This Years Baseball Hall of Fame Inductions: Our Connection

Mark Harmon and Me at Spring Training 2008

It's not very often when we are able to brag...or boast about or even share insight gained from years of covering now-legendary sports figures as they are about to get inducted into a "Hall-of-Fame".

Yet that is exactly what we...or precisely me gets to do today.

I got the pleasure/honor of covering my favorite baseball team (The Atlanta Braves) for 10-years. And before you ask: I was a Braves fan long before covering them. Growing up in Florida in a time before the Marlins and Rays, the Braves were the closest team to us.

Heck, the 1st Major League Baseball game I ever saw was a Braves game in Fulton County Stadium as a 10-year old.

And I got to spend a large chunk of my professional career reporting on them.

Oddly enough as I sit here on my Mac writing this, programming the DVR to record Sunday afternoons Baseball Hall of Fame ceremonies, I'm laughing at the idea of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Bobby Cox getting enshrined.

Not because they aren't worthy, but because on the baseball field they were all remarkably similar.

((NOTE--For what it's worth, I've done stories with Joe Torre and Frank Thomas who are also being inducted, and both are the epitome of class people. Professionals with boat loads of talent and skill and honest to goodness real people))

This commercial is a classic:



For me and a lot of people I know, it's about the Braves this weekend--

Tom Glavine--The ultimate professional. The go-to guy in the locker room, he's the guy who would always talk in the good times or bad, sometimes when his teammates would bail out.

Glav lockered near teammate John Smoltz (who will be inducted soon), at the Apex of the Turner Field locker room. Tom Glavine was always prepared. It showed on the mound and his dealing with us (The Media).

And more importantly, in a big game, when the Braves needed a win, he always stepped up. Always.

Most Braves fans remember the World Series clincher where Dave Justice hit a home run to give them a 1-0 win over Cleveland. Less remember the starting pitcher who shut the Indians down to 1 hit.

That pitcher: Tom Glavine.

Greg Maddux: The smartest guy in the room. Every room. He didn't necessarily like doing interviews and I'm convinced he was brief and vague with us just to mess with our heads. He fit the teams personality to a "T" and believe it or not, was often the ringleader for practical jokes and keeping his teammates loose. We've heard some funny and gross stories about the jokes, all of which we believe, none of which we'll share....

There was no better artist than Maddux. None. I dragged my father to Maddux's one-hit game vs. St Louis back in 1996. My dad couldn't understand why I would get up to get food or a beer during the Braves at-bat.

The answer...simple: I wanted to watch Maddux pitch.

Me and Mark pre-Spring Training Animation/Courtesy: Chris Ballard

Bobby Cox: The leader. The man all revered but few knew in detail. Which was the way he wanted it.  Bobby saw everything, the guys on the team were convinced he either had cameras or spies everywhere.

True story: When I 1st started working in Atlanta (1999'ish..) along with working at the local CBS affiliate, I shot for a company that produced a Sports show weekly. And during baseball season, we'd interview Bobby. I didn't think anything about it at the time, but we'd set up chairs on top of the Braves dugout for the sit-down interview. We'd have to help Bobby get up there because his knees weren't so good. He'd had them both replaced.

But he'd always be ready to go.

The other thing I'll always remember is he called my friend, Sports Anchor Mark Harmon every other sports guy in town's name but his. Never failed.

So if you are reading this on Sunday morning July 27th or even in the early afternoon, tune in and watch. Stop for a little while and see some of my favorite baseball players...and many others favorites as they get the biggest honor in their entire careers, the thing all Major League baseball players live for.

They get inducted into the Hall of Fame....

Here's a story Mark and I produced in 2007. We interviewed Joe Torre, who also was a Braves manager at one point, while he was managing the Dodgers...

Tom Glavine's Tour Of Cooperstown

((HT: MyFoxAtlanta))

There are trips. There are assignments. And there are assignments that are trips...

Tom Glavine is set to be inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame this year, but he got a behind-the-scenes tour to get ready for his time to be enshrined...

FOSG Cody Chaffins was with him every step of the way...
Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5

How cool was that...???

Pretty cool...

ClubberSpeak: I Don't Care If Baseball Players Cheat

((HT: jimlangblog))

Nothing touches off a heated debate like voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Today the Baseball Writers Association of America voted in Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas as the newest members of the baseball Hall of Fame.

No sane person would ever argue the merits of the three newest inductees. All three, especially Maddux, boast a resume that is beyond reproach.

That leads us to the two biggest omissions; Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds. Both players possess some of the greatest career numbers in the history of the game. And both players are doomed to never be voted into the Hall of Fame.

Clemens was far and away the most dominant pitcher of my generation. Clemens won 354 games, had a staggering 4,672 strikeouts and won seven Cy Young awards.

Meanwhile Bonds all but obliterated the MLB record book. Bonds ended his career with 762 home-runs (1st all-time), 2,538 walks (1st all-time), a career OPS of 1.051 and seven MVP awards.

Now do I think both of them used performance enhancing drugs during their playing career? You bet your frozen polar vortex butt I do.

Do I care that they used PED’s during their career? Not at all.

Major League Baseball players are not role models. They are grown men willing to do whatever it takes to keep making money and help their team win.

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/cheaters/ballplayers.html

Back in the day pitchers used spit balls to gain an advantage. Then players took amphetamines to get up for games. Then they corked their bat to hit more home-runs. You name the method of cheating and I guarantee you somebody in baseball has thought of it in order to gain a competitive edge.

When I was in high school I watched “The Natural” and imagined all my baseball heroes were men like Roy Hobbs. Then reality quickly set in as I realized that baseball players live by the age old credo, “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying”.

To make a long story short, if I had a vote for the Hall of Fame I would vote for Clemens and Bonds. So many players were taking some sort of PED during that era that it is next to impossible to sort out the clean players from the dirty players.

Ty Cobb once jumped into the stands and beat up a man with no hands and he was still voted into the Hall of Fame.

I don’t need a baseball writer to tell me about morality. I just want them to vote for the finest players on the ballot and make sure the Hall of Fame is filled with the best of the best.

Why is it alright for pitchers to scuff the ball, doctor the ball and throw spitballs?

Is that not cheating?

According to the rules of baseball it is:

8.02
The pitcher shall not –
(a) (1) Bring his pitching hand in contact with his mouth or lips while in the 18 foot circle surrounding the pitching rubber. EXCEPTION: Provided it is agreed to by both managers, the umpire prior to the start of a game played in cold weather, may permit the pitcher to blow on his hand.
PENALTY: For violation of this part of this rule the umpires shall immediately call a ball. However, if the pitch is made and a batter reaches first base on a hit, an error, a hit batsman or otherwise, and no other runner is put out before advancing at least one base, the play shall proceed without reference to the violation. Repeated offenders shall be subject to a fine by the league president.
(2) expectorate on the ball, either hand or his glove;
(3) rub the ball on his glove, person or clothing;
(4) apply a foreign substance of any kind to the ball;
(5) deface the ball in any manner

Despite all of this pitchers did it often and still do it to this day.

Prior to 2003 players were not tested for PED’s. Not that doesn’t make it right. But by taking them they were not violating any MLB rules at the time.

A few things emerged from the steroid era. First off the numbers posted by players, especially hitters, were greatly inflated. Secondly the television ratings and attendance were greatly inflated. The boost in TV ratings results in a massive financial windfall for Bud Selig and MLB.

Not only is MLB raking in the money, but individual teams have signed enormous regional television contracts that will ensure their financial stability for years to come.

Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds played a big role in reviving baseball after their labour shut-down in 1994. If baseball writers want to punish Clemens and Bonds for taking PED’s (allegedly) then that is their right.

I just hope the writers understand that fans don’t care if a player cheats. In they end they all cheat in some way, shape or form. Fans only care if their team wins or loses.

The writers can choose to do what they want when it comes to Clemens and Bonds. The fact remains they put up numbers that may never be matched, let alone broken. Those numbers will live on for all to see for years to come; whether or not they ever get voted into the Hall.

Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine Highlight 2014 Baseball Hall of Fame Class

Yes, I get to write this one because out the entire OSG Sports family, I'm the biggest homer for the Atlanta Braves.

The 2014 Class for the Baseball Hall of Fame was announced Wednesday afternoon and to the surprise of oh, so few, here is your elected class: Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves and Frank Thomas, formerly of the Chicago White Sox.

Maddux and Glavine join longtime manager Bobby Cox, who was elected on the manager ballot for this upcoming year. Which mean Cooperstown, New York will officially be Atlanta north this July 27th.

Maddux was the top vote getter, garnering 555 of 571 votes. There was some discussion that he'd be a unanimous choice, which he should be. But alas, Baseball writers who cast the votes, being the persnickity, out of touch with reality bunch that they are, denied him that opportunity.

Glavine was on 525 ballots and Thomas 483, the three all-stars being the only ones to garner the needed 75% total required for entrance to baseball's shrine.

Over the years, I got the opportunity to interview all 3 of these guys, covering Glavine and Maddux through most of their run with the Braves and all 3 exuded nothing but class.

Thomas, a former tight end for Auburn University became the ultimate hitting big man. He played first base early in his career with the White Sox before rolling into primarily a designated hitter. And at 6-6, 250-plus pounds, he was a REALLY big hitter, who by the way ended his career with a .301 batting average and 521 homeruns.

Both Glavine and Maddux were amazing people, totally different, yet eerily similar. One very media friendly, a good talker who rolled his career into part-time TV work. The other the ultimate tactician, the master of the art. Not great on camera, but didn't care.

Tom Glavine could easily have grown up to be a hockey player. As a kid in Massachusetts, he grew up loving hockey. And by some reports, he was a pretty good hockey player. He can still be found haunting the junior hockey leagues in the Atlanta area, watching his kids play. Glavine was a true competitor in every sense of the word. He didn't give in, threw his game, his pitches with no freebies. And the bigger the game, the better he pitched. None bigger than his World Series clinching, 8 innings of shutout baseball, leading the Braves to a 1-0 win and their only world title over Cleveland in 1995. Tom never shied away from talking, never shied away from anything. He was great to deal with.

Greg Maddux, he could easily be mistaken for a doctor. Slightly built with wiry glasses, he didn't look like a "Star Athlete." Of course he didn't really act like one either. Though not much of a talker to the media, most of the guys in the Braves clubhouse considered him the teams best prankster. He has a wicked sense of humor and was universally loved both in the clubhouse and in the game.

I will always remember going to see the Braves play the Cardinals one night in Fulton County Stadium with my father in the mid-90's. Maddux was pitching. I got up and went to get beers, food and made bathroom trips when the Braves would be at bat and my dad asked me why. I told him, "I can always see the highlights of them hitting, I want to see Maddux pitch, his art doesn't always translate on TV." And it didn't.

For Atlanta Braves fans, this is a tremendous honor, seeing two of the teams legendary players get inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame along side the guy who ran the team during that period (Cox). And with a guy (Thomas) who they knew and will make for many one of the more memorable classes, the Hall of Fame has had in many, many years.

A friend just linked to this, a reminder of different times in baseball, starring Mr. Glavine and Mr. Maddux--



FOSG Patty Rasmussen caught up with Maddux before his Braves jersey retirement back in 2009...

She asked what he enjoyed the most about the sport, and it goes along with what Brother Phil said a little higher up:

I enjoyed winning the most. I liked the games that ended, 1-0, 2-1, 3-2. I enjoyed pitching two more innings than I thought I could go, getting a hit, sliding, making a good defensive play. Thinking about throwing a pitch against a guy on Monday and making that pitch against him two days later, I really liked that! I'm not really missing it that much, and that's kind of scary! I loved hanging out with the pitchers in the video room a couple of days before a start. I miss tinkering with game plans and executing the game plan a couple days later.

It's easy to miss the card games on the plane. I loved the travel. There was always a poker game on the plane. You'd play golf one day on the East Coast, and the next week, you were playing golf on the West Coast. The longer you play, the more you're able to take advantage of the opportunities you're given. I always enjoyed the cities, but I was always ready to play.

When you're a young player, you're worried about getting better -- How much can I make? How long can I play? Smoltz was really good at making the most of his days. He taught me that you could enjoy more than baseball, but you had to pick your spots.