12-08-2008, 06:37 PM
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->"You know what, I thought it was going to be harder to deal with, but it wasn’t," Santo said by phone from his Scottsdale, Ariz. home. "I’m just kind of fed up with it. I figure, hey, it’s not in the cards. But I don’t want to go through this every two years. It’s ridiculous."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->"Everybody felt this was my year," he said. "I felt it. I thought it was gonna happen, and when it didn’t… What really upset me was nobody got in again. It just doesn’t make sense. It’ll be eight years now that they’ve voted and not let anybody in. And personally, I feel like there’s a lot of guys that should’ve been in, not just me."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Santo would like to see a change in the system, with a vote taken every year instead of every other year, and perhaps a smaller voting committee. If they continue to have elections and no one is getting in, what purpose does the Veterans Committee have?
"They have to change it," he said. "They’re going to still have a veterans committee, but I think it should go back to where it was (in the ‘90s) when Bill Mazeroski got in. I think they should have a committee of maybe 12 guys that vote, that’s the way to do it. Evaluate everyone, but instead of having all the (Hall of Fame) players vote, maybe just a couple players, a couple broadcasters, a couple writers… a much smaller group. That’s how (Joe) Gordon got in."
Gordon, the former second baseman from the New York Yankees, was voted in by a Veterans Committee group considering players from the pre-1943 era. Only 12 people are on that committee, and Gordon received 10 votes of the 12 votes. While Santo was once again first on the list of players on the other list, he was still nine votes shy of election.
"That’s wrong," Hendry said. "The National Football League puts in five or six guys a year. I’ve never heard anyone squabble about 'Oh, that guy doesn’t belong.' They honor the past.
"Like Greg (Maddux) said, eras change. People are bigger, faster, stronger, and the people in the NFL that have been inducted, there’s an honoring of the generation they played in… It’s a sad day for the game. As great a day as it is for Greg today, I’m equally sad for Ronnie."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->"Everybody felt this was my year," he said. "I felt it. I thought it was gonna happen, and when it didn’t… What really upset me was nobody got in again. It just doesn’t make sense. It’ll be eight years now that they’ve voted and not let anybody in. And personally, I feel like there’s a lot of guys that should’ve been in, not just me."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Santo would like to see a change in the system, with a vote taken every year instead of every other year, and perhaps a smaller voting committee. If they continue to have elections and no one is getting in, what purpose does the Veterans Committee have?
"They have to change it," he said. "They’re going to still have a veterans committee, but I think it should go back to where it was (in the ‘90s) when Bill Mazeroski got in. I think they should have a committee of maybe 12 guys that vote, that’s the way to do it. Evaluate everyone, but instead of having all the (Hall of Fame) players vote, maybe just a couple players, a couple broadcasters, a couple writers… a much smaller group. That’s how (Joe) Gordon got in."
Gordon, the former second baseman from the New York Yankees, was voted in by a Veterans Committee group considering players from the pre-1943 era. Only 12 people are on that committee, and Gordon received 10 votes of the 12 votes. While Santo was once again first on the list of players on the other list, he was still nine votes shy of election.
"That’s wrong," Hendry said. "The National Football League puts in five or six guys a year. I’ve never heard anyone squabble about 'Oh, that guy doesn’t belong.' They honor the past.
"Like Greg (Maddux) said, eras change. People are bigger, faster, stronger, and the people in the NFL that have been inducted, there’s an honoring of the generation they played in… It’s a sad day for the game. As great a day as it is for Greg today, I’m equally sad for Ronnie."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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