Soon, during the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings, 16 voters will get together to see who will become the latest inductees into the Hall of Fame and the first by The Eras Committee.
Formerly known as the Veterans Committee, The Eras Committee is broken up into four categories…Today’s Game, Modern Baseball, Golden Days and Early Baseball. Each ballot will consist of managers, umpires, executives and long-retired players. They will be voted on on a rotating basis.
Curiously absent from any of the Hall of Fame ballots in the past (and undoubtedly in the future) is a key component to any sporting event…including baseball.
The mascot.
For more than a century, baseball has had its fair share of court jesters. Sadly, you won’t find any of them in Cooperstown.
“Max Patkin and Al Schacht absolutely belong,” David Raymond said on The Hall of Very Good Podcast. “They were brilliant people, incredibly talented…the first to ever do a performance in the midst of a game that was in play.”
For 15 years, Raymond was the Phillie Phanatic. Since hanging up the green fur in 1993, Raymond and his company, Raymond Entertainment, have developed some of the sportsworld’s most memorable and endearing characters.
“I would say the same thing about Ted (the San Diego Chicken) Giannoulas,” Raymond continued. “He was the one that really created the genre of a mascot that would entertain the people more than the actual baseball game.”
In October, Raymond broke ground on The National Mascot Hall of Fame in Whiting, Indiana with hopes of opening its doors in early 2018. So, until the Hall of Fame wises up…baseball’s furry friends can seek refuge (and deserved acclaim) there.
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