Congratulations Dick Vermeil!

It was 22 years in the making but it finally happened.  Saint Louis Rams head coach Dick Vermeil was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame yesterday afternoon.  Vermeil coached the Rams to their only Super Bowl Championship in St. Louis in the fall of 1999 and won the big game in late January 2000.

Vermeil came to the Rams and had losing records in 1997 and 1998 winning just nine games over those two years.  But, then in 1999 a pre-season injury to starter Trent Green led to Kurt Warner taking the reins of a very talented team that came to be known as "The Greatest Show on Turf".

Under Vermeil's direction and tutelage that 1999 Rams team turned it around posting a 13-3 record.  It then beat the Vikings in the playoffs and the Buccaneers to win the NFC Championship.  On Sunday January 30, 2000 the St. Louis Rams became world champions beating the Tennessee Titans 23-17 in Super Bowl 34.  I remember watching the NFL's highlight film a few months later and Vermeils only audible reaction to the win was simply "Super Bowl Champions".

Vermeil won his gold jacket to the Hall of Fame by coaching 15 seasons in the NFL and winning 120 games.  He also took the Philadelphia Eagles to Super Bowl 15 in 1980 where the Eagles lost to the Oakland Raiders and John Madden 27-10.  Vermeil also coached the Kansas City Chiefs for five years taking them to the playoffs one time.  All together Vermeil's NFL teams appeared in the post season six times.

A total of eight men were elected to the Hall in Canton, Ohio.  In addition to Vermeil, Tony Boselli, Cliff Branch, Leroy Butler, Art McNally, Sam Mills, Richard Seymour, and Bryant Young were enshrined in a nationally broadcast ceremony.

Congratulations to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022!

Baseball HOF Class of 2022

Congratulations to the National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees for 2022.  Nine new members joined the hall this afternoon in ceremonies in Cooperstown, New York.

The newest members are:  Bud Fowler, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Miñoso, Tony Oliva, Buck O'Neil, and David Ortiz.  For a well written article and videos from the induction ceremony, check out this article by Anthony Castrovince written for MLB.com.

I was lucky enough to see four of them play or manage in person during their careers.

Gil Hodges - I did not see Hodges play in person because I was too young as he completed his playing career.  But, I saw him manage the "Miracle Mets" of 1969.  That team won the National League pennant and then went on to upset a highly favored Baltimore Oriole team in the World Series.  I can remember watching a St. Louis Cardinal - New York Mets doubleheader in July and not being impressed so much by Hodges managerial skills, but the amount of talent the Mets had on that team and pitching staff.   But, in looking back, I realize now that team was managed by a man who knew he had talent and managed those young players to an NL Championship over a highly regarded Chicago Cubs club that faded down the stretch in September.  One other thing about Hodges, he died way too  young of a heart attack.

Jim Kaat - I had the opportunity to watch Kaat play with the St. Louis Cardinals for four years at the end of his career and saw him at Busch Stadium II eight or nine times in 1982 when the Cardinals won the World Series.  Kaat was a pitcher at the end of his career.  He craftily changed speeds and locations to keep hitters off balance.  In that 1982 season Kaat was 5-3 with an ERA of 4.08.  In his four years with Cards Kaat was a work horse pitching in 176 games and over 290 innings.  Kaat pitched a total of 25 years and ended his career with 283 wins and a career ERA of 3.45.  His selection is long overdue.

Minnie Miñoso - I believe I saw Miñoso play for St. Louis in 1962.  (I was nine years old and my Dad took me to several games that year, but I can't say for certain it was before Miñoso got injured on May 11, when he collided head first into the concrete left field wall).  His season was cut short by the skull fracture and wrist fracture from trying to chase down that Duke Snider line drive.  He came back later in the season but  got hit in his left arm on August 19th by a pitch from the Mets Craig Anderson.  Two days later while playing left field he had to leave the game with a swollen arm.  X-rays revealed a broken forearm.  It was somewhat ironic that his career in St. Louis ended with being hit by a pitch.  Miñoso had led the American League in being hit-by-pitches for ten years as a member of the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians.  Miñoso had a career that started when he was 25 with the Indians and stretched over five decades.  Minnie played a game with the White Sox when he was 56 years old to be able to say he had played in those five decades.  He amassed a total of 2113 hits, 195 homers and 216 stolen bases leading the American League in that category three times.  To say Miñoso was fast during his prime, would be an understatement. He was selected to the Hall by the Old Timers committee.

David Ortiz - There's not much I can say about him that hasn't been written.  I saw him and the Boston Red Sox play in person against the Cardinals in Game Three of the 2013 WorldSeries.  The Redbirds won the game 5-4 on a bizarre play in the bottom of the ninth.  But, Ortiz was on base three of four times he came to the plate.  He had a single and two walks.  In that series he hit .688 with a 1.948 OPS.  It was a small sample but indicative of his whole career.  I was also at Fenway Park on September 9, 2015 while on vacation; Ortiz's second to last active season.  He came up in the third inning and hit a three run home run off of Blue Jays pitcher Drew Hutchinson.  But, what was more impressive was his show of strength in batting practice.  From my perch on top of the Green Monster, I watched him drive ball after ball into the outfield seats, including one that flew over our heads above the "Monster" and out of Fenway onto Lansdowne Street.  He was a very strong man and a very good baseball player.  He is deserving of his first ballot election.

Congratulations Big Papi!

In the event you missed it, David Ortiz has been elected as the newest member of baseball's Hall of Fame.  Ortiz was named on over 78% of the votes in his first time on the ballot.  75% was needed to win election into the hall.

"Big Papi" as he was known to Boston Red Sox fans and his teammates was a powerful player who slammed 541 career home runs, ranking him 17th in baseball history.  In addition to the 541 HRs, Ortiz ended his career with a .286 lifetime batting average along with 1768 RBI.  And during an era in which PEDs were used extensively, Ortiz was tested frequently and every time was clean.

I was fortunate to see him in person in mid September of 2015 at Fenway Park.  I was on vacation and took a tour of the park early in the afternoon prior to that night's game against the Toronto Blue Jays.  During our time on the field I was within about 30 feet of Big Papi and he was enjoying life laughing and joking with his Red Sox teammates.

The tour ended with a trip to the top of the Green Monster in left field while the Sox took batting practice.  I was visiting with some Blue Jay fans when another fan yelled "heads up".  I looked up to see a baseball screaming about ten feet over our heads before departing Fenway and landing across Lansdowne Street.  I knew he was strong but that blast removed any doubt of how much power he really had.  He repeated this two more times while I looked on in awe.

I had a chance to buy tickets to the Jays - Red Sox game that night, but because of having to leave early the next morning and the length of American League games I decided against it.  I should have gone to the game.  That same evening Ortiz slammed a three run homer to deep left center field off of Jay's starter Drew Hutchinson.  I looked it up today and it was his then 32nd homer of the year.  He would go on to hit 37 that season even though he was in the twilight of his career and 39 years old.

Ortiz's WAR was 55.3 which was a little lower than some of his peers in the hall, and I really didn't think he would get elected in the first year he was eligible.  But, I am glad he is the Hall of Fame's newest member.  Congratulations David Ortiz!