I’ve always said, let ’em all in and put it right on the plaque. Same goes for Pete Rose, and even Shoeless Joe Jackson:

"Compiled a lifetime batting average of .356, third highest in Major League history. Expelled from baseball for conspiring to fix the 1919 World Series.”

While we’re on the subject, how about a shout for the Veterans Committees, who did themselves proud this year. So happy to see Gil Hodges finally get his due. As a Brooklyn kid from the ’50s, I saw him play many times at Ebbets Field. Just too bad they didn’t do it while he was alive to appreciate it.

And Minnie Miñoso, what a great, electrifying player. Year in year out, .300 BA, 20 HR, 80-90-100 RBI, 10-15 triples, 25 SB in an era when nobody was stealing bases, double-digit baserunner kills from the outfield. He was kind of the poor man’s Roberto Clemente, in the same way Tim Raines is the poor man’s Rickey Henderson.

Glad they finally got around to Bud Fowler and Buck O’Neill, but what took them so long? And when does Fleet Walker get recognized?

And one more question: Why isn’t Bill James in the Hall of Fame?