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John Valentin joins the Inland Valley 66ers as batting instructor and, hey, check out Keith Hernandez:
Hernandez leads 15-player Hall class
First baseman won two World Series.
Kary Booher
News-Leader
Former St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Keith Hernandez, who repaired his image after being implicated in the 1985 Pittsburgh drug trials, will be inducted next month into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
Jerald Andrews, the Hall of Fame's executive director, announced Wednesday that Hernandez and 14 others, along with two teams, will be enshrined on Feb. 10 in a ceremony at the University Plaza Hotel and Convention Center.
He defended the decision to place Hernandez in the Hall.
"He was kind of a crowd favorite all those years he played in St. Louis," Andrews said. "When you look at all he did in St. Louis and the career he had in New York ... I don't think we can question if he's ineligible. He's been a good ambassador."
Hernandez spent 17 years in the major leagues, won two World Series titles, the 1982 championship while with St. Louis and 1986 title with the New York Mets. He finished with more than 2,000 hits and 1,000 runs scored and also won 11 Gold Glove and two Silver Slugger awards.
Hernandez spent his first nine seasons in St. Louis before being traded to the Mets in 1983. He retired after the 1990 season, then landed a role as a television baseball commentator and made cameos on the 1990s hit sitcom "Seinfeld."
But Hernandez's departure from St. Louis came to be seen as inglorious. Major League Baseball disciplined Hernandez and 10 others following the '85 Pittsburgh drug trials that spotlighted baseball's cocaine scandal.
Hernandez, granted immunity for his testimony, acknowledged in the trial that he used cocaine beginning in 1980 until just before the Cardinals traded him in 1983, according to numerous publications, including Time magazine.
In his last year on the National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot in 2004, Hernandez received just 24 votes, or 4.3 percent of the vote. Players must receive at least 75 percent to gain induction.
Efforts to reach Hernandez and his spokesman were unsuccessful on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the induction class is heavy in former football and basketball standouts, both pro and college, as well as numerous names from across the area.
Among the other notables are former Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Neil Smith, Denver Broncos receiver and former Missouri Southern standout Rod Smith and veteran St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball writer Rick Hummel, who was inducted into the writer's wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., last summer.
Andrews said the Hall receives nominations and narrows down the list to those who are deserving as well as those who can attend the ceremony.
Former University of Missouri basketball player John Brown; Kansas City Royals catcher John Wathan; and Charlie Share, who as the team captain of the St. Louis Hawks' NBA championship team in 1958, also will be enshrined, along with former Cardinals farm director Lee Thomas, the architect of the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies' National League pennant-winning club.
West Plains volleyball coach Trish Kissiar-Knight and Missouri State handball coach Thomas Burnett also are part of the class, along with former Golden City football standout Earl Denny, who played on Mizzou's 1966 Sugar Bowl team.
Northwest Missouri State football standout Jim Redd; College of the Ozarks coach George Wilson; Washington University basketball player Sandy Pomerantz and Hardin-Central High School football coach Gary O'Neal also will be enshrined.
The 1984 Southeast Missouri State men's cross country team and the 1974 Missouri State softball team also will be inducted.
Wilson, who coached 31 years in the high school ranks, earned his 800th coaching victory last season.
"I got to 100 losses before I got to 100 wins," Wilson quipped. "It's just a big honor and I'm privileged to work with some people that have made it possible."
Kissiar-Knight and Burnett also were in attendance Wednesday and expressed appreciation for their induction.
"Coaching is a privilege," Burnett said. "And to be a successful coach, it's a blessing. ... You can't top this."
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