Rusty Staub looks less than amused. Because, during Hall of Fame weekend, you, too, could have paid $25 to be able to ask Le Grand Orange a stupid question. What I'm getting at, is before Drew and I got through the line for Staub, the guys ahead of us asked him this question: "Why do you think no one was elected to the Hall of Fame this year?" Staub was taken a bit aback by this question, as you can see by the expression on his face. His response? "I have no control in the voting. You guys know as well as I do why no one got in this year..." I'm paraphrasing, of course, but that's the gist of what he said. I sincerely believe that Staub wasn't trying to be a jerk, but that was his reaction to some folks laying an egg of a question out in front of him. I can't say I blame him for his response.
All of that being said, Staub was pretty cool to us. We spoke briefly, very briefly, but he did sign my baseball for me. Drew didn't pay to meet him, but did man the camera for me and got the above 2 shots of Staub.
Rusty Staub (b. 1944) played in the majors from 1963 to 1985 for the Colt .45s/Astros, Expos, Mets, Tigers and Rangers. In his 23 seasons, he compiled 2,716 hits, 292 home runs and a .279 batting average. He was a member of the 1973 Mets that went to the World Series, only to lose to the A's. Staub did his part by batting .423 in the 7 games. That team was managed by none other than Yogi Berra. Staub was a 6-time All Star and finished as high as 5th in the AL MVP voting (1978).
He appeared on seven Hall of Fame ballots between 1991 and 1997, but only received as high as 7.9% of the vote. To me, I think that's a really low number for a guy who has the career stats that Staub has. Regardless, Staub is someone who I really wanted to get an autograph of on a ball. I had been thinking of trying him TTM but I saved myself the postage and reasearch by just paying the $25 in Cooperstown.
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