If Las Vegas needs a new tourist attraction – and what city doesn’t these days? – here’s a winning idea. Construct an MLB Rogues Gallery Hall of Fame. As the results of Tuesday’s actual Baseball Hall of Fame election demonstrate, there are an abundance of worthy “honorees” — if that’s not too strong a word – for such a museum.
Beyond that, Vegas – also known as Sin City – is the perfect locality.
Membership in a Rogues Gallery Hall of Fame should be restricted to candidates who are not in the actual Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. One way or the other, boys; you can’t have both. Beyond that, only two rules for selection apply.
The first is that the nominee’s career has to have been good enough to, under normal circumstances, merit selection to Cooperstown.
The second is the character clause. The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown has one. The Rogues Gallery Hall of Fame should have a “lack of character” clause. Selectees must have done something bad enough to, in the minds of voters, get them barred from the game’s actual shrine.
That doesn’t restrict the field as much as it sounds. Throughout its history, baseball has been periodically tarnished by the actions of some of its biggest stars.
Take the 1877 Louisville Grays team … please. In mid-August, the Grays led the National League by four games, having won 27 of their first 40 contests.
Then four key members of the Grays – shortstop Bill Craver, outfielder George Hall, pitcher Jim Devlin and infielder Al Nichols – got the bright idea that they could make money on the side by conspiring with gamblers to throw games.
The Grays promptly went on a three-week long winless streak, fell 5½ games off the lead and never recovered. When the plot was discovered, all four were permanently suspended.
The reputation of Devlin took a special hit since he had won 65 games in the NL’s first two seasons. Whether he or any of the others might eventually have built a Cooperstown-worthy resume is speculative.
But the scandal — accompanied by their permanent disbarment — certainly qualified them for some sort of Rogues Gallery.
At least a dozen other players whose stats are Hall-worthy have been barred by their on-field or off-field deeds. Here’s a look at the most likely selectees for a Rogues Gallery Hall of Fame.