No Minoso

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Feb 28, 2006 7:49PM

The Baseball Hall of Fame added 17 new members following votes by a 12-member committee of baseball historians and Negro Leagues experts. Among the list of 39 finalists who did not get enough votes for entry into the Hall was former White Sox star Minnie Minoso.

Born in Cuba, Minoso came the the U.S. in 1946 and played first for the New York Cubans in the Negro Leagues. He made his major league debut with the Cleveland Indians in 1949 and became the Sox first black player when he joined the team following a '51 trade. In addition to time with a couple other teams, Minoso played for the Sox from '51-57, '61-62, and '64. He put up numbers that certainly merit consideration for entry into the Hall of Fame over his career -- at least during his real career.

See, the White Sox also activiated Minoso in 1976 and again in 1980. In his '76 stint, he batted 8 times while playing in 3 games. In 1980, he batted twice in two games. These publicity ploys allow him to claim to be the only player who's played in 5 decades. But did that "feat" hurt his chances of entry into the Hall of Fame? Chicagoist feels it probably did. It's a little harder for a player to be taken seriously for the ultimate honor in his sport when he's become best known for participating in a rediculous Bill Veeck publicity stunt. Those 11 at-bats seem to have overshadowed his exceptional career.