A long career as a player and manager, as well as a great spokesman for baseball, Buck deserves his own thread.

One of the big stars of the Ken Burns documentary. Buck is quite an amazing storyteller.

Doesn't he get any analysis at all, then?

"One L of a player" - who had only one L in his last name, if I'm not mistaken....

Well, ok, here's a little.

Macmillan 8th lists his career numbers over 12 seasons from 1937 to 1950 (he missed 1944-45) as

335 g, 1396 ab, 402 hits, 39 2b, 15 3b, 11 hr, .288 ba, .361 sa.

Those numbers suggest that O'Neil was at best a good player, not someone who would crack the top 100 eligibles at this point in time.

He doesn't appear on Holway's career batting average or home-run lists, which suggests that his numbers agree fairly closely with those in Macmillan (if he had hit .300 or had 20 home runs, he would have made one of the lists).

He does have decent black ink/gray ink totals of 7 and 30. This puts him in the company of Dick Lundy (7/43) and Clint Thomas (10/36), and puts him a notch below Cool Papa Bell (10/60) and Biz Mackey (12/51).

According to Riley, Buck had two Ls in his surname. Honestly, though, I just posted it the way that some members of my family spelled it, so I could have been wrong at the time.

Doesn't he get any analysis at all, then?

That would indicate that Chris feels he's not in the ballpark as a HoMer candidate, which shouldn't really surprise anyone here. With that said, since he is touted as a fairly serious HOF candidate by some (though it's mainly due to the combination of his achievements on and off the field, I would think), some analysis of his career would be helpful to his candidacy.

Riley is wrong I'm pretty sure. I'll fix it to one l.

He's a no brainer Hall of Famer (some things I've read recently have reinforced my thoughts there, to the point that I can't see being convinced otherwise), along the lines of the lifetime achievement award. If any non-players are in, for any reason, he should be in.

He's not a HoMer though, which is a bummer. I almost want to add a contributors wing, just to honor him.

Did feud sabotage Buck’s bid for Hall?

BTW you are still welcome to come to KC this summer,

9th Annual Jerry Malloy Conference

Should be entertaining!

For those of you who are not easily offended by dark humor:

Buck O'Neil

Obviously, people who write columns are obligated to come up with topics, and conspiracies are easy ones. Hey, I write a column myself. But just once it would be interesting if the columnist would acknowledge that at least "some people say that his numbers just weren't that good."

Obviously, people who write columns are obligated to come up with topics, and conspiracies are easy ones. Hey, I write a column myself. But just once it would be interesting if the columnist would acknowledge that at least "some people say that his numbers just weren't that good."

This one does that.

I guess the others are all writing with their ventricles rather than cerebrum (or some such). Great column.

BTW you are still welcome to come to KC this summer,

9th Annual Jerry Malloy Conference

Should be entertaining!

Did the Kansas City Star or the Negro Leagues Museum have any nasty surprises for the conference?
Was it entertainment or harrassment?
Will it be entertaining for long distance readers?

--
What are the curator and director of research roles here?
(I need to learn this for the NBHOFM in Cooperstown, also. There are too many men with titles that seem to mean "top of his field.")

9th Annual Jerry Malloy Conference

Should be entertaining!

Wake me when you have the first Annual Jerry Mumphrey Conference

Buck O'Neill, rest in peace. He passed away Friday at a KC hospital, presumably of old age. Here's the obit from MLB.com.

Buck O'Neil obit

I saw him in July at the Jerry Malloy conference, and I wouldn't have guessed that he was only months from death. He was as ebullient and funny and articulate as he was known for.

Here's hoping that the Veterans Committee figures out some way to induct him into the Hall of Fame for his lifetime contribution to the game of baseball. He certainly earned it.

I saw him in July at the Jerry Malloy conference, and I wouldn't have guessed that he was only months from death. He was as ebullient and funny and articulate as he was known for.

Boy, do I wish I could have gone now.

So now the Hall of Fame says it is going to change its rules and find a way to get O'Neil in the HoF, bowing to pressure from people who are writing them letters. The story is at MLB.com.

I'm assuming they won't induct him as a player, so I'm okay with honoring him for his other contributions. But once again, it has been handled sloppily. After the Negro Leagues inductions they made him endure endless questions about whether he was disappointed; then he dies and they want to honor him posthumously.

After the Negro Leagues inductions they made him endure endless questions about whether he was disappointed; then he dies and they want to honor him posthumously.

But what's the point now if he can't enjoy it? It's just going to look like what it is - an embarrassment pick. How does that honor Buck?

Look, I'm not surprised by this in the least. I also have no problem inducting him under the umbrella of special contributions to the game. But I'd rather make sure that deserving guys like Ron Santo savor their induction instead of receiving a posthumous plaque like Buck.

Call my cynical, but I think that the Hall is likely to use the O'Neill cause de celebre as the entry point to retooling the Vets committee in light of its inability to do exactly what John said in post 18.

Well, my post #19 wasn't exactly prophetic....

Did anyone else hear Joe Morgan talking about the Buck O’Neil/Irving Thallberg Cooptown Lifetime Achievement Award?

I don’t mind the concept in a vacuum, and I think it’s great that a statue of Buck will grace the Hall’s entryway.

But I can’t escape the feeling that the Hall couldn’t figure out whether Buck was a Vet’s guy or a NgL commission guy, and so they made up an award just for him. If Buck O’Neil’s lifetime of service isn’t recognizable by the Vets committee, it’s probably time to reformulate the committee’s mission, isn't it?