Carter In, Rose Out

Monday, February 24 2003 @ 09:42 AM EST

Contributed by: Coach

The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame announced three new inductees, none of them (thank goodness) Pete Rose. I'm glad they excluded him, though I believe he belongs in Cooperstown. His supposed connection to Canadian baseball (he got his 4,000th hit during a half-season as an Expo) was a cheap publicity stunt.

Joe Carter was elected, for his memorable moments as a Blue Jay -- didn't he hit a clutch HR or something? Kirk McCaskill also got the nod, presumably for being born in Kapuskasing, and hanging around the bigs for 12 years as a mediocre pitcher. Quebec administrator Richard Belec is the other new addition to the Hall. Mark June 28 on your calendar if you want to attend the ceremony and give Joe one last round of applause.

That's two Carters in St. Mary's -- Gary was enshrined last year -- and it opens up the door for other great American players who spent significant time with Canadian MLB teams. Dave Stieb and Rusty Staub should be next, but Tommy Lasorda's incredible pitching for the AAA Montreal Royals in the 1950's has been unjustly overlooked. The standards for admission are, to say the least, confusing.

9 comments



https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20030224094202999