A Trio of Absent Friends: Lisa Marie, Gina, and Frank

These first days of 2023 have seen three deaths of note, and I have been asked if I would be doing Absent Friends posts on them.   In and of themselves, they probably wouldn't have rated an Absent Friends post from me, but given the proximity of the three deaths, here we go....

The first is Lisa Marie Presley who died at the age of 54, apparently of a coronary condition. She is the daughter and the only child of Elvis Presley, and, as such, was the sole heir to the vast  earnings of her father, whose name, image, and likeness produced more wealth in death than he ever earned while alive.  She had her own music career, but is more known for some weird marriages.  She also bore, as the photo above indicates, and amazing resemblance to her father.

Next came the death of Italian actress and 1950's era sex symbol Gina Lollobridgida at the age of 95.  Honestly, I can say that I never saw a single movie in which Miss Lollobridgida appeared, but with a name like that, you have to say that she was unforgettable. And she certainly was pretty, too.

Finally, the news arrived yesterday that former Pittsburgh Pirate Frank Thomas died at the age of 93.  Thomas was a home run hitter for the Pirates in the 1950's and a three time All-Star,  but his greatest contribution to the Pirates came when GM Joe L. Brown traded him to the Reds after the 1958 season, a trade that netted the Bucs Don Hoak, Smokey Burgess, and Harvey Haddix, without whom the magical Championship season of 1960 would probably have never happened, so, thanks for that, Frank.

In addition to the Pirates and Reds, Thomas played for the Cubs, Braves, Mets (he was an original Met, and the franchise's first "star"), Phillies, where he was traded after he got into an allegedly racially motivated fight with the Phil's young star Richie Allen, and Astros.

I got to meet Thomas on a couple of occasions when I was involved with the SABR Chapter in Pittsburgh.  I found him to be the typical ex-player from the pre-Marvin Miller Era, begrudging the money that "these guys today" are making.   I will also go by the dictum imparted to my by my mother any by the Notre Dame nuns who educated me, that if you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all, so I will leave it at that.

RIP Lisa Marie, Gina, and Frank.

Baseball Hall of Fame Thoughts

The announcement that came yesterday that Greg Maddux,

Tom Glavine, 

and Frank Thomas

had been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame came as no great surprise, and with no great controversy (although there was some; more on that later).  No reasonable baseball fan or student of the game could seriously argue that any of these guys should not be enshrined.  I myself have some specific memories of seeing Greg Maddux pitch in games against the Pirates, and he was an absolute artist on the mound.  He was not possessed with an overpowering fast ball (like Nolan Ryan or Randy Johnson), he never led the league in strike outs, for example, but he completely dominated the era in which he pitched, winning 355 games.  That he could not carry that domination into post season play (11-14; 2-3 in the World Series) is a bit of a head scratcher, but, hey, it is such anomolies that make baseball such a fun sport to follow.

Similarly, Glavine, a 300 game winner, five time 20 game winner (as was Maddux), and Thomas, 521 HR, .301 career BA, and .974 career OPS, are more than worthy to have their plaques on the wall in Cooperstown. 

So, congratulations to all of them.

Now, for the controversy.....

Ten voters did not include Maddux on the ballot.  Not a surprise because it is the smug position of these self-important BBWA voters that they make sure that no one EVER gets in unanimously, but more significant, one guy from mlb.com went public that he will never vote for Maddux, or anyone else, from the so called "Steroid Era" of major league baseball.  Never mind that Maddux had never, to my knowledge, had even hints about him concerning use of PED's.   At this point, if this guy is so principled, I would hope that he would simply have his named removed as an eligible elector, but most baseball writers would sooner sacrifice their first born child than give up receiving that HOF ballot.  

Munch more heinous, in my opinion, was Miami Herald writer and ESPN personalty Dan LeBatard simply giving his ballot to Deadspin to complete.  If you don't like the system, then resign from it, or submit an empty ballot in protest, but to give it to someone else to complete is an abrogation of this responsibility.  I would hope that LeBatard would be censured by the BBWA and that his right to vote on the HOF be rescinded.

Speaking of the Steroid Era, the number of votes for guys like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Mark McGwire continued to decline.  I have been torn by this issue, but I am coming round to the opinion, expressed by such respected writers as Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe, that we should not be judge and jury on these guys and since we may never know who did and did not use, he, Ryan, excludes no one when he votes based upon admitted or suspected PED use.  If the trend continues as it seems to be going, fifty years from now visitors will see a lot of "pretty good" players (Barry Larkin, Robby Alomar) from this era in the HOF, while the very best players of the era (Bonds, Clemens, Mike Piazza to name a few) will be excluded.   I could probably be talked out of it, but I truly think that Bonds and Clemens, and, yes, Alex Rodriguez, and some others, belong in the HOF.

By the way, Pete Rose is NOT in this category.  His crime, betting on ball games, is the one cardinal, unbreakable rule in baseball, and he broke it.  He belongs on the outside.

Also, by the way, the Hall of Fame, that is, the museum portion of the institution, to its credit, does not exclude these guys, as I have written before.  If you visit the Museum, you will see that Pete Rose is the all-time leader in hits, and that he was an integral part of one of the great teams of his generation (the Big Red Machine), and you will see that Barry Bonds is the all-time home run leader, and that Roger Clemens won over 300 games and multiple Cy Young Awards. They have not been declared non-persons and expunged from history.

Jack Morris also failed to be elected in this his final year of eligibility.  This has caused a degree of consternation among some folks.  His detractors point to a career ERA of 3.90, but to me, his 256 wins are significant.  However, I have long adopted a position that whether a guy who deserves it is not in the Hall (Morris?), or that a guy who does not deserve it (and there are many) is in, is not something that I spend a lot of time worrying about.  If the electors, be it the BBWA or the cronies on the Vet's Committee put a guy in, then good for that guy, and if a deserving guy has not yet been tapped, well, I won't lose sleep over it.

I get a kick out of a Cult that seems to have developed among a certain sector of Baseball Fandom that are fanatical over the fact that Gil Hodges is not in the Hall of Fame.  Bring up this subject on certain listservs, message boards, or certain Facebook chat pages, and your computer will blow up with people telling you what a massive injustice it is that Hodges is not in the Hall, to which people will then vigorously respond that there are good reasons why he has never been enshrined.  The irony is that Hodges' name and memory is more alive today, because he is not in the HOF, than it would be had he been elected to the Hall thirty or so years ago.

Anyway, arguing about such stuff with such passion is what makes being a baseball fan so much fun, I suppose.