The task never is completed until the last question is answered, so I doubled back Monday to the Otesaga Hotel, headquarters for the Hall of Fame inductions. In the dining room I found Tom Lasorda, the former manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who was among Sunday’s four inductees.
He was surrounded by family and friends and was beginning his breakfast with a dish of prunes.
“Mr. Lasorda,” I asked repectfully, “Is Ryne Sandberg a Hall of Famer?”
“I’ll answer that very quickly,” he replied.
“Yes.”
Could he expand on that answer?
Lasorda, seldom a man of few words, obliged.
“He was a dominating player. He could beat you with his glove, his bat and his arm, and he has all the offensive numbers to get into the Hall of Fame. Now can I finish my breakfast?”
And the great Lasorda, the first manager of Italian descent to enter baseball’s shrine, summoned a waitress and said, `Honey, is my omelet ready?’ “
Johnny Bench, another Hall of Famer, was at an adjacent table. Only the day before, Ted Williams had told Bench he was the best catcher Williams ever had seen. Bench, of course, was very pleased.
So what about Sandberg, who has announced he is retiring at the season’s end?
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“I think he’ll go in on the first ballot,” Bench predicted. “It could be a pretty good year. It’ll depend who else is eligible, who else is retiring. Is this Paul Molitor’s last year?”
I told him I hadn’t heard anything about Molitor hanging it up, but a player doesn’t become eligible until after he has been retired for five years. So Sandberg, and possibly Molitor, would be on the ballot beginning in 2003.
Ralph Kiner, the New York broadcaster who is in his 36th season on the air, made the Hall as one of the game’s leading power hitters–he led or tied for the National League lead in home runs seven years in a row.
“I’d vote for him,” Kiner said of Sandberg. “He was a great ballplayer and holds a ton of records for second basemen, offense and defense. Those are pretty good qualifications. He’s the best second baseman of his era. That’s what should be considered, not if you were as good as Rogers Hornsby or Eddie Collins. You shouldn’t have to compare Sandberg to any old-timers.
“He has been a complete player. But is he a first-year guy? I don’t know. Joe DiMaggio didn’t get in until his third year and no one thought anything about it. It didn’t diminish him. The past five or 10 years there has been a lot of emphasis on who goes in the first year he’s eligible. What difference does it make?”
Billy Williams, the Cubs’ Hall of Fame left-fielder and now their bench coach, remembered teasing Sandberg.
“I’d tell him, `Ryno, you were a throw-in on the Larry Bowa deal.’ That’s what he was. And look at him today–a Hall of Famer. And he has the perfect name for Chicago, like Carl Sandburg. I saw him when he first came up and he was a third baseman. He has worked very hard.”
Yankees super scout Gene Michael was Sandberg’s manager with the Cubs for two seasons, 1986-87.
“He’s a first-time guy,” Michael said. “He did everything except talk. I used to kid him about constantly causing an uproar, always causing trouble. If he hadn’t retired the first time, he would have been better now. At his age it’s tough to come back and keep all your skills. He has lost some of his rhythm.”
Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan, who held some of the records Sandberg has broken, said, “I’d put him in. Look at his numbers. He’s very deserving.”
Sandberg was a 10-time All-Star, won nine consecutive gold gloves for defensive excellence and, going into this season, had the highest fielding percentage of any second baseman in history. He also has hit the most home runs among second baseman with 273, seven more than Morgan.
Finally, a more circumspect response.
“I’ve been asked that about a lot of players, but I never comment,” said Hall-of-Famer Red Schoendienst, the longtime Cardinals second baseman and manager. “That’s why they have committees.”