Baseball Hall of Fame getting young

The Hall admitted Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar today.

The scary thing about Alomar getting in: he was born the same year I was. But maybe there have already been some younger players enshrined. Let me check that… And the great thing about baseball fans is, you know someone must have such a list posted somewhere… Yes, I found it in seconds.

Alomar is now by far the youngest member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. So that’s somewhat reassuring. My peers aren’t crowding the ranks of the elder statesmen of baseball just yet.

The youngest members as of now, by birthdate:

Gary Carter………………April 8, 1954
Andre Dawson …………July 10, 1954
Dennis Eckersley ……..Oct. 3, 1954
Ozzie Smith……………..Dec. 26, 1954
Robin Yount …………….Sept. 16, 1955
Paul Molitor …………….Aug. 22, 1956
Eddie Murray …………..Feb. 24, 1956
Wade Boggs ……………June 15, 1958
Rickey Henderson ……Dec.25, 1958
Ryne Sandberg ………..Sept. 18,1959
Tony Gwynn …………..May 9, 1960
Cal Ripken Jr…………..Aug. 24, 1960
Roberto Alomar ………Feb. 5, 1968

Three guys from the ’60s so far, but Gwynn and Ripken are older than Barack Obama, so that’s not so shocking anymore. Alomar’s a different story.

Also, other than Dennis Eckersley, I remember all of these guys as rookies, since I started following the sport at age 7. I think Eckersley may have come up in ’74, the year before I became a fan. [ADDENDUM: Wrong. Eckersley came up in ’75. Gary Carter was the one who debuted in ’74, so I guess I didn’t see him as a rookie, but Eckersley I must have known of him.]