By Benjamin Chase
From the Mound
“Do it for your people
Do it for your pride
Are you even gonna know
If you never even try?”
“Hall of Fame” – The Script
The Script frontman Danny O’Donoghue had lyrics for “Hall of Fame” and a basic outline of the song in his mind when he was selected as a judge for “The Voice UK” with will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas.
O’Donoghue talked with the rapper about a potential collaboration on the song, and in one studio session, nearly everything you hear in the single version of the song had been laid down and worked out, a remarkable “flow” in a recording session that is rarely achieved for musicians.
The song exploded internationally, but it struggled to gain traction in the United States, peaking at No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite that, the music video has been widely considered among the best produced in the past 20 years, and the song continues to be used by various sports and media entities.
The sports media world was turned upside down this week when a leak first mentioned that former quarterback Eli Manning would not make the NFL Hall of Fame this year, and then the bombshell dropped, within an hour of that announcement, that coach Bill Bellichek, in his first year of eligibility, did not receive enough votes for the Hall of Fame.
This followed two major sports media items related to my favorite team, the Atlanta Braves. First, former outfielder Andruw Jones was elected to the MLB Hall of Fame’s 2026 class. The second is that former Braves’ General Manager John Coppolella announced that he will be writing for Baseball America, one of the premium baseball publications/websites in existence.
The reason Jones and “Coppy” were stories is that they both had pretty notable downfalls from lofty positions.
Jones is widely considered the best to ever play center field in baseball. While comparing across eras is difficult for a lot of factors, the majority who saw both Willie Mays and Jones play center state that Jones was at least Mays’ equal in center, if not slightly better, and Mays has long been considered the career standard for center field defense.
So why did it take multiple attempts for Jones to be elected to the Hall of Fame?
Jones left the Braves after the 2007 season, turning 31 during that season. Injuries and lack of production plagued the rest of his major league time, which amounted primarily to backup outfielder duty for four teams over five seasons. Some voters stated his fall off in production was a reason not to vote him in, but he had accumulated 10 Gold Glove Awards and more than 350 home runs by the time he left Atlanta, and only five players in history had done that, so his place in history was already sealed.
What Andruw did off the field has received much more scrutiny after this announcement, but it also puts into the spotlight our own ideas of greatness and how we are informed on such.
In 2012, Jones was arrested for domestic violence. The story was headline-grabbing (the details can be found through any Google search, so they won’t be printed here), and many immediately changed their views on Jones. This is absolutely not to excuse the act, but Jones pled guilty to an alcohol-fueled incident and not only completed the community service he was sentenced to, but he has also voluntarily spoken at men’s groups about what he did wrong in an attempt to prevent it from happening to someone else.
Coppy was expelled from baseball in 2017 due to making illegal contracts and deals with teenage players in Latin America and draft picks while working as the Braves’ general manager. He was removed from the excluded list in 2023, but he has not worked directly with the game since. However, he has lectured at his alma mater, Notre Dame, on business ethics, speaking about his own missteps and the lessons that can be learned from those mistakes.
These two men were once considered “greats” in their fields. Now, as they re-enter the public eye, those who haven’t paid attention since the original issues are trying to hold them to the fire for ever making a mistake.
Here’s a quick news flash: you make mistakes, too.
Romans 3:23 (NIV) states that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Not some, not a few, all.
We all seek forgiveness when we do screw up. Yet, those who are in elevated positions in our society, when they make a mistake, we bring that out over and over as a way to judge someone.
Just because one person’s transgressions are in a more public light does not make them more guilty of committing the same (and even lesser) offenses than many of us have committed, or even still commit on a regular basis!
All-time baseball great Hank Aaron was once asked how he felt that thousands, and perhaps millions, of boys looked up to him as an example. He responded that he was honored, but that we need to lift up the garbage man, the police man, and the father of a boy to be his hero, not a ballplayer.
To return to Biblical scripture, the heroes of the Bible are all significantly flawed. David killed a man to take his wife. Moses killed a man before leading the Israelites. Paul witnessed and approved of the killing of multiple early Christians before his conversion and ministry.
Viewing greatness through perfection is always going to let you down, but what makes someone truly great is the ability to be knocked down or make a mistake, learn from it, and then move forward to not make that same mistake again.
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