Hall inductions won't put cap on flap By Darren Rovell ESPN.com
What cap Dave Winfield will be shown wearing when his plaque is unveiled during his Hall of Fame induction this Sunday has been a hot topic of conversation since his election in January. Will he be wearing a Padres, Yankees or Twins cap?
But once Winfield is enshrined in the Hall, don't expect the chatter to stop.
That's because the talk of teams giving players cushy consulting jobs, "personal service agreements" or money to have the team's logo on the hat of a Hall of Famer isn't about to go away.
Winfield, who played primarliy for the Padres (for 1,117 games) and Yankees (for 1,172 games), said he decided on the Padres cap because they gave him his first chance. A New York Post report in April claimed that Winfield received a financial package of $1 million, although both parties have since denied the specifics.
While the Hall of Fame hat of choice used to be a post-career decision, it's already become part of some current player contracts, as teams look to parlay their investment for Hall-of-Fame-bound players. All this reportedly goes on behind the scenes, despite the fact that the Hall of Fame, as an independent museum, is not bound by the contracts of Major League Baseball.
"The distinction that very few people make is that the Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit museum that is not affiliated with Major League Baseball," said Jeff Idelson, the Hall of Fame's vice president of communications and education. "So if any of its 30 teams, in any of its contracts, stipulate that such and such player should wear a certain cap, we still have the right to decide if that cap will be viewed as historically correct."
Such a situation might arise in the case of Wade Boggs, who reportedly is contractually obligated to go in with a Tampa Bay Devil Rays cap due to his last contract. However, the Hall of Fame can go against the contract of the Devil Rays' current batting coach in the interest of making a representation of Boggs' career historically accurate. Boggs played only 213 of his 2,440 regular season games with the Devil Rays.
"It would be foolish to see Babe Ruth, who might have been displeased with the Yankees, to go in as a Brave" where he played the final 28 games of his career, said Idelson, the Yankees' public relations director from 1989-1993. "Or Hank Greenberg passing by the Tigers for the Pirates and Ty Cobb in a Philadelphia A's hat and not a Tigers hat." Greenberg is best known for playing 12 years with Tigers, but finished his career with the Pirates in 1947. Likewise, Cobb played 22 of his 24 seasons with the Tigers before finishing his career with the Philadelphia A's.
"We not only look at it as how it will be thought of in today's world," Idelson said, "but we have to think about how it will be looked upon in 20, 30 and 50 years into the future."
That doesn't mean space can't be sold though. Nolan Ryan might have won his 300th game and pitched his 6th and 7th no-hitters with the Rangers, but a consulting contract with the team probably helped eliminate the Astros, Angels and Mets.
Will the retirement of Gary Carter's number and his subsequent position as a team broadcaster have anything to do with giving the Expos, one of nine teams without a player wearing their cap in the Hall of Fame, a one-up on the Mets if Carter is ever elected? Could the A's really lose both of their "Bash Brothers," Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco? Will that force the A's to go after Rickey Henderson and the Yankees to make sure Roger Clemens doesn't go with a Red Sox cap?
"Does the (cap's) logo really matter?" Idelson asks. "No. We say you're a Hall of Famer, not that you're a particular team's Hall of Famer."
Getting to the point Idelson is also responsible for writing the summaries that appear on the Hall of Fame plaques. Since 1995, Idelson has penned the short essays, which are approved by the Hall of Fame president and chairman.
"You have between 80 and 90 words to sum up a player's entire career," Idelson said. "You have to properly quantify and qualify their persona and their place in baseball history and that's a daunting and exhilarating experience." Idelson said no plaques are written in advance.
Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at darren.rovell@espn.com. He can be seen on ESPNNEWS each Wednesday afternoon and during his "Money Talks" segment each Sunday morning on SportsCenter.
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