Hall of Braves

Published 6:00 am Sunday, July 27, 2014

The weird part was that Jeff Idelson didn’t take a lot of time to answer.

“Is there any word or description that unifies this class?” was the query posed to the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s president.

“The common thread among the six is profound humility,” Idelson said of former managers Joe Torre, Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa, and former players Frank Thomas, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, all of whom will be inducted into the Hall today. “I don’t think I realized that fully until I spent time with them in December. It was uncanny to me, for the cumulative star power in that group, the humility among them. I think that’s felt really strongly with baseball fans.”

Seems strange Idelson would pick humility to describe this group. That’s because each one has a resume that screams, “LOOK AT ME!”

La Russa, Cox and Torre are the third, fourth and fifth winningest managers, respectively, in major league history. Thomas hit 521 home runs, and Maddux and Glavine won 300-plus games in an era when the overwhelming majority of their contemporaries didn’t come close that number.

Assuming a forecast that calls for a 60 percent of chance of rain doesn’t affect the proceedings, all six will share memories of their star-studded careers today outdoors at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown.

And this year’s Induction Ceremony — which will start at 1:30 p.m. and features one of the largest classes in history — figures to bring a large number of fans.

“All indicators lead us to believe this will be a well-attended weekend,” Idelson said. “The X-factor is the weather. But we have a guy who starred in New York as a manager, there’s star power in the class, and the bus numbers and the number of people who are becoming members to get reserved seating lead us to believe this year will be among the best.”

During a conference call with reporters last week, Thomas added: “You just never know with that New York crowd with Joe Torre going in. Who knows? That could be another 100,000 walk-up crowd, you know? But they’re in New York in Cooperstown and that’s a 3-, 4-, or 5-hour drive that people can just come out for the day.

“I’m looking for a big crowd there,” he continued, “because it’s three great players and three great managers.”

One thing is certain: This year’s ceremony will look nothing like the 2013 version.

About 2,500 fans attended a year ago, when Hank O’Day, Jacob Ruppert and Deacon White were inducted via a Pre-Integration Committee Era election. O’Day, Ruppert and White died in the 1930s.

The Baseball Writers’ Association of America had the opportunity to elect the likes of home run king Barry Bonds, seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and Mike Piazza last year — all on the ballot for the first time in 2013 — but suspicions of performance-enhancing drug use led to a shutout.

No such steroids cloud hangs over this year’s class.

Thomas, a two-time American League MVP, said he was dissuaded from steroid use during his time as a baseball and football standout at Auburn in the late-1980s. Four-time Cy Young Award winner Maddux and two-time Cy Young recipient Glavine got by more with guile than power.

Maddux appeared on 97.2 percent of the BBWAA ballots, Glavine earned 91.9 percent and Thomas garnered 83.7 percent. Seventy-five percent is needed for election.

As for the managers, despite benefiting from players suspected of steroid abuse or known as users, all three earned unanimous votes from the Expansion Era Committee in December.

This class, the largest since 1971, likely will draw many fans from Atlanta, New York, Chicago and St. Louis.

Of course, Cox, Maddux and Glavine had a remarkable run with the Braves in the 1990s and early 2000s, one highlighted by a World Series title in 1995.

“It’s unusual to have, I think, three at one time from one organization all going in as well,” said Cox, who is 73. “Greg’s not wearing a hat (on his plaque) but spent a lot of years with the Atlanta Braves. And, of course, Tommy Glavine and myself, which I think is exciting.”

Torre played in Atlanta in the 1960s and managed the Braves in the 1980s. Thomas is a Georgia native.

The New York connection mostly comes from the Brooklyn-born Torre, who played for the Mets in the 1970s, managed the Mets in the 70s and 80s, and had a tremendous run as manager of the Yankees in the 90s and 2000s, winning four World Series titles.

“The New York fans, the fact that it’s in New York, and my career started in New York with the Mets and it didn’t end in New York,” said Torre, 74, who works in a front office capacity for Major League Baseball, “but my years with the Yankees, certainly, I think, got everybody’s attention with what was accomplished.”

Glavine, 48, spent five seasons with the Mets toward the end of his career, including winning his 300th game in 2007. Cox also spent time in the Yankees system, including managing their Triple-A team in Syracuse from 1973-76. Cox, the first base coach for the 1977 World Series champion Yankees, managed three games at Oneonta’s Damaschke Field in 1973 after a small fire temporarily closed Syracuse’s home park.

Maddux and Thomas starred in Chicago. Maddux, 48, won the first of his Cy Youngs with the Cubs in 1992, and Thomas spent 16 seasons with the White Sox. La Russa started his career in Chicago, managing the White Sox from 1979-86.

“I’m expecting a lot of people from Chicago,” said Thomas, a 46-year-old who broadcasts White Sox games. “You know, with Maddux and myself both going in at the same time, (there could) be a lot of people from Chicago.”

Torre and La Russa each managed in St. Louis. Torre won the NL MVP award as a player with the Cardinals in 1971 and went on to manage the team from 1990-95. When Torre was fired following the 1995 season, it opened the way for him to be hired by the Yankees and for LaRussa to take his place in St. Louis. La Russa, 69, guided the Cardinals to World Series titles in 2006 and 2011, the latter his final year as a big-league skipper.

“I’ve had more chances to be around Joe because we worked together at MLB for a couple years,” La Russa said of being inducted with Torre and Cox. “But it’s going to create a forever kind of moment that the induction included the three of us sharing the moment.”

Induction weekend kicked off in earnest Saturday with the Awards Presentation at 4:30 p.m. at Doubleday Field. Texas Rangers announcer Eric Nadel received the Ford C. Frick award for broadcasting excellence; The New Yorker’s Roger Angell accepted the J.G. Taylor Spink award for writers; and Joe Garagiola was honored with the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award. Garagiola did not attend because of health reasons.

The Hall of Fame Parade of Legends began at 6 p.m. Saturday on Main Street. The 49 returning Hall of Famers expected to attend today’s Induction Ceremony as well as the electees took part in the parade.

If rain interrupts the Induction Ceremony, it will be moved inside the Clark Sports Center.

Idelson, participating in his 21st Induction Ceremony, wouldn’t give any figures, but he said he thinks this year’s event could rival the 2007 inductions of Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn, along with the 1999 ceremony, when Nolan Ryan, George Brett, Robin Yount and Orlando Cepeda got in.

In 2007, Idelson said, aerial shots had the attendance at 82,000. The 1999 ceremony was estimated at 60,000.

HOF president: Humility bonds Class of 2014″The crowds speak to the reverence fans have for players and managers who gave it their all,” Idelson said. “It’s about the relationship players and managers have with fans. This class of six guys not only excelled, but they were fan favorites. The potential for big crowds is there.”

Idelson also added that there will be a tribute to Gwynn and Ralph Kiner, a pair of Hall of Famers who died in 2014. Gwynn succumbed to cancer at the age of 54 on June 16. Kiner was 91 when he died of natural causes Feb. 6.

“Making the Hall of Fame is incredibly difficult, so the loss of any of them is profound,” Idelson said. “We feel the same reverence for all of our Hall of Famers. Tony is especially painful because of how young he was. I personally delivered a eulogy at the funeral. He was a student of the game and a teacher of the game, and that makes it more painful. We’ll treat it with the utmost respect, as we will Ralph Kiner.”