When the Nationals finally bring the curtain down on RFK Stadium, let’s hope we’ve seen the last of the Washington Hall of Stars.
The Washington Hall of Stars — or, if you prefer, the WHOS — was a good idea, once upon a time. It is a way to pay tribute to those outstanding D.C. area athletes of days gone by. A ceremony at midfield during halftime of a Redskins’ game, culminated by mounting a 4-by-8-foot sheet of plywood featuring the honoree’s name on the front of a mezzanine box.
And, to repeat myself, it was a good idea. Was, as in it’s no longer a good idea.
It still raises my hackles when I walk in RFK and look up at that huge sheet of plastic mounted beyond the rightfield fence that now displays the WHOS membership and see the names George Selkirk and Gil Hodges in the baseball category. I guarantee that at some point during every Nats’ game, someone turns and asks, “Who’s George Selkirk?”
Selkirk, for what it’s worth, was the general manager of the Senators from 1963-68. Other than negotiating the trade that brought Frank Howard to town in 1965, absolutely nothing unique marked his tenure in the job. They never made the first division, never won more than they lost, and no one else ever hired him for the same job elsewhere.
As a player, George “Twinkletoes” Selkirk replaced Babe Ruth in the outfield for the Yankees in 1935; he even took the Babe’s famed No. 3 jersey. Selkirk was a decent player, but nothing out of the ordinary. Yet, there’s his name in the WHOS.
Hodges is a similar story, though quite obviously, the better player. Gil came to town in May of 1963, replacing Mickey Vernon as manager. Vernon wasn’t hired by Selkirk, so he knew his days as skipper were numbered. Anyway, Hodges took over the club and stayed through the 1967 season. He never had a winning record. In 1968, he bailed on the Nats to return to New York and manage the Mets, who won the World Series for him in 1969.
Why are these guys in the WHOS?
I really don’t know, but obviously they both had support from someone on the committee that used to meet to decide such things. Hodges, I think, got in on the sympathy factor: he had just dropped dead. Selkirk must have been somebody’s pal.
Whatever the reason, when the new owner starts the process of deciding what features he wants in the new stadium, let’s hope he deigns to create a new, all-baseball Hall of Fame or Ring of Honor, call it what you will.
Select a blue-ribbon panel of local baseball experts to determine membership, and leave space for a small museum-like facility at the ballpark.
Washington is the city of museums. This one is a no-brainer.
Phil Wood has covered sports in the Washington-Baltimore market for more than 30 years.
