Did 'Tomahawk Chop' overwhelm White Sox, Chicago moments of glory?

(Not in) COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- On the day that long-time Chicago White Sox hitter Frank Thomas got inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, one of the sights seen Sunday was that of a lone White Sox jersey-clad fan surrounded by Atlanta Braves fans who persisted in performing their nonsensical Tomahawk Chop.


Then again, maybe it was symbolic of what the White Sox franchise's fan base is like -- a small group of die-hards wondering why all the baseball fans around them get worked up over such nonsense.


BUT SUNDAY WAS the day that Thomas was formally inducted into the Hall of Fame, which is a designation he will continue to have long after he passes on from this particular realm of existence.


All those Atlanta fans (whom I'm sure could care less about how silly they looked or how some will claim their "chop" is racist and offensive) were on hand because of the fact that the manager and two top pitchers from their string of winning ball clubs of the 1990s all got into the Hall of Fame as well.


But those of us focused on the Second City merely viewed that as the prelude to seeing Thomas get his honors, with some even noting the fact that long-time manager Tony LaRussa began his career as a major league skipper on the South Side.


We're the ones who took some pleasure in seeing the tearful (literally, his voice kept choking up, particularly when speaking of his late father) Thomas try to make sure to thank everyone who had an influence on his life. "I'm an emotional guy who wears my heart on my sleeve," he said.


HE SPENT QUITE a bit of time talking of his family. But also worked his way through the nearly 850 ballplayers he was teammates with. Not that he actually named them all. But he rattled through a list of nicknames that included a lot of otherwise long-forgotten White Sox players.


Some of whom I'm sure only the most hard-core of fans remember.


Although he also gave some more detailed credit to long-time hitting coach Walt Hriniak, broadcaster Ken Harrelson (who came up with the "Big Hurt" nickname that may be the "Hawk's" lasting contribution to baseball) and manager Ozzie Guillen.


The latter for, "leading us to my only (championship) ring" in 2005. Of whom fellow teammates Jermaine Dye (the World Series MVP that year) and Aaron Rowand were present in Cooperstown on Sunday.


I'D BE REMISS if I wrote that Thomas was the only Chicago moment.


For Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux acknowledged the fact that half of his major league stint was with the Chicago Cubs, and he gave that 1989 ball club (managed by the late Don Zimmer) that went to the National League playoffs some recognition.


He even downplayed the ineptitude of Cubs management that let Maddux go even though it was apparent he was one of the best baseball pitchers of the era, saying instead on Sunday he left Chicago for Atlanta because he was looking for a nice place to raise a family.


Even LaRussa included the Chicago memories, even though many baseball fans tend to forget the 1983 division title White Sox to focus on the championship ball clubs Tony led in Oakland and with the St. Louis Cardinals.


LaRUSSA DIDN'T. HE mentioned those early-to-mid-1980s White Sox teams that had future Hall of Famers Carlton Fisk and Tom Seaver, along with talented leaders such as Greg Luzinski (he of the multiple rooftop shots, of which we can only dream how many Thomas would have hit if the old Comiskey Park were still standing) and Jerry Koosman.


LaRussa also gave a jolt to many White Sox fans when he recalled fan favorite Harold Baines, who came close to getting 3,000 base hits during his career and has some fans believing he should be a Hall of Famer as well.


"Like Tony Oliva (the Minnesota Twin star of the late 1960s), if (Harold) had kept his knees together (injuries), he'd have had his 3,000 hits," LaRussa said.


Perhaps that train of thought will influence the Veterans Committees the Hall of Fame has that give second chance consideration to ballplayers who fall short of induction like Baines himself has thus far.


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EXTRA: “Big Hurt” in, Slammin’ Sammy lives to be voted on another day

Frank Thomas of the Chicago White Sox became a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday, while Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs winds up getting another chance (or maybe up to 13 more) to be considered for baseball’s version of immortality.

Craig Biggio's near miss for Hall of Fame ...

The results of the Hall of Fame election for were announced, with ballplayers needing to take 75 percent of the 571 ballots that were cast by sportswriters this year. Thomas took 83.7 percent of the vote.

ONE OF THE rules is that a ballplayer needs to get at least 5 percent of the vote in order to remain on the ballot for future years. Sosa, whom some fans are determined to think of as a steroid-loaded freak, got 7.2 percent of the vote.

The man whose name will forevermore be linked to him because of the 1998 home run race, Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals, got 11 percent.

So Sammy’s home runs (more than 600, with three seasons with more than 60) will continue to be debated.

As will the career of Craig Biggio of the Houston Astros – whose vote tally came to 74.8 percent. Real people would round it off to 75 percent, and he’d be a part of the induction ceremonies to be held July 27 in Cooperstown, N.Y.

BUT BASEBALL PEOPLE live in their own world. And Chicago White Sox fans remember how famed second baseman Nellie Fox got rejected when he received 74.7 percent of the vote in 1985.

He eventually got into the Hall of Fame due to the special committees that give older ballplayers and baseball executive-types some consideration. I’m sure Biggio won’t have to wait anywhere near as long.

... brings back 29-year-old memories of Nellie Fox

Just a couple of other thoughts about the Hall of Fame voting process.

Thomas got in because the first half of his career was so overwhelming that it overcame the average play of the second half. Something similar could be said about Don Mattingly – the New York Yankees star of the 1980s, who barely got enough votes to remain on the ballot for one last try in 2014.

FOR THOSE WHO are viewing Wednesday’s results as some sort of Chicago-based story, keep in mind that Thomas himself told MLB-TV that he likes the idea of being a Georgia native who will be inducted on the same day as Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox and pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine.

Or Maddux – who could have been a Chicago Cubs immortal if not for the ineptitude of then-Tribune Co. management of the ballclub – pointing out that both he and Thomas these days live in Las Vegas.

Withering away from Hall consideration?

Among those ballplayers who didn’t get enough votes to be considered again was Rafael Palmeiro – whose 500-plus home runs and 3,000-plus base hits are considered tainted by many because of steroid speculation.

His departure from the ballot is bound to spark up the snickers from amongst Chicago Cubs fans who will tell the tales of why they believe he really was traded away to the Texas Rangers following the 1988 season.

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When will we start hearing demands for a new stadium on the South Side?

Perhaps it’s just because I’m desperate to ignore the first snowfall that hit Chicago on Monday – more than a month before the official start of winter.

Already obsolete?

 

But I couldn’t help but be shaken up by wire service reports emanating from Atlanta; where the Braves plan to move their ball club from their city-based stadium to one based in the suburbs in just a couple of years.

THE EXISTING BALLPARK – Turner Field – came about in the wake of the 1996 Olympic Games staged in that southern city, then reconstructed into a modern ballpark beginning with the 1997 season.

Turner Field might not be among the stadia that gets people’s hearts all atwitter (like the ballparks in Baltimore and Pittsburgh). But it is among the modern round of construction – sports teams that saw themselves get new buildings in the 1990s and early 2000s that were meant to be more than just a place to sit while a ballgame is played in front of you.

There’s nothing structurally wrong with the current Braves’ building. It’s just that the officials in suburban Cobb County are willing to give more amenities to the ball club, if they can steal away some baseball business for themselves.

Now why should I care about this southern politicking taking place? It’s because these stadiums always seem to get built in groups. Which means that now that the current set-up of stadia can start to be thought of as obsolete, it makes me wonder how many more ball clubs are going to start screaming for new facilities from their home communities.

How soon will calls for "the Cell's" replacement start?

 

EVEN IF, IN some cases, those current facilities aren’t fully paid for yet.

And if that happens, how long will it be until our own city’s ball clubs start screaming.

Renovate Wrigley? This action by the Braves may convince the Cubs they’d be better off at a location in suburban Rosemont (since the Cubs could claim the same line of logic that the Braves are using to justify their move – it puts them closer to the geographic center of their fan base).

In need of replacement before it's rebuilt?

 

Or what about the White Sox? The building now known as U.S. Cellular Field cropped up in 1991. Making it possibly the oldest of these new-style ballparks.

BY THE BRAVES’ line of logic (Turner Field’s stint as a major league stadium will last exactly 20 years), the White Sox ballpark is an antique.

It’s also an antique that has never gotten much love from amateur architectural aficionados.

Will the White Sox get it into their heads that it’s time for them to get a building that will gain admiration – instead of mere functionality – from outsiders?

Now I realize the political reality locally is that the process leading to the construction of U.S. Cellular Field ate up a lot of political goodwill. There are people who are still bitter that the building was ever constructed and that they were unable to kill the bill that back in 1988 ensured that the 2005 World Series was played on the South Side – and NOT in St. Petersburg, Fla.!

BUT THE BUILDING is now part of an era that is being replaced. It’s just a matter of time before officials want to start talking up the replacement of “the Cell.”

I recently read an essay written by someone trying to have some fun – speculating about what professional baseball would be like in the year 2114. He guessed that the White Sox would have a new stadium by then – perhaps built across the street on the site of the old Comiskey Park – because the new building would last the same 80-year stint as the old.

Will the "Old Roman's" statue gather pigeon poop at another ballpark?

I doubt it! The cycle of replacement of the current stadia has now begun.

My guess is that U.S. Cellular will see its demise some time around the year 2030. By then, the demands to replace it with something “more modern” will just be too intense.

THE 2033 MAJOR League Baseball All-Star Game (the 100^th anniversary of the original All-Star game played at Comiskey Park) could well be the first moment of glory for a new White Sox stadium somewhere.

The real question is will 2005 be the only World Series championship won in the current building, or will there be a few more before its demise? A part of me thinks that is more likely than a championship at Wrigley any time soon!

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Will baseball Hall of Fame “disaster” take down Chicago-ties in 2014?

I’m sure you can find many pundits, baseball fans, and all-around cranks complaining these days because of the fact that the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday inducted a series of dead guys into their ranks.

It’s true. The sportswriters who cast the votes for ballplayers couldn’t agree on anyone this year – what with all the confusion of who was and who wasn’t using steroids to pump themselves (and their stats) up and what (if anything) should be done about it.

THE VETERANS COMMITTEE that gives older ballplayers a second chance, and also considers non-players who made a contribution to the grand game chose ballplayers, umpires and an owner from the first third of the 20^th Century.

Personally, I think it’s intriguing that one-time New York Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert (he owned the ball club back in the days of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig) is now in the Hall of Fame.

But too many people want to complain because Sunday’s ceremonies saw a series of distant relatives had to be called in to accept the honor on their behalf. It made for a dud of an induction ceremony – which means Cooperstown, N.Y., didn’t get the tourist swarm it usually gets every August.

For that, you need living ballplayers – along with the fans who saw them play who make the trip so they can reminisce about their younger days (when they were a few pounds lighter).

THE COMPLICATION IS the steroids issue. Because theoretically, this should have been the year that the Chicago Cubs’ very own Sammy Sosa, along with Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants and Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees/Toronto Blue Jays/Houston Astros (I still remember his 2005 World Series appearance) should have been inducted.

Except that all three have aroused suspicions that they used assorted substances to bolster their strength and endurance beyond anything that is natural.

The other ballplayers up for grabs have so many detractors that no one could get the minimum 75 percent total of ballots cast to get into the Hall of Fame.

 

Is this going to happen again?

THIS BECOMES A Chicago issue because 2014 is the first year of Hall of Fame eligibility for players such as Chicago White Sox great Frank Thomas, along with Atlanta Braves pitcher Greg Maddux.

Remember him? He started, and finished his major league career with the Cubs, and he even managed to get his first Cy Young Award while pitching with a baby blue bear logo on his shoulder.

Although the Cubs, in their short-sightedness, let him get away to Atlanta – where he became the ace pitcher of a starting rotation some fans think is the best-ever. Another pitcher from that rotation, Tom Glavine, also will get his first shot at baseball immortality (which amounts to a bronze plaque hanging in a hall in Cooperstown).

Now I don’t have a ballot. And I also know the sportswriter-types who do have them are an unpredictable lot. Could it be that these three (whom I’d vote for if I had a ballot) will get lost in the same politicking as they desperately try to vote against people they don’t want?

OR WILL THERE be a need felt by people with a ballot to pick somebody (anybody) who is physically capable of showing up for his own induction ceremony?

We’ll have to wait a few months to see, although I think it would be bad if any of these deserving ballplayers get short-changed (although the Cubs-fan grousing we’re going to hear that Maddux ought to be considered a Cub more than a Brave will be annoying).

Although Thomas and Maddux likely will be the only Chicago-tied ballplayers we might hear from next year.

Because looking at the other local ballplayers who will come up for consideration the first time, I don’t see any athletes in need of immortalization. In fact, I’ll be amazed in any get even the 5 percent minimum standard to remain on the ballot for future years.

RAY DURHAM AND Keith Foulke may have been key parts of that division winning White Sox team of 2000, and Esteban Loaiza may be one of the few Mexican-American pitchers to win at least 20 games in a single season – but none of that strikes me as Cooperstown-worthy. Neither does anything about one-time Cub Jon Lieber.

And as for Moises Alou? Maybe his father or uncles (the famed Alou Brothers of the 1960s) ought to get some Hall of Fame consideration.

But the one-time Cubs outfielder got his moment of “glory” when we saw him whine back in 2003 when a Wrigley Field fan may have prevented him from catching a fly ball down the line – which would have averted the rally that ultimately caused the Cubs to (yet again) blow a chance at the World Series!

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Just think of what Sunday would have been like if people weren't so freaked out about steroid use, and it turned out to be the day that Sammy Sosa (along with Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds) had been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Would Sammy's command of the English language have suddenly improved to the point where he could give a comprehensible speech reminding us of how wonderful he thinks his presence was? Would he have given us that heart-tapping, kiss-blowing schtick that used to nauseate White Sox fans? And will there be some nitwit with a Hall of Fame ballot who will want to believe that since Sosa has to wait on Cooperstown immortalization, Frank Thomas should have to wait as well? We'll find out next year.