Well, sort of. The late great Jerry Ford's Presidential Library is, in conjunction with the Baseball Hall of Fame, hosting an exhibit called "Born to Play Ball," which will feature Hall of Fame memorabilia and which will "highlight 50 of the greatest players in history, as selected by staff members at the Hall of Fame."The list of the famous 50 is in the article on a position-by-position basis. Because it doesn't purport to be a list of the 50 greatest players -- only 50 of the greatest players -- we can't nitpick it in conventional fashion. But that doesn't mean it lacks some interesting inclusions. Two of the most interesting can be found in the section for left fielders:
LEFT FIELD
Ted Williams
Barry Bonds
Pete Rose
Carl Yastrzemski
Anyone wanna bet whether this sanctioning by the Hall of Fame and the presidential imprimatur is gonna help either of their chances to be inducted to the actual Hall anytime soon?
(thanks to reader Scott M for the heads up)
7 comments:
And then he could take them to the OTB.
Seems unlikely to affect the chances of either one, since this isn't a HOF event. Of course, Bonds should already be in the HOF, never mind he hasn't actually retired yet.
Pete Rose...feh. He's where he belongs: on the outside, looking to get in.
Bud Selig is too busy thinking up "fake rivalry" interleague matchups, merging the AL & NL, and calling tie All-Star games to worry about reinstating Pete Rose into baseball. What a shame too. Like Michael M. said, Pete is a shining example of hustle to modern players.
I had no idea modern ballplayers were such a problem. Does anyone know when the mysterious "hustle" gene was eradicated from the genome?
Why should Bonds be in but not Rose? They both hold records and were among the best hitters of their day and all-time. I'm not saying Bonds shouldn't be in (we can debate that another time), but I don't see why Rose shouldn't be in as well. At least his gambling didn't affect any ballgames.
marksmith - I cannot say if his gambling did or did not affect any games. I think what's keeping him out of baseball is the hint that it might have. Personally, I regard Rose as a complete jerk, but his performance on the field was consistently exemplary and he should be allowed into the HOF.
Bonds and Rose, but no Clemens....
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