Baseball Hall of Fame Flotsam and Jetsam

Today Wade Boggs, Ryne Sandberg, Jerry Coleman and Peter Gammons will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Here are some miscellaneous Baseball Hall of Fame thoughts and observations.

- I wonder if there will be any "Get Laid for Wade" signs out in the crowd today. Wade was a self-proclaimed sex addict (does that now make him a recovering sex addict?) yet to my knowledge no writer has tackled the sex angle to this year's induction. I mean you obviously have Boggs who put the name Margo Adams into the national consciousness and Sandberg's very election was jeopardized by the time off he took from baseball to try and save his marriage (Cindy Sandberg is rumored to have done things that would make Anna Benson blush). Yet no mention of either of these issues? And before you explain to me that the sexual history of the players is private - I'd like you to remember that Bogg's "addiction" almost tore his team apart and Sandberg's absence had a very real impact and I'd also like to ask you to explain the recent articles written about Pudge Rodriguez getting divorced if these things are supposed to be private (selectively private I'd say).

- I wonder if Ryne Sandberg invited Ivan DeJesus to the festivities. In January of 1982 DeJesus was traded by the Cubs to the Phillies for Larry Bowa and Ryne Sandberg. Hey Phillies fans - how did that trade work out for you?

- If you've read this blog for any period of time - you probably already realize that I'm not the biggest Wade Boggs fan in the world. In fact if given the choice of a young Boggs or a young Robin Ventura - I'd take Ventura seven days a week. Consider this - Ventura leads the career totals over Boggs in the following categories; HR, RBI, SLG, and Gold Gloves (six to two). Ventura will never get close to the Hall of Fame but for my money he was the better player.

- I maintain that if there was not expansion in baseball in 1998 then Boggs never gets to 3,000 hits. He was picked up by Tampa Bay solely because he was from Tampa and his quest for 3,000 could help sell tickets. Almost as soon as he got 3,000 - his usefulness as a sideshow attraction was over and so was his career.

- Next year the following players will be eligible for the first time for election to the Hall of Fame - Rick Aguilera, Tim Belcher, Will Clark, Alex Fernandez, Gary Gaetti, Dwight Gooden, Ozzie Guillen, Juan Guzman, Orel Hershiser, Gregg Jefferies, Lance Johnson, Doug Jones, Roberto Kelly, Mickey Morandini, Hal Morris, Jaime Navarro, Luis Polonia, Mike Stanley, Walt Weiss, John Wetteland, and Mark Whiten. I don't see any Hall of Famers among this group. That's probably very good news for Jim Rice and Bruce Sutter as they will be the best choices for induction next year.