Buck O'Neil gets his due

Quote of the year.

 

the bbwaa had nothing to do with it. so you look like the fucking tool saying that.

 

Oh, you have a problem, Hoops? My contention is that they had an opportunity to elect him into the HOF and they didn't.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Hoops, but doesn't the BBWA have a part in who gets in?

And I stand by what my feelings are, fucktard.

 

The BBWAA never had an opportunity to vote on Buck O'Neil. It was the special committee that fucked it up. Stand by your feelings all you want, but you have your facts wrong.

 

D-3 Fan and others are blinded by their anger on this subject. Casting blame on everyone in the process -- regardless of the fact that the BBWAA was never involved (and could never be) -- is typical. You can blame the 2006 special election committee, headed by Fay Vincent, but they had to abide by the rules of the Hall of Fame -- and those rules do not allow for a "builder" or "contributor" category to which O'Neil so obviously applies.

The question is, do those rules need changing? I, for one, don't think so. There are simply not enough versatile contributors to the game like Buck O'Neil to make it worthwhile. He was special, but there aren't many like him. It wouldn't make sense to create a category because O'Neil doesn't really fit any of the others -- and then rarely use it. The lifetime contributor award is perfect. It fits exactly what O'Neil was: a great ambassador to the game all his life.

The question also is, should those rules have been bent because O'Neil was a special case? I think that's the worst idea of all. "Oh, I don't care that he wasn't a good enough player; let's elect him anyway because he's the one guy everybody knows" is sort of the way we got half of Frank Frisch's friends inducted in the first place. The fact is, O'Neil was considered as a player -- and he simply wasn't a good enough player. Decry the special committee all you want, but their research was more diligent than most of us can ever know. They know exactly what they were dealing with, in most cases. They know exactly how good O'Neil really was -- as I have said, in his time, he was equivalent to Bill Madlock (two-time batting champion, a couple of All-Star selections, including managing the East team to a win.)

There is no one -- not me, not anyone -- who feels that Buck O'Neil shouldn't be honored, rewarded, you name it, for his contributions to the game.

And this was the best way to do it, as I've advocated all along.

It's a shame he won't be alive for the ceremony next year, but I guar-an-damn-tee you he wouldn't be angry or bitter about it. Why should we?

 

others have covered it quite well...

and here's what joe posnanski had to say:

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2007/10/25/give-it-up/

i say, congrats to the baseball hall of fame