OT: Baseball HOF Ceremony Shown Live on MLB Network Now
The headliner being Kalamazoo's Derek Jeter, but there's lots and lots of nuggets for all baseball fans to enjoy. I believe new inductee Ted Simmons also has some connections to the state of Michigan.
The live broadcast runs until 5 pm and post-induction commentary likely the rest of the evening.
September 8th, 2021 at 2:23 PM ^
Fun fact: I helped Derek with his Spanish project which involved filming a short movie in Couzens Hall. I played the robber.
September 8th, 2021 at 2:54 PM ^
That was a very nice and not overly long induction speech by Ted Simmons. He touched them all like the classy ballplayer he always has been.
But not at all to diminish anything about Simmons (who, IMO, is truly deserving of the HOF), but once again I ask, why hasn't Bill Freehan already been given the same honor?
September 8th, 2021 at 3:40 PM ^
An excellent article here includes details about the Freehan/Simmons relationship and Ted's strongly held view that Bill belongs in the HOF:
“For people who have waited for this and it’s never happened — take, for example Bill Freehan — it must have been very, very hard for him prior to his illness,” said Simmons “This guy had five or six Gold Gloves, he hit 200 home runs, he was second in the MVP, a world championship, 11 All-Star teams ... that makes it hard to wait.
September 8th, 2021 at 3:36 PM ^
Because I didn't remember the exact connection Ted Simmons had with the state of Michigan, I finally located this link that explains it all:
https://michigansportshof.org/inductee/ted-simmons/
...as you can see, it's a link to the website of the Michigan Sports HOF, which inducted Simmons in 2012.
Simmons is a native of Highland Park Mi and graduated from Southfield High School in 1967, was drafted by the Cardinals out of high school and was a U of M student for a short while. He went on to a long career with the Cards, Rockies and Braves following that up by being the Rockies GM in the later part of his baseball life.
September 9th, 2021 at 10:35 AM ^
Ted is actually a U of M graduate -- Sports Management BA, class of 1996. He went back to school, in-person, and completed his degree while he was an MLB scout.
Just an impressive individual, all-around.
https://www.kines.umich.edu/news-events/student-profiles/ted-simmons