* With fingers crossed…

December 5, 2008

The Hall of Fame veterans Committee will announce any decision on Monday, Dec. 8. Players who are under consideration include:

SINCE 1943
• Dick Allen
• Gil Hodges
• Jim Kaat
• Tony Oliva
• Al Oliver
• Vada Pinson
• Ron Santo
• Luis Tiant
• Joe Torre
• Maury Wills
PRE-1943
• Bill Dahlen
• Wes Ferrell
• Joe Gordon
• Sherry Magee
• Carl Mays
• Allie Reynolds
• Vern Stephens
• Mickey Vernon
• Bucky Walters
• Deacon White

Sure, these athletes have provided a lot of thrills on the field. But most of their stories linger on in books, written either about or by them. Of the 20 men up for honors, only a handful don’t have a book to call their own. Hodges, Torre ,and Wills are the subjects of multiple titles, but Pinson is the only “contemporary” player without one. Half of the old-timers — Gordon, Magee, Stephens, Walter, and White — are similarly without adequate representation. The others come mostly from “scholarly” presses (i.e., McFarland or universities). Perhaps at some point I’ll post reviews of these books from one source or another. Justed wanted to beat the announcements.

I’m not going to start picking and choosing who should go in or not. Just wanted to say, “Good luck, gentlemen.”

Crash: The Life and Times of Dick Allen

Praying for Gil Hodges: A Memoir of the 1955 World Series and One Family’s Love of the Brooklyn Dodgers
Still Pitching: Musings from the Mound and the Microphone
Tony O!: The trials and triumphs of Tony Oliva
Baseball’s Best Kept Secret
Vada Pinson
Ron Santo: For the Love of Ivy
El Tiante, the Luis Tiant story
Chasing the Dream: My Lifelong Journey to the World Series
On the Run: The Never Dull and Often Shocking Life of Maury Wills
Bad Bill Dahlen: The Rollicking Life and Times of an Early Baseball Star
The Ferrell Brothers of Baseball

Joe Gordon

Sherry Magee

The Pitch That Killed
Allie Reynolds: Super Chief

Vern Stephens

Mickey Vernon: The Gentleman First Baseman

Bucky Walters

Deacon White

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