The Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com
January 5, 2011
Toronto Blue Jays' Roberto Alomar signs autographs after coming out of the game against the Montreal Expos during Grapefruit Leage action in West Palm Beach, Fla. on March 18, 1994. (Ryan Remiorz/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Roberto Alomar had cockiness in spades on the diamond.
It’s part of what made the all-star Blue Jay a delight to watch when baseball was a kingpin sport in Toronto.
It’s also a quality that arguably denied the marquee second baseman induction into the Hall of Fame last year, when he was first eligible.
Twelve months ago, at his palatial home in Queens, N.Y., Alomar had lots of family and friends on hand, the champagne chilling, everybody awaiting word on the Cooperstown entry class of 2010, all primed for celebration. A TV crew from the MLB Network arrived, too, Alomar miked up for instant reaction.
But events didn’t unfold as anticipated. Alomar fell eight votes short in the Baseball Writers’ Association of America tally, his 73.7 per cent just shy of the Mendoza Line.
“I’m surprised,” he stuttered.
He’d been up at 6 a.m., after only three hours of sleep, restless and fidgeting about the impending outcome, preparing remarks of gratitude that would pay tribute to both the Toronto organization — franchise of his Glory Jays Days — and the people of his native Puerto Rico.
“Maybe next year,” Alomar offered, gallantly suppressing his disappointment.
Surely so; surely Wednesday, when the inductees for 2011 will be revealed in New York, Alomar will be anointed as the 20th second baseman enshrined in Cooperstown.
This time, however, the 12-time all-star is taking no prematurely huzzah chances. Alomar was in Toronto on Tuesday but giving no interviews. Should the result require it — and who would bet against that? — there will be an MLB-organized conference call for the media and an in-person scrum organized by the Jays.
No candidate who’s ever received 70 per cent of the votes has ever ultimately been denied admittance to the Hall of Fame. The only surprise here was that Alomar had to wait one year more before taking his place among the immortals.
There was plenty of grumbling a year ago when it didn’t happen tout-sweetie, the most common refrain among dissidents that Alomar had been made to pay for that infamous 1996 spitting incident when he hurled a gob at umpire John Hirschbeck — despite the fact the two men had long ago kissed and made up, Hirschbeck even promoting Alomar’s Cooperstown bona fides.
Others pointed at Alomar’s half-assed play with the New York Mets in the tail-end years, when he was in his mid-30s and on the cusp of retirement. He did not go out with a bang, ‘tis true. But the career numbers — in a sport besotted by statistics — were gaudy: 2,724 hits, 210 homers, 474 stolen bases, a lifetime .300 average, 10 Gold Gloves, two World Series rings and maybe the best defensive second baseman ever, a thing of beauty in mid-air on the double-play bang-bang.
What I remember most clearly, or rather dreamily, was an October Sunday in Oakland, slanting rays of sunlight burnishing the ballpark in gold and Alomar pausing for just a moment to marvel at his own home run blast as it arced into the right-field seats at Alameda County Coliseum.
That two-run, ninth-inning shot tied the score 6-6 in a game where the Jays had trailed 6-1 by the eighth frame. Alomar broke ace closer Dennis Eckersley’s heart as Toronto went on to win 7-6, taking a 3-1 lead in the American League playoffs and never looking back en route to the franchise’s first World Series title.
It was a seminal moment for the club, which had choked hard in earlier playoff engagements. Funny thing, then, that Eckersley would be the one later emerging as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
But take your pick from the memory photo album of Alomar’s iconic moments: The first time he swatted home runs from both sides of the plate, in ‘91 (and on four occasions subsequently); three home runs in one ‘97 game; a panoply of jaw-dropping defensive plays in the field — snag, pivot, throw.
Maybe those whinges about Toronto getting snubbed at Cooperstown by America’s favourite pastime were not entirely sour grapes or typical Canadian inferiority complex.
It would not be fair, however, to insist that Alomar was robbed in 2010. Only three second basemen were sanctified in their first years of eligibility: Jackie Robinson, Joe Morgan and Rod Carew. No less ballot worthies than Joe DiMaggio and Rogers Hornsby had to wait until later rounds.
Alomar could be childish from time to time, petulant, on a few regrettable occasions putting self ahead of the team. Yet he was nearly always a joy to watch, a ballplayer of splendor in the grass (or turf). He even lived at the ballpark, an elevator ride away from the dugout.
While Alomar is no doubt Cooperstown-bound, it will be interesting to see what the baseball scribes make of other contenders whose stats have been bolstered by confirmed steroid use. Rafael Palmeiro is a first-timer; Mark McGwire continues pushing that rock up the Hall hill, claiming he only pushed the syringe in this much, mainly to help play through injuries.
Meanwhile, there’s been a bandwagon a-forming for Bert Blyleven to finally make it on his 14th try (15 is the limit), and he came within a slim five votes of doing so last year. For my money, Jack Morris had the greater-impact career on the mound, but sometimes it’s just about hanging in on the ballot. First time out, way back in 1998, Blyleven garnered only 17.5 per cent of the votes.
As for Alomar, few might remember that on the day he was traded to Toronto from San Diego — undercard in the Joe Carter swap — he wept tears of dismay.
There should be no tears today.
Related:
Moments that made a career -
http://www.thestar.com/article/916396
Alomar set to make Hall of Fame history -
http://www.thestar.com/article/9162655
Roberto Alomar: By the Numbers -
http://www.thestar.com/article/916465
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