Article - Strawberry HOF ????

jparchitectus

THIS IS FOR REAL!!!!


Strawberry for Hall of Fame? No joke but no chance

By STEVE WILSTEIN, AP Sports Columnist
November 30, 2004
If Darryl Strawberry gets elected to the Hall of Fame, the question won't be which cap he should wear but which uniform.

Let's see, should it be the old pinstripes of the New York Mets or the Yankees? The orange jumpsuit he wore with shackles in court in Florida? Or the blue duds from state prison?

Then there's the matter of his number: 18 with the Mets, 26 with the Yankees, 02014462 with the Hillsborough County Jail, or T17169 with the Florida Department of Corrections.


Strawberry, who arguably wasted more talent than anyone in baseball history, was among 12 players selected Monday to appear on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time.

Incredible though it may seem, he was a unanimous choice among the six-member selection committee of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Getting on the ballot for consideration is very different and much easier than getting into Cooperstown.

One of the other players on the ballot for the first time, five-time AL batting champion Wade Boggs, ought to be a shoo-in when the results of the voting are announced Jan. 4.

Writers who have been members of the BBWAA for 10 consecutive years or more are eligible to vote. This writer, at least, won't be checking off Strawberry's name. Not this year, not ever.

Strictly as a baseball player, looking coldly at his stats, Strawberry doesn't deserve a place in Cooperstown. As a person, looking at what he did to himself, his family, his teams, and the game, he deserves it even less.

When he was coming up, a modern version of Ted Williams with his tall, strong, skinny physique, his sweet swing and rainbow homers, Strawberry looked every inch a future Hall of Famer.

He had the gifts of power at the plate, speed on the basepaths, grace in the field. He had it all ... and then he didn't.

He had some very good seasons -- twice hitting 39 homers, three times going over 100 RBIs -- but no truly great ones. He averaged only .259 during his erratic, 17-year career and never batted higher over a full season than his .284 in 1987.

He led the Mets to the World Series in 1986, then batted only .208 with one homer. He helped the Yankees get to the Series in 1996 and 1999, but did little once he got there.

Strawberry's plaque in Cooperstown would have to be supersized to cover his deeds and misdeeds: NL Rookie of the Year in 1983; 335 home runs, most of them with the Mets from 1983 to 1990; 1,000 RBIs; eight All-Star selections; and a rap sheet remarkable for its depth and breadth:

-- Arrests on allegations of wife beating;

-- A guilty plea on a federal tax evasion charge;

-- Three suspensions from baseball for cocaine-related problems;

-- Arrests for allegedly failing to make child support payments;

-- A no-contest plea on charges of cocaine possession and soliciting a prostitute;

-- A year's probation for causing a traffic accident while under the influence of painkillers;

-- An arrest for leaving a drug treatment center;

-- An arrest for violating probation;

-- Another arrest for breaking rules at a drug treatment center.

Strawberry never meant to hurt anyone, but he did. He had a winning smile, an engaging personality. He fought courageously to win a struggle against colon cancer, survived prison and has seemingly turned his life around, devoting himself to church work in Tampa, Fla., where he lives.

Trouble is, no one ever knows with Strawberry how long his reforms will last, whether he's being truthful, or whether he's conning himself and others.

He's 42 now, and seems trim and healthy.

``A restoration has taken place in me,'' he said when he visited New York last summer for a meet-and-greet session with fans along with other former Mets.

He had taken a position with the Yankees as a player development instructor last winter, but resigned to spend more time as a minister of the Without Walls International Church.

A call to the church brings this greeting: ``The perfect church for people who aren't.''

None of us is perfect, but Strawberry has made years of efforts to be less perfect than most. He is in the class of other near greats in baseball who wasted their gifts: Dwight Gooden, Vida Blue, Steve Howe and Bobby Bonds, for starters.

Pete Rose, who still can't get on the Hall of Fame ballot because he's on baseball's permanently ineligible list, at least had the all-time hits record before gambling on baseball as a manager got him in trouble.

No doubt Strawberry deserves credit for trying to be a better man through all his tribulations, and no doubt he deserves a place in baseball history. He just doesn't deserve enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.

Steve Wilstein is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at swilstein(at)ap.org

helionaut

Wow, Steve Wilstein really is going out on a limb there saying Straw doesn't deserve to be in the Hall. He really earned his money there. He seems to be either impressed or surprised that Strawberry was selected to be on the ballot, when in reality I don't think anyone eligible has ever been left off the ballot. Ten years of service and not being on the ineligible list is all that's required, IIRC. That's why guys like Sid Bream, Jim Eisenriech, and Jim Deshaies get on the ballot, if only for one year. Straw never broke any of baseball's rules, so he's on. Whether baseball should have rules against being a felon is another matter.