Selig must be pissed about Negro League Hall of Fame voting.

Wow did that special committee, that MLB set up to review the qualifications of 39 members of the Negro Leagues who weren't currently in the Hall of Fame, screw both Bud Selig and the Hall of Fame today or what? You can read the story for yourself below: http://sports.espn.go.com/MLB/news/story?id=2346848

At a time when major league baseball is desperately trying to attract African American fans back to baseball MLB, in an attempt to do so, sent up a batting practice lollipop pitch to the plate that the committee was supposed to hit out of the park. But instead they fouled it off. They did elect 12 new Hall of Famers, but they left off the two most important and the only two living members of that original 39, Buck O'Neil and Minnie Minoso. If they were inducted this season baseball would have offered two living legends to the able to help welcome back African Americans fans to the game. In the 2004 season, 63 percent of players were white, 26 percent were Hispanic and 9 percent were black Americans. That represents the lowest numbers for black Americans in the sport in 25 years " says NBC5 Chicago. You can check out the full story here: http://www.nbc5.com/sports/5180111/detail.html?rss=chi&psp=news. For years the number of African American players and fans have been dwidling. Most pundits point to the success of African Americans in both the NFL and NBA as to reasons the why. MLB recently has begun a program to attract those fans back to the game. This was to be this program's shining moment. However like I said the committee fouled off the pitch.

Minoso was an excellent player for a number of years. He played in the major leagues for 17 seasons, mostly with the Chicago White Sox, and hit .298 lifetime. He was a seven-time All-Star and won three Gold Gloves in the outfield. He was also an electric five tool player who could do anything to change a baseball game. He didn't get to the majors until he was 26 so he basically missed five seasons in the big leagues due to the color barrier. Minoso has a great personality and a passion for the game that endeared him to fan's all over the country. O'Neil was a first basemen/manager in the Negro Leagues and a hitter very often compared to Mark Grace. During his time as a manager he sent more players from the Negro Leagues to the majors then any one else including Ernie Banks. He later served as the first African American Coach in Major League history with the Cubs. Since he retired he has served on the Hall of Fame veterans committee and currently as the President of the Negro League Hall of Fame. O'Neil most recently rose to national fame from Ken Burns "Baseball" series. In interviews O'Neil talked so passionately about baseball that he became both the a spokesman for the Negro Leagues and Baseball itself.

What does not including these two players do to baseball and the Hall of Fame? It basically takes two hero's and legends out of the place reserved for them. O'Neil is the most recognizable face of the Negro Leagues. Inducting these two would have exploded Hall of Fame weekend. Buck O'Neil's stories alone would have filled newspapers and brought African Americans, young and old, to Cooperstown. If he had been inducted I probably would have gone. I'm not African American but I just respect the men and their struggles so much. It also would have helped a young generation put faces to the negro leagues. Instead of two great charismatic players talking about their experiences with race and their passion for baseball now you get, I don't know, someone like Bill Cosby talking about them. I mean how much fun is it to hear people talk about dead people that they never heard of anyway? I mean how many fans are go to Cooperstown (no offense) to see Bruce Sutter get elected? Adding thes two player would have added probably upwards of 1,000-2,000 fans to Hall of Fame inducations. I'm a big believer in stats but I don't care about stats here. The Hall of Fame is a better place with these to in it rather then on the outside looking in. If I was Bud Selig I would fire everyone on that panel. I mean I'm sure they did their research but they totally missed the point on this one. That being said congratulations to the families of Effa Manley (the first woman to be elected to the Hall of Fame), Mule Suttles, Biz Mackey, Ray Brown, Willard Brown, Andy Cooper, Cristobal Torriente, Jud Wilson, Alex Pompez, Cum Posey, J.L. Wilkinson and Sol White.