If you know me well, or just happened to read my blog around
this time last year, you know that I have been going to National Baseball Hall
of Fame Induction Weekend in Cooperstown, New York every year since 2009. Baseball was the first sport I started
watching. Induction weekend gives me
three days to escape from the humidity of Cherry Hill, New Jersey during the
summer and walk up and down breezy Main Street in Cooperstown and pass by
legends of the game signing autographs.
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| This was my view outside the hall upon arriving last year. |
I’ll always have a profound respect for the hall of famers
that played before my time. I’m a stats
guy and like to think I can reel off a lot of their numbers. If I catch an MLB Network tribute at the
right time I enjoy taking in highlights of these players. Every year I make a baseball quiz for
induction weekend. Many of the same
greats appear on it year after year but as the answers to different questions,
which serves as a testament to the kind of careers these guys had.
Rickey Henderson is one that I especially enjoy watching old
clips of. He was a member of the first
class I saw inducted in 2009 and I love watching a speedster wreak havoc on the
base paths, like Dee Gordon in today’s game, and so as I discovered the
greatness of Rickey Henderson it didn’t take me long to start thinking about
how much I would have loved to have seen him play in his prime. So while I can
tell you he stole 1406 bases in his career, had a few seasons where he stole
over 100 bags, and always had a high on-base percentage, I’ll never have those
memories of his career where I can say “I remember where I was when he did
that.”
As I enter my 7th induction weekend, the trip begins
to carry a new meaning for me. The
group I go up with remains the same and the annual traditions never change, but
the inductees do. Last year was when I
first really got to experience an induction weekend where I began to have good
recollections of the players’ careers.
Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux were two of members of the class of
2014. Growing up a Phillies fan, I have
memories of the two of these pitchers leading a Braves staff that was dominant
for most of my childhood. The Braves
were the top dogs in the NL East for years and I would always pencil them in as
division champs every April before the season started. With vague memories of how well Greg Maddux
fielded the position as a pitcher or the workmanlike performances Glavine turned
in on his way to winning over 300 games, the induction weekend experience was
enhanced.
This year it’s Craig Biggio, Randy Johnson, John Smoltz, and
Pedro Martinez. After mentioning Glavine
and Maddux I might as well pick up with Smoltz.
To me, while Smoltz was terrific as a starter for Atlanta, he’ll always
be that dominant closer who slammed the door for the Braves night in and night
out. If the Phillies were ever lucky
enough to rally in the 9th against him, I was sure to enjoy it. Biggio takes on an ironman status of sorts
for me. I can remember him as a very
durable player who played a few different positions throughout his career on
his way to becoming a member of the 3,000-hit club. Johnson was that big tall lefty who no hitter
had a chance against. But despite being
a starter his entire career, his heroic performance recording a win in relief
in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series is something that stands out for me. Lastly is Martinez who at the height of his
career was right in the middle of arguably the best rivalry in sports. When the Red Sox and Yankees were on
television, I was watching. There’s the
iconic image of him pushing Yankees pitching coach Don Zimmer to the ground in
the 2003 ALCS in a benches clearing brawl I can recall.
So with another induction weekend right around the corner,
it’s nice to be able to have a new perspective to three of my favorite days of
the year. Now it’s more than spitting
out statistics of the inductees. I have
moments of their careers that stand out to me.
After I had been going up year after year and players I saw play were
becoming eligible for induction by the Baseball Writers’ Association of
America, I was eagerly anticipating the time when I could say “I remember when
he did that.” Well, here we are.
