HARRIS COUNTY - HSA INSIDER
A weekly look at all things Houston sports from the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority: The Houston sports Hall of Fame
Patti Smith
May 18, 2018, 6:00 am
A rendering of the Houston Sports Hall of Fame at Green Street downtown. Courtesy Harris County-Houston Sports Authority
The Harris County – Houston Sports Authority Insider will take you inside Houston Sports each Friday because #WeAreHoustonSports!
Back in February, it was the exclamation point to a star-studded night celebrating the best athletes and moments in Houston sports.
With legendary 34s Nolan Ryan, Earl Campbell and Hakeem Olajuwon still taking bows as the event’s headline honorees, emcee Bill Worrell dropped the news about the creation of the Houston Sports Hall of Fame – an announcement a very few people in room – in fact in the entire city – knew was coming.
Fast forward three months to today when the Harris County – Houston Sports Authority, in partnership with Midway and Lionstone, is preparing to break ground on Phase One of the Hall on GreenStreet Promenade.
The event is set for June 4 at 3 p.m. and the actual groundbreaking will be open to the public. Prior to that, the first class of no-last-names-needed inductees – Nolan, Earl and Hakeem – will be presented with their Hall of Fame rings in a private ceremony.
Those rings – the latest bling for these multiple Hall of Famers – all have the No. 34 on them and were designed by Houston’s Fred Cuellar of Diamond Cutters International. Each one is unique to the player, team and sport.
Earl’s with be trimmed with Columbia blue stones for the Houston Oilers’ team colors, while Hakeem’s will be Houston Rockets red and Nolan’s will have Houston Astros orange. Nolan’s and Earl’s will have some gold trim, while Hakeem’s will have platinum. His Muslim faith does not allow him to wear gold.
In case you’re wondering, Hakeem’s long slim fingers mean he has the smallest ring at size 11. Nolan wears a 14 and Earl is a size 20.
Mayor Sylvester Turner and other city officials will be on hand to honor the inaugural inductees and help break ground on the Walk of Fame. Each inductee will have his own plaque along the Walk, which runs from the House of Blues through the GreenStreet Promenade.
"It's incredible what this will mean to all Houstonians,’’ said Harris County-Houston Sports Authority CEO Janis Burke. “This will outlive us all as a way to honor some of the greatest athletes ever to play their respective sports. And the proximity to Minute Maid Park, Toyota Center and the George R. Brown Convention Center will allow visitors from all over the world to honor them as well.''
The Walk is simply the first phase of the new Hall of Fame. Additional phases will have interactive components as well as LED displays.
The final phase will be the an actual interior space for the Hall of Fame and the Hall’s first exhibit will be the 8-foot paintings by Houston’s Opie Otterstad of each member of the inaugural class which were unveiled at the Houston Sports Awards.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
With the Astros now officially ten games under .500 for the season, manager Joe Espada is taking a lot of heat from the fanbase for the team's struggles.
While we don't agree with the sentiment, we even hear fans clamoring for the return of Dusty Baker and Martin Maldonado, thinking the Astros wouldn't be in this mess if they were still here.
Which is ridiculous. First of all, Maldonado has been awful for the White Sox, hitting .048 (even worse than Jose Abreu's .065). And for those of you that think his work with the pitching staff justifies his pathetic offense. Let me say this: Where was Maldy's game calling genius for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Framber Valdez last year? All of them regressed significantly.
And as far as Baker is concerned, we have no idea how much a difference he would make, we can only speculate. Baker would also be dealing with a pitching staff ravaged with injuries. And let's not forget, Baker was the guy that refused to move Jose Abreu down in the batting order, even though he would finish the regular season with the ninth-worst OPS in baseball.
The reality of the situation is managers can only do so much in baseball. Which leads us to something else that needs to be considered. Is Espada being handcuffed by the front office? Espada and GM Dana Brown both said recently that Jon Singleton was going to get more at-bats while they give Abreu time off to try to figure things out. Yet, there Abreu was in the lineup again in the opening game of the Cubs series.
It makes us wonder how much power does Espada truly have? The Astros have some other options at first base. Yainer Diaz may only have eight games played at the position, but how much worse could he be than Abreu defensively? Abreu already has four errors, and Diaz is obviously a way better hitter. Victor Caratini isn't considered a plus offensive player, but his .276 batting average makes him look like Babe Ruth compared to Abreu. Let him catch more often and play Diaz at first. Starting Diaz at first more often could also lengthen his career long-term.
Maybe that's too wild of a move. Okay, fine. How about playing Mauricio Dubon at first base? I understand he doesn't have much experience at that position, but what's the downside of trying him there? If he can play shortstop, he can play first base. He's driving in runs at a higher rate (11 RBIs) than everyone on the team outside of Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. And he's producing like that as part-time player right now.
The other criticism we see of Espada is his use of Jon Singleton to pinch hit late in games. Let's be real, though, who else does Espada have on the roster to go to? Batting Abreu late in games in which you're trailing should be considered malpractice. Espada can only use who he has to work with. This all really stems from the Astros poor farm system.
They don't have anyone else to turn to. The draft picks the club lost from the sign-stealing scandal are really hurting them right now. First and second rounders from 2020 and 2021 should be helping you in 2024 at the big league level.
Maybe they go to Astros prospect Joey Loperfido soon, but after a hot start he has only two hits in his last six games.
Finally, we have to talk about what seems like a committee making baseball decisions. Lost in a committee is accountability. Who gets the blame for making poor decisions?
As time continues to pass it looks like moving on from former GM James Click was a massive mistake. He's the guy that didn't sign Abreu, but did trade Myles Straw (recently DFA'd) for Yainer Diaz and Phil Maton. He also built an elite bullpen without breaking the bank, and helped the club win a World Series in 2022.
The reality of the situation is Dusty Baker and James Click are not walking back through that door. And all good runs come to an end at some point. Is this what we're witnessing?
Don't miss the video above as we hit on all the points discussed and much more!
Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan. We drop two episodes every week on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel. You can also listen on Apple Podcast, Spotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.