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Hall of Fame needs to be special again
Updated: Thursday August 09, 2001 4:47 AM
So the poohbahs of the Baseball Hall of Fame have tightened up the rules for entrance into the great room at Cooperstown, N.Y. I say this is very good ... but far, far from good enough. The Baseball Hall of Fame has become as cluttered as an Elks Club on free beer night. The roster now is at 253 members with the inclusion of Bill Mazeroski, Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield. That's enough people to fill out the rosters of about 10 teams in the modern major leagues. Immortality seems to have been handed out at about the same as rate parking tickets on a city street. I once read an article -- I can't remember where or when -- that proposed a limit of 100 members to the Hall of Fame. Every time a new member was voted in, an old member had to be voted out. Hello, Kirby Puckett. Good-bye, Cap Anson. Or Candy Cummings. Or Jack Chesbro. Or Stan Coveleski. I like that idea, like it a lot, but it's never going to happen and probably would eventually displace all of the older names on the roster. So I have a new proposal. Keep the 253 men in the Hall. Keep adding names. Just create a new wing for the most special of all the names. Nine players. One at each position. The best of the best. Willie or Joe D.? Babe Ruth or Hank Aaron? Ty Cobb or Teddy Ballgame? Make a special place in the special place that has become not so special. Let the true gods have their day. Leigh Montville's commentaries appear regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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