Seeking an Uneasy Peace

A few nights ago, I had a dream that I was hearing a song I'd never heard before. Sam Cooke, maybe the smoothest singer of the 20th Century, and a charter inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was singing it. The backing track was definitely in his style. It was like finding buried treasure.

But there's no way this song would have been released as a record, because it was racially motivated. Sam sung of visiting Chinatown, on Addison Road. He dragged out the A on "Addison," not like a New York or Newark accent, but beautifully.

There is no Addison Road in Sam's hometown of Chicago, but there is an Addison Street, on the North Side, and Wrigley Field, home of baseball's Chicago Cubs, is at its intersection with Clark Street. There is a song titled "Allison Road," but that was a hit for The Gin Blossoms, in 1994, 30 years after Sam's life came to a tragic and suspicious end at a "no-tell motel" in Los Angeles.

And Chicago does have a Chinatown, but it's on the South Side. Sam grew up, at 724 E. 36th Street, in a neighborhood known as Bronzeville for having so many black people living there. (A housing project is now on the site, facing Ellis Park.) Chicago's Chinatown is about a mile to the northwest, usually said to be bounded by 18th Street, Clark Street, Cermak Road (formerly 20th Street) and the South Branch of the Chicago River.

In the song, Sam spoke of his "brothers," which I took to mean a group of black men, meeting with the men of Chinatown, and teaming up in an "uneasy peace." I took "Uneasy Peace" to be the title of the song.

To my dismay, I woke up after hearing only the 1st verse. Would such an alliance have worked? Would they have moved on to a team-up with Latinos, of which Chicago already had many? There was a rise in Native American activism by the end of the 1960s, and even in 1965, Johnny Cash had an album of songs about "Indians," called Bitter Tears, so maybe they could have been added to the "uneasy peace."

I wanted to hear what happened next. Now, I never will. But I know this: If the song were real, Sam couldn't have released it. If the musical South Pacific (on stage in 1949 and in film in 1958) had to use Polynesian people as a stand-in for black people, and the musical West Side Story (on stage in 1957 and in film in 1961) had to use Puerto Ricans as an analogue for blacks, and the people backing those stories needed to use allegories to get their point of "bigotry is bad" across, there's no way the white establishment would have let Sam use a song about African-Americans and Asian-Americans teaming up, for a fight with a white gang, or simply to stand up for their rights to the white establishment.

Given that he was killed 5 months after the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a little over a year after the March On Washington and the Birmingham Church Bombing, a year and a half after the assassination of Medgar Evers, 3 months before Bloody Sunday in Selma, and 8 months before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed and the Watts riot broke out not far from where he was killed, there's no way even someone with Sam's clout would have gotten away with it.

No way. Radio networks would have told their disc jockey not to play it. Sponsors of those networks would have stepped in to tell them, "Don't play it," even before the networks could tell their DJs. The people who bankrolled newspapers wouldn't have allowed print ads for the record.

Forget TV. Sam was signed to RCA Victor Records, which gave him a good deal of leeway, but not that much, and RCA also owned NBC, so Sam wasn't going to be singing that song on The Tonight Show or in a "spectacular." (By the end of the 1960s, they were being called "specials.") Ed Sullivan liked Sam, gave him his national TV debut in 1957, and had no problem with putting black people "here, on this great stage" on his "really big shew," from the beginning to the end; but CBS chairman Bill Paley and his lawyers would have put the kibosh on having Sam sing such a song. Even Sam's unintentional farewell song, the powerful but hardly offensive "A Change Is Gonna Come," might not have been allowed on the air.

Would the song have helped to widen the dialogue on race relations? Would it have helped Asians as well as blacks? Would it have helped to forge, if nothing else, an "uneasy peace" between both groups and white people? Or would it have angered white people to the point of making things worse?

I'd like to think the 2nd and 3rd verses of the song would have had a theme of, "Listen to us. Listen to your black, brown, yellow and red brothers and sisters. Your national creed says, 'All men are created equal.' That includes us. We're not asking for special treatment, just equal treatment. Give us the same chances you give each other."

It would have been a powerful message in 1965. It would be a powerful message in 2026, with Donald Trump sending men with Nazi-style tactics to round people up in Portland, Maine and Portland, Oregon -- and, apparently, to murder people in cold blood in Minneapolis.

When I heard Bruce Springsteen's rush-written, but superbly-written, new song "The Streets of Minneapolis" -- a very different song from his epic "The Streets of Philadelphia" -- and then an even angrier song on the subject by British singer Billy Bragg, I wrote this online:

Bruce Springsteen is 76. Billy Bragg is 68.

Beyoncé is 44. Bruno Mars is 40. Lady Gaga is 39. Kendrick Lamar is 38. Taylor Swift is 36. Morgan Wallen and Ariana Grande are 32. Megan Thee Stallion and Post Malone are 30. Sabrina Carpenter is 26.

What are they doing?

The implication being that these are performers in their prime, who reach more music fans than anybody else, and thus should be doing what these old men are doing, but aren't.

Less than 24 hours after I posted it, Lady Gaga released a cover of Mr. Rogers' theme song, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" A lot of people said it was just what we need at this time. It doesn't directly address the subject at hand, any more than did Elvis Presley's "If I Can Dream," which closed his 1968 "Comeback Special." But, like that song, it seems to send a message of hope and brotherhood. So Gaga is off the hook: She rose to the occasion.

The rest of them, they're "on the clock." Time for them to step up. Taylor talks a good game, but she really doesn't back it up well. Megan is great on personal empowerment, but she hasn't tried to do a rally-the-people song. Kendrick has, but "Not Like Us" isn't on the same level as what Bruce just did.

One of these people needs to step up, the way Bruce did, before other old men like Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon do so. Sam Cooke would be 95 if he had lived, so he'd almost certainly be out of the picture, anyway.

But we need the great performers of this time to stand up and make themselves heard on the great issues of the day, as has happened before. Bruce must be feeling like the old women at protests holding up signs referring to their previous activism.

At this point, an "uneasy peace" would be preferable to the "cold civil war" that Trump launched in 2015, and, from then until June 2020, and against from November 2024 until this week, seemed to be winning.

Now, the outcome is again in doubt. It's time for the great artists to launch "D-Day."

I don't know if there will be a "Hiroshima," but there must be a "Battleship Missouri Surrender."

Who's Overrated?

A few days ago, I saw a list somebody decided to make of the most overrated baseball players of the 1st quarter of the 21st Century. Derek Jeter was listed at Number 1.

Then again, it wasn't a totally outrageous list: David Ortiz, the big fat lying cheating bastard, was listed at Number 2. I don't know what would have happened to the Yankees had there been both effective testing for performance-enhancing drugs and an appropriate punishment for them in place by the year 2000. I do know that, with the players on the Red Sox during Ortiz's tenure, from 2003 to 2016, known to have used them, including him and Manny Ramirez; and those suspected of having done so, including Curt Schilling and Kevin Youkilis; they would have had trouble even making the Playoffs, let alone winning 3 World Series (and then, in 2018, thanks to cheating with Apple Watches, a 4th).

It has long been the case that the media machines in major cities -- especially New York, and to a lesser extent in Chicago and Los Angeles -- turn good athletes into great ones, and those already great into gods. That's why Jeter is "overrated": He's about 80 percent legend, 20 percent media creation. Sure, he was 20-year star who became the leader of a great team, but he wasn't a god. He has more career hits than any living human, and more World Series rings as a player than any player active today, but he's not on the "Yankee Mount Rushmore." Who's he going to displace? Babe Ruth? Lou Gehrig? Joe DiMaggio? Mickey Mantle?

The New York media machine is why Joe Namath, a good quarterback with a few great games, one of them one of the most famous games in football history, is treated as a god, when he probably wouldn't be in his sport's Hall of Fame if he had lost that game.

It's why the early 1970s New York Knicks are held up as the greatest example of "team basketball" ever, when the Boston Celtics were doing pretty much the same thing all through the 1960s.

Same with Los Angeles: It's why people believe Sandy Koufax was the greatest pitcher ever, though, for peak value, he might have been the greatest in the post-1920 Lively Ball Era; why they believe Tommy Lasorda was a great manager, when there's plenty of evidence to show he wasn't even a good one; why they believe Steve Garvey should be in the Hall of Fame, when his career stats show that he isn't even close; and why they believe and Vin Scully was the greatest broadcaster ever, when he wasn't even close.

And it's not just the Dodgers that the Los Angeles Times and the L.A. TV stations have propped up. It's why so much was made out of the Rams' 1960s defensive line, when it wasn't even the 2nd such line to be known as the Fearsome Foursome, although it might have bee the best one; and why USC is held up as a college football program on the same level as Notre Dame and Alabama, when it's not quite there.

It's why Jerry West was known as the greatest shooter ever until Steph Curry came along, and was also known as "Mr. Clutch," even though he never helped his team win a title until he was almost 34, and was a far more significant figure as an executive; why the 1980s Lakers are held up as the greatest team ever, which is not outrageous, but hardly definitive; why LeBron James is held up as the greatest player of the post-Michael Jordan era, even though his Lakers tenure has been a letdown, if not, because he has won 1 title, an outright failure; and why Wayne Gretzky is thought of as the greatest hockey player ever, even more so than Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr, even though, unlike those 2, he did nothing on defense to add to his amazing offense, and he never got the Kings closer to the Cup than 3 wins.

Same with Chicago: It's why people believe the 1985 Bears were the greatest NFL team ever, and maybe they were, for a single season, but, like the 1986 Mets, they were "a dynasty of one"; why they believe Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player ever, and he wasn't, Wilt Chamberlain was; and why they believe Wrigley Field is the greatest ballpark, and while it's certainly high-ranking, it's not the best.

It's why the 1980s Lakers got a miniseries made about them, and the 1990s Chicago Bulls, the 1980s' Lakers-Celtics matchups, the 1986 Mets, and Jeter as an individual each got a multipart ESPN documentary.

If we take major media markets into account, and divide by that, we can pretty much remove any New York, Los Angeles, and possibly Chicago player from a list of the most overrated athletes.

With that in mind, the most overrated baseball player of all time is Pete Rose, because there are people who believe having more hits than any other player makes him the greatest hitter, when he wasn't. He was a great singles and doubles hitter, but that's about it: He had little power, he was a smart baserunner but not a great baserunner, and as for fielding, the reason he was an All-Star at 5 different positions was that he wasn't very good at any of them.

It's one of the great ironies of baseball in his era that he was held up as one of the symbols of the National League's All-Star Game dominance, and thus of the NL's apparent supremacy over the American League, when his best place in the lineup would have been as a designated hitter, which the NL didn't have.

(The preceding has absolutely nothing to do with his either his gambling or his other off-field behavior, both during and after his playing career.)

The most overrated pitcher of all time is Nolan Ryan. His performance at an advanced age is obviously noteworthy, but pitchers that old had done very well before, including Cy Young and Warren Spahn; and some have done so since, even without the knuckleball, like Bartolo Colón and Jamie Moyer. His 7 no-hitters are spectacular, but not especially relevant. His being far in front on the all-time strikeout list is spectacular, but it doesn't override the fact that he had a comparatively low winning percentage.

His fans will say he played on mostly poor teams, but that's hardly true. It is also undermined by the legitimate argument that he cost the California Angels the 1979 AL Championship Series, and the Houston Astros the 1980 and 1986 NL Championship Series.

Finally, let me say this: Saying someone was overrated doesn't mean they weren't good, or great, or even an all-time great. It just means that more is made of them than they deserve.

It's also not a mark against their character. As far as I know, unlike Rose, Ryan is a man of good character.

January 29 & 31, 1986: A Great Sports Week for East Brunswick High School

This photo of the EBHS gym was taken by me in December 2021,

in the boys' basketball regular-season opener, a win over Old Bridge.

January 29, 1986, 40 years ago: Over 1,300 fans braved a blizzard to watch a wrestling meet that would decide the Championship of the Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division. Host East Brunswick faced the Old Bridge school then known as Madison Central.

Both schools were undefeated in the Division.  They were ranked Number 1 and Number 2, respectively, in Middlesex County by the newspaper then known as The Home News. E.B. had just won the GMC Tournament, making them, effectively, County Champions. Both teams had a rather obnoxious student fanbase -- in the case of the former, myself included.

The meet was not decided until the final match, and E.B. won, 26-25. I can't remember that gym being louder than it was that night.

Until 2 nights later, January 31. East Brunswick's basketball team needed 2 more wins to clinch the Red Division title. Their only loss of the season to that point had been to St. Joseph's, the Metuchen school that (despite their claims that they didn't) recruited so many players from our town, they were nicknamed "E.B. Catholic."

Unlike that earlier game at their place, this one was no contest. In front of an overflow crowd of over 2,000, we won, 84-58 and clinched the Division title in our next game.

On March 15th, that basketball team won the Central Jersey Group IV Championship for the first time. On the same day, E.B. wrestler Darren Schulman completed a perfect season, 31-0, with a State Championship in his weight class.

January 28, 2001: Baltimore Football Finally Moves On

January 28, 2001, 25 years ago: Super Bowl XXXV is played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The Baltimore Ravens beat the New York Giants, 34-7. It is the 1st NFL Championship won by the franchise formerly known as the Cleveland Browns in 36 years, and the 1st by a Baltimore-based team in 30 years.

Since the Giants' only touchdown is scored on a kickoff return -- by Ron Dixon, followed immediately by the Ravens doing the same, by Jermaine Lewis -- the Giants became the only team in Super Bowl history whose offense scored no points.

It marks Kerry Collins as the worst quarterback in Super Bowl history. He went 15-for-39, for 112 yards, 4 interceptions, and no touchdowns. In contrast, Trent Dilfer -- who has often been mocked as the worst quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl, and indeed became the 1st winning quarterback ever let go before the next season (as opposed to retiring) -- went 12-for-25, 153 yards, 1 touchdown and no interceptions. Quarterback ratings: Dilfer 80.9, Collins 7.1.

Under head coach Brian Billick and defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis, the Ravens' defense drew comparisons to the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers and the 1985 Chicago Bears in terms of effectiveness and ferocity. Linebacker Ray Lewis was the best player and the emotional leader of a side that also included defensive end Michael McCrary, linebacker Peter Boulware, safety Ed Reed, and cornerback Rod Woodson, who won his 1st title after a long career with the Steelers. The offense was led by Dilfer, veteran running back Earnest Byner and rookie running back Jamal Lewis, with protection from tackle Jonathan Ogden.

A cloud hung over the team, particularly over Ray Lewis. In 2000, he pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with the stabbing deaths of two men at a Super Bowl afterparty in Atlanta. He testified as a key witness at the trial, and a jury determined the killings were acts of self-defense. Ever since, people who don't like the Ravens have speculated that he had more to do with those deaths than has been publicly let on.

It had now been 5 full seasons since the Ravens arrived, 17 years since the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis, 23 years since the Colts' last Playoff berth in Baltimore, and 30 years since their last Super Bowl win in Baltimore. What's more, the Ravens had not only been to a Super Bowl, while the Colts had not yet been to one since they moved, but won it.

This game, putting Baltimore back on top of the football world, enabled their fans to finally move on from the legend and mystique of the Colts: They could celebrate their former team, but they no longer had to mourn it. Baltimore was now the NFL Champions of 1958, 1959, 1970 and 2000, and Indianapolis was still waiting.

The Colts didn't just bury the Giants, they laid the legend of the Baltimore Colts to rest, giving it the memorial service it deserved.

Over the next 11 seasons, the Colts would win a Super Bowl as an Indianapolis team, and lose another; while the Ravens made the Playoffs 7 times, including 2 trips to the AFC Championship Game. In the 2012 season, with Lewis the only holdover from the 2000 season, they won Super Bowl XLVII, for the team's 2nd title, and the city's 5th. At that point, the only cities with more were Green Bay with 13, Chicago with 11 (9 by the Bears, 2 by the Cardinals), New York with 9 (8 by the Giants, 1 by the Jets), the San Francisco Bay Area with 7 (5 by the 49ers, 2 by the Raiders), and Pittsburgh with 6. Boston now has 6, and if Providence (the 1928 Steam Roller) is counted as part of their area, that's 7. Philadelphia now has 6 (5 by the Eagles, 1 by the Frankford Yellow Jackets), and Dallas has 5.

January 28, 1986: The Space Shuttle Challenger Is Destroyed

Top row, left to right: Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe,

Greg Jarvis and Judy Resnik.

Bottom row, left to right: Michael J. Smith,

Dick Scobee and Ron McNair.

January 28, 1986, 11:39 AM, 40 years ago: The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes, 1 minute and 13 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida, killing all 7 astronauts aboard.

The 10th mission for the orbiter, and the 25th Shuttle mission overall, it was America's 1st in-flight space travel tragedy. Previously, on January 27, 1967, a fire during a ground test of Apollo 1 led to the deaths of 3 astronauts; 6 other astronauts had been killed in plane test flight crashes; and the Soviet space program had lost 5, including 3 in a single spaceflight in 1971.

The flight had already been delayed twice, and the decision was made to launch despite temperatures being lower than ideal. Even Florida has some days that can be classified as Winter, and the ground temperature at launch was just 36 degrees -- still 15 degrees lower than any other Cape Canaveral launch, ever. The low temperature caused a failure in the "O-ring" seals, allowing pressurized burning gas from within the solid rocket motor to reach the outside, and ignite the external fuel tank.

The crew:

* Captain Gregory B. Jarvis, U.S. Air Force, mission commander, 41 years old, from Mohawk, in Central New York.

* Lieutenant Colonel Francis "Dick" Scobee, U.S. Air Force, 46, from Auburn, Washington, outside Seattle.

* Captain Michael J. Smith, U.S. Navy, 40, from Beaufort, North Carolina, on the Outer Banks

* Colonel Ellison S. Onizuka, U.S. Air Force, 39, from Kona, Hawaii.

* Doctor Judith A. Resnik, civilian engineer, 36, from Akron, Ohio.

* Doctor Ronald E. McNair, civilian physicist, 35, from Lake City, South Carolina.

* Christa McAuliffe, 37, from Framingham, Massachusetts, outside Boston. A social studies teacher at Concord High School in Concord, the capital of New Hampshire, she had won a contest to be a "teacher in space." This made her the face of the mission, and, by extension, its greatest tragedy.

It was the 2nd spaceflight each for Onizuka, McNair and Resnik. The others were each on their 1st. Onizuka was the 1st Asian-American to fly in space, and also the 1st person of Japanese ancestry to do so, for any country. McNair was the 2nd African-American in space, after Guion Bluford in 1983; Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, a pilot in the Cuban Air Force, was the 1st black person in space, aboard a Soviet mission in 1980.

Had the mission succeeded, McAuliffe would have been the 10th woman in space. Resnik was the 4th, following Soviets Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Sveltana Savitskaya in 1982, and American Sally Ride in 1983. Resnik was also the 1st Jewish American in space, and the 2nd of her faith to reach space, following the Soviets' Boris Volynov in 1969.

I was a junior at East Brunswick High School at the time. By a weird twist of events, one of our teachers had reached the semifinal round of the "teacher in space" project. I won't mention his name, because he later disgraced himself in a way I won't mention, either.

I had just come back from lunch, and was about to start my English class, when a friend ran up to me and said, "Mike, the Shuttle blew up!"

When the Columbia was the 1st Space Shuttle launched, in 1981, our local newspaper did a feature on myself and 2 other students at my elementary school who were particularly interested in spaceflight. It was the 1st U.S. spaceflight since the Apollo-Soyuz mission, 6 years earlier. It was the long-delayed next step in American spaceflight. It was a big deal.

But by 1986, Shuttle flights had become routine. No one even brought TV sets into classrooms to watch the launches anymore.

So when the friend said, "The Shuttle blew up!" I wasn't sure of what he was talking about. To me, it sounded like a code from a spy movie. He explained. The English teacher confirmed it. When the class ended, I went home, skipping the rest of the day. I sat in front of the TV set, watching it over and over again.

For my generation, born after the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King -- and after the good news of the 1st Moon landing, and being old enough to watch but not understand the good-and-bad news of the resignation of President Richard Nixon -- it was our first event like that, our first "Where were you when... " moment, our first "Ran home from school and watched the same images on TV over and over again" event. Maybe it wouldn't have been, if Ronald Reagan, still President at this point, hadn't survived his assassination attempt in 1981.

But, for my generation, it would be that moment, until September 11, 2001. And, since that was a crime, as was the Capitol Insurrection of January 6, 2021, the Challenger disaster remains our defining tragedy, even after the Columbia was similarly lost, 17 years to the week later.

I saw the replay of the launch, and I saw the turn, and a little over a minute in, someone at Mission Control said, "Challenger, go with throttle-up." And pilot Smith said, "Roger, go with throttle-up."

Before NATO standardized "phonetic alphabet," with "Romeo" meaning the letter R, "Roger" was used for "received," as in, "I have received and understood your last transmission." It's still used in flying today, both commercial and private. On military flights, "Roger that" is a common use. "Roger Wilco" means, "I have received and understood, and will comply."

But after Smith's acknowledgement, someone on board the orbiter said, "Uh-oh!" And then came the explosion. There was a big cloud of smoke, and only the 2 booster rockets emerged, flying uncontrollably. No orbiter. No external tank. They were in pieces. And Mission Control kept giving orders, because they were looking at their instruments, not their screens -- which, not that I knew it at the time, was exactly what they were supposed to do. They were looking at the "telemetry" coming in.

It was only when they received no response to multiple transmissions that they looked at their screens, and saw the cloud. Finally, somebody, in a calm monotone that seemed awfully cold to those of us who were watching this after the fact, made the most "You think?" statement of all time: "Flight control looking carefully at the situation. Obviously, a major malfunction."

When the crew compartment was found at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, it was intact, but it was determined that its emergency eject system was inoperable from the moment of the explosion. The astronauts probably died on impact with the water, knowing they were doomed. At least they didn't suffocate or drown.

Reagan was scheduled to deliver the State of the Union Address before a Joint Session of Congress that night. (The SOTU is usually delivered in late January or early February, either on a Tuesday night, or a Wednesday night, and this was a Tuesday night in late January.) The Address was postponed a week, to February 4. Instead, Reagan addressed the nation from the Oval Office of the White House. For all his flaws, he made a great "Comforter-in-Chief":

For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, ``Give me a challenge, and I'll meet it with joy.'' They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us...

And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them...

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."

A commission later determined that the cold weather caused a key part of one of the Shuttle's booster rockets to fail. Florida usually doesn't get cold, but it was just 26 degrees Fahrenheit at the intended launch time of 9:38 AM. NASA waited for it to get warmer. It was 36 degrees at the 11:38 launch. Clearly, this was still not warm enough.

No American spaceflight has been launched at so low a temperature again. NASA took the time to get it right with the necessary parts, and did not launch again until September 29, 1988, when Discovery was launched.

Living Members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, 2026 Edition

As with the overall list, a player is counted as a Hall-of-Famer with the team if he played at least 4 seasons with them. However, there will be the occasional exception. Teams are ranked in order of most HOFers.

If there is a tie, it will be broken by which team has more players, as opposed to those who were elected in other categories. If there is still a tie, then I go to which has more non-broadcasters. If it's still a tie, which has more players whose contributions were mostly with that club. If it's still a tie, which team has played fewer seasons will be ranked ahead -- since, for example, 5 HOFers is more impressive for a team that's been around since 1977 than it would be for one that's been around since 1961.

Teams that no longer exist in that form will be listed in italics, and will be ranked behind current teams with the same number, regardless of composition.

Players are listed in chronological order of when they arrived at the club, then managers, then broadcasters.

1. New York Yankees, 10: Reggie Jackson, Rich "Goose" Gossage, Dave Winfield, Wade Boggs, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Mike Mussina, CC Sabathia, Joe Torre (manager), Tony Kubek (played for the Yankees but elected as a broadcaster).

2. Chicago White Sox, 9: Luis Aparicio, Goose Gossage, Carlton Fisk, Harold Baines, Frank Thomas, Tim Raines, Jim Thome, Tony LaRussa (manager), Ken Harrelson (broadcaster).

3. Atlanta Braves, 9: Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones, Fred McGriff, Andruw Jones, Bobby Cox (manager), Joe Torre (manager), John Schuerholz (general manager).

4. Boston Red Sox, 8: Carl Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk, Jim Rice, Dennis Eckersley, Wade Boggs, Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, Ken Harrelson (broadcaster).

5. Baltimore Orioles, 8: Luis Aparicio, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken, Roberto Alomar, Harold Baines, Mike Mussina, Jon Miller (broadcaster).

So, on players alone: Yankees 8, White Sox 7, Red Sox 7, Orioles 7, Braves 6. Either way, it is surprising to think of the White Sox, a team that's won 3 World Series in 121 tries, being 2nd on this list. However, only Aparicio and Thomas get thought of as White Sox before any other team.

6. New York Mets, 7: Nolan Ryan, Jeff Kent, Mike Piazza, Carlos Beltrán, Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez, Joe Torre (manager). But only Piazza will be mainly remembered as a Met -- and even then, he spent more time elsewhere, and nearly as much time just with the Dodgers. So ESPN's Don LaGreca was right: The Mets don't have that "forever player."

7. St. Louis Cardinals, 7: Steve Carlton, Jim Kaat, Ted Simmons, Ozzie Smith, Lee Smith, Scott Rolen, Tony LaRussa (manager).

8. Seattle Mariners, 6: Edgar Martinez, Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr., Adrián Beltré, Ichiro Suzuki, Pat Gillick (executive).

9. Philadelphia Phillies, 6: Jim Kaat, Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt, Scott Rolen, Jim Thome, Pat Gillick (executive).

10. Cincinnati Reds, 6: Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Barry Larkin, Ken Griffey Jr., Scott Rolen, Marty Brennaman (broadcaster).

Montreal Expos, 6: Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Larry Walker, Pedro Martinez, Vladimir Guerrero, Dave Van Horne (broadcaster). 

11. San Diego Padres, 9: Dave Winfield, Ozzie Smith, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, Trevor Hoffman.

12. Minnesota Twins, 5: Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Rod Carew, Bert Blyleven, Joe Mauer.

13. Los Angeles Angels, 5: Nolan Ryan, Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, Bert Blyleven, Vladimir Guerrero. 

14. Chicago Cubs, 5: Billy Williams, Ferguson Jenkins, Lee Smith, Andre Dawson, Greg Maddux. Ryne Sandberg died last year.

15. Milwaukee Brewers, 5: Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Rollie Fingers, Ted Simmons, Bud Selig (owner).

16. Texas Rangers, 5: Ferguson Jenkins, Nolan Ryan, Iván Rodríguez, Adrián Beltré, Eric Nadel (broadcaster).

17. Houston Astros, 4: Nolan Ryan, Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Billy Wagner.

18. Detroit Tigers, 4: Jack Morris, Alan Trammell, Iván Rodríguez, Jim Leyland (manager).

Oakland Athletics, 4: Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley, Tony LaRussa (manager).

19. Los Angeles Dodgers, 4: Sandy Koufax, Mike Piazza, Adrián Beltré, Jamie Jarrin (broadcaster).

20. Toronto Blue Jays, 4: Fred McGriff, Roberto Alomar, Pat Gillick (executive), Tony Kubek (broadcaster).

21. Kansas City Royals, 4: George Brett, Carlos Beltrán, John Schuerholz (executive), Denny Matthews (broadcaster).

22. San Francisco Giants, 3: Juan Marichal, Jeff Kent, Jon Miller (broadcaster).

23. Colorado Rockies, 2: Larry Walker, Todd Helton.

24. Cleveland Guardians, 2: Jim Thome, CC Sabathia.

25. Pittsburgh Pirates, 2: Bert Blyleven, Jim Leyland (manager). Blyleven was only a Pirate for 3 seasons, but I'm bending the rule because he was a key cog on their last World Championship team in 1979. That a team with 9 Pennants and 5 World Championships has only 1 living player in the Hall of Fame, and that I had to bend the rule for him, should tell you how poorly the franchise has been run the last 47 years.

26. Miami Marlins, 2: Jim Leyland (manager), Dave Van Horne (broadcaster). 

27. Arizona Diamondbacks, 1: Randy Johnson.

28. Tampa Bay Rays, 1: Fred McGriff.

29. Sacramento Athletics, none in 1 season.

30. Washington Nationals, none in 21 seasons. 

Who Else Will Make the Hall of Fame? 2026 Edition

Among active Major League Baseball players, who will -- and who should -- eventually be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Given that Clayton Kershaw, despite his choice to play in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, is officially retired, the only active players whose career statistics put them already there are Max Scherzer (on the left in the photo above) and Justin Verlander (on the right).

Giancarlo Stanton's only qualification is his career home run total, so he'll probably have to get to 500 to get in. Two more healthy seasons will do it -- emphasis on "healthy."

Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Nolan Arenado are two good years away. No, Judge is not there yet. No, Trout is not a "first-ballot Hall-of-Famer," or a HOFer at all. Neither is Harper, neither is Arenado.

Career hits: Harper, 1,801; Trout, 1,754; Judge 1,205. Home runs: Trout, 404; Judge, 368; Harper, 363. Gold Gloves: None for any of them. Judge has been mostly a right fielder; Trout, a center fielder; Harper, a right fielder in his 20s and a 1st baseman in his 30s.

Arenado has a better case: 1,921 hits, 353 of them home runs, and he's a 3rd baseman. A 3rd baseman, shortstop, 2nd baseman or catcher with his stats, or Judge's, or Trout's, or Harper's would probably get in. An outfielder or a 1st baseman does not.

Freddie Freeman, Manny Machado and Paul Goldschmidt are three good years away. 

Shohei Ohtani (if he can stay healthy), Gerrit Cole (ditto), Juan Soto, Mookie Betts, Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor are about five good years away. Chris Sale also needs 5, and given that he's 36 years old, he's not going to make it. José Ramirez is helped by the fact that he's a 3rd baseman, but he's a long way off.

Kenley Jansen and Craig Kimbrel are harder to figure, simply because they're relievers, and the standards for relievers getting in haven't really been set. But both have more saves than Billy Wagner, and both have better postseason records than he does. They each have a good chance.

Aroldis Chapman might be the least reliable relief pitcher of all time, especially in postseason play. But the best argument for him is that Wagner, the other major contender for that title, is in.

Andrew McCutchen won't make it. Neither will Blake Snell: He's basically Cliff Lee, a lefty pitcher with 2 great seasons and the rest ordinary.

Met fans will tell you that Jacob deGrom will get in. No: His candidacy is a joke: He's 37 and has 96 career wins. Babe Ruth had 94 career wins, and he only pitched 31 innings past his 25th birthday. Ohtani, for all his time spent away from the mound, might end up with more wins than deGrom. Ron Guidry was a better pitcher than peak deGrom, and he has 170 wins, and hardly anybody suggests he should be in the Hall. If Guidry with 170 doesn't get in, anyone suggesting deGrom with 96 should get in needs to be told, "Go away, you're wasting everybody's time."

José Altuve will probably get in, but should be disqualified as a known cheater.

For younger stars, such as Ronald Acuña Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Cal Raleigh and Elly De La Cruz, it is way too soon to tell. Things can happen. Ask George Foster. Ask Fred Lynn. Ask Eric Davis. Ask Ryan Howard.