Morris savors return to Cooperstown
Jack Morris wasn’t standing atop a pitching mound, like he did on a big league diamond for nearly 20 seasons, but he was surrounded by professionally manicured turf. And instead of gripping a baseball in his right hand, he held a putter with both while near the 18th green.
Morris, who was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2018, served as the celebrity host for the Pathfinder Village-Baseball Hall of Fame Golf Invitational on Sept. 15 at the Leatherstocking Golf Course in Cooperstown.
“You know, the older I get and the more I come back here, the more I feel comfortable around here,” said the 70-year-old Morris while sitting in a golf cart, with the sun shining and majestic Otsego Lake only steps away. “I am absolutely in love with this area in the fall. I was here a couple years ago in October, and that hillside over there was so beautiful. I’ve been lucky, with two days of absolutely perfect weather. It’s just gorgeous.
“I don’t think a lot of people across the country realize what an absolutely gorgeous place this can be in the fall.”
As for his own golf game, Morris admits to having his moments with the smaller, dimpled ball.
“Today, I’m just hanging out on the 18th, but I don’t play enough golf to improve. I’m OK with that,” he said with a smile. “I’m still an avid fisherman, and typically, I’d rather be on the lake fishing than golfing, because I know I can always catch more fish. I might not ever get better at golf.”
Morris pitched from 1977 to 1994, winning 254 games for the Tigers, with whom he spent 14 of his 18 seasons, as well as the Twins, Blue Jays and Indians. A 20-game winner on three occasions, his 162 wins during the decade of the 1980s led all major league pitchers. Morris, who made 14 Opening Day starts, was also a member of four World Series winning teams, including the 1984 Tigers, the 1991 Twins, and the 1992-93 Blue Jays, earning Fall Classic MVP honors in 1991 after pitching 10 shutout innings for Minnesota in Game 7 to beat the Braves.
After 15 seasons on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot, Morris was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Modern Baseball Era Committee as part of the Class of 2018.
“No matter what your age are, whether you get in on your first ballot and you’re still a relatively young person or you’re Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat or Jack Morris, where it takes a while to get in, I think the longer you’re here, the more comfortable you are and you appreciate it,” Morris said. “And by returning, we see the joy by listening to everybody else’s speeches in their induction year. And I think that’s just refreshing.
“I have tremendous respect for what this is and the way the Hall is run. And even though I didn’t make it on the writers’ ballot, and I went through 15 years of it, I still respected the process. I came to peace with the fact that you don’t always get what you want, or you think you deserve, and yet, in the end, I did. So, it’s just nothing but gratitude.”
Asked for a special memory from his own Hall of Fame induction, a ceremony that included Alan Trammell, Jim Thome, Chipper Jones, Trevor Hoffman and Vladimir Guerrero, Morris didn’t hesitate.
“I’m sure it was all special,” he said, “but I think the most special for me was to be able to share it with my family. My dad was still alive, and I was told he was the oldest family member attending somebody’s induction. He was 92 there and he made it to 96, so that was obviously special.”
Proceeds from the Sept. 15 golf event benefited both the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum as well as Pathfinder Village, a nearby residential community dedicated to children and adults with Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities.
“Incredible place,” said Morris, after visiting Pathfinder Village the previous day. “Those residents are special people that have a huge heart and just so positive all the time.
“I have a nephew with Down syndrome, so I’ve seen his life and what a great kid he is. I can call him a kid because he’s my nephew, but he’s in his 30s now. He’s in the same spot that a lot of the residents of Pathfinder are, but he brings me a lot of joy. I think they have a wonderful facility to go through their lives in. That’s why this is such a great cause.”
Bill Francis is the senior research and writing specialist at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
