Back in January 2020, Larry Walker found out he was going to enshrined in Cooperstown at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
And while it was an incredible achievement given that it was his final year of eligibility and the career .313 hitter had finally made it, all anyone could talk about was … the shirt he was wearing when he got the call.
It was a SpongeBob SquarePants shirt. And not just any SpongeBob shirt — it read, “Ain’t no ordinary sponge.” Seriously, it was glorious.
Fast-forward to the enshrinement ceremony on Wednesday, and guess what he wore on his lapel? A SpongeBob pin!
The long wait is finally over for one of the greatest players to play the game, Derek Jeter will be inducted into the Hall of Fame today.
The long wait is finally over for one of the greatest players to play the game, Number two, Derek Jeter will be inducted into the Hall of Fame today.
There will be a few other players inducted as well and will also include Colorado Rockies star, Larry Walker. This event was postponed last year and we’ll finally get them both in Cooperstown, New York on Wednesday.
Jeter and Walker will be joined in the Class of 2020 by former St. Louis Cardinals catcher/first baseman Ted Simmons and the late former labor leader Marvin Miller.
The ceremony will also include a special video presentation honoring the Hall of Famers we’ve lost since the 2019 induction.
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Things in the real world right now are, in a word, crazy.
I get paid to write about sports and the fun we have watching them or the fun we have debating them or the fun we having laughing at them.
So let’s take a step away from the seriousness of the outside world for a little bit and look at an awesome sports story that was announced on Tuesday at a time when a lot of other big sports news – postponements, fans not being allowed at games, etc – was breaking.
Yup, the 53-year-old former outfielder who played in over 1,100 game for the Colorado Rockies, could play in an actual NHL game, though the odds of that happening are pretty slim.
Walker grew up playing hockey in Canada before hanging up his skates for baseball, which turned out to be a really good career decision.
He’ll be honored before Sunday’s Avalanche game as the team’s “honorary” emergency goalie and then sit and watch from the stands as the team takes on the Vegas Golden Knights.
Now, I’m not rooting for injuries, but let’s say the game gets out of hand in either direction – wouldn’t it be fun if two of Colorado’s goalies suddenly came down with something and couldn’t go on? Then in came Walker, who was always tough as nails in his baseball days, to finish things off?
We need more fun right now.
Something like that could definitely do the trick.
The 12 best fantasy baseball team names (that we could print) for 2020.
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
The 2020 MLB season is going to start soon, which means fantasy baseball is going to start soon, too. Charles Curtis, our fantasy expert, is back with his annual list of fun names people have given their teams this year. Yes, there are a lot of Astros references.
Quick hits: McIlroy’s funny goof… Barkley fires back at Draymond… Klopp goes off on reporter… And more!
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It continues to be hard to take the Baseball Hall of Fame seriously.
This is the online version of our morning newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning.
The Baseball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020 was announced on Tuesday (Derek Jeter and Larry Walker) and once again two of the best players to ever play the game did not get their names called.
Which is pathetic.
Yup, another year of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens not getting into the Hall makes it another year for us not to take that silly museum in Cooperstown all that seriously. Because come on, how are you not going to have Bonds and Clemens in there?
I know what you’re thinking – they cheated and allegedly took PEDs. Well boo-freaking-hoo. These two legends shined during a period of time in baseball when a lot of guys were juiced to the gills. Oh, and Bonds and Clemens also outperformed most of those juiced up players.
They also shined well before the steroid era, too, which only makes their cases even that more worthy.
Some baseball writers who get a HOF vote really need to get over themselves and do the right thing before it’s too late – both Bonds and Clemens have been eligible for the last eight years and have just two years of eligibility remaining. I don’t know how anyone could take that place seriously if these two guys don’t make it over the next two years.
Bonds is the all-time home run leader, has the most home runs in a season, is a 7-time NL MVP (including three that he won in the early 90s when he was a skinny little fella), is the all-time leader in walks, won eight Gold Gloves, and is a 12-time Silver Slugger award winner.
He’s the greatest baseball player of all time. And he’s not in the silly Hall of Fame.
How ridiculous.
Clemens is one of the greatest pitchers to ever play the game, as he racked up 354 wins in 24 seasons. He won over 20 games six different years. He led the league in strikeouts five times. He won seven Cy Youngs and did the double dip in 1986 when we won the AL Cy Young and the AL MVP awards, which is something that pitchers rarely pull off.
How he isn’t in the Hall of Fame is beyond me, too.
So congrats to Derek Jeter and Larry Walker for making it this year, but shame on those who don’t have the courage to do the right thing and actually make this Hall of Fame what it should be – a celebration of the best to ever do it.
Hopefully, things change soon.
Tuesday’s big winner: Las Vegas.
AP Photo/Laura Rauch
It was announced on Tuesday that this year’s NFL Draft will be held in Vegas and the league will – as you often do while in Vegas – go big. The red carpet event before the draft is going be in the fountains of the Bellagio with boats bringing players across. Boats! The main draft stage will be at Caesars Palace. It’s going to be nuts.
 Quick hits: NFL trying something new… Hurts’ perfect helmet… Tebow wedding photos… And more!
Derek Jeter, to the surprise of no one, was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
There was one somewhat surprising thing about the announcement however – he wasn’t a unanimous selection as Jeter got 396 of the 397 votes.
He will be joined by Larry Walker, who was inducted in to the HOF in the final of year that he will be on the ballot, which is cool.
The fact that guys like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens still aren’t in the HOF, however, makes this whole thing feel a really silly. But hey, two new former stars will be enshrined in Cooperstown on July 26.
MLB fans – including Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes – really want to find out who the one person was who didn’t vote for Jeter:
Itâs insane to me that every single person voted âyesâ for Derek Jeter to be in the Hall of Fame except for ONE PERSON.
Their vote shouldnât count and they should be ashamed of themselves. How do you vote that DEREK JETER shouldnât be in the Hall of Fame?Deserved to be unanimous
If Jeter had been unanimous they would have lasered his face onto the surface of the moon in his honor, but he wasnât, so now every baseball writer has to tweet that itâs no big deal he was a vote short.
