Apparently Corky Simpson "forgot." For those unaware, Corky Simpson, formerly of the Tucson Citizen (retired) decided not to vote for Rickey Henderson for the Hall of Fame. Forget about Henderson's 1,406 stolen bases; 3,055 hits; .401 on base percentage; major league-record 2,295 runs scored, or 297 career homeruns, from the lead off spot. What makes Corky's decision ludicrous is the comments he's made. A blogger who runs the site http://www.rickeyhendersoncollectibles.com/ emailed Corky who replied essentially he forgot, but then justified it with this absurd validation:
"Some day some historian will attempt to find out why 11 voters failed to give Babe Ruth unanimity when he was elected to the Hall of Fame. In that same class of '36, Ty Cobb missed unanimity by four votes, Honus Wagner 11, Walter Johnson 37 and Christy Mathewson 23. Why did Willie Mays miss by 23, Mickey Mantle 43, Jackie Robinson 36 and Cal Ripken Jr. by eight?
When I was a kid, there were three giants who walked the earth: Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Stan Musial. None made it to the Hall of Fame unanimously. Joe missed by 28 votes, Ted Williams by 20 and Musial 23."
In short, Corky didn't forget, he hewed to a tired line that no one deserves to be a unanimous selection. This morning, in his column on MLB.com, Hal Bodley got it exactly right: "If a Major Leaguer is a Hall of Famer, he's a Hall of Famer. Period." Exactly - period.
If Simpson is to be believed (i.e. we accept that he forgot) then he FORGOT (!) simply the greatest lead-off hitter in baseball history - period. If true, then Corky does not deserve the privilege of being a caretaker of baseball's history. But if it was as his explanation suggests, then what Corky did was far worse than Bill Conlin's omission of Nolan Ryan in 1998. Conlin, you may remember, left Nolan Ryan off of his ballot for inclusion in the class of 2009 because Conlin believed that if he needed a pitcher to win one game, Ryan would not be it. Conlin was roundly, and justifiably, criticized. But at least Conlin's rationale was performance based. Wrong-headed, stubborn, probably not a rationale that anyone else would have used, but at least performance-based.
Corky's reasoning goes "Rickey's a hall of famer; I know it; and I don't care, I'm not voting for him. And that makes Corky Simpson a Hall of Fame-caliber moron.
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