Thanks for that great back story on Ty Cobb. They're mostly gone now, but Steve occasionally mentions the various regional subcultures of the "old, weird America". Cobb's legacy has been tarnished by the hit job by that New York hack who had some personal animosity toward Cobb, so now he's just cancelled old racist Ty Cobb, nothing to see here...
I have always been unenthusiastic about team sports. Racing you either win or you don't. Latish in life I got a chance to watch the College World Series baseball and was quite taken how quickly the game moves under an hour time constraint.
As your New Jersey correspondent, I was going to mention the state but you beat me to it. As it stands, Joe Medwick is the only HOFer that the Garden State has produced in the sense that he was born and raised here. Derek Jeter was born here but grew up in Michigan.
I don't count the Negro Leaguers, so in my mind Larry Doby is the first South Carolinian to make the HOF, although he did grow up in New Jersey much like Medwick.
New Jersey has produced Hall of Famers in other sports, so I'm not sure why baseball is an issue. Perhaps it's the relative shortness of the baseball season combined with the high population density. Trout is from the southern part of the state, where the weather is not only more amenable to baseball but the population is less dense. Barring any significant scandal Trout will make the HOF on the first ballot.
I tend to generally not think of the Veterans Committee inductees as HOFers; Goslin received a high of 4 votes when he was on the BBWAA ballot. Nevertheless, the plaques don't differentiate, and Goslin certainly qualifies as someone from New Jersey. Coincidentally, he died in the same county where Trout was later born.
Yes, there are definite tiers to the Hall of Fame, even if Cooperstown doesn't acknowledge them as such.
As for Harold Baines, while his story is remarkable, his numbers don't justify his inclusion. He topped out at 6.1% on the BBWAA ballot. Someone whose story is even more remarkable and whose numbers are even better, but had no success with the voters, was Rusty Staub. If the Veterans can put in Harold, they should have put in Rusty, but since he has passed I don't see it happening.
https://x.com/briandoleary/status/1813669073093554409?s=46
Thanks for that great back story on Ty Cobb. They're mostly gone now, but Steve occasionally mentions the various regional subcultures of the "old, weird America". Cobb's legacy has been tarnished by the hit job by that New York hack who had some personal animosity toward Cobb, so now he's just cancelled old racist Ty Cobb, nothing to see here...
I have always been unenthusiastic about team sports. Racing you either win or you don't. Latish in life I got a chance to watch the College World Series baseball and was quite taken how quickly the game moves under an hour time constraint.
As your New Jersey correspondent, I was going to mention the state but you beat me to it. As it stands, Joe Medwick is the only HOFer that the Garden State has produced in the sense that he was born and raised here. Derek Jeter was born here but grew up in Michigan.
I don't count the Negro Leaguers, so in my mind Larry Doby is the first South Carolinian to make the HOF, although he did grow up in New Jersey much like Medwick.
New Jersey has produced Hall of Famers in other sports, so I'm not sure why baseball is an issue. Perhaps it's the relative shortness of the baseball season combined with the high population density. Trout is from the southern part of the state, where the weather is not only more amenable to baseball but the population is less dense. Barring any significant scandal Trout will make the HOF on the first ballot.
Hoboken, NJ was a center for the evolution of baseball rules in the 1840s (Alexander Cartwright) for young merchants from lower Manhattan.
I wonder if Philadelphia and thus Southern New Jersey stayed cricket territory longer?
Still, there were two major league teams in Philadelphia from 1901 into, when, the 1950s?
Looks like Hall of Famer Goose Goslin was born in NJ and went to high school there.
Derek Jeter and Sliding Billy Hamilton were born in NJ but grew up elsewhere.
I tend to generally not think of the Veterans Committee inductees as HOFers; Goslin received a high of 4 votes when he was on the BBWAA ballot. Nevertheless, the plaques don't differentiate, and Goslin certainly qualifies as someone from New Jersey. Coincidentally, he died in the same county where Trout was later born.
I rather like the idea of having some objective reason for saying that Harold Baines, although a fine fellow, isn't a real Hall of Famer.
Yes, there are definite tiers to the Hall of Fame, even if Cooperstown doesn't acknowledge them as such.
As for Harold Baines, while his story is remarkable, his numbers don't justify his inclusion. He topped out at 6.1% on the BBWAA ballot. Someone whose story is even more remarkable and whose numbers are even better, but had no success with the voters, was Rusty Staub. If the Veterans can put in Harold, they should have put in Rusty, but since he has passed I don't see it happening.
It took them a while to manufacture balls and fans that wouldn't go to pieces in a Southern summer.