Ashburn’s long-awaited day and Day’s brief moment

Philadelphia Phillies icon Richie Ashburn – the game's best center fielder of his generation not named Willie, Mickey and the Duke – is elected by the Veterans Committee to the Hall of Fame 29 years ago today.

No player in baseball during the 1950s has more hits than Ashburn’s 1,875 – more than the aforementioned trio of Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider. Hall of Famers all, and all long before Ashburn finally gets his long-awaited call to the hall.

No center fielder, either, catches more fly balls during the ’50s than Ashburn, who nine times from 1949-58 leads all National League center fielders in putouts.

Only Mays in 1955 has more catches than Ashburn in center field with 399, and even that total is just six more than Ashburn’s 393 that season.

“I’m flattered that so many baseball people think I’m a Hall of Famer,” Ashburn says years after retiring in 1962, “but what’s hard to believe is how (many) people have changed their minds about me since I became eligible, because I haven’t had a base hit since then.”

Joining the 67-year-old Ashburn in the Hall of Fame’s special election for overlooked veterans is long-ago Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Vic Willis, whose pro career starts in 1895; former National League president William Hulbert; and Negro League pitcher-outfielder-second baseman Leon Day.

Ashburn, who spends nearly 50 years in Philadelphia first as an All-Star player and then a beloved broadcaster, enjoys his Hall of Fame status for only two years before dying of a heart attack late in the 1997 season.

The 78-year-old Day has even less time to celebrate as he, too, dies of a heart attack just six days after his election.

“It would mean a lot to me to get into the Hall of Fame,” Day says before his election, “to be grouped with some of the greatest players in history.”

Leon Day