[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: GEORGE W. BUSH (2001, Book I)]
[March 30, 2001]
[Pages 347-349]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Honoring Members of the Baseball Hall of Fame
March 30, 2001

    The President. Well, thank you very much. Laura and I are delighted 
to welcome you all to the people's house. The Vice President is delighted to welcome you to the people's house, 
too. [Laughter] This is an exciting day for my administration and all 
the baseball fans that live here in Washington.
    I first want to thank the commissioner for coming. Mr. 
Commissioner, it's good to see you 
again, sir. You're doing a great job in shepherding our national pastime 
through some pretty tough times. And I appreciate your leadership, and I 
appreciate your friendship.
    Speaking about Wisconsin, I'm glad to see my Cabinet Secretary is 
here. [Laughter] Thank you for coming, Tommy; and Mel Martinez, as well. I 
appreciate you all being here.
    We've got some huge fans, baseball fans here. Billy 
Crystal, I'm honored you're here. I appreciate 
the movie you're making. I'm looking forward to maybe getting to see it 
here in the White House. If you would let us do that, it would be such 
an honor.
    I don't know if Costas is here yet.
    Bob Costas. Here, Mr. President. [Laughter]
    The President. Where is he? [Laughter]
    Mr. Costas. Sometimes it's hard to see me, 
Mr. President. [Laughter]
    The President. Representing all the traditionalists in America. 
[Laughter]
    Secretary Abraham, I'm sorry--a fine 
Detroit Tiger fan. Congressman Boehlert, whose district is the Hall of Fame.
    I also want to thank Jane. It's good 
to see you again. I remember coming up to the induction ceremony when my 
friend Nolan Ryan got inducted. So your 
hospitality is great. And Dale, thank you for 
thinking of this.
    One of the great things about living here is, you don't have to sign 
up for a baseball fantasy camp--[laughter]--to meet your heroes. It 
turns out, they come here. [Laughter] I want to thank the players, the 
former players, the managers, and the wives who are here. I think we're 
going to have a great day.
    There are some familiar faces here, but none more beloved than Yogi 
Berra. Yogi's been an inspiration to me--
[laughter]--not only because of his baseball skills but, of course, for 
the enduring mark he left on the English language. [Laughter] Some in 
the press corps here even think he might be my speechwriter. [Laughter] 
I don't know if you know, Yogi, but I quoted you when I went to the 
Congress the other day to deliver my budget address: ``Relieved you made 
it. We were afraid you might have taken the wrong fork.''
    And of course, Big Texas here, and 
Ruth, thank you all for coming--friends of ours 
who remind us of glorious days we had in baseball. The reason I like to 
keep Nolan around is, he is a reminder that when we got done with the 
Sammy Sosa trade, there was still some talent 
left on the Rangers. [Laughter]
    But along with Nolan, we've got people like 
Sandy Koufax and Bunning and Ford and 
Gibson and Marichal, some of the greatest arms in the history of the game.

[[Page 348]]

Seeing all the pitchers here brings to mind Lefty Gomez's definition of 
a complete pitcher. They asked Lefty once to share his secret. He said, 
``It's easy: clean living and a fast outfield.'' [Laughter] And we had 
some pretty fast outfielders behind us, too.
    I'm sorry that Ted Williams couldn't be 
here today. One time I had the opportunity to watch a batting practice 
at an All-Star game, sitting right behind Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. 
For a baseball fanatic, it was an unbelievable moment. It might sound 
funny to you, but at that moment, I said, ``Well gosh, all three of us 
have something in common. We wanted to be big league stars. One of us 
peaked a little early.'' [Laughter]
    I know that we all join together in wishing Ted the very best as he 
struggles to overcome his illness.
    Five decades of baseball are represented here in the White House, 
from Bob Feller to Duke Snider to Dave Winfield to Robin 
Yount. I'm just a little biased toward those of 
you who played back in the fifties. It was my prime as a baseball card 
collector in the fifties.
    Monte Irvin is here. And I 
remember very clearly seeing him at the first baseball game I ever went 
to. He was standing in the Polo Grounds, I might add, on grass. Monte, 
you probably didn't see me because I was up in the stands with my Uncle 
Buck. But I'll never forget it. And as I recall, Red 
Schoendienst was there, as well. 
And gentlemen, if you're half as excited to be at the White House as I 
was that afternoon, I'm really glad to repay the favor.
    Everyone who loves baseball can remember the first time he saw the 
inside of a real Major League park, with real big league players. It 
stays with you forever, the greenness of the grass, the sight of Major 
Leaguers in uniform, the sound of big league swing meeting a big league 
pitch. And when you're a kid and you actually meet one of your baseball 
heroes or get an autograph on a ball, that's a big deal, too. It means a 
lot. Each one of the stars who are here has been a part of that. Each 
one has given that gift to millions of children for generations. And 
speaking for all of the millions of boys and girls, I say, thank you.
    When I was growing up, there were the Mantle kids--like 
Crystal and Costas--and 
there were the Mays kids. You'd think that with Mickey Mantle coming 
from Oklahoma, which is next door to where I was raised, that I would 
have been a Mantle kid. But no, for some reason I was a Mays kid, and I 
was really proud of it, by the way.
    Years later when I went to work with the Rangers, I got to meet both 
of those players and got to meet a lot of other good folks, like Nolan 
Ryan. And I began to appreciate what the life of 
a famous ballplayer is like, what a responsibility it is when so many 
youngsters look up to you. So much is expected of you, whether you're in 
uniform or not in uniform.
    It isn't always easy to be worthy of a kid's devotion or a 
teammate's trust. But the folks behind us tried. They were successful, 
and that's what made them great. Baseball isn't just in the stats, 
though of course, that's part of it. It isn't just the money. It really 
isn't who makes the Hall of Fame. As much as anything else, baseball is 
the style of a Willie Mays, or the determination of a Hank Aaron, or the 
endurance of a Mickey Mantle, the discipline of Carl Yastrzemski, the 
drive of Eddie Mathews, the reliability of a Kaline or a Morgan, the 
grace of a DiMaggio, the kindness of a Harmon Killebrew, and the class 
of Stan Musial, the courage of a Jackie Robinson, or the heroism of Lou 
Gehrig.
    My hope for the game is that these qualities will never be lost. 
Whatever else changes, even if the same nine innings run longer and the 
flyballs farther and the grass isn't always grass like it should be, 
those values are still what makes the boys and girls and the fans and 
players into legends.

[[Page 349]]

    In a small way, maybe we can help to preserve the best of baseball 
right here in the house that Washington built. After we moved in, I 
pointed out to a great baseball fan, the First Lady, that we've got a pretty good-sized backyard here. 
[Laughter] And maybe with the help of some groundskeepers, we can play 
ball on the South Lawn. She agreed, just so long as I wasn't one of the 
players. [Laughter] So, for the next four seasons, we're going to invite 
kids here from the area to play tee-ball on the South Lawn of the White 
House.
    And so, my congratulations are to not only the new crop of inductees 
of the Hall of Fame--Winfield, 
Puckett, to the family of Hilton Smith, 
and Bill Mazeroski--but congratulations to 
the Hall of Famers who have made the game what it is. It is such an 
honor for us to welcome you here. Thank you for coming, and I hope you 
enjoy the lunch as much as I know I'm going to.
    God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 11:46 a.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Major League Baseball Commissioner 
Allan H. ``Bud'' Selig; entertainer Billy Crystal; sportscaster Bob 
Costas; Jane Forbes Clark, chairman, and Dale Petroskey, president, 
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum; and Ruth Ryan, Nolan Ryan's 
wife.