No Tommy John. No Chicago angle, whatsoever.
The only new member of baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. is Pat Gillick, a long-time baseball executive who was general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays teams that won the World Series in 1992 and 1993, along with the Philadelphia Phillies team that beat the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series in 2008.
GILLICK ALSO RAN ballclubs in Baltimore and Seattle, and had a streak in the 1980s and 1990s of 20 winning teams in 22 seasons, along with 11 teams that qualified for the playoffs (all those talented Mariners teams that came so close, but kept falling short, of the American League championship).
Thirteen of the 16 members of the Hall of Fame’s veterans committee voted for Gillick – one more than the minimum. None of the other people on the ballot came close to 12. John, whose 29-year playing career included seven seasons with the Chicago White Sox, had less than eight votes. It’s not a big surprise.
So people in Toronto are likely very happy to get some recognition for those early-1990s teams that seem like a lifetime ago. And I’m sure there are many others who are celebrating the fact that longtime New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner did NOT get into the hall.
Inauguration ceremonies for Gillick and more contemporary ballplayers whose induction has yet to be announced will be held July 25 in Cooperstown.
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