George Davis Elected — ‘Dummy’ Hoy Up Next?

COOPERSTOWN, July 26 – The crowd at Clark Sports Center at the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum was standing, screaming, waving and making that deep “Dummmmmy” sound as the last speech was heading toward the podium. It was a noise that told the powerful Veterans Committee what they had known for the last window of opportunity for 19th Century players next year. The 19th Century player, George S. Davis and other four inductees were elected into the Hall of Fame.

The Hoy Committee paid tribute to a newly elected Don Sutton, who stepped to the podium to accept his plaque and then was finished working the biggest room he will ever work, telling his baseball stories and around introductions of his entourage of former Dodger celebrity pals.

Davis played over 20 seasons and 2,377 games with a lifetime batting of .297 that includes 454 doubles, 166 triples and 2,688 hits. A leading switch-hitter, his 134 RBI led the National League in 1897. As a point of comparison, Mickey Mantle owns the modern day record for RBI by a switch-hitter, driving in 130 runs in 1956.

If only for one day that Traina, Randy Fisher and leading protesters, were back. After allowing back-to-back rallies, Fisher and Traina brought a small crowd last year at the ceremony and they finally brought a large crowd ever since.

“Although our plans didn’t go as expected, we still get an “A” for effort”, reflected John Panara, Public Relation Director of the Hoy Committee. “I just want to say that I’m honored not only to be a part of the effort but to be in the company of such a dedicated group of activists like them guys!”

The protesters who worn their “Dummy Hoy” T-shirts at the ceremony. A front screen was saying “Baseball wouldn’t be the same without Dummy Hoy!”, with a picture of the umpire shouting “Strike!” behind Hoy in a home plate. The Hoy Facts were fully detailed in the back of its T-shirt showing as 1,004 walks, 2,054 hits, and threw out three men at the home plate in one game.

What went wrong in Cooperstown? William “Candy” Cummings invented the curveball and played only 6 years in the majors. Not only that, Dummy Hoy’s statistics exceeded those of 16 Hall of Famers including Joe Tinker, Frank Chance and Johnny Evers. However, all of them were enshrined into the Hall.

There are few rules for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee are based on upon the individual’s record, ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contribution to the game. The ballot(s) that contain 10 candidates for each of the special elections will be provided by the Screening Committee with the assistance of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). At last, each committee member may vote for a maximum of three eligible candidates from the ballot(s) provided. The one receiving the most votes in each category will be elected, provided the candidate has been named on seventy-five percent of the ballots cast.

U.S. Senator Thomas Harkin (D-Iowa), a known Congress testimonal advocate of the Deaf community, has proven a point that Dummy Hoy has met all their demands such as ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and

contribution to the game in part of his creation of the umpire hand signals. “I can’t think of a more worthy candidate for induction to the Hall of Fame than Dummy Hoy”, said in his letter written to the Veterans Committee last month.

In the fashion of ESPN, the cable television sports network magnate, “Did You Know”: Hoy did not hear the crack of the bat as he went about his business in total silence although he was completely deaf. Due to his swiftness of foot Hoy was sometimes used as a substitute base runner the pinch runner rules of modern ball trace their roots in 1878 up til that a year pinch runner had to start from home plate just after contact with the ball in 1888. Pinch runner were banned because of him since many teams considered them an unfair advantage to get around the rule, player fake injury to get

Pinch runners were later banned because of him, since many teams considered them an unfair advantage; to get around the rule, a player would fake an injury to get replaced by a substitute runner, finally settled in 1891 as all restrictions regarding substitutions were removed, largely due to the difficulty of proper enforcement. This information was provided by the American Archives Publishing Company.

Bear in mind, getting someone inducted in the Hall of Fame is a long and strenuous process and not a easy job to do. Just you know that patience is a virtue, especially amid unfavorable circumstances dealt to the members of the Hoy Committee. However, the committee remain optimistic that Dummy Hoy one day will be inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame and carve his niche along with baseball’s greatest players.

The Hoy Committee that includes Randy Fisher, John and Robert Panara, Steven Sandy and I diligently raised interest in the public awareness by establishing the proposal of an exhibit entitled, “Deaf Americans in Baseball”, in which is slated for demonstration this September.

Among Deaf players like Edward Dundon, William Funkhouser, George Leitner, The Sawhill Brothers, Dick Sipek, Reuben Stephenson, Dummy Taylor and now Curtis Pride also made it to the major leagues and that their baseball tales should be placed in the exhibit likewise.

The Staten Island Club of the Deaf softball team, named for the most popular deaf athletics in town, “The Dummies”. And why not? After all, like Dummy Hoy, they’re fast, agile, and fun to watch coming up at the Eastern Athletic Association of the Deaf Slo-Pitch Tournament located in Allentown, Pennsylvania on August 21-22.

Be on the lookout for further developments to come!