|
Hall of Fame Class 16 – Goose Goslin and Mike
Mussina Latest to Enter the Hall |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Goose Goslin
at the Induction Ceremony; And the Swing That Got Him There
Mike Mussina uses the arm that got him
to the Hall of Fame to acknowledged the Long Island fans that turned-out for
his induction.
Mike Mussina |
Voting for the TCBA
Players’ Hall of Fame Class 16 concluded this week, on New Year’s
Eve, with voters selecting two out of a large class of worthy candidates. When
Goose Goslin made his debut in TCBA 1922 with South
Starrucca, little did the 20-year old outfielder realize that he would spend
the next 17 years of his life in the heart of the Ainspan batting order.
Before his career ended (with a final season in Long Island), Goslin’s accumulated offensive totals ranked him among
the all-time greatest TCBA players. Appearing
in 2370 games (all but 135 with South Starrucca), Goose collected 2967 hits
(#13 all-time, 10 behind Frank Robinson), and 1815 runs (#11 all-time, and
just 6 behind Derek Jeter). Not known as a power-hitter by modern standards, Goslin made up for the lack of homeruns (275) with
doubles (535), triples (156), and a legendary knack for timely hitting,
producing the third highest RBI total in the history of our game. He led the
league in RBI three times, and his 2045 career total trails only Barry Bonds
(2079) and Hank Aaron (2118). Born
in Salem, NJ in TCBA 1901, Goslin came under the
watchful eye of Stick Fiehl while Goose was still playing for Salem High
School. He was signed and moved to the Metro Division squad quickly, a move
that proved prescient. After joining the Ainspan roster, Goslin’s
productive bat helped lead Stick Fiehl’s squad to
five Hackbart Division crowns and two league
championships (1932 and 1938). Voters
recognized Goslin’s remarkable offensive
contributions, including him on 93% of the ballots. On
the pitching side, voters continued their general rejection of pitchers as a
worthy group, but a sufficient number found Mike Mussina to their liking as a
Hall of Fame member. Similar
to Goslin, Mussina spent his entire career with one
team, 548 games with the Long Islanders over 17 seasons. Given an option to
play one more season with a different team, Mussina chose to retire rather
than don a different cap. In
his TCBA career, Mussina was simply recognized as a winner, amassing 246
career wins and tying him with Tommy John for 18th overall. His
2848 career strike outs, #17 all-time and 48 more than legendary Bob Gibson,
had a lot to do with that win total. Mussina
was a classic workhorse, only twice in his 17-year career starting fewer than
27 games. He was also a winner. During his 17 seasons, Mussina led the
Islanders to 10 post-season appearances, including 3 Metro Division crowns
and 2 league championships. While
Mussina’s vote total of 77.3% represents a general reluctance on the past of
voters to select pitchers for the Hall of Fame, his total was enough to grant
him entry into the TCBA pantheon. Voters rejected several candidates who will
get another shot on an upcoming ballot. Those most notable rejects include
Pie Traynor, Duke Snider, Frankie Frisch and Mickey Cochrane, along with
pitcher Billy Pierce. In
all, only 90.2% of the eligible ballots were cast, with 18 players receiving
at least one vote. Of the 40 players appearing on the ballot, 28 were
eliminated from Hall of Fame consideration due to lack of voter support. Class 17 balloting will occur in January of
2017, when the 10 Class 16 eligible also-rans can be reconsidered. Class 17
will feature players who retired following the 2010 and 1964 seasons. The
vote totals for Class 16 are listed below: CLASS 16 Voting Totals:
Source:
TCBA Encyclopedia |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
