Buck O'Neill honored

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  • CMH
    Making you famous
    • Oct 2002
    • 26203

    #1

    Buck O'Neill honored

    The Hall of Fame honored Buck O'Neill today with a Lifetime Achievement Award that will now be named after him.

    Unfortunately, for the all-time Negro League great, he has yet to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

    At least MLB found a way to honor him despite his glaring omission from baseball's greatest honor.
    "It may well be that we spectators, who are not divinely gifted as athletes, are the only ones able to truly see, articulate and animate the experience of the gift we are denied. And that those who receive and act out the gift of athletic genius must, perforce, be blind and dumb about it -- and not because blindness and dumbness are the price of the gift, but because they are its essence." - David Foster Wallace

    "You'll not find more penny-wise/pound-foolish behavior than in Major League Baseball." - Rob Neyer
  • J0nnD0ugh
    Hall Of Fame
    • Feb 2003
    • 16602

    #2
    Re: Buck O'Neill honored

    Originally posted by YankeePride_YP
    The Hall of Fame honored Buck O'Neill today with a Lifetime Achievement Award that will now be named after him.

    Unfortunately, for the all-time Negro League great, he has yet to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

    At least MLB found a way to honor him despite his glaring omission from baseball's greatest honor.
    Every butthead that didn't vote him into the HOF should be dragged thru the streets by press badges clipped to their nose hairs. It was absolutely absurd they didn't honor him BEFORE he died. The epitome of asinine. Every baseball writer should have held their heads down in shame. Even if they individually voted for him. Just for the absolute embarrassment it put on their profession.
    Originally posted by VP Richard M. Nixon
    I always remember that whatever I have done in the past, or may do in the future, Duke University is responsible one way or the other.
    -August 17, 1960
    Thanks, dookies!

    Comment

    • Orion
      Rookie
      • Sep 2004
      • 155

      #3
      Re: Buck O'Neill honored

      It was an absolute joke that Buck wasn't voted into the HOF. He was a very good player ( not great ) in the Negro Leagues. He was however, a great ambassador to the game. He pushed to get the great players into the MLB HOF, who only lacked the opportunity, not the skills.

      Stuff like this really....you know what.. me off. A bit late wouldn't you say. He should of been able to enjoy it. A real classy man that deserved better.

      Comment

      • nyisles16
        All Star
        • Apr 2003
        • 8317

        #4
        Re: Buck O'Neill honored

        another reason why I think the HoF voting is a joke.. Buck should have been in a long time ago.. this award has the "well we need to do something" smell to it..

        Comment

        • SPTO
          binging
          • Feb 2003
          • 68046

          #5
          Re: Buck O'Neill honored

          Originally posted by nyisles16
          another reason why I think the HoF voting is a joke.. Buck should have been in a long time ago.. this award has the "well we need to do something" smell to it..
          Agreed, however Buck O'Neil not being in the HOF shouldn't be blamed on the actual writers. I believe there's a separate board that does voting in regards to Negro League players.

          The problem for O'Neil was that he wasn't a Hall of Famer on the field. He became a HOF'er for most people due to his long association with the game and promoting the Negro Leaguers. If baseball had a proper builders category he'd be a slam dunk candidate.
          Member of the Official OS Bills Backers Club

          "Baseball is the most important thing that doesn't matter at all" - Robert B. Parker

          Comment

          • J0nnD0ugh
            Hall Of Fame
            • Feb 2003
            • 16602

            #6
            Re: Buck O'Neill honored

            Originally posted by SPTO
            Agreed, however Buck O'Neil not being in the HOF shouldn't be blamed on the actual writers. I believe there's a separate board that does voting in regards to Negro League players.

            The problem for O'Neil was that he wasn't a Hall of Famer on the field. He became a HOF'er for most people due to his long association with the game and promoting the Negro Leaguers. If baseball had a proper builders category he'd be a slam dunk candidate.
            I find that to be no excuse. He was a better than solid player. Everyone new the value he presented to baseball. & that he was in his 90's. Last year should have been seen as an opportunity to thank him for giving such a wide perspective of the game from 70+ yrs ago. No excuse. Who else was there that can give you first hand accounts of what it was like to play w/& against Page, Gibson, Ruth, Papa Bell, Jackie, etc? Absolutely absurd they didn't vote him in when he was alive to appreciate it. If he is worthy to have a HOF award named after him, then he was worthy of being in the HOF.
            Originally posted by VP Richard M. Nixon
            I always remember that whatever I have done in the past, or may do in the future, Duke University is responsible one way or the other.
            -August 17, 1960
            Thanks, dookies!

            Comment

            • SPTO
              binging
              • Feb 2003
              • 68046

              #7
              Re: Buck O'Neill honored

              I don't disagree with you. I'm just saying baseball doesn't have the proper mechanism in their Hall for unique people like O'Neil.
              Member of the Official OS Bills Backers Club

              "Baseball is the most important thing that doesn't matter at all" - Robert B. Parker

              Comment

              • J0nnD0ugh
                Hall Of Fame
                • Feb 2003
                • 16602

                #8
                Re: Buck O'Neill honored

                Originally posted by SPTO
                I don't disagree with you. I'm just saying baseball doesn't have the proper mechanism in their Hall for unique people like O'Neil.
                I know you don't disagree w/me. My reply wasn't @ you. More directed @ the snobs of baseball who try to excuse their elitist attitude.

                I'm just saying the excuse people will provide for him not being selected last year just doesn't hold water. The Hall is suppossed to be for people who gave a measurable, positive contribution to the game. What argument could any person possibly put up that would dispute O'Neil's donation to baseball? He gave more to baseball than 99% of the baseball writers in the hall.

                It was something that angered me last year & still riles me. The man had to live his playing days in obscurity & bigotry. Yet he lived his life in dignity & forgiveness. And the sport couldn't find a way to thank him while he was alive? They couldn't give him that one token of appreciation? & now they do it posthumously?

                If I were in Buck's casket, I'd rise from the dead just to give Cooperstown the finger.
                Originally posted by VP Richard M. Nixon
                I always remember that whatever I have done in the past, or may do in the future, Duke University is responsible one way or the other.
                -August 17, 1960
                Thanks, dookies!

                Comment

                • nyisles16
                  All Star
                  • Apr 2003
                  • 8317

                  #9
                  Re: Buck O'Neill honored

                  Originally posted by J0nnD0ugh
                  If I were in Buck's casket, I'd rise from the dead just to give Cooperstown the finger.

                  he had too much class to do that...


                  Is there any place where stats were kept in the Negro Leagues? Most of the stuff has been through word of mouth.. that is really another problem, because now a days, the HoF looks at stats rather than the body of work a player has accomplished...

                  Comment

                  • CMH
                    Making you famous
                    • Oct 2002
                    • 26203

                    #10
                    Re: Buck O'Neill honored

                    Originally posted by nyisles16

                    Is there any place where stats were kept in the Negro Leagues? Most of the stuff has been through word of mouth.. that is really another problem, because now a days, the HoF looks at stats rather than the body of work a player has accomplished...
                    That's almost besides the point now, though. Buck O'Neill is really the only player left from the Negro League days that hasn't been voted in to the HoF and deserves to be in there.


                    I agree on the problems with the measures for Hall Of Fame induction. It's become too much of a stats based selection. It isn't the Hall Of Players with Great Numbers. It's the Hall of Fame and you almost can't get more famous than Buck O'Neill when it comes to baseball history for blacks in America.
                    "It may well be that we spectators, who are not divinely gifted as athletes, are the only ones able to truly see, articulate and animate the experience of the gift we are denied. And that those who receive and act out the gift of athletic genius must, perforce, be blind and dumb about it -- and not because blindness and dumbness are the price of the gift, but because they are its essence." - David Foster Wallace

                    "You'll not find more penny-wise/pound-foolish behavior than in Major League Baseball." - Rob Neyer

                    Comment

                    • Misfit
                      All Star
                      • Mar 2003
                      • 5766

                      #11
                      Re: Buck O'Neill honored

                      Should have happened when he was still alive. Should have been put in the Hall when he was still alive. Major League Baseball and Cooperstown never treated Buck O'Neil as well as he treated them.

                      Comment

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