Cool Papa Bell will have his nite and his plaza at Dudy Noble

[Rick Cleveland]

And that's a good thing...

https://mississippitoday.org/2021/05/12/all-these-decades-later-cool-papa-bell-gets-his-day-at-mississippi-state/

[State82]

What a cool deal. Great job on the story, Rick. As always.

[The Federalist Engineer]

And that's a good thing...

https://mississippitoday.org/2021/05/12/all-these-decades-later-cool-papa-bell-gets-his-day-at-mississippi-state/

Glad MSU is recognizing this local star.

Also makes me remember Billy Hamilton, a player we offered, wish he would have played college baseball.

[Saltydog]

This is absolutely outstanding. I had no idea he was the only native born Mississippian in Cooperstown. I always thought Dizzy Dean was from Mississippi. He was actually born in Arkansas but spent most of his life in Mississippi.

BTW, the case could be made for "The Cobra" Dave Parker to be in the HoF. He was born in either Grenada or Calhoun City (depending on who you ask) and til this day has one of the strongest arms in baseball history. Some of his throws from RF were incredible. His numbers are comparable and maybe even a little better than another 70's 80's star that was recently inducted and that was Harold Baines.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Will Clark = New Orleans, LA

Raffy = Havana, Cuba

Of Active Players with Mississippi and Mississippi State links- seems Woodruff is the great HOF hope. JT Ginn is the next great Hope.

Renfroe needs to start hitting 50 per year, then he becomes our Hope. Paps is Baton Rouge born, he may not be PC enough to avoid controversy.

Frazier and Lowe, Georgia. Ethan Small is Tennessee. Moreland is not HOF but a solid player. Graveman is Alabama and now a relief pitcher. Unless you save games like the Sandman, relievers are not HOF.

Just thinking Mississippi... Roy Oswalt is fringe to very fringe HOF, never won the CY and never produced an epic WS moment.

[The Federalist Engineer]

This is absolutely outstanding. I had no idea he was the only native born Mississippian in Cooperstown. I always thought Dizzy Dean was from Mississippi. He was actually born in Arkansas but spent most of his life in Mississippi.

BTW, the case could be made for "The Cobra" Dave Parker to be in the HoF. He was born in either Grenada or Calhoun City (depending on who you ask) and til this day has one of the strongest arms in baseball history. Some of his throws from RF were incredible. His numbers are comparable and maybe even a little better than another 70's 80's star that was recently inducted and that was Harold Baines.

Yeah, Parker belongs. MVP and many all star games and 2 World Series

[ShotgunDawg]

Really cool!

Between Cox, Chris Jones, and Dak, I think our football program starts to add some HOFers over the next 20 years.

[Rex54]

Yeah, Parker belongs. MVP and many all star games and 2 World Series

Dave Parker absolutely does NOT belong in the Hall of Fame. Give me a break..... Harold Baines being in is a joke also to the previous poster.

[BrunswickDawg]

Dave Parker absolutely does NOT belong in the Hall of Fame. Give me a break..... Harold Baines being in is a joke also to the previous poster.

I HATE the way Cooperstown selects players - this belief that they have to be the Babe Ruth himself to get in has always been ridiculous. Football does it so much better. There would be no question in football that a guy like Parker is a HOFer.

According to Bill James' Similarity Scores - he rates just as good or better than HOF's Tony Perez, Billy Williams, Harold Baines, and Andre Dawson. The Cobra was one of best of the 70's and early 80's - 2 Batting Titles, 7 Time All-Star, 3 Gold Gloves, 3 Silver slugger awards, 1 MVP and 5x top 5 in MVP votes, and 2 WS. Guys like Parker & Dale Murphy continue to get screwed.

[Rex54]

I HATE the way Cooperstown selects players - this belief that they have to be the Babe Ruth himself to get in has always been ridiculous. Football does it so much better. There would be no question in football that a guy like Parker is a HOFer.

According to Bill James' Similarity Scores - he rates just as good or better than HOF's Tony Perez, Billy Williams, Harold Baines, and Andre Dawson. The Cobra was one of best of the 70's and early 80's - 2 Batting Titles, 7 Time All-Star, 3 Gold Gloves, 3 Silver slugger awards, 1 MVP and 5x top 5 in MVP votes, and 2 WS. Guys like Parker & Dale Murphy continue to get screwed.

It's not the Hall of Very Good. It's supposed to be exclusive. Parker had a decent 5 year run but was woefully average the rest of his career. You need to have a solid "10 years of great" for consideration in my book, at minimum.

Andruw Jones and Scott Rolen have much better resumes and deserve to be in.

[Saltydog]

If Baines is in Parker should be in. In '78 he was the NL MVP. 7 time All-star, 3 time gold glover and he won the silver slugger 3 times. Oh yeah, All Star game MVP in '79 and won 2 world series. There are 26 right fielders in the Hall of Fame. Parker would rank 15th out of that group in hits and ahead of recent inductee Vladimir Guerrero (2,590). He'd rank 10th in extra-base hits, 11th in homers and 13th in RBIs.