Most professional sports teams have their own halls of fame, walls or rings of honors. Some organizations have physical spaces devoted to their halls while others have virtual halls. Inclusion varies by team and how members are selected and honored vary. Ultimately, the smarter teams have as many physical reminders of the honorees. Some ballparks don’t have the physical space to warehouse artifacts and statues.

The better halls of fame are fan-driven with some criteria on which to base eligibility. These halls are very personal to their fanbases, but also serve as historical snapshots for anyone interested in the game. Whenever possible, I try and visit a team’s HOF upon my first visit to the ballpark or city. That my knowledge of the game and interest in all things baseball, I appreciate the content-even if I am not a fan (see Reds and Cardinals).

The Reds and their HOF.museum are an example of doing it right. As they have a few regular HOF’ers, the rest of the position players from the Big Red Machine are well represented in gold. The story of that era can’t be told without mentioning Geronimo, Concepcion etal.

I don’t think any team-specific Hall makes mention of players entire careers, but rather, only the time with the specific team. In the grand scheme of things, a player may not have had an illustrious career, but he did have statistical import for the team.

The other day I learned of the Reds class of 2023. I can’t say that non-Reds fan could care about Gabe Paul’s inclusion as we think of his time with the Yankees if only for his dealings with George Steinbrenner.

Reliever Danny Graves was a nice pitcher for a few years, but didn’t put up spectacular numbers-his appeal was local and not national. Ergo, he’s an ideal candidate for this HOF. Older fans can share stories of Graves’ successes and failures with younger fans.

The highlight of this class is Bronson Arroyo. Fans outside of Cincy recognize the name and can probably recall his distinct look. I have remarked several times on the old site, how much I loved watching him pitch. The 6’3 right-handed pitcher with the high leg kick and long blond hair should have thrown really, really hard, but he didn’t. As many know, he strummed to the beat of a different artist. However, when he pitched for the Reds, he put up the numbers. He was also a member of the 2004 World Champion Red Sox.

His overall career numbers weren’t spectacular, but during his 8.5 seasons in Cincinnati, he was more than solid. What he did back in ’06-’13 would never happen in today’s game. In 7 of those 8 seasons, he exceeded 200 innings pitched and the 8th he pitched 199. Including that last, partial season (2017 after missing all of 15-16) he had a 108-100 record and 4.18 ERA in 279 starts with Cincinnati. A typical start would be a 3-run, 7 inning affair with one homer. I saw him shut teams down and get clobbered in other outings. He led all of baseball in hit batters, innings pitched and games started. In other years, he allowed the most home runs and earned runs, He did all of this with a certain panache. He was an integral part of a very unique rotation. In 2012, the Reds boasted four starters with 200+ innings (Arroyo, Johnny Cueto, Mat Latos and Homer Bailey) and a fifth, Mike Leake with 199 innings. Chew on those numbers for a minute. How many 200-inning starters will we have in 2023?

Congrats to each of the honorees, and if you ever make it to Great American Ballpark, check out the museum and HOF.