2024 Baseball Hall of Fame thread

I want this to be like the Mean Joe Greene commercial.

Leyland: "Hey kid."
(Playthrough gazes back in wide-eyed wonder, catches a lighter and a pack of Pall Malls)
Leyland: "Smoke up."

 

Leyland's plaque should have him ripping a butt.

Top three smoking in baseball memories:
1) Leyland in general;
2) The SI photo of the Pirates smoking in the dugout; and
3) Seeing Keith Hernandez seeking one in the dugout during the World Series.

 

Wasn't Keith in his skivvies and smoking a cigarette in Davey Johnson's office #Interthreading during the G6 comeback?

 

Don't forget the SI cover of Dick Allen smoking while juggling baseballs in the White Sox dugout.

 

I don’t recall seeing him smoking, but Earl Weaver called Don Stanhouse “Full Pack” because he’d nervously smoke a full pack every time he was on in relief.

 

Country Joe West is a joke.

 

I think that plaque is taken

 

Here’s a quick Davey Johnson story. I worked for a Wall Street company which lost a significant number of people on 9/11 and they turn the day into fund raising effort for charities. Famous people come in on behalf of their charities of choice and they speak to the clients. The commissions generated from the trades (which typically are set up so that the clients have no risk) are donated the charities of the celebrity.

Anyway, when Davey is managing the Nationals, they have an off day on 9/11 and he comes in as part of some charity which other former Mets were affiliated (maybe Rusty Staub’s). Really nice guy and he asked a ton of questions, about how the business worked, the people who worked there and the other charities. Much different than most celebs and certainly the other Mets who were there that day (my Dwight Gooden story is for another time).

The next year, that charity is not one of the ones which are present. But the Nationals have a night game in NY on 9/11 and Davey Johnson just shows up in the morning without notice. He said that he realized that we did it every year and figured that maybe some clients were Mets fans and he could raise money for one of the other charities. A mensch.

 

Ralph Houk and Bill Carrigan say hello

 

I think he takes a decent hit (wrongly I might add) that the mid-80s Mets didn't accomplish more. And the title they did win is iconic more for the other team losing than anything the Mets did. If they had either another title or two more pennants but just the title, I think he might have already gotten in.

I will also point out that the threshold for a Hall of Fame manager has been, and remains pretty high.

The automatics are all three titles or more -- Bochy will obviously go in ASAP.

12 guys have two titles. Five are in and I think it's same to assume Francona will make it six, so that is 50-50.

Guys with a single title or no titles are just a wild card to figure out. Why is Gaston on this list over Tom Kelly? Is there a difference between Scioscia when he becomes eligible when compared to Piniella, or Leyland, or Billy Martin or

 

They won in spite of him.