Look closely at this photo:
That’s an official Hall of Fame photo taken about 2:30 Saturday afternoon at Doubleday Stadium in Cooperstown, NY. Note the clouds, provided by a gracious God to keep the temperature down a little so we were only sweltering, not dying. Note the 8 people sitting with their backs to you. They are, left to right, Rick Rizzs, Mike Cameron, Alvin Davis, Rick Griffin (former Mariners trainer), Jay Buhner, Dan Wilson, Jamie Moyer, Ken Griffey, and the Mariners’ stadium PA announcer. Note the pixelated rendering — otherwise you would find me sitting just in front of the man in the white shirt standing just in front of the tree Jay Buhner is facing. Ryan is there, too, but all you could see would be his hat, just to my right.
Here’s another photo from the same event, taken about the same time:
Note the down-to-earth perspective here, with someone’s balding head like a small planet in the foreground. This was taken during a 45-minute conversation among Mariners’ greats about Edgar Martinez, featuring Cameron, searching for a way to describe his connection to Edgar, stepping in it when he described his own contribution to the team as providing “stability” (like Edgar?). Griffey immediately began razzing Cameron for implying the rest of the people on the panel were unstable.
Now examine the next photo, taken Sunday afternoon. This is taken from the front of the crowd, the photographer apparently standing just in front of the stage. You can find us out just past the white speakers on the tall black post on the left side of the photo.
Didn’t spot us? You didn’t try hard enough. After all, the Hall of Fame described this as “a crowd of about 50,000 people” which only “tied for the second largest in Induction history.”
A crowd of “about 50,000” which is exactly tied for second largest in history. Now those are Hall of Fame statistics at their finest! Which I can say with confidence are exactly tied with EFL statistics for reliability and accuracy.
Our seating arrangement wasn’t as bad as it looks. The people whose faces you CAN see are sitting in expensive and/or exclusive white folding chairs. None of them got there at 9:30 for the 1:30 start. We were sitting in reserved lawn chairs only four rows outside the fence protecting the 2500 elites from the hoi polloi. Some people near us estimated we were only an 8 iron away from the stands. Those people in under the canopies at the back were a fairway wood away, at least. We had 80th percentile seats.
We were comfortable there all morning, in the almost miraculously mildly hot and humid day — way better than the dire forecasts. When the ceremony got under way at 1:30, we could see the stage, and could usually tell who was talking. Plus there was a large video screen which gave us perfect visibility — I suspect the same you had if you watched at home on TV.
The ceremony itself was great. Mike Mussina started, followed by Roy Halladay’s widow. Harold Baines went third, with Edgar batting cleanup. Mariano Rivera complained about always having to go last, but if you were managing this roster, you’d have used Lee Smith as the set-up man, too, and Rivera as the closer.
The crowd where we were, out just beyond the fence protecting the privileged, seemed to be about 50% Yankee fans, 40% Mariners fans, with Oriole, Cardinals, White Sox and others fandoms sprinkled in there, too. However, when it came to noise and intensity, the M’s fans stood out. Brian Kenney, MC for the ceremony, praised the Mariners fans for coming out from such a distance in such numbers and being so enthusiastic in our support. This comforted me, a lifelong rooter anti-Yankee. On the other hand, if I had to go to a ceremony honoring a Yankee, it would be for Mariano, overt about his Christian faith, and unanimously described as a man of integrity. (And, by Sam Miller, as two Hall-of-Famers in one.) Bernie Williams was there, too, another Yankee I respect, playing his electric guitar for the national anthem and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
I think the most satisfying part, emotionally, was Edgar’s — having waited so long, only getting in on his last chance at being elected by the writers. However, I am an Edgar fan, listing him as #1 among my all-time favorites. I did have him on my team both in the EFL and the old league. But having Roy Halladay’s family there in his stead was also very moving, and Brandy Halladay’s speech was excellent under the circumstances.
It’s time for me to get out of bed in this motel in Milford, PA, so we can get on with our day. My account is inadequate: we had a great weekend, Ryan, Ben and I, with life memories for all of us. How do I know? For one thing, none of us remembered to check how our teams were doing, not even once, all day long.