Ripken, Gwynn Welcomed to Hall

Only two guys made it into the HOF this year. As expected, Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn were elected by the Baseball Writers of America. Those getting close this year were Rich “Goose” Gossage, Jim Rice and Andre Dawson. Mark McGwire only received a little over 23% of the vote.

Most of the coverage of this years HOF election has focused on Mark McGwire and the steroids era. What should have been a celebration of all of the positive aspects of the game turned into an argument about who did or didn’t use performance enhancing drugs. Unfortunately, what has been somewhat lost in the discussion is the class and integrity that both Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn brought to the game.

Both Ripken and Gwynn played their entire careers with one team. They both showed up ready and excited to play every day. They were both talented players, great teammates, and terrific ambassadors of the game. They played the game the right way. In other words, they were prototypical of what a HOFer should be.