Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, currently riding a 28-game hitting streak, deserves more credit than he’s gotten, says an authority on the subject, Orioles Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson.
“If he played in New York, he’d be on the front page every day,” said Robinson, appearing at the National Press Club Monday. “But here in Washington, you got a lot of other stuff going on,” like the Capitals in the playoffs.
“Right, Stan?” he asked Nationals President Stan Kasten, who was sitting on the dais.
“Yup,” replied Kasten.
He said it excites him when announcers refer to a play at third as reminding them of Brooks Robinson. “I can still dive and catch it,” said the soon-to-be-72-year-old, “but I can’t get up anymore.”
Robinson appeared with Jeff Idelson, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, who was asked if he’s concerned that attention in the White House is shifting from baseball to basketball. Not really, he said, noting that President Barack Obama “is a White Sox fan, he’s a Carlton Fisk and Harold Baines fan. We have full faith in the Oval Office that baseball will be part of his resumé.”
That wasn’t his only politically astute answer. On whether players implicated in the steroids scandal will see their Hall of Fame chances diminished, he said it’s up to the writers who vote. “The past is the past, you have to look forward,” he said.
He was a little more forthright on Pete Rose. “It’s unfortunate to have a Hall of Fame without Pete Rose,” he said, but Rose “broke the rules and he admitted it.”
As for Roger Maris, Idelson noted that the hall is generally only open to those who have been in the top 1 percent of players to ever play the game. “Maybe he’s in the top 2 percent,” offered Idelson.
