Buck O'Neill died today at the age of 94. And now he will never have the chance to enjoy the induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame he so richly deseved. 17 former Negro Leaguers were inducted earlier this year after the Hall of Fame formed a committee to elect former Negro Leagues players and executives.
These so-called experts could see the value of inducting at least a dozen folks that even serious fans had never even heard of before or of dubious credentials, yet leave O'Neill short by one vote.
O'Neill died today and the cause of death was exhaustion. That he worked so tirelessly to get the 17 people elected would make his cause of death understandable, that baseball rejected his credentials so callously, one could have easily guessed a broken heart.
See Keith Olbemans blog re: the vote (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11478921/)
in which he says:
{Snubbing Minoso and O'Neil -- apparently for all time -- is extraordinary enough. But only baseball could make it worse. In honoring the Negro Leagues -- it managed to exclude O'Neill and Minoso -- but did elect two white people.
James Leslie Wilkinson was the founder of those Kansas City Monarchs -- Jackie Robinson's team before he broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Wilkinson was a white businessman. And today's election also made a Hall of Famer out of Effa Manley... She was the owner of the Newark Eagles of the Negro American League. It sounds almost impossible to believe -- but she too was white -- married to a black man -- and she pretended to be -- as the term was, then, "passed" -- as a light-skinned black.
Most of the 17 electees yesterday were entirely deserving. Such legendary figures as Sol White and Biz Mackey and Jose Mendez will achieve in death and in the Hall of Fame something they were denied in life. Just to twist the knife a little further into Buck O'Neil, the special committee elected Alex Pompez, owner of the New York Cubans team... Also an organized crime figure... Part of the mob of the infamous '30s gangster Dutch Schultz... Indicted in this country and Mexico for racketeering.
He's in the Hall of Fame. For all time. Buck O'Neil is not. It is not merely indefensible. For all the many stupid things the Baseball Hall of Fame has ever done... This is the worst.}
COULD NOT AGREE MORE WITH KO.
This leaves another horrible stain on the so-called Hall of Fame and leaves the risk that in very short order this so-called monument to baseball's history, will become irrelevant. I think it's currently firmly entrenched in the "It's a joke" stage. A couple of more committee decisions like this and they might consider a name change to the Hall of Shame.
They curently have about a hundred people who clearly don't belong there based on almost any measure known to man. Which means there are hundreds of people who can make the argument that they belong based on the "well if he's in, then he belongs...." argument.
And yet they keep missing on guys whose credentials are beyond reproach. Who are so one of a kind that even if they were let in with whatever their perceived flaws are nobody woould raise an eyebrow.
I mean, if you miss on a Buck O'Neill, and these were supposed baseball historians and academics, what does that say about you? That you're criminally stupid, even though you may have some letters after your name? These morons should be ashamed of themselves and I truly believe I'm insulting morons today. All these supposed guardians of the integrity of the game do more harm to the game by the day.
RIP Buck O'Neill. Rot in Hell, Baseball Hall of Fame Morons.
BaseballLibrary.com entry for Buck O'Neill:
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/O/ONeil_Buck.stm
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