Some of those were long overdue. I regret that the Hall overlooked Lefty O’Doul, and it is long past time to waive the 10-year rule to induct Ross Barnes, the greatest player of his day (lifetime .360 batting average), whose career was cut short to nine seasons because of illness. He was considered not only the best hitter in those years, but the best fielder and the best base-runner as well. There were two years where he essentially led the league in every major category but homers. At 145 pounds, he wasn’t much of a long-ball threat, but he did hit the first home run in the history of the National League! He was the best player on the best teams in early baseball. Many of Barnes’s less-talented teammates are in, but the star of those teams is not.
I made my case for Lefty O’Doul here. He batted .349 lifetime and made many other contributions to the game.
Barnes and O’Doul are 4th and 9th of all time in lifetime batting average.
My mother grew up in Brooklyn and was a huge fan of the Dodgers. But she absolutely LOVED Gil Hodges. She had met him more than once as a girl on the street in Brooklyn and he was always very nice to her. So I am happy as a Mets fan, but even more happy on her behalf. I am just very sorry she didn’t live to see it. She died a little over 2 years ago at the age of 79. It seems on any given day there are at least a few things I want to tell her or get her opinion about. The silver lining of course is that my family was able to be with her when she died. Had she needed to spend time in the hospital or in rehab last year she would have been all alone. We agreed on a lot of things, but our biggest disagreement was about the existence of God and the reality of an afterlife. I really hope I was wrong and she is in heaven with my grandmother at Gil Hodges party celebrating his election to Cooperstown. I just wish he could have been elected 3 years ago. Just in case I wasn’t wrong.