Nice post Tony. 1986 was the first year I remember baseball, and I have distinct memories of Gary's extra inning go ahead hit in the 1986 NLCS, one of my very earliest baseball memories. Still, at age 7, I didn't 100% grasp the significance of it. Strange seeing a guy from my childhood die, but I have to get used it it. That said, he was only 57, much too young.
I saw a future hall of famer pitch at Fenway Park as a starter, but he got lit up that day. Definitely a hall of fame third baseman played this game.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS199109070.shtml
Thanks for the baseballreference link, Doug (indeed, one of my favorite websites!). Yes, Johnson (also a Trojan) is sure to make the Hall, despite a relatively inauspicious start to his career; at the time you saw that game, he was likely still considered more so a curiosity (or a ‘freak’) than someone with a viable shot at 300 victories. Coincidentally, Johnson, like Wakefield, pitched until his mid-40s—but the Unit was zipping 95-100(+) MPH fastballs much of the time (and his knuckles remained relatively callus-free).
I have a similar memory, of a young Mariano Rivera pitching in Anaheim—as a starter, and likely before he’d recorded even a single save! (I remember some people I went to the game with making comments such as, “Who the heck is that guy pitching for the Yankees?! At the rate he’s going, he won’t be around for long!”)
Your 9/7/91 experience at Fenway may also prove to have even bigger Cooperstown implications. As you’ve already noted, the game featured Wade Boggs, also one of the three HOF third baseman whom I’ve seen play (the other two: Schmidt and Brett).
But the guy playing third for Seattle that day, Edgar Martinez, has received over 30% of the vote in each of his first three years of candidacy. (But then again, Steve Garvey actually got more support early on in his 15 years, and Garvey is still not in the Hall; but yet AGAIN, Garvey has a lot of personal baggage, Martinez has long been well respected both on the field and off—and the award for the top DH is named for Edgar!) Some have opined that Martinez would (or should) be the second guy (after Molitor) voted in who played primarily as a DH—but the ‘Big Hurt’ is now likely to beat Edgar there. Martinez may not have had the cumulative career totals, but he did have over 2200 hits, over 1200 runs scored AND batted in, two AL batting titles, and one of the top career BAs for a right-handed hitter of his era (plus an over-.900 OPS, for a guy who was not even a traditional power hitter).
Then there’s Omar Vizquel, who played some at SS in your game. In another discussion I had with my colleague a few years back, we addressed which currently active players are likely to make the HOF, which would make it based on their current numbers and other accomplishments, which would make it on the first ballot, what certain other players still had to do to be considered viable candidates, and the like. And one of my outside picks, which shocked my colleague somewhat, was none other than Vizquel—and he’s STILL planning to play this year, when he’ll also be 45. Compare his numbers, both defensive and offensive, with those of Ozzie Smith or Luis Aparicio (Little O’s countryman). In fact, with nearly 2850 hits thus far, Vizquel seems to want to keep playing until he reaches the vaunted 3000 mark—even if he has to play until he’s 50!
And let’s not forget about Ken Griffey, Jr.—interestingly, another guy who was known as ‘the Kid’—who’s a lock as a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer. Over 600 homers, other great numbers and accomplishments, and nary a hint of chemical performance enhancement.
A side note on Wakefield: I’ve long waited for Chris Berman to refer to him as “Tim ‘The Vicar of’ Wakefield.”—but I guess that Berman wasn’t that big a fan of Oliver Goldsmith. (And for anyone who claims that such a reference is too obscure, how do you explain Todd “Avenging Annie” Pratt?!)
