Anniversary team, and yet not get into the Hall of Fame?
Ridiculous.
Quote:
Originally Posted by deucetwins
Shoeless Joe (who always gets the image of Ray Liotta in their mind?)
Charlie Hustle (the #'s speak for themselves)
Frank Jobe (changed the game with his surgery)
My throwaway would be Wally Backman. His rants as a minor league manager on YouTube are hilarious.
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Jeff, though he's been in many great films, I will always picture Ray Liotta as Henry Hill. For me, there's
Goodfellas, then all the other flicks he did.
He called in one night when I was working (I didn't speak with him, one of my colleagues did), and about ten minutes into a conversation about mutual funds vs ETFs (if my memory is correct), I walked behind the broker on the phone with him, and said "go home and get your shine box" loud enough so Mr. Liotta could hear. He broke out with that classic Ray Liotta laugh, the "Tommy, you're a really funny guy" laugh. I could hear it even though the guy talking to him was on a headset. I'd always hoped he'd call back, but I never got a chance to talk to him.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sayhey24
Bill -- we now agree on two things, the second being that Braun deserves a second chance.
I do admire your loyalty to one of your favorite players and the passion you bring to your research -- that says a lot about a person (I'm also jealous of all the time you have to do that research). I don't have that kind of time, so I'll just confidently stand by my statements -- by the way, you'll notice I didn't say PEDs, but substances that enhanced performance.
And I will disagree on one more point -- I still think that Joe D. may have been better than Stargell in the 1970s!
Greg
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Greg, believe me when I say I wish I didn't have this much free time. I'd much rather be at work right now. I'd be starting my night in about 5 minutes, and that would go until 7 am. Instead, I'm watching tv and movies again. I'm sure being able to watch tv all day in bed sounds great to people working 40 hours a week. When I was working 60 hours a week during tax season, I know that would have sounded like paradise. But after a while, no matter how entertaining those movies are, it all starts to feel like a prison. I spend about 95% of my days in my bedroom. It feels like a prison cell after a while.
Also, I want you to know I respect your position. I do. In fact, unless the person on the other end of a spirited debate is acting like a horse's you-know-what, I will pretty much always respect the other guy if they take a stand. I respect people that formulate opinions on their own, that take a stand for what they believe in, you know? There are too many hangers on. They want to cling to something because they're spineless.
Braun really screwed up, and I was mad at him for a good while. And ultimately, I don't care why he did it. I don't care if his intentions were good or not. The bottom line is that he broke the rules, and I've had to try and reconcile my affinity for Braun with the disappointment and anger I've felt because of what he did. I love the game of baseball so much, and I abhor any kind of cheating in the game I love. I know cheating has been going on in one form or another as long as the game has been played (I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday, you know). But that doesn't mean I have to like it.
PS-you might be right about DiMaggio.
