The Hall of Very Good™ is proud to, once again, open its proverbial doors to three new members…longtime member of the Minnesota Twins Jim Kaat, former all-time saves leader Lee Smith and this year’s celebrity inductee, former minor league outfielder (and recent WWE Hall of Fame inductee) “Macho Man” Randy Savage.
Jim Kaat played 25 years in the Majors for six teams, including 15 for the Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins. Along the way, he would collect 283 wins and 16-straight Gold Gloves. In 1962, Kaat would collect 18 wins for the Twins. It would be the first in a stretch of 15 straight seasons where the pitcher would win ten or more games.
Following his quarter-century as a player, Kaat would go on to success as a broadcaster for both the Twins and New York Yankees. From 1997-2005, he would win seven Emmy Awards for excellence in sports broadcasting. Currently, he is sharing the broadcast booth with Bob Costas for MLB Network.
“Choose to ignore Jim Kaat’s 283 career victories and 16 consecutive Gold Gloves if you must. Go ahead and disregard his 25-year run that saw him pitch in parts of four decades and log more than 4,500 career innings. However, there’s no denying Kaat’s excellence,” Mike Berardino from the St. Paul Pioneer Press said. “According to rWAR, he was worth between three and eight wins during eight different seasons. His ERA+ was at least 12 percent better than league average on eight occasions, including six seasons that were at least 26 percent above the norm. Hall of Very Good? Kaat certainly belongs.”
Long before Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman were at the top of the all-time saves list, Lee Smith was, for more than 13 seasons, the leader of the pack. During his career, Smith played for eight different teams and saved an amazing 478 baseball games.
It’s been nearly 30 years since the three-time Rolaids Relief Man of the Year suited up for the Chicago Cubs, but the fan favorite is still the all-time saves leader for the “Loveable Losers”.
Joining Kaat and Smith is this year’s celebrity inductee…“Macho Man” Randy Savage.
Long before Savage was the “Macho Man”, Randy Poffo was an aspiring young baseball player. From 1971 to 1974, Randy spent time with farm clubs for the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox.
In 1973, Savage followed in the footsteps of his father Angelo Poffo and embarked on a career in pro wrestling that would make him a household name by the mid-1980s.
“When he was playing baseball, he never spoke of wrestling. After his baseball career imploded, he became a Wrestler and never spoke of baseball,” Lanny Poffo said of his famous brother. “He focused on what he was doing with no other distractions except to be the very best!”
Jim Kaat, Lee Smith and “Macho Man” Randy Savage join former inductees Tommy John (2012), Dale Murphy (2013), Steve Blass (2013), Luis Tiant (2014), Tony Oliva 2014) and The San Diego Chicken (2014).
“The Hall of Very Good has a solid class for 2015,” said Out of the Park Baseball creator Markus Heinsohn. “Jim Kaat had a solid career during which he won an amazing 25 games in 1966, and you couldn’t go wrong with Lee Smith stepping out of the bullpen to close out games for you, with 478 saves during his time in the big leagues. Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage offers a glimpse at what could have been, had his baseball career held more promise.”
Thursday, The Hall of Very Good™ will be announcing the annual Glenn Burke Memorial Courage Award.
From 1976-1979, Burke played parts of four seasons in the Majors, splitting time between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland A’s. But as impressive as his combination of power and speed was, it was his courage off the field that made headlines. In 1982, the former outfielder came out as homosexual, thus ending any real chance he had at possibility making any sort of comeback.
Burke was found to have AIDS in 1994. Less than a year later, he was dead.
“As Glenn’s biographer and friend, I believe the honor of a Courage Award being bestowed in his name is most appropriate,” author Erik Sherman said. “Glenn was truly the first athlete in the four professional sports to be openly gay and he ended up paying the ultimate price because of it—his baseball career. He died like he played the game—with dignity and grace.”
The Glenn Burke Memorial Courage Award will be awarded to a person who has made a significant impact on the game of baseball or has overcome adversity to succeed on the field. In 2014, it was given to minor league infielder Tanner Vavra.
The Hall of Very Good™ Class of 2015 is also presented by Out of the Park Developments, the creators of the wildly popular baseball simulation game Out of the Park Baseball. Out of the Park Developments has made a generous donation to The Hall.
ABOUT THE LOGO: The Hall of Very Good™ Induction logo is courtesy of Todd Radom, the creative mind behind some of the sports world’s more iconic logos. Radom has created logos for the Los Angeles Angels, Washington Nationals, Milwaukee Brewers and the World Baseball Classic.
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