Though literature has illustrated the beauty, elegance and difficulty of baseball more often and more successfully than it has with any other sport, baseball figures themselves are not known for their words.
Yet, the 2007 Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony brought heartfelt appreciation, humorous and touching stories, a love of family and fans, and eloquence that reminds us how orators once commanded such crowds without the power of microphones.
As many as 70,000 filled the field back to the trees and over to the other side of the road. Most were orange -- Oriole orange, but San Diego brought a strong contingent for its greatest athlete, most wearing the brown hats and unis of the 80s-era club. Even Kansas City and St. Louis were represented in hats and jerseys for the Royals' broadcaster and Cardinals' writer (the game's most underrated player, 86-year-old Stan Musial, was not there, however, he, Hank Aaron, Carl Yastremski and Nolan Ryan being the most noticeable absences).
There were clouds on the horizon -- all 360 degrees of it -- and a few were gray, but none threatened and it was rare for one to be directly overhead.
So after much worry and advance planning, rain threatened the ceremony, but it could not deliver. Clear skies, relatively mild weather and tens of thousands of fans greeted Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn.
What the rain did do, however, was move Ripken and Gwynn to the beginning of the ceremony, switching with the Ford and Spink winners, who are usually put first because fans don't know or care about reporters and broadcasters. While, sadly, any group of American fans would have ditched the event after the big names, many thousands streamed out after Ripken, and they mostly were O's fans. It was disrespect to Denny Matthews and Rick Hummel, who have done much for the game and were far from boring. The disturbing thing, however, is that many of those fans may have left during Gwynn's speech should he had gone after Ripken.
As it was, Gwynn was the best performer of the afternoon. Ripken gave a polished speech, but did so in a tone that made it clear he was reading verbatim from a prepared text. Gwynn also had notes, but his was a conversational, jovial tone that felt more like a one-on-one talk rather than a luncheon keynote speaker. He detailed the life-changing moments of his professional and personal life -- watching videotape, for the former, and meeting his wife, for the latter.
Ripken was excellent, too, and his breaking down at the mention of his wife and children was extremely touching for someone who admittedly was a fanatic for baseball -- the type you might think would sacrifice family for the game.
Both men are students of the game, appreciative of those who came before them and wanting to learn about and from them. Both work to pass on what they know to those who play now. It is men such as them who preserve and extend what the national pastime is all about.
The crowds left having gotten quite a day, and lots of memories to ponder as they endured long waits to get to their cars and just-as-long waits to get those cars moving beyond a crawl. And a little village in upstate New York waits another year before it is again the center of sport.
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