During Sunday’s ceremony honoring his Hall of Fame enshrinement, the White Sox played a video of Harold Baines’ career highlights on the center field scoreboard. Seated on the field near home plate and the pitcher’s mound and facing away from the outfield, Baines’ family and former teammates turned their heads to watch.
If Baines ever turned for a peek, it was brief and reluctantly. Then again, it shouldn’t be too surprising that the quiet and soft-spoken Baines would not want to take in those highlights, even if he was always a fan favorite.
“I like it, but I don’t get involved as part of it,” Baines said before the ceremony. “It’s part of the game, yes, but I’d rather, like the old saying, get the work done and go home. But I appreciate all the fans liking the way I played the game.”
On Sunday, Baines was feted again by the franchise and Sox dignitaries. Former manager Tony La Russa and teammates Ron Kittle and Ozzie Guillen addressed the crowd before Baines, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 21. True to form, Baines’ own speech clocked in under five minutes.
La Russa, who managed Baines with the Sox and also in Oakland, recalled Baines’ propensity for coming through when his teams needed it the most.
“If there’s one thing that stood out for guys that were on his team and those that competed against him, in a close game late, Harold was the guy you wanted to go to bat,” La Russa said. “Harold was the guy you didn’t want to come to bat against you. That showed his coolness, his toughness under pressure and his statistics, for how many times he was involved with helping us win a game.”
Baines fell 134 hits short of 3,000 and when he was voted in, there were questions about his numbers and worthiness for the honor. During his speech, Kitlle alluded to Baines’ counting stats and echoed La Russa.
Baines’ numbers, Kittle said, only told part of the story.
“But for anyone who played alongside you, 3,000 hits from you was irrelevant, because the hits that you had when you had them were more meaningful than milestones,” said Kittle, who added he would take a bullet for his old teammate. “From my personal perspective, you’re in the top three of any player in the history that I would want to come up to bat in the clutch.”
Milestones reached or not, Baines is now a Hall of Famer. La Russa appreciated how Baines kept playing through injuries. Baines said he had nine knee surgeries during his career.
“And the other thing about him, which I think gets ignored because you just don’t talk about it much, during his day, he was an above-average right fielder,” La Russa said. “But to have the toughness to have six knee surgeries and still play 20-plus years, shows you the love of the game and a toughness that we all should appreciate.”
Baines said the reality of being in the Hall of Fame hasn’t sunk in yet. But the experience of being inducted and sharing the stage with the game’s legends is something he clearly appreciates.
“I think when you see a guy like Hank Aaron and guys like that, and you’re in their midst, yeah, that’s very special,” Baines said. “I never envisioned myself being on the same stage with a person like that. All of them, they all deserve to be there and it’s very special to be a part of that.”
