DATE: Monday, July 28, 1997                 TAG: 9707260813

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ALAN HUBBARD, SPECIAL TO PILOT ONLINE 

                                            LENGTH:   67 lines

CLICK RIGHT INTO THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTION RITES

On Sunday, the Baseball Hall of Fame welcomes its Cooperstown class of 1997: Phil Niekro, Nellie Fox, Willie ``Devil'' Wells and Tommy Lasorda.

The quartet, whose induction will raise the membership in the Baseball Hall of Fame to 232, have solid credentials: A pitcher with 318 wins; one of the top fielding second basemen of all time, who also batted .288 and was the 1959 American League MVP; arguably the premier shortstop of the Negro Leagues, who also served as a manager; and a major league manager who won four pennants and two World Series in 21 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

This week, baseball fans will converge on the otherwise sleepy village of Cooperstown, N.Y., to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. And fans will converge on the Web as well. If you're thinking of going this week, click to get details on how to attend the ceremony and Monday's Hall of Fame Game between the Dodgers and Padres.

But a lot of the Hall, open since 1939, can be seen with a click of the mouse. Get career stats on the members. Visit the museum store. Read the official statement concerning Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose, two of the game's greatest players, barred from induction because they were linked to betting on the game.

Back to the 1997 inductees for a minute. Many fans and pundits wonder: Why these four? Are there more deserving players and managers?

To answer the second question first: Probably. With a 318-274 (.537) record, 3.35 ERA and 3,342 strikeouts in 24 seasons (1964-87), Niekro, the only player elected by the Baseball Writers' Association of America this year, posted better numbers than many who preceded him into the Hall. But look at Don Sutton, who finished second to Niekro in the balloting: 324-256 (.559), 3.26 ERA and 3,574 strikeouts in 23 seasons (1966-88). Sutton's stats are better than across the board; yet, he received 346 votes compared to the knuckleballer's 380, missing election by nine votes.

Lasorda was 1,599-1,439 (.526) as the Dodger manager. Contrast that to Frank Selee, who was 1,284-862 (.598) as the manager of the Boston Beaneaters and Chicago Cubs from 1890-1905.

That leaves Fox and Wells. Because of his all-around talent, Fox led the field among second basemen, and Wells - ``El Diablo'' - was perhaps the best Negro Leagues player not previously admitted. The Negro Leagues site profiles Wells, and in this 50th anniversary season of Jackie Robinson's debut in the majors, is likely enjoying more hits than ever. The organization's own museum is in Kansas City, Mo.

Now why these four? Simply because they received 75 percent or more of the vote from the baseball writers or the Committee on Baseball Veterans.

The Veterans Committee is a panel of former players, front office personnel and media - Yogi Berra, Monte Irvin, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Pee Wee Reese, Buzzie Bavasi, Buck O'Neil, Hank Peters, Bill White, Bob Broeg, Ken Coleman, Jerome Holtzman, Leonard Koppett and Allen Lewis. It gathers, reminisces, kicks around a few names, votes and then orders another round. This committee is conspicuous in accepting no e-mail. But both the writers and veterans groups can be checked out at the Hall site. Major League Baseball, the ruling body of baseball, may not have a commissioner, but it certainly has a Web site. There is a wealth of game and team-by-team information, features, a video archive and updated stats here.

The Sporting News Web site is a comprehensive site of news, features, stats, chats and games.

All 28 major league clubs, as well as the in-the-works Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks expansion clubs, have their own Web sites - run a search engine for your favorite. Many teams in the minors do too, including our Norfolk Tides.

PILOT ONLINE: The Tides' season is archived in game stories and features at www.pilotonline.com on the Sports page. Major league stories and links to the AP Wire's baseball coverage are also there.

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