I...yeah.

As far as I can tell the following HOMers aren't in the MHOF:

Lipman Pike, Bob Carruthers, Joe Medwick, Johnny Mize, Mule Suttles, Bobby Wallace, Willie Wells, Willard Brown, Joe Rogan, Dobie Moore and Bret Saberhagen

Wow, talk about a big hall approach. They have nearly 600 inductees among all sports, induction classes are regularly 10 to 15, and in a span of 3 years in the early ''90s they inducted approximately 45 basketball players. It's hard to say that anyone doesn't deserve induction with the bar that low. And it's hard to believe that so many of the better players haven't been honored. Dennis Leonard and Mark Gubicza but not Bret Saberhagen. No Slaughter or Medwick. None of the 19th century guys like Tip O'Neill. Tom Paciorek and Frank White but not George Brett. Crazy.

Re 48 states to go. Maris should be in the New York and North Dakota Halls ( if they exist). The former for what he did as a Yankee. The latter for being a native.

Maris played three and half years in Missouri; 1958 (split with Cleveland)-1959 with the Kansas City Athletics and 1967-1968 with the St. Louis Cardinals. In those three and a half years, Maris batted .259 in 446 games, 1,554 at-bats, collecting 49 home runs, 403 hits, 72 doubles, 19 triples and 225 RBIs. Maris' Missouri career is also highlighted by a .514 slugging percentage and .319 on-base percentage.
He only struck out 204 times and when you subtract that from his 1,554 at-bats, that leaves 1,350 at-bats Maris either got on base or at the very least made contact with the ball. That's pretty darn good.

Wow! if that's not a HOFer, I don't know what is. I mean, a .319 OBP and a .425 SLP (not the .514 the author claims)? Not too many people can match that. Well, maybe Clint Hurdle and Todd Zeile, but they're inner circle.

Maris should be in the New York and North Dakota Halls ( if they exist)

well, there's this

For once, a writer who doesn't set his sights too high for what he considers to be important breaking news.
Refreshing.

well, there's this

He was first-ballot there. Inner-circle.

It's hard to say that anyone doesn't deserve induction with the bar that low.

At last! Recognition for my stint as captain of the Washington University intercollegiate bowling team is likely just around the corner.

So many people to thank...

For once, a writer who doesn't set his sights too high for what he considers to be important breaking news.

"Channel 6 news! A car chase every 30 minutes... guaranteed! Or the weather girl wears a tube top!"

I can't say as I'm up to date on the politics of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, but this has got to be at least as much about Mark McGwire (who doesn't appear to be in) as it is about Maris, doesn't it?

I agree that there are people who did much more for Missouri sports than Maris did. However, Maris was genuinely beloved in STL, which is probably why he's being elected out of order. STL fans were very happy to hear Roger tell them how much he liked playing in STL, after a few years in NY. St. Louisans just eat that sort of thing right up.

As with most states, there are people whose impact on the state is greater than it was on the nation. Bill Bradley (basketball), for one. Ivory Crockett, who is from the suburb I grew up in (Webster Groves) holds the current and presumably forever record for the 100-yard dash, although the main reason he still holds the record is that he was the one sitting on it when the 100-yards was dropped as a sprint, replaced by the 100 meters. The St. Louis Hawks basketball team (now the Atlanta Hawks), were a first-rate power at the time when Bill Russell's Celtics were just an unstoppable wall (the only Hawks' championship occurred when Russell was hurt). Bob Petit, Cliff Hagan, and Ed McCauley were the Big Three, Clyde Lovellette was that team's center, and Slater Martin was the point guard. There are a lot of states who can boast many more home-state stars than national stars. - Brock Hanke

No Slaughter or Medwick. None of the 19th century guys like Tip O'Neill. Tom Paciorek and Frank White but not George Brett

Slaughter and Brett are in

The St. Louis Hawks basketball team (now the Atlanta Hawks), were a first-rate power at the time when Bill Russell's Celtics were just an unstoppable wall (the only Hawks' championship occurred when Russell was hurt)

And in Russell's rookie year, the Hawks took the Celtics into double overtime in game 7 before losing by 2 points in perhaps the most thrilling final game ever. This after the Hawks finished in a 3-way tie for 1st in the Western Conference with a 34-38 record!

Jolly - Thanks for the memory. I just barely remember that game. What I mostly remembered was how surprised people were that the Celtics wanted Russell SO bad that they covered the debts of one team to get them to let Bill slip by in the draft. Then they traded Ed Mc Cauley and Cliff Hagan to the Hawks for the right to draft Russell (the Celtics were third in the draft that year). At the time, both Ed and Cliff were star players. It made the Hawks, giving them two extra offensive foci, instead of just Bob Petit, and made Clyde Lovellette, who, although huge as a center, had a game based on short jump shots, ten feet from the basket or more. Petit had had to do all the rebounding, because Clyde set up so far from the hoop, but Ed Mc Cauley was up to the task of helping Bob Petit out. And it made the Celtics, who got only the best player in the history of basketball (I am more than happy to defend that statement), which he promptly demonstrated, leading to the top a team that had just traded its power forward and shooting forward, leaving scoring up to the guards and the 20 points Russell would get on offensive rebounds. Absolute hell of a team, and it wasn't primarily due to Red Auerbach (Russell won without him) and it wasn't due to Bob Cousy, the point guard superstar. Russell won without him, too. But neither Red nor Cousy could win without Russell, and both men were big enough men to openly admit it, on the record. - Brock

Slaughter and Brett are in

I blame a bad search database bc I typed their names in individually and got "no results found." Oh well. In this case, I'm glad to be wrong.