Cooperstown

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff NEW YORK — Fox's Ken Rosenthal, one of the best in the business, wrote a terrific column on Tim Wakefield. His jumping off point was Robinson Cano suggesting that Wakefield belongs in the Hall of Fame. "Tell Wakefield he’s got my vote,” Cano told Rosenthal. As somebody who voted for the Hall for Fame for the first time last year, my immediate thought is somebody with a 4.38 earned run average does not merit a place in Cooperstown.

In a rough-and-tumble clubhouse filled with dark secrets and constant conflict, there was always one sunny stall. Those New York Mets could count on Gary Carter to deliver — a smile, a spark and ultimately a championship. The effervescent Hall of Fame catcher whose single for the Mets in the 1986 World Series touched off one of the most improbable rallies in baseball, died Thursday. The Kid was 57. Carter was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor last May, two weeks after finishing his second season as coach at Palm Beach Atlantic University.

Wade Boggs did yesterday what he did so well so many times as a Red Sox, Yankee, and Devil Ray. Faced with a difficult pitch, one that might have tied up someone with less poise, Boggs fought it off. It was hard and in on the hands, and it went something like this: Which cap, Wade, would you prefer to wear on your Hall of Fame plaque? "If the Hall were to pick my Little League hat, I would have been happy with that," said Boggs, who yesterday received word that he and ex-Cub Ryne Sandberg will constitute the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2005.

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff NEW YORK — Fox's Ken Rosenthal, one of the best in the business, wrote a terrific column on Tim Wakefield. His jumping off point was Robinson Cano suggesting that Wakefield belongs in the Hall of Fame. "Tell Wakefield he’s got my vote,” Cano told Rosenthal. As somebody who voted for the Hall for Fame for the first time last year, my immediate thought is somebody with a 4.38 earned run average does not merit a place in Cooperstown.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. - The letter, which bore a New Jersey postmark, was sent by someone who called himself the "MVP Barber. " It came with a small plastic bag attached. Inside the bag, the letter writer claimed, were trimmings from Mike Lowell's eyebrows. Surely, the MVP Barber wrote, there was a place in baseball's Hall of Fame for these? "They didn't get in," said Jeff Idelson, vice president of communications and education for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

COOPERSTOWN -- My father and I never visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum together, notwithstanding our mutual love for the game and my having grown up 30 miles north of Yankee Stadium, along the base path from the Bronx to Cooperstown. Why we never did, I'm not sure. My dad took me to many ballgames and once got me into the Yankees dugout, where I sat on Casey Stengel's lap and shook Yogi Berra's hand. On a family road trip in 1960, he took me to a Los Angeles Dodgers-San Francisco Giants game where I saw my all-time hero, Willie Mays , the "Say Hey Kid, " crack one of his...

NEW YORK -- Jack Lang, a baseball writer who won an award from the Hall of Fame and for two decades had the pleasant assignment of telling players they had been elected to Cooperstown, died yesterday. He was 85. Mr. Lang had been ill for an extended period with a variety of ailments. He died at a rehabilitation center in Huntington, said his lawyer, Kevin Brosnahan. Mr. Lang worked in the news business for more than a half-century, mainly covering New York teams. "He's a man that loved baseball to the core of his soul, and he was a good...

BALTIMORE -- Hall of Fame broadcaster Chuck Thompson, whose deep voice and enthusiasm for the job entertained Baltimore sports fans for more than 50 years, died yesterday. He was 83. The broadcaster, who had a massive stroke on Saturday, died at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson, said his son, Craig. Mr. Thompson called Baltimore Orioles games for the better part of five decades and served 30 years as the play-by-play announcer of the Baltimore Colts. He took pride in his professional approach but never apologized for an obvious bias toward the home team.

Picked-up pieces while filling out my Hall of Fame ballot . . . Yes on Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn, Jim Rice, Bert Blyleven, and Rich Gossage. No on Mark McGwire, Andre Dawson, and Harold Baines. Ripken and Gwynn are going to cruise to Cooperstown on the first ballot when the results are announced next month. Gossage has a shot. Rice will have to wait until next year. Blyleven, maybe never. More on them in a minute. I have been dreading this McGwire question for a long time, hoping new information might surface before the Dec. 31 deadline.

In a rough-and-tumble clubhouse filled with dark secrets and constant conflict, there was always one sunny stall. Those New York Mets could count on Gary Carter to deliver — a smile, a spark and ultimately a championship. The effervescent Hall of Fame catcher whose single for the Mets in the 1986 World Series touched off one of the most improbable rallies in baseball, died Thursday. The Kid was 57. Carter was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor last May, two weeks after finishing his second season as coach at Palm Beach Atlantic University.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. - The letter, which bore a New Jersey postmark, was sent by someone who called himself the "MVP Barber. " It came with a small plastic bag attached. Inside the bag, the letter writer claimed, were trimmings from Mike Lowell's eyebrows. Surely, the MVP Barber wrote, there was a place in baseball's Hall of Fame for these? "They didn't get in," said Jeff Idelson, vice president of communications and education for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

NEW YORK -- Jack Lang, a baseball writer who won an award from the Hall of Fame and for two decades had the pleasant assignment of telling players they had been elected to Cooperstown, died yesterday. He was 85. Mr. Lang had been ill for an extended period with a variety of ailments. He died at a rehabilitation center in Huntington, said his lawyer, Kevin Brosnahan. Mr. Lang worked in the news business for more than a half-century, mainly covering New York teams. "He's a man that loved baseball to the core of his soul, and he was a good friend...

Picked-up pieces while filling out my Hall of Fame ballot . . . Yes on Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn, Jim Rice, Bert Blyleven, and Rich Gossage. No on Mark McGwire, Andre Dawson, and Harold Baines. Ripken and Gwynn are going to cruise to Cooperstown on the first ballot when the results are announced next month. Gossage has a shot. Rice will have to wait until next year. Blyleven, maybe never. More on them in a minute. I have been dreading this McGwire question for a long time, hoping new information might surface before the Dec. 31 deadline.

COOPERSTOWN -- My father and I never visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum together, notwithstanding our mutual love for the game and my having grown up 30 miles north of Yankee Stadium, along the base path from the Bronx to Cooperstown. Why we never did, I'm not sure. My dad took me to many ballgames and once got me into the Yankees dugout, where I sat on Casey Stengel's lap and shook Yogi Berra's hand. On a family road trip in 1960, he took me to a Los Angeles Dodgers-San Francisco Giants game where I saw my all-time hero, Willie Mays , the "Say Hey Kid, " crack one...

BALTIMORE -- Hall of Fame broadcaster Chuck Thompson, whose deep voice and enthusiasm for the job entertained Baltimore sports fans for more than 50 years, died yesterday. He was 83. The broadcaster, who had a massive stroke on Saturday, died at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Towson, said his son, Craig. Mr. Thompson called Baltimore Orioles games for the better part of five decades and served 30 years as the play-by-play announcer of the Baltimore Colts. He took pride in his professional approach but never apologized for an obvious bias toward the home...

Wade Boggs did yesterday what he did so well so many times as a Red Sox, Yankee, and Devil Ray. Faced with a difficult pitch, one that might have tied up someone with less poise, Boggs fought it off. It was hard and in on the hands, and it went something like this: Which cap, Wade, would you prefer to wear on your Hall of Fame plaque? "If the Hall were to pick my Little League hat, I would have been happy with that," said Boggs, who yesterday received word that he and ex-Cub Ryne Sandberg will constitute the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2005.

NEWPORT, R.I. - Visitors to the International Tennis Hall of Fame find centuries of the sport's history at their fingertips - interactive tributes to 220 stars such as Pete Sampras and Steffi Graf, Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson. When they reach a touch-screen display honoring South African tennis legend Bob Hewitt, they learn he was one of the most "enduringly elegant" doubles players of all time. There is no mention of Hewitt's purported secret life. Missing is any reference to the nearly dozen women on three continents who last year accused him of sexually abusing them...

Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax are already in the Hall of Fame. The other 141 Jewish major leaguers will get their due this month. The Cooperstown, N.Y., shrine will host "A celebration of Jews in baseball" Aug. 29-30. It will be the first kosher dinner in the Hall. "It's a small group and it's an honor to be among them," said Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Shawn Green, the most accomplished of 10 active Jewish players. "There's been some great ones. Obviously, Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax are the two that people know the most . . . but there's been a lot of others that...

Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax are already in the Hall of Fame. The other 141 Jewish major leaguers will get their due this month. The Cooperstown, N.Y., shrine will host "A celebration of Jews in baseball" Aug. 29-30. It will be the first kosher dinner in the Hall. "It's a small group and it's an honor to be among them," said Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Shawn Green, the most accomplished of 10 active Jewish players. "There's been some great ones. Obviously, Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax are the two that people know the most . . . but there's been a lot of others that aren't as...