July 6, 2007

Hall of Fame balloting 101
By Gene Sapakoff

The Post and Courier

The 2006 class of the Charleston Baseball Hall of Fame was ushered in with appropriate fanfare.

It was a noble cause.

There were worthy honorees.

There were a few questionable inductions.

In other words, a concept that for the first time last summer was open to amateur players and teams, did what most halls of fame do: stir interest and controversy while paying proper tribute.

Thankfully, The Famous Chicken and Tonya Harding (star of Tonya Harding Bat Night) didn't make it as write-in candidates.

There is a nice display of inductee names inside Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park. Once again, The Post and Courier will help spread the word with ballots listing the 12 candidates for the class of 2007 in the July 11, 15, 20 and 22 editions of the sports section. Ballots also are available at Riley Park. The four teams or individuals receiving the most votes will be inducted during a ceremony prior to the Charleston RiverDogs' Aug. 17 Class A South Atlantic League game against Augusta.

The process isn't perfect. Any fan vote involving a Hall of Fame threatens to confuse worthiness with popularity. But the selection committee, this year including yours truly, has come up with a mostly decent dozen.

Now it's up to you.

My ballot is put forth not as much for veteran Lowcountry baseball fans, who know the candidates well, but for our appreciated tourists who will stop by The Joe between a day of Shem Creek dining and a night of East Bay Street dining without knowing Richard Wieters from rival waiters.

Team spirit

In order:

--1955 Cannon Street YMCA All-Star Team. Mostly forgotten until 1995, the members of Charleston's first black Little League All-Star team suffered from boycotts or threatened boycotts at tournaments all the way to the Little League World Series, where they were not allowed to play because of a sad rule prohibiting participation for teams which advanced via forfeits.

By far the most significant baseball team in South Carolina history, the courageous Cannon Street bunch — the parents and coaches were the real heroes — sparked applause outside the state and a vicious backlash within, including the founding in Charleston of originally segregated Dixie Youth Baseball.

The Cannon Street team has been featured in Sports Illustrated, on ESPN Classic and ABC News and has been the subject of a children's book and movie options.

HBO was in town last week working on an upcoming Cannon Street feature.

--1990 Citadel College World Series Team. The stunning ride to Omaha for head coach Chal Port and Co. gets more impressive with time. Consider that the little military school, in the pre-super regional era, had to emerge from a six-team regional hosted by powerhouse Miami.

It was no fluke. The Bulldogs, led by star outfielder Anthony Jenkins and with Gettys Glaze doubling as a pitcher and catcher, won a College World Series game, upsetting Cal State Fullerton.

Two of the best

--Bryce Florie. Maybe a 20-24 major league pitching record doesn't make you wish Florie were available for a fantasy league draft. But the Hanahan native after appearing in 261 games while pitching for the Padres, Brewers,

Tigers and Red Sox from 1994-2001 had an earned run average (4.47) below the big league average (4.61) over the same period. More to the relative point, Florie is no less than the winningest major league pitcher born in the Lowcountry since 1870. He is hurt in a popularity vote because he turned pro directly out of Hanahan High School and did not play for a South Carolina university, but any Charleston Baseball Hall of Fame without the Charleston-born pitcher most successful at the highest level of baseball lacks credibility.

--Richard Wieters. He is currently best known as the father of Matt Wieters, the former Stratford High School and Georgia Tech star last month selected in the first round of the Major League draft by the Baltimore Orioles. But Richard Wieters, as a Citadel pitcher and slugger was a two-time Southern Conference Player of the Year. If you can argue that he was the best player a traditionally good college program has ever produced, he is a Charleston Baseball Hall of Famer.

Some season soon, Joe Riley — the man, the myth, the ballpark — will deservedly make it. So will individual members of the 1990 Citadel team, Alfred Von Kolnitz, T. Ashton Phillips and Modie Risher.

But four candidates stick out this year like Charlie The RiverDog's tongue on a hot, sunny July afternoon.