TERRE HAUTE — If the Baseball Hall of Fame operated like the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame, Doug Allison would have a plaque hanging on the wall in Cooperstown.
And if you just said, “Who the heck’s Doug Allison?” then obviously your opinion concerning the history of the national pastime does not — in a purely imperial sense — mean squat. Allison, of course, pioneered the use of gloves in the major leagues. Not batting gloves or sliding gloves, but actual, honest-to-God catching gloves — mitts.
For the uninformed, back when Allison played for the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1870, men were men. They played bare-handed, even catchers like Allison. The only people wearing gloves at baseball games were women in the crowd. That is, until Doug Allison changed the game forever. He’d apparently taken one too many foul tips off his finger tips and donned buckskin mittens to protect his wounded hands. Understandably, the other big leaguers branded Allison a sissy. But in just a few years, anti-glovism faded, macho minds opened, and every player from the pros to the sandlots proudly wore a padded mitt (the manly abbreviation for “mitten”).
There would be no Golden Glove Awards if not for Doug Allison. A gloveless Willie Mays probably would’ve dropped Vic Wertz’s fly ball in the 1954 World Series if not for Doug Allison.
Yet, he is not enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Apparently, his career statistics — a .271 batting average, two homers and 140 RBIs — were not enough to sway the voters.
But if Allison had been a musician instead of ballplayer, he’d probably be in the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame.
How else can average Americans view the Rock Hall’s 2008 group of nominees? Those rock ’n’ roll legends include the Beastie Boys (remember “You Gotta Fight for the Right to Party”?), Madonna (whose best rock song was, uh, you know, er …) and disco diva Donna Summer (“She Works Hard for the Money”). Also nominated are a couple of pioneer acts who influenced other artists and inspired new genres — Afrika Bambaataa (electro funk), Chic (jazz funk), and Leonard Cohen (folk rock).
And then there are three acts who actually put songs on the rock charts — The Dave Clark Five, The Ventures, and a guy named John Mellencamp. Like The Dave Clark Five (who liked to play their 17 Top 40 hits really loud), Mellencamp has been nominated before, twice, without getting in.
If there is any justice in our nation, Mellencamp will accept his induction at the March 10, 2008, ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Five-hundred music insiders will vote. Mellencamp, a Hoosier who boldly blends middle-America virtues with open-mindedness in his music, may seem like a no-brainer. But, then, look at the list of nominees, and then look at the performers who didn’t even get a nomination — Metallica, Sting and Don Henley.
Chic but not Metallica?
If Mellencamp fans are worried, the manager of a Web site that analyzes the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame’s selection process offers hope.
Mellencamp “is one of the true rock ’n’ roll guys on the ballot this year,” Neil Walls, creator of futurerockhall.com, said by telephone Monday. “I think it would be strange not to have somebody that plays guitar get in this year.”
Amen. Actually, there should be a minimum of one guitar-playing inductee per class. As one of Mellencamp’s numerous radio classics implores: “Play Guitar.”
Without Mellencamp, that show on March 10 will be pretty bizarre.
“You kind of have to think of the induction ceremony,” Walls said. “Who’s going to perform?”
The Dave Clark Five disbanded 37 years ago, and its namesake leader is now 64. The Ventures — God bless ’em — are in their 70s. So, if anyone plans on hearing good, old rock ’n’ roll that night, the Hall better punch “John Mellencamp” on their ballots.
“They really do need Mellencamp to put on a good show,” Walls said. “I don’t know if the voters take that into account, [but] I do think this is Mellencamp’s year.”
It should be. He deserves Hall of Fame status, and not just because he can give them a good show next March in New York. Mellencamp has mixed ’60s R&B;, folk, rock and country seamlessly into his songwriting. The results are classic tunes such as “Small Town,” “Hurts So Good” and “Cherry Bomb,” featuring lyrics that make you grin and think. He’s unafraid to venture into volatile emotions. Mellencamp’s opposition to President Bush and the Iraq war earned him boos and cheers back home in Indiana, and his upcoming, yet untitled album is expected to feature a song about the Jena 6 racial episode in Louisiana. He also embraced the plight of American farmers as a co-founder of the Farm Aid concerts, which began 22 years ago.
Critics who dismiss him as a Bruce Springsteen clone haven’t studied Mellencamp deeply enough.
“I’ve heard the knock that he’s Springsteen-like,” Walls said. “He had that tag put on him early in his career, and that’s really not fair. If everybody had to live up to what The Beatles, the Stones and The Who did, they would’ve closed the Rock Hall years ago.”
Walls doesn’t bash the Hall’s nominating committee or its voters, and insists those industry veterans “know the history of rock.” He also emphasized the Beastie Boys deserve induction, given their longevity and iconic punk-rock status. Walls does, though, concede the Hall of Fame selections may reflect a bias toward East and West coast acts, rather than those from the Heartland. (Voters turned down Lynyrd Skynyrd six times before the guys who crafted “Freebird” earned induction last year.)
“There’s definitely kind of a coastal bias,” Walls said, “but that’s true of pop culture in general.”
Mellencamp hinted at that in a 2005 interview with the Tribune-Star. “We’re [considered to be] just a bunch of hillrods,” Mellencamp said of Hoosiers and Midwesterners.
“And that’s why you’ve got [Michigan native] Bob Seger going through nine years of being passed over before he gets elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” he said. “And they put the Fuzzy Snakes in because they had one hit 25 years ago that some New York critic loved.”
We may be hillrods, but we’re smart enough to wear baseball gloves, and we know good rock ’n’ roll when we hear it.
Put Mellencamp in the Hall.
Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.
Mellencamp concert
• John Mellencamp, with opening band Los Lobos, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26 in Hulman Center, and $40 tickets remain available. Those can be purchased at the Hulman Center Box Office or through Ticketmaster at (812) 234-2424 or www.ticketmaster.com.
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