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2014 Cincinnati Gameday HQ

GAMEDAY HQ: Has your being selected to the Hall of Fame sunk in yet? TOM GLAVINE: I guess it has somewhat. It’s not like I think about it every day but occasionally there are times where something will make me think about it or I’ll have a conversation and I’ll start to realize what happened. In terms of getting comparisons to guys that I played with or played against, I’m okay with that but when you start hearing the comparisons to like Sandy Koufax or guys of that era that were a little bit more of ‘the untouchable’ to me, that is a little bit hard to get my head around. GDHQ: Was it nice to get such a mandate by the voters in your first year of eligibility? GLAVINE: It was. I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention leading up to the balloting but you’re aware of some of the arguments for and against. I think for me, more than anything, as crazy and as fickle as the voting has been the last few years and Craig Biggio not getting in last year or this year, it kind of gives you that sense of, ‘Well, you never know.’ That was kind of my approach just from a sanity standpoint. I had myself prepared for not getting in. Having said that, I would have been disappointed had I not gotten in this year simply because, obviously, it means a lot to get in on the first ballot but also, I was confident that Greg Maddux was going to get in, so knowing that Bobby Cox and Greg were going to go in, I certainly wanted the opportunity to go in with those two guys. I felt reasonably good about my resume, so to speak, but you just never know. I have to admit if I did get in I was thinking my vote was going to be more in the 80 percentile than it was the 90 percentile. So I was thrilled to see that number. GDHQ: Do you think the time between your retirement and the voting gave people time to realize you were better than you may have been given credit for during your career? GLAVINE: I think so. I was not one of those guys that was going to wow anybody and I think much like you would probably look at my years, that’s probably how a lot of people looked at my career. What I mean is, you would go to the ballpark and watch me pitch and nothing was going to enamor you with what I did. But the next thing you know, hopefully you’re going to look up and go, ‘Wow, it’s the seventh inning and he hasn’t really given up many runs or many hits.’ It’s the same thing with my numbers from year to year. Obviously, people knew my name but I think a lot of times it was the kind of thing you’d look at my numbers at the end of the year and people would go, ‘Oh, wow. He had a really good year!’ That in large part was because of my style of pitching—not being a strikeout guy, not being the high-velocity guy. So I think there was probably some of that. Then people took the time to look at my career and my overall numbers. Add in the offensive era—whether it be the juiced ball or the juiced players, whatever the case may be—I think it probably gave people even more of an appreciation for what I was able to do. SCOTT CUNNINGHAM/GETTY IMAGES SPORT THE SPORTING NEWS GDHQ: What does it mean going in with Greg and Bobby? GLAVINE: It’s a big deal. Like I said, I would have been disappointed had I not had the opportunity. To have the opportunity to go in is a big deal. To have the opportunity to go in with a guy that I played for so long and a guy that I played with for so long, makes what is already a special and unbelievable


2014 Cincinnati Gameday HQ
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