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Class of 2001 Winfield, Puckett, Mazeroski inducted into Hall of Fame
Updated: Monday August 06, 2001 11:15 PM
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) -- Labor strife could be only months away, and brushback pitches trigger as many disputes as ever, yet Bill Mazeroski proved that baseball still has its sentimental side. His Hall of Fame induction speech Sunday couldn't have been much shorter, yet it will likely leave a lasting memory among all who witnessed it. Mazeroski broke down in tears like a schoolboy. It wasn't a sob-on-a-shoulder outburst, or one requiring more than a single handkerchief, but Mazeroski was so overcome at the Hall of Fame moment that was finally his after half a lifetime of waiting that he simply couldn't go on. So, only a couple of paragraphs into a 12-page written speech that will never be heard by the 40 Hall of Famers and the 20,000 fans who crowded a central New York hillside to hear it, Mazeroski stopped, dabbed at his eyes and said, "I don't think I'm going to make it." He didn't, either. The man who could turn a double play faster than any second baseman who ever lived proved he could deliver a speech just as rapidly. He stuffed his prepared remarks back into his jacket pocket, dabbed his eyes again, walked a few feet across the stage to his seat beside Kirby Puckett, and he was done. The crying wasn't. Behind him, more than a couple of other Hall of Famers had tears in their eyes, too, aware of the emotion and feelings Mazeroski was experiencing. Puckett, whose own short but classy speech followed about an hour later, also welled up in tears -- something he didn't even do during his own talk. "I felt it for Maz," Puckett said. "I cried for Maz. If you can't cry for a guy who couldn't even start his speech before he started crying, you don't have an emotional bone in your body." Mazeroski's unscripted moment wasn't the first time a Hall of Famer has cried during his speech -- George Brett was an emotional wreck during his, too -- but it proved again what the Hall of Fame means to those few players who belong to it. And to the many more who don't. Mazeroski rarely showed emotion during a Gold Glove-filled career with the Pittsburgh Pirates that lasted from 1956-72, save for his mad dash around the bases after winning the 1960 World Series with the only home run to ever end a Game 7. After retiring in 1972, and getting only minimal support over the next 15 years in the writers' balloting, Mazeroski figured there was no chance a .260 hitter would ever get in the Hall. Even if he was one of the best defensive players who ever pulled on a glove.
"Hank Aaron was in Pittsburgh a couple of years ago, and he said he thought I should be in," Mazeroski said. "I didn't think a hitter like Hank Aaron would look at me as a Hall of Famer. So when he got on the Veterans Committee, I thought I had a chance." He did -- even if he waited 24 years after becoming eligible, or 23 more than Puckett and Dave Winfield, line drive-hitting outfielders who were elected in their first year of eligibility. "Maz had a long wait to get here, and I'm sure a lot of emotions were welling up inside of him," said Winfield, the only athlete to be drafted by four teams in three pro sports. Winfield was careful to thank dozens of former teammates, opponents, owners and friends who crossed his path in a six-team career that lasted from 1973-95, causing his speech to last twice as long as those of Puckett and Mazeroski combined. Winfield even spoke positively of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, with whom he feuded for years, saying, "He said he regrets what happened ... and times have changed." Puckett's speech came as the crowd was thinning after a nearly three-hour ceremony on a sunny, hot day, but it drew loud cheers from the hundreds of Minnesota Twins fans who made the long trek to Cooperstown, many on chartered buses. Puckett talked of never wavering from the goal he made at age 5, growing up in one of Chicago's most decrepit public housing projects, to not just be a major leaguer, but a great one. He did, leading the Twins to World Series titles in 1987 and 1991 while getting more hits in his first 10 seasons than any player in history before glaucoma forced him to retire prematurely at age 34. Despite a setback that would have left many players discouraged or resentful, Puckett refused to allow the condition to alter his outlook on life. "It may be cloudy in my right eye, but the sun in shining in my left eye," he said. "And the sun has shone all the way to the Hall of Fame." Also inducted was former Negro League star Hilton Smith, who pitched in the long shadow cast by Satchel Paige, yet had one of the best fastballs and sweeping curveballs of any pitcher of his time. Los Angeles Times baseball writer Ross Newhan received the J.G. Taylor Spink award for writers, while Rafael "Felo" Ramirez, a Spanish language announcer since the 1940s, received the Ford C. Frick award for broadcasters.
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