ROBBIE ALOMAR NARROWLY MISSES HALL OF FAME...

Like many other baseball writers in the haven we call baseball north here in Canada I thought Robbie Alomar was a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame. I had an outline of a post prepared that related both back to my childhood, to walkoff memories, to defensive gems, and to World Series wins.

But then I was given the gut-wrenching news this afternoon that Robbie missed by a mere 8 votes. I guess eight too many seasons baseball writers spent wondering why Alomar could have disgraced himself so badly in front of a reputable umpire like John Hirshbeck. But Was Hirshbeck Unfit to Umpire? Click on that link.

Maybe it was the deniably false story about Robbie Alomar having given AIDS to a young woman, much like Ben Roethlisberger of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers had been accused wrongly of sexual assault. In Robbie's case, maybe there was just a little too much off-field drama, and it was just enough for Robbie to narrowly miss.

Everyone remembers that famous incident with Hirshbeck as the day Alomar spit into Hirshbeck's face, no matter how wrong Hirshbeck could have been for prompting such a reaction, for as I explored earlier this summer, that umpire was not quite in the correct mental state at that point in time due to personal issues.

While it's without question that Alomar will eventually be elected into the Hall of Fame, for no player has ever narrowly missed like Alomar in one year and not made it on the next fourteen years of the ballot. After all, Andre Dawson finally made it on his ninth try, and even though Bert Blevelyn narrowly missed yet again, he never had quite the support of Alomar. Then again, there were twenty six players on the ballot.

Congratulations to Andre Dawson- Defunct Expos fans should all have a drink to toast his induction! Richard Griffin sure will.

Alomar will have his day....