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prewarsportsOne of the other things that has always bothered me about the Hall of Fame is it's overwhelming desire to do the "right thing" with regard to some groups and no desire to do it to others. The Hall of fame basically this year inducted a whole bunch of guys where there was very little statistical evidence and many of them never really played in the United States. Therefore they take the stance that concrete stats and reputation among peers is the predominant factor (Once again I am NOT discounting their careers, simply using it to point out the simple fact that heresay and reputation got most of these guys inducted as there was little or no statistical evidence for their inductions). Why not then induct some of the games greatest pioneers who were simply not fortunate enough to play during a time of concrete stats as well, which is the pre-professional days of the 1860's-70's. Using the same argument as "Isnt it funny how black players suddenly got so good in 1947" you can use the same argument to say "Isnt it funny that George Wright was so good and the rest of the mid-19th century guys sucked".
It is really weird that is a Hall of Fame that is OBSESSED TO A FAULT with "pioneers" and "ground-breakers" that only one pre-professional player is enshrined in the hall? There should honestly be about 10-15 of these guys in the hall of fame. Asa Brainard, Jack Chapman, Jim Creighton, Lipman Pike, etc etc etc. I think that the Hall of Fame has dug itself into a hole that it will never be able to free itself from and their unreasonable lack of representation of the games truest pioneers and the American Association is the biggest travesty in their history.
Rhys