CHARLIE VASCELLARO

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HOF INDUCTION NOTEBOOK

Gooooooose, Gooooooooooose,” patrons at Cooley’s Stone House Tavern were yelling at the top of their lungs so often throughout the afternoon, that I had become almost oblivious to it while working a busy shift behind the bar on Induction Day evening.
The chant rose again at almost midnight: The Goose was in the house; making his way through the crowd he bellied up to the bar and ordered, what else, a Grey Goose and soda.
Still beaming from the weekend’s activities, which he described as being “like an out-of-body experience,” a glazed Goose looked a little out-of-body himself after a long celebratory day, but was completely congenial with his admiring throngs. He took time to pose for pictures, sign scraps of paper and engage in irreverent banter with the fortunate few (or many, depending on your perspective) who happened to be in the tavern at the time of his impromptu arrival.
Goose had become enamored of Cooley’s during last year’s Induction weekend, when he was still on the outside of the Hall looking in, using the tavern as his campaign headquarters and meeting place with former teammates like Graig Nettles. Since owner Timmy Gould bought and remodeled the old Bold Dragoon in the summer of 2004, Cooley’s has become popular with many visiting ballplayers, but none seem quite so comfortable there as the Goose, a photo of him pouring beer from the tap hangs prominently centered on the paneled wall above the booths.
“I think it’s cool that he’s so down to earth and hanging with the people,” says Gould.
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While Gossage was the only former player elected on this year’s ballot, he shared the Induction ceremony with Veteran’s Committee selections: Managers Dick Williams and Billy Southworth, respective Pittsburgh Pirates and Brooklyn/Los Angeles owners Barney Dreyfuss and Walter O’Malley and former Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn.
Genuine great guy Buck O’Neil, legendary Negro Leagues oral historian, ambassador, co-founder as well as volunteer board chairman of the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City, was also honored posthumously with the creation of the John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award.
A relatively sparse smattering, generously estimated at 14,000 by the Hall of Fame, sweated out a lengthy four-hour ceremony with occasional relief from the heat provided by passing cloud coverage. Of course, Induction Day crowds will always pale in comparison to last year’s record of approximately 75,000, which may never be exceeded.
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Hall of Fame Chairman Jane Forbes Clark presented the “Buck” O’Neil Award, with a commentary delivered by Hall of Famer and board member Joe Morgan.
“Buck’s contributions to baseball are unsurpassed and spanned seven decades. He touched every facet of the game and his influence was among the greatest baseball has ever known,” said Morgan.
The award will be presented not more frequently than once every three years, to individuals whose extraordinary efforts enhanced baseball’s positive impact on society, has broadened the game’s appeal and whose character, integrity and dignity are comparable to the qualities exhibited by O’Neil.
It was created perhaps in response to O’Neil’s omission from a group of 17 former members of Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues professional baseball players and executives elected to the Hall by a special research committee two years ago.
“The Hall of fame has been looking for a way to honor individuals whose significant contributions to our national pastime could not be measured simply by wins and losses, hits and strikeouts, championships and other statistics,” said Morgan.
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After an awkward introduction by Hall of Fame pitcher and occasional broadcaster Tom Seaver, who read rather than spoke in a flat monotone and oddly interjected his own USC alumni status into biographical information on long-time Seattle Mariners broadcaster Dave Niehaus, the one and only voice of the Mariners for 32 years stepped to the microphone.
A large and vocal contingent of Mariners fans made the 3,000-mile trek from Seattle to Cooperstown and made their presence known when their man took the stage.
The recipient of this year’s Ford Frick Award, presented annually to chosen radio broadcasters honoring their contributions to the game, Niehaus was perhaps the day’s most eloquent speaker.
“To quote (former Commissioner of Baseball) A. Bartlett Giamatti, ‘The real work was done with the radio, not the seeing all falsifying television, and was the playing of the game in the only place where it will last, the enclosed green field of the mind.’ Radio plays with the mind, it gives you a mental workout and delusions of grandeur, that’s what Harry Caray did to me. My dad took me to my first big league game at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis... and quite frankly I was never so disappointed in my life. Caray had put these guys on such a pedestal, I just knew it was the Parthenon that I was going to, not a ballpark,” said Niehaus.
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The first African American member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America to have a Hall of Fame vote, Larry Whiteside was posthumously honored with the J.G Taylor Spink Award presented annually to a sportswriter for “meritorious contributions to baseball writing.” Whiteside covered the Milwaukee Braves for the Milwaukee Journal for three seasons until the team moved to Atlanta in 1966. He later covered the expansion Milwaukee Brewers in 1970 and moved to the Boston Globe in 1973 where he remained until the time of his 2004 retirement, covering the Red Sox and basketball Celtics as well as reporting on issues of race, labor relations and baseball’s broadening international horizons.
But perhaps Whiteside’s most significant contribution to journalism is his 1971 creation of “The Black List,” of African-American reporters and copy editors, developed to assist sports editors in helping to hire black journalists.
Accepting the award on behalf of Whiteside was his son Tony, who presenter, Secretary-Treasurer of the BBWAA Jack O’Connell incidentally noted, was a high school classmate of Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson.
“While it is tempting to view my father’s career strictly through the prism of race, he didn’t see things that way. He was a hard working journalist and a baseball man above all else, and he earned the respect of others as a talented writer, colleague and friend,” said Tony Whiteside.
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This year’s ceremony brought the largest group of returning Hall of Famer’s (54) but most notably absent was Stan Musial, unable to attend while suffering in poor health. An Induction Day tradition for many years, Musial’s playing of Take Me Out to the Ball Game on harmonica, was sung instead this year by Johnny Bench impersonating broadcaster Harry Caray, assisted by “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks. Another tradition, which remains intact, is the booing of commissioner Bud Selig at just about every mention of his name or his appearance at the podium. The first plaque presentation made by Selig was to former Pittsburgh Pirates long deceased owner Barney Dreyfuss.
Accepting the plaque was Dreyfuss’ great-grandson Andrew, who delivered a polished speech. Obviously doing his homework, he acknowledged Goose Gossage’s great 1977 season in Pittsburgh and Bill Mazeroski’s 1960 World Series winning home run which he said exacted a measure of revenge for his great grandfather’s Pirates 1927 loss to the Yankees.
As commissioner Selig read the lengthy inscription on former commissioner Bowie Kuhn’s plaque, (is it just me or does the text on the plaques seem to be getting longer ever year? Four-and- a- half lines for Babe Ruth; 11 for Bowie Kuhn?) someone from the gallery hollered “You’ll never get one of those Bud!”
Kuhn’s commissionership was also mired in controversy and many have viewed his election to the hall by the veterans committee with cynical curiosity.
Accepting the plaque was Kuhn’s stepson Paul Degener, whose mother Kuhn married when he was just six months old. Degner’s speech was combination homage to a stepfather he obviously adored and defense for his place in Cooperstown.
“He [Kuhn] was once called racially insensitive when he wasn’t there for home run number 714 [sic 715, Hank Aaron’s record breaking blast] despite working for more than two years to open the Hall of Fame gates to the many stars from the Negro Leagues,” said Degener, getting it wrong on the first account and stating a partial truth in the second, as Kuhn’s proposal was actually for a separate space for Negro Leaguers in the Hall.
Former Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley’s election, while well earned, was also viewed with skepticism if only for the fact that many Brooklynites have yet to forgive him for moving their beloved “Bums” to California. His son Peter O’Malley delivered a soft-spoken speech succinctly touching all the bases, stating what he thought his father would have said.
The Hall of Fame’s own board member Bill Dewitt delivered a quick biographical acceptance speech for former St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Braves manager Billy Southworth.
Dick Williams, who captained six clubs including four pennant and two World Series winners during his 21-year managerial career rambled on in a grandfatherly fashion making reference to but far exceeding his nine-minute limit. Williams fondly recalled his “Impossible Dream” American League champion 1967 Red Sox in his rookie season as a manager and his back-to-back (1972-73) World Series champion Oakland A’s teams. He joked about owner Charlie Finley’s ongoing feud with commissioner Kuhn. He said, “managers don’t make players, players make managers.”
Sharing the stage with Gossage who pitched for him in San Diego where Williams said “it was a pleasure to manage and we were fortunate to have guys like Goose and Graig Nettles and Gary Templeton. These were three veteran ball players that would stay after the game, maybe have a beer and they’d talk baseball to all our young players.” Williams also was the first to bring up the Hall of Fame candidacy of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. “I’d like to be on that voting committee because I would vote right away for George,” he said, which met with a round of applause from the crowd as well as Jeff Idelson and Jane Clark.
Finally, Gossage stepped to the microphone, first holding his plaque aloft above his head. “This is really an out-of-body experience. I’d just like to first of thank the Yankee contingent for coming to Cooperstown and sharing in this great moment to with me today,” said Gossage.
In a booming voice he delivered a well-organized chronological reminiscence.
“Starting back when I was playing little league, my parents, Sue and Jake Gossage, were my biggest supporters. They never missed a game. At times the whole team would pile into my dad’s old International Harvester, it was a beat up old truck but we loved it. Some of my greatest memories of Little League rival any of those I experienced as a big leaguer, believe it or not,” said Gossage, crediting his older brother’s heckling with helping to create his wild hard-throwing delivery.
He grew emotional and choked up when recalling deceased pitching coach Larry Sherry who worked with him during his spectacular 1977 season in Pittsburgh as well as other since passed teammates: Jim “Catfish” Hunter, Thurman Munson, Jim Spencer, Aurelio Rodriguez and Bobby Murcer.
He continued to campaign for George Steinbrenner calling him the “Greatest owner of all-time,” and closed by thanking his family and the fans. “I would like to extend my appreciation to all the wonderful baseball fans who are present today or are watching this ceremony on TV. You are the reason baseball is the great game it is today. Thank you very much.” Little did we know we’d be catching up with him again around midnight.

Charlie Vascellaro, a Baltimore-based freelance baseball and travel writer, is spending the summer in Cooperstown, and is an occasional contributor to
The Freeman’s Journal.

Labels: Baseball Hall of Fame, Goose Gossage, Induction Weekend, Sports