Buck O'Neil should be a Hall of Famer
Baseball seems to love a great story.
When Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s cosecutive-games record in 1995, it was touted as a wonderful moment, one that would bring the fans back after the 1994 strike.
In 1998, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire were celebrated as titans, power-hitting supermen who saved baseball with their clout. Of course, time has made baseball’s salvation seem as plastic as a Cher body part.
In truth, I was brought back a month after the strike.
Ken Burns’ PBS film Baseball got a great deal of hype, but I was still bitter about the greed of the players and owners, so I avoided it. My father watched the first part of it. Then he called me up from the basement.
“If you really are a baseball fan, you have to watch this,” he said.
So I watched. And it was not actor Billy Crystal, historian Doris Kearns-Goodwin, or writer Robert Creamer (all interviewees) who brought me back to loving baseball.
It was former Negro League star Buck O’Neil.
O’Neil’s joyous stories about Satchel Paige, and his thoughts about how baseball will always come back, were moving. He had plenty to be bitter about (dealing with racism in the game), but if he was, he hid it well. If this man can still love baseball, I thought, so can I.
The grandson of a slave was interviewed as much as the others, but he stole the show.
O’Neil is now known as a goodwill ambassador for the sport, but in fact, he is much more than that.
According to the 2006 ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, O’Neil was “a slick fielding first baseman who hit for high averages.”
But he’s not a Hall of Famer, although he should be.
O’Neil was good enough to play from 1938-1955, missing two years while serving in the Navy in the Second World War. He was also the first black scout, signing Ernie Banks and Lou Brock for the Cubs.
Earlier this week, O’Neil became the oldest professional player ever when he took two at-bats in the Northern League All-Star game.
A 94-year-old all-star is a nice thing. A 94-year-old Hall of Famer would be better. It'd be a great story.
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