When Greatness Goes Unrecognized

As the Baby Boomer generation advances in years, we learn with increasing frequency of the passing of many of the people who were famous in our teens and 20s. Just this week, two bright stars who entertained me and millions of others way back then left this world. On Monday, Chuck Negron, one of the three lead singers in the band Three Dog Night, passed on at the age of 83. He was followed on Wednesday by Mickey Lolich, the long-time star pitcher of the Detroit Tigers and hero of the 1968 World Series, who was 85.

I don’t know if these two men ever met, but they have something significant in common. Despite highly impressive careers, neither one was elected to the Hall of Fame in their field. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland has baffled music fans for years by never inducting Three Dog Night into membership. Similarly, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, never enshrined Mickey Lolich.

Let me make the case for each of these stars being admitted to their respective HoF.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has long been perplexing in its decisions about whom to admit. One fails to detect any sort of pattern or fixed criteria for induction. To a white boomer like me, many of the inductees are total unknowns. Others — Patti Smith immediately comes to mind — are one-hit wonders. Granted, “Because the Night” was a gusty, catchy song, but the rest of her work lies far out of the mainstream and enjoyed little commercial success. I’m not arguing that commercial success should automatically get a singer or band into the Rock Hall, but to induct a one-hit wonder while shunning a musical act that cranked out hit after hit that kept them on the radio and filled performance venues year after year is baffling. Doesn’t music that has obvious mass appeal to millions count for something?

For those of you too young to remember Three Dog Night’s heyday, there were years when they sold more records than the Beatles, had more gold records than the Rolling Stones, and played to larger audiences than great bands like Creedence Clearwater Revival. Between 1969 and 1975, Three Dog Night had 21 consecutive songs in the Top 40. According to the latest AI online search, that remains a record.

Three of those hits rose to Number One — the amazingly original “Mama Told Me (Not To Come),” the ebullient “Joy to the World,” which probably has the most unique and memorable vocal opening in rock history (“Jeremiah was a bullfrog!”), and the mellow and melodic “Black & White.” Negron sang lead on “Joy to the World,” as well as on the band’s first hit, “One,” its second hit, “Easy To Be Hard” (from the soundtrack of the iconic ‘60s musical “Hair”) the sweet, easy-to-sing-along-to ”Just an Old-Fashioned Love Song,” among others.

To me, it is incomprehensible that Three Dog Night is not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The case for Mickey Lolich being in the Baseball Hall of Fame is a bit murkier, although I believe a strong case can be made.

As a lifelong Tigers fan, I’m undoubtedly biased, but those of us privileged to watch Mickey Lolich in his prime enjoyed watching a master craftsman dominate opposing batters. Lolich’s star shone most brightly from 1968 through 1975, and especially from 1969 through 1972, when he was a three-time All-Star and peaked at 25 wins, 308 strikeouts and 376 innings pitched, including 29 complete games, in 1971. With a pudgy belly and a slightly slouched posture, Lolich looked harmless enough — until he got on the pitchers’ mound and overwhelmed batters.

Lolich is still 23rd all-time on the career strikeouts list. He was the last pitcher to win three complete-game victories in the World Series, with his most famous game being the Game Seven victorious duel with the formidable Cardinals ace Bob Gibson. On that blessed day for us Tigers fans, Mickey (on only two days’ rest) and the Tigers prevailed, 4-1, to come back from a three games-to-one deficit to capture the 1968 championship. Indeed, complete games were Mickey Lolich’s calling card. Nearly 40 percent of his career starts — 195 — were complete games. That is unfathomable today when one considers that there were only 28 complete games last year spread over all of major league baseball’s 30 teams.

I suspect Lolich was not admitted to the Hall of Fame because some of his other career stats were near the borderline of what a “typical” Hall of Fame pitcher accumulated. I emphasize “some” of his stats. In the important modern stat WAR (Wins Above Replacement), Lolich’s score was higher than such well-known HoF pitchers as Lefty Gomez, Dizzy Dean, Bob Lemon, Catfish Hunter, and Jack Morris.

In fact, it is comparing Lolich’s record with Morris’ that is most intriguing. Morris was the first truly dominant starter for the Detroit Tigers after Lolich retired. Compared to Lolich, Morris had fewer complete games — 175 to 195, fewer shutouts — 28 to 41, and a significantly higher ERA (Earned Run Average) — 3.90 to 3.44. Morris’ won-lost percentage was higher (.577 vs. .532), but that was impacted by Lolich playing on weaker teams that had trouble scoring runs. Alas, no Hall of Fame for Mickey Lolich. The gatekeepers at Cooperstown have decided against it.

In closing, let me say that the ways of Hall of Fame selection committees are often inscrutable, and they lead to endless debates among fans. For whatever reasons, Chuck Negron and Mickey Lolich have not been enshrined in their respective Halls. But they have been enshrined in my personal Hall of Fame. To me, they were both stars of the first magnitude, and they provided loads of happy memories with their outstanding performances. Rest in Peace, men, and thank you!

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