Now that all the i’s are dotted, the t’s crossed, and check is in the mail, the Nationals have at long last been rescued from the clutches of Major League Baseball.
So you’re thinking there’s nothing else MLB can do to foul up the situation in our nation’s capital. Guess again.
The game’s newest promotion, “Hometown Heroes,” was recently unveiled, to, in its own press release, “recognize those players who most embody the legacy of Major League Baseball and each respective franchise’s history.” The shipping company DHL is underwriting the promotion, with their spokesman saying, “We expect it will really generate excitement, and some interesting debates, among baseball fans.”
Here’s a debate: Who’s the all-time Washington National? Gary Carter or Rusty Staub?
Okay, I know neither played an inning in a Washington uniform. But the five names on the ballot under “Nationals” are Carter, Staub, Livan Hernandez, Brian Schneider and Jose Vidro. No Walter Johnson, Mickey Vernon, Goose Goslin. No Bucky Harris, Eddie Yost, Frank Howard. No one you’d expect to see on a list of all-time great Washington players.
What’s going on here? Well, the folks who put together the ballot decided that since the “franchise” was technically the Montreal Expos from 1969-2004, their best players should be on the ballot. Forget that no one in the history of baseball in Montreal could ever measure up to the Big Train. If I were a disenfranchised Expos’ fan, I’d stuff the ballot box for Carter and Staub just to embarrass MLB. The “Hometown Heroes” program will “culminate in the unveiling of the 30 official Hometown Heroes in a three-part primetime original series produced by MLB Productions … ESPN will broadcast the series … to coincide with the final week of the 2006 Championship Season.”
I’ve said it before in this space, but I’ll say it again: Whatever the Nationals accomplished as Expos should stay in Montreal.
It means absolutely zip to Washington fans. When the original Senators became the Twins, they left behind the records they had compiled. Today, if you look in a Minnesota media guide, you won’t find Walter Johnson’s name listed as their all-time greatest pitcher. The Texas Rangers devote a page of their guide to the expansion Senators, but the fans down there don’t relate to the club that was here from 1961-71. On the Hometown Heroes ballot for the Twins and Rangers, the names are all Twins and Rangers. There’s not a Senator in sight.
Would it be so difficult to have more than 30 Heroes? St. Louis Browns first baseman George Sisler is a Hall of Famer, and, from all reports, was a wonderful human being. His name isn’t listed under “Orioles.” Four of the five Los Angeles Dodgers listed played in Brooklyn. Write-in candidates are allowed, but for only four names out of 30 teams.
To completely ignore the great players who were “our” hometown heroes is just wrong. I’m voting for Rusty Staub. At least he was active when the Senators were in town.
Phil Wood has covered sports in the Washington-Baltimore market for more than 30 years
