The three managers on the expansion era Hall of Fame ballot won election to Cooperstown:
Three legendary managers who combined for 7,558 wins and eight World Series championships are entering the Hall of Fame together.
Contemporaries Tony La Russa, Bobby Cox and Joe Torre, who rank third, fourth and fifth, respectively, on the career list for managerial victories, were elected unanimously to the Hall on Monday by the expansion-era committee.
All three managers surpassed 2,000 wins, a magical figure of sorts because no manager with at least that many has been excluded from the Hall.
Congratulations to all three. It’s a well deserved honor, unless you’re upset with La Russa benefiting from all the steroid use in Oakland.
Wait a surprise. Two steroids enablers and yet Marvin Miller, the most important person to baseball of the past half century, doesn’t even get close.
Lovin’ it. With LaRussa’s career benefiting so much from steroids use, the argument that “steroids should = no Cooperstown” for players, looks like swiss cheese (at least).
3 managers from the same era seems a bit much, doesn’t it?.
I don’t quite understand why these managers didn’t have to wait the customary 5 years.
Agree with JJ Finn, I can’t think of another more deserving non-player than Marvin Miller.
IIRC they changed the rule in the mid-1960s–Bill James mentioned in “The Politics of Glory” that around that time Casey Stengel had just retired or was about to (and was not in great health), and Dick Young wrote an angry column ridiculing the Hall of Fame management for being stubborn about the rules and thereby keeping Casey out of the Hall when he was obviously well-qualified for it and waiting was running a huge risk that he would die before induction (they caved and Stengel made it in the class of 1966). Would that a similar effort for Ron Santo, Buck O’ Neil, and a few others had borne similar fruit.
Didn’t Miller ask not to be voted in after his death? I agree he belongs on the merits, but the prospect of whoever accepts on his behalf giving a “F*** you, Cooperstown” speech might be costing him a few votes at this point.