Celebrate!

BY KEVIN KERNAN

People care.

That is one of the great plusses of Hall of Fame voting with results being announced once again. Of course, there must be outrage because outrage is the name of the game these days. Someone is always outraged about something somewhere.

That’s okay. That is the price of living in this world of social media. In the past only sports columnists, editorial writers and comedians were outraged.

Now everyone seems to be outraged. I call it the Stephen A Syndrome.

For obvious reasons.

And before I forget, please hang with this column for stories about Carl Hubbell’s blue New York Giants uniform and Babe Ruth’s Last Autograph.

This is not an outrage column but a celebration column.

The big outrage after this BBWAA voting was announced for the Class of 2025 was the fact that one lonely, and I do mean lonely, voter decided not to vote for Ichiro Suzuki. Ichiro was not unanimous. Only Mariano Rivera was unanimous. Good for Mo and I’m sure Ichiro is not losing any sleep over the fact that one voter declined to vote for him. CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner also were elected to the Hall of Fame by the writers.

In the end, I’m also happy people care so much about the baseball Hall of Fame voting. You don’t see people outraged over the NFL Hall of Fame or the Basketball Hall of Fame voting.

Ichiro received 396 of the 397 votes available, 99.748 percentage of the vote, the highest percentage for any position player in the history of the game. I do hope that the voter who did not vote for Ichiro comes out and explains why he did not vote for Ichiro, just to see how that voter’s mind works. But like Ichiro, I am not going to lose any sleep over it. Like I always say, this is an election, and no matter what kind of election it may be, you vote how you want to vote and let the chips fall where they may.

I’m just happy to be able to vote for the Hall of Fame – and for the President of the United States or the local mayor and school board members.

In the end, I’m also happy people care so much about the baseball Hall of Fame voting. You don’t see people outraged over the NFL Hall of Fame or the Basketball Hall of Fame voting.

Baseball still beats the NFL in one category at least.

I am not outraged over the HOF voting. I voted for all three, Ichiro, Sabathia and Wagner. All three are deserving in my book. I also voted for Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones. Both should get elected next year. Beltran would have been voted in earlier, but there was that little trash can caper in Houston.

Next year will be his year. Beltran received 70.3 percent of the vote, needing 75 percent to be elected; 277 voters were in his corner. Jones got 261 votes, 66.2 percent. With five members getting being inducted this July, that’s a pretty deep class. Don’t forget that Dave Parker and the late Dick Allen were selected by the Classic Baseball Era Committee last month. As I said when he was voted in, I can’t wait for Dave Parker’s speech. That should be a dandy.

Remember, the Hall of Fame is a celebration. It is not a time to be outraged. Those elected earned their place in the Hall, and because we are all human, I think, mistakes are sometimes made. I believe Luis Tiant should have been put into the Hall by that committee. Not only did he have the pitching numbers to be in the Hall, but his life story and coming from Cuba to become an incredible ambassador of the game is Hall worthy, too.

But I was not asked to join that committee.

That’s okay, I’m not a big fan of committees anyway.

The Sabathia election also points out a past miss, in my opinion, by the writers. I voted for Curt Schilling and his numbers line up quite well if not better than CC’s but Schilling’s personality and his politics irritated some voters. Again, I’m okay with that. That’s life. Schilling is off the ballot, but I would strongly recommend that the future veterans committee that decides Schilling’s Hall of Fame fate look at the X account of OldTimeHardball. I’m not going to go into the numbers as you can see the tweet attached to this column, but Old Time Hardball makes a pretty good argument for Schilling, an argument I did not need because I thought Schilling was a Hall of Famer.

There is no doubt the Hall of Fame has been watered down, but that is life, the dollar is not what it was once either – and, not too long ago. A good baseball friend called me on Wednesday and was a bit outraged saying that some players elected these days are not “immortals’’ like the Hall of Fame that was once was filled with that caliber of player.

He’s right about that. The Hall of Fame is more of a bigger Hall of Fame now – and I’m okay with that because I believe the Hall of Fame is there for the fans, not only the players elected.

Sure, they all have their day in the sun at the Clark Sports Center, standing on that stage and giving their HOF from the heart speech, but I truly believe they are there to be celebrated by their fans; and when you see a player you rooted for, perhaps your favorite player of all time in the Hall, it brings back wonderful memories of that player and of another time in your life.

So do the incredible artifacts in the Hall.

That is what is truly special about the Hall of Fame. I’ve been lucky enough to attend many Hall of Fame Induction Weekends, having a front row seat for the inductions and all the behind the scenes happenings at the Otesaga Hotel. Listening to those Hall of Fame stories on the veranda or in the timeless lobby were priceless – especially with the passage of time and the fact that many Hall of Famers I would sit and chat with are no longer with us.

The wisdom of Tom Seaver, Bob Gibson, Willie Mays and Brooks Robinson and so many others were deeply appreciated by me and others present. But it is also special just to visit the Hall of Fame without a backstage pass. Go up with your family or go by yourself just to enjoy the day in the museum and walk around town. Three generations of Kernans visited the Hall not too long ago.

Ichiro and I used to kill time in the Yankee clubhouse talking about the Hall of Fame and the amazing players elected to the Hall. I believe Ichiro has visited the Hall on his own eight times.

His 9th and 10th visits will be the most special.

His next visit will be when the Hall shows him around, as they individually do with all inductees well before Induction Weekend. They call it the Electee Orientation Visit. That is the white glove tour where you get to see the entire museum and go in the basement and see memorabilia that is not currently on display. You get to hold Babe Ruth’s bat or some other treasure. I took that tour with Goose Gossage in 2008, and it was a most special day we spent with then chief curator Ted Spencer.

That was one of the more memorable assignments of my five-decade sportswriting career.

As we walked into The Vault, which holds treasures not on display, we saw a beautiful uniform with New York printed in blue letters. On the tag was the name Hubbell, as in Carl Hubbell, the Hall of Fame lefty who once struck out five future Hall of Famers in a row in the 1934 All-Star Game: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin.

Did I mention that the uniform was sitting right next to Cal Ripken Jr.’s uni? As for the blue letters, Ted Spencer explained that before World War II the New York Giants wore blue uniforms.

Later, we saw a Babe Ruth autograph – and not just any Babe Ruth autograph as if there is such a thing.

This autograph was given to Babe Ruth’s nurse Calvin Holderman.  While in Memorial Hospital in New York City, the Babe had asked several times if the nurse wanted the autograph, and the nurse always said: “We’ll get it tomorrow.’’

On this night, the Babe told Holderman, “If I don’t do it tonight, I never will.’’

Spencer then completed the story. Ruth signed the autograph and died later that night, August 16, 1948. He was 53 years old.

On the tour, Gossage also got to swing one of Babe’s bats, a bat with nails in it, Ruth’s lucky bat. Goose also got to hold Mickey Mantle’s bat and touch Roger Maris’ Yankee uniform.

Said Gossage, who spent seven years with the Yankees, winning the World Series in 1978, “Putting on the Pinstripes was an out of body experience.’’

So was putting on that Hall of Fame jersey.

Congratulations Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner for being voted into the Hall by the writers. All three players I covered, with all three spending years playing in New York. All three, in the words of fellow Hall of Famer Goose Gossage, are about to have an “out of body experience.’’

For everyone else: Let’s hold the outrage a bit and celebrate baseball – and the glorious National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.