Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
January 09, 2009
Corky Recants

Corky Simpson admits he goofed leaving Rickey Henderson off the Hall of Fame ballot. In doing so, he gets in some digs against Rickey:

"If I had properly researched the situation, I would have voted for Rickey Henderson if for no other reason than he played for nine ball teams," he said. "Imagine that. He'll be the first Hall of Famer to have a bronze bust with nine caps stacked on his head.

He also told his editor he would vote for Rickey next year, as if Rickey weren't going to get in. This reminds me that Henderson wasn't very popular with the press. If his greatness wasn't so obvious, more would be leaving him off the ballot.


Posted by David Pinto at 07:53 AM | All-Time Greats | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Mr. Simpson, and any of those dopes who send in blank ballots, should have their HOF voting rights revoked. He's grinding some stupid axe of his own over the fact that Rickey played on a lot of teams in the free agent era. How many teams did the Babe play for? Ty Cobb? Tris Speaker? You could look it up, if you really cared.

Posted by: Jim C at January 9, 2009 08:48 AM

Some folks overreacting to Simpson's screw up are confusing the individual for the group. While I've complained about the process and the exclusivity of the voting group, the reality is Simpson actually demonstrates the strength of the system. An individual can be wrong. A group of 500 writers is far less likely to be wrong. I'd much rather see a mistake of omission than an error of voting for someone in accidentally. Simpson's mistake has no bearing on Henderson's election and that speaks to Ricky's merits that people can screw up and leave him off the ballot and it matters not.

Posted by: largebill at January 9, 2009 09:06 AM

So which group voted Juan Gonzales a gold glove for playing a total of 28 games at first base?

I can accept Corky screwing up here, but don't compound the error by being flippant about it.

Posted by: rbj at January 9, 2009 09:43 AM

RBJ, that wasn't Gonzalez, it was another Texas player, Rafael Palmeiro. Managers and coaches vote gold gloves, not writers.

Posted by: David Pinto at January 9, 2009 09:55 AM

Ok, how much research does it take to know Henderson's a HOFer? I think every serious baseball fan during the past 30 years, simply knows he was one of the best. It's unreasonable to think that someone would see Rickey on the ballot and not do enough research to be convinced he's HOF material. Unreasonable. Just one glance at his Baseball Reference page, without scrolling down to the lower parts, makes it clear he's in their class.

Yet, this guy apparently did enough research on Don Mattingly to think he should be in The Hall. Now, I grew up watching the Yanks during Mattingly's career and so I love Donnie baseball... but his career stats just don't scream HOFer.

Posted by: Devon Young at January 9, 2009 10:18 AM

I think leaving Rickey off the ballot is the BBWA equivalent of driving around with your left blinker on.

Posted by: joe in Philly at January 9, 2009 10:21 AM

and playing for 9 teams is relevant beause....??

Hmm. how many news services should a reporter work for before they are deemed unworthy to vote for the HOF? Gammons has worked for the Globe, SI and ESPN. Is that too many?

Posted by: Bob Tufts at January 9, 2009 10:38 AM

Rickey's career might have been Hall of Fame worthy, but I argue that he wasn't as good as people made him out to be. He really was a one dimensional player, or maybe one and a half. He got on base and he was fast. He played for 25 seasons - TWENTY FIVE - and played more than 150 games only THREE times. He didn't hit for average. Or power (except for a couple of seasons). He didn't field well. He didn't even try hard sometimes. But he was very fast and he got on base. And somehow, he managed to play for a LOT of seasons.

I'm not arguing that he shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame, I'm arguing that people need to look at his career a little closer.

Posted by: sabernar at January 9, 2009 10:51 AM

Devon had it completely right.

"If I had properly researched the situation...."

You have to do research to determine that Henderson was one of the best players of all-time?

Really?

You were even talked to about it before your column ran and didn't change it. OK, mistakes happen, but then you STILL didn't change it? Even if you couldn't change your ballot, you could have put in your column that you voted for him and nobody would have ever known.

Matt Williams is deserving based on no research, but Rickey Henderson isn't. LOL.

Corky Simpson is a complete idiot.

Posted by: Alan Michaels at January 9, 2009 12:51 PM

I guess too much change confuses the elderly and caused him to vote for Mordecai "Thee Finger" brown and assemble an HOF ballot that looks like Mr. Burns' softball team in "The Simpsons" .

"Smithers: In fact your center fielder has been dead for over 120 years.

Burns: Damnation! Fine then, Get me current players, LIVING players. Scower the American Leagues, the National leagues, the negro leagues..."

Posted by: Bob Tufts at January 9, 2009 01:09 PM

I agree with sabernar, in fact I think we should look back at all of the so called "greats" careers. He only did two things, get on base and hit home runs. Plus do you know how many times he played in over 154 in one season? None! In fact, in his 22 seasons, he only played over 150 six times. That's inexcusable. Plus he was fat and missed a season because he ate too many hot dogs.

Posted by: Tom at January 9, 2009 01:32 PM

This is what happens when writers for Green Valley News are allowed to vote for the Hall of Fame. I am not a fan of Rickey Henderson but would still give him the vote since he clearly deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

Posted by: Andrew Godfrey at January 9, 2009 01:33 PM

Thanks David.
I'm still boggled by how anyone (managers and coaches) could vote Rafael Palmeiro a gold glove.
(now I just need to write that one hundred times).

So which one is worse, leaving Rickey off the ballot, or voting for Palmeiro?

Posted by: rbj at January 9, 2009 03:17 PM

Two days ago I was of the opinion that Mr. Simpson should voluntarily give up his voting privileges. After a couple of days of thinking, I tend to agree that as long as Rickey gets in, who really cares if it's unanimous? Like a previous poster said - if it were up to Corky S., Rickey wouldn't be going in, but it's up to more than 500 guys and it's obvious he'll make it.

In the long run it's really not too important whether someone gets in unanimously - just that they get in.

Posted by: dave p at January 9, 2009 05:58 PM

Voting for Palmeiro.

Posted by: David PInto at January 9, 2009 08:57 PM
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