Hall of Fame Thoughts

Without a baseball team in D.C. growing up, I grew up as an Orioles fan. So, naturally, Cal Ripken Jr. was my boyhood baseball hero. His posters hung on my wall alongside Art Monk's and whenever I went to Memorial Stadium and, later, Camden Yards, my eyes were always focused on #8.
When Cal announced he would retire at the end of 2001, there was a mad scramble to get tickets to his final games. My cousins and I secured three for his last game at Fenway and my uncle, an Orioles season-ticket holder, snared the big catch: Four tickets to Cal's last game ever, on September 30, 2001 at Camden Yards.
It was about two hours into watching the events of 9/11 that it dawned on me that professional sports leagues would have to cancel their upcoming games and there was a chance that those tickets my uncle held would no longer be for Cal's final game. It was a trivial matter on such a disastrous day, but that I even though of it at the time shows how much being at that game meant to me.
Baseball would shut its doors for one week and eventually moved the cancelled games to the end of the season. Cal's last game would be played on October 6 against the Red Sox, a game that was originally supposed to be played September 16. As luck would have it, my uncle also had tickets to that one.
The only thing I remember about the game is that Ugueth Urbina pitched to Brady Anderson in the bottom of the 9th with two outs and Cal Ripken on deck. Sox catcher Joe Oliver went to the mound before Anderson's at-bat, presumably to tell Urbina to pitch around Anderson so the fans would have a chance to see Ripken once more. (The Sox and O's were long out of the pennant race.) Urbina uncorked five straight high fastballs, all of which were balls. Yet Anderson inexplicably swung at two, bringing the count full. One more ball and Ripken would receive one final ovation, and maybe have a magical moment like he did on the night he broke Lou Gherig's record. A strike and his career would end. Urbina gassed another high fastball way out of the zone; almost chin-high. Anderson swung and missed. I'll never forgive that steroid-taking son-of-a-bitch.
The crowd, which had been feverishly anticipating a Ripken at-bat, instantly turned silent. Slowly though, the cheers began to rise for Ripken and his Hall of Fame career. He rode alongside the stands in a Corvette after the game, reminiscent of the victory lap he took on that memorable night six years before. And even though it was officially announced today, everyone knew they were watching a Hall of Famer drive on by.

* Tony Gwynn was also well-deserving of induction to the Hall. I'm glad he and Ripken, two of the classiest men ever to put on a major league uniform (and two of the rare modern players to start and finish their careers with the same team) will share the stage in Cooperstown and not have to cede the spotlight to a cheater like Mark McGwire.
With 23.5% of the vote, it's tough to see McGwire ever getting in. The real barometer will be to see how many more votes he gets next year. Some voters, desperate to make a point, might have held out Big Mac this time around but will throw their support his way next year.

* Eight voters didn't select Ripken on their ballot, which is a sign of how stupid the Hall of Fame voting is. Ripken isn't the best baseball player of all-time; far from it. But he is a surefire Hall of Famer (no matter what an idiot like Bill Simmons says) and should have been on every ballot.
One hack, though, had to submit a blank ballot so he could better write his self-serving ode to his own conscience. Others just didn't want Ripken to be the first unanimous player because that would somehow mean he's better than Babe Ruth.
I guess leaving Ripken and Gwynn off on that principle is better than casting a ballot for some of the talented, but not-even-close-to-the-Hall guys that received some votes this time around.
I mean, shouldn't the one guy who voted for Jay Buhner have his voting privileges taken away? Is it because Buhner got mentioned on Seinfeld once? And what about Ken Caminiti getting two votes? Or Dante Bichette getting three? (Dante Bichette? I'm sure more than three voters still thought Dante Bichette was active.) Hell, six morons actually voted for Jose Canseco! How is this possible???