The Milwaukee Post

8 • Milwaukee County Post • March 24, 2017 OPINION Lou Perini brought Major League base- ball to Milwaukee and forever changed the city and state in the process but you'd never know it by walking through Miller Park. The Milwaukee Braves' first owner is not included in the Braves/Brewers "Walk of Fame." Earl Gillespie brought Milwaukee's greatest team ever to life with his iconic broadcasts in the 1950s in those days where radio was the only way to follow a team, but Earl isn't enshrined, either. The sad fact is the local version of the Hall of Fame now overseen by the Brewers is an embarrass- ment. The blame lies mostly with the idiot sports talk show hosts and TV reporters who know nothing of local sports history and mindlessly cast idiotic ballots. There are 30 local media "voters" (I'm one of them) and you need two-thirds (20) to get into the Walk of Fame. Hardly anybody ever makes it, particularly those who played before the average TV sports dork was born or moved here from Toledo. But the Brewers deserve blame, as well. They could change the rules or select a more elite panel of actual experts. Instead, Miller Park has a local baseball Hall of Fame that is an open insult to some of the greatest on- and off-field contributors to the sport in local history. Pete Vuckovich won pitching's greatest honor, the Cy Young Award, and his right arm and strong will almost propelled the Brewers to what would have been their only World Series win but Vuke isn't in the Walk of Fame. Huh? Let's start with this: Anybody named most valuable player or best pitcher in the entire sport for a season belongs in a local team's Hall of Fame. Also absent is "Iron Mike" Caldwell, who won 22 games in a single season with an astonish- ing 23 complete games. Caldwell won 104 games in his Brewers career and his tenac- ity and competitiveness typified the blue- collars Brewers of the '80s. But I guess the "Sparkys" and "Big Units" of the world who blab on unlistened-to sports talk shows don't know about him. Here are the people who have made it: Hank Aaron, Rollie Fingers, Paul Molitor, Robin Yount, Cecil Cooper, Bud Selig, Harry Dalton, Bob Uecker, Jim Gantner, Gorman Thomas, Harvey Kuenn, Don Money, Eddie Mathews, Warren Spahn, John Quinn, Lew Burdette, Johnny Logan, Teddy Higuera and Joe Adcock. All are deserving but the list in and of itself is bizarre and filled with contradictions that short players from the two greatest (only) eras of Milwaukee base- ball history: the '50s and early '80s. Harvey Kuenn is in but Fred Haney is not? Harvey took the Brewers to one World Series but Haney led the Braves to two and managed the only world champion this city has ever had in baseball. Yet almost nobody on this "panel," other than me, votes for him. Money and Thomas make it but no baseball expert could plausibly claim they were more important to the early '80s Brewers success than Vuckovich and Caldwell. Del Crandall was the catcher in the '50s glory era, managed the Brewers in the '70s and even came back to do a couple of years of TV broadcasts but he's not in. The absence of Earl Gillespie, arguably the greatest sportscaster in Wisconsin history and the sole link to the Braves for hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites, is shameful. This past year only two people came close to the 20 vote threshold, Crandall and Geoff Jenkins. That vote reveals the problem. Jenkins was a decent enough player from baseball's steroid era but his career pales in comparison to Milwaukee baseball stal- warts like Joe Torre, Bob Buhl, Vuckovich, Caldwell and several others. But when many of the voters are in their 20s and 30s and either too ill-informed or lazy to know the actual history of the sport in this city, their votes will be biased to the recent past. I disclose my vote every year and have challenged the Brewers to publicize the names of the other voters and their selec- tions so they can be held publicly account- able. For the record, here were my votes this year: Vuckovich, Caldwell, Gillespie, Perini, Haney, Crandall and Jerry Augustine. (Augie? OK, it's a personal indulgence. He's a friend of mine, my insurance agent and a fellow UW-La Crosse alum. But he's also been affiliated with this franchise for 40 years (!) and will do any- thing for the Brewers.) Some of these voters act as though we're choosing people for the big baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. But this is a hall for one team and the standards should reflect that. The Packers do it right — their Hall of Fame is expansive and doesn't neglect the historical figures who helped build the franchise. I have suggested to Tyler Barnes, the Brewers exec who oversees this, that he dump the current process and select a com- mittee of people who know local baseball history to make the selections. Alas, these appeals fall on deaf ears. Those two eras — the '50s and the early '80s — were magical in this area. The Braves were the first team ever to draw 2 million fans in a season and were within a couple of games of going to World Series four yeas in a row. Milwaukee loved them. The Bambi's Bombers and Harvey's Wallbangers teams of the late '70s and early '80s likewise personified their city. But both eras are shortchanged in the Braves/Brewers Walk of Fame. If you're not going to honor all of Milwaukee's baseball greats, why have it at all? (Mark Belling is the host of a daily WISN radio talk show. His column appears weekly in the Milwaukee Post. Send your personal correspondences to Mark Belling at Clear Channel Communications, c/o WISN, 12100 W. Howard Ave., Greenfield, WI 53228). MARK BELLING STANDING UP for MILWAUKEE Where have you gone, Pete Vuckovich? Last week's question What do you think of President Donald Trump's claim Trump Towers was bugged? What should be done? So far it looks just like a bogus claim to cause a smoke screen over the Russia investigation. There is no proof yet. If he is lying, if it turns out he is, may he be at least censured by the full House and full Senate. — Mike Bourdo Milwaukee *** I think the wiretapping accusation is yet another of President Donald Trump's tall tales. While Congress is demanding evidence for the accusation, Trump is providing evidence of another kind — evidence that he is unfit to serve as president of the United States. How can foreign leaders take him at his word? How can we? — Sandy Sue Szanderek Bay View This week's question What do you think of the alternative to Obamacare? Are you better or worse off under the latest plan? Or, the calendar says it's spring, but what says it's actu- ally spring to you? (Answer only one.) Editor's note: When responding to the Question of the Week, please include your full name with spelling, phone number and city where you live. Phone numbers will not be published. Anonymous responses are no longer accepted by the publication. Call 744- 6370, Ext. 15 and leave a brief answer. Readers may also send an email with a brief answer to: dmuck@conleynet.com. Question of the week Send your letters to: The Milwaukee Post, c/o Dan Muckelbauer, 3397 S. Howell Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53207, or by email to: dmuck@conleynet.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for style, length and clarity. Letters should be typewritten or printed and include full name, phone number and address. Please keep your letters to no more than 400 words. Letters policy Local baseball 'Hall of Fame' shortchanges our greats

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