The Boss and Billy the Kid With An Eye on Cooperstown

They once formed a crazy triumvirate that were splattered across the headlines of the New York Sports pages. From 1977 - 1981, Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner, and Billy Martin could not be mentioned without one of the other names being mentioned.

Jackson was overwhelmingly elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in 1993 and now the Boss and Billy the Kid's names will come before the Veterans Committee for election to Cooperstown. Results will be announced on December 6.

In addition to the duo, former Yankees Ron Guidry, who had some of his best seasons under Martin, and Tommy John will also be on the ballot.

Vida Blue, Davey Concepcion, Steve Garvey, Ted Simmons, Al Oliver, Marvin Miller, Rusty Staub, and Pat Gillick round out the ballot.

Herzog Leads Vets into Hall

Manager Whitey Herzog, who skippered the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals to a World Championship and had several contenders in Kansas City, has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.

Joining Herzog is long time National League umpire Doug Harvey, who spent 31 years in the field. Also receiving votes among managers and umpires, but falling short of the required 12 votes, were Danny Murtaugh (8), Hank O'Day (8), and Charlie Grimm (3). Davey Johnson, Billy Martin, Tom Kelly, Gene Mauch and Steve O'Neill all received less than three votes.

Marvin Miller, the long time player representative who helped shape the face of the game today, fell short in the executive/pioneer with just seven votes.

For more on the voting, go to mlb.com.

Around the Horn - 2/24

The Blue Jays have been injury riddled the last couple of years and they're already off to a bad start in '09. Star outfielder Vernon Wells will miss the next month with a hamstring injury after hurting his leg in a base running drill. Wells missed the last month of the '08 season with the same injury.

Marvin Miller must have been delirious when he recently appeared on the Michael Kay Show. Miller was emphatic that there was nothing wrong with steroids; that nothing had been proven. Donald Fehr of course follows the party line that Miller handed down to him, and Mike Lupica (who was rarely quote) took him to task for it.

Performance enhancing drugs will never fully go away if the union continues to stick their heads in the sand.

Players continue to drop out of the World Baseball Classic. Wells is obviously out, and Albert Pujols joined him after finding out he couldn't get disability insurance due to his '08 injuries.

Carlos Marmol of the Cubs pulled out of the tourney so he could compete for the Cubs closer job. Other players won't go because they won't start (Ryan Ludwick) or because they only want to learn the new position they're playing (Carlos Guillen).

We've said it before and we'll say it again, the WBC is a waste.