Josh Rawitch Q&A: Hall of Fame president discusses Dave Parker's induction and more

BRADENTON, Fla. — Josh Rawitch watched in amazement how becoming a Hall of Famer touched Jim Leyland, from the tears in his eyes upon arriving and meeting the staff in Cooperstown, N.Y., to getting choked up while delivering his induction speech.

As president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum since 2021, Rawitch has a hand in almost every moment — except for election — and cherishes his position in honoring the game’s all-time greats.

After dining with Leyland, the former Pittsburgh Pirates manager who entered the Hall last summer, the night before in Lakeland, Rawitch visited LECOM Park on Friday for the Pirates-Tampa Bay Rays game.

“You can see how much it means to him. This guy still can’t believe that he’s in the Hall of Fame,” Rawitch said. “There are times when he pinches himself that this is happening. When you see Hall of Famers that it means that much to them, that’s when you realize how important the Hall of Fame is to the game of baseball.”

Rawitch took time to sit down for a Q&A session with TribLive Pirates beat writer Kevin Gorman to discuss the July 27 induction of Dave Parker, who was elected in December by the 16-member Classic Baseball Era Committee, and other Hall of Fame topics.

What does it mean to add Dave Parker, whose exclusion was viewed as an injustice and whose induction is considered overdue?

Pittsburgh fans certainly are incredibly knowledgeable and supportive baseball fans, so somebody like Dave Parker — who was such a massive part of that city — is going to drive a lot of people to Cooperstown. … We’re excited for Dave. He said on the night he got elected that he’s been working on his speech for 15 years.

What was the discussion like to determine which team’s baseball cap Parker would wear?

We work with the player to understand if they do have a preference, but it’s also important for us to be historically accurate. So, to use an example, if Dave had come to us and said, “I want to wear a Brewers cap,” it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

How about the Reds, given that he’s from Cincinnati and played there?

Certainly, but we wanted it to be historically accurate. So, when you talk about where his MVP and World Series and kind of biggest contributions were, I think Pittsburgh certainly made sense. It’s very rarely a conversation that requires a whole lot of — I don’t know what the right word is — finagling? You want to make sure that you’re doing right by the player. At the same time, we’ve got to be historically accurate. That’s what we are. We’re a museum.

I was not on that particular call, but my understanding is there wasn’t a lot of conversation that made sense. It’s not intended to offend other cities. Like with Jim Leyland (who didn’t have a team on his cap), he mentioned that he won the World Series in one place (Florida Marlins), went to two World Series in another (Detroit Tigers) and turned around the Pirates franchise. In that case, it made sense to do it the way we did.

Which cap will Parker wear? Gold with black brim? Pillbox hat with stripes and Stargell stars? Or traditional black with the gold P?

We like that to be a surprise. The player doesn’t get to see it until I literally walk over and show them the plaque on stage. We work with the sculptor (Matthews Architectural Products, in Pittsburgh), so there’s only a handful of people aware of what photo we’re working off of. You can take some guesses but we’re excited for fans to see it for the first time on the 27th.

How special is that for you, seeing the unveiling of the plaque during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony?

It’s literally as the commissioner is reading their plaque. We bring it out from backstage. They’ve never seen it. It’s nuts. I’ve been fortunate enough to see 10-15 guys at this point, and you walk over and you’re seeing the look on their face. Usually, they’ve got this big grin because they’re seeing how they’re going to be remembered for eternity. Think about some of the guys who got inducted 85 years ago, people still walk in and see that same thing that we put up in 1939. It is a very special moment. Our foundry is in Pittsburgh. We use Matthews, so that’s another great Pittsburgh tie — that a local plaque maker is going to make a plaque for a Pirates Hall of Famer.

How have the Era Committees choices changed the Hall of Fame voting dynamic in going from a small Hall to a bigger Hall?

From our standpoint, what matters most is that we’re honoring basically the top 1% of who played. We don’t want to see mass amounts of people inducted because we think it’s really important that this be incredibly exclusive. But the purpose of the Era Committee is to make sure that if the Baseball Writers (Association of America) didn’t elect somebody that that group believes belongs in there, that we get that second vote.

What it seems like we often see, if you’re the best at your position and you’re dominant for a certain period of time, you tend to earn the vote of either the writers or the Era Committee voters. I fully expect that 50 years from now it will look totally different than it does right now. Our goal is to just keep documenting it. We don’t ever want to drive what makes somebody a Hall of Famer. The people that have the vote should have the vote. Our job is just to document it once someone elects you.

How hard is it to make a case for someone who died a long time ago, like former Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh (who received three votes, nine short of the necessary 75%)?

His Era Committee (pre-1980) is every three years. What we try to do is make sure people get reviewed. Once they’ve been reviewed several times, it’s important to make sure we also get new people on the ballot. I want to say my first year here, in 2021, was when he was on the ballot. I know the Pirates put on a campaign for him. What’s interesting is how people will be on a ballot and not get support then a few years later they come back and maybe they’re elected. You never want to give up hope for somebody, but it is supposed to be hard. That’s not to say Danny Murtaugh doesn’t belong, but pretty much anybody whose name falls into “they should be elected,” they’re basically in the top 2% of everybody who played or managed the game. Unfortunately, we only honor the top 1%. The plaque gallery is what most people talk about but the actual museum has 40,000 artifacts, most of which are not from Hall of Famers. They’re from everyday big leaguers, coaches, managers, fans. That’s really what we’re trying to do. It is not hard for me to walk around and explain.

You’re wearing a National Baseball Hall of Fame quarter-zip. How much is that a conversation starter, and what’s the request that you get most often while spending a day at different ballparks?

When you have the logo on, people want to tell you their memory either of going to Cooperstown, who they think should be in, who isn’t or, quite often, “I’ve been meaning to go there forever and I just haven’t.” I always say, “Take it off your bucket list and put it on your to-do list.” It never disappoints. The people that go there walk away blown away by what this place is, because it’s not just a gallery of plaques. It’s a baseball museum — and amazing golf course, and there’s a lake and all of this great stuff. It’s absolutely a conversation starter. When I walk into a clubhouse, they may not necessarily know me but they know what’s on my shirt. And that says a lot about 85-plus years of history.

What would you recommend a Pirates fan see?

We actually have what’s called “The Starting Nine” for all 30 teams. When a Pirates fan walks in, you’re going to be greeted at the base of the stairs and they’re going to ask you for your favorite team. If you’re a Pirates fan, we’re going to hand you (a list of) nine of these really unique artifacts. It’s not necessarily the best, but it’s really cool stuff from the franchise that you can go wander around and try to find. In our new exhibit that opened last year, the “Souls of the Game,” a tribute to Black baseball, has a picture of Dave Parker in his T-shirt about Me and the Boys Boppin’. All 30 teams have their own locker on the third floor, and it’s basically the last 10 years or so of more recent artifacts. We just got Paul Skenes to donate his cap from the All-Star Game last year. History happens tonight, it happened last night and our job is to keep documenting it, so when a multigenerational family comes, the grandfather or grandmother can see something they love, the parents can see something they love and the grandkids can see something they just recently saw happen.

How do you curate the game’s history without a Barry Bonds plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame?

For us, it’s important whether someone has a plaque or not in the gallery, elected by the writers or the Era Committee, that if they played a significant role in baseball history, we are making sure we’re documenting that. Whether it’s Pete Rose, whether it’s Barry Bonds or whether it’s Shoeless Joe (Jackson), there’s all sorts of people who don’t have plaques in the gallery but they had an impact on the game and will continue to be seen by fans who show up in Cooperstown all the time.

Is it difficult to say you have the best 1% when some of the 1% doesn’t have plaques?

We look at it as whoever gets elected, be it by the Baseball Writers or the Era Committee, we’re going to honor those people. If the Era Committee came back this December and announced they are electing three or four new people that aren’t in there right now, we would absolutely (honor them). The Era Committee usually has about six or seven Hall of Famers, four or five executives and four or five historians. It’s a really simple process. The name comes up in the room, everybody shares their opinion, and we do that eight times and everybody votes. There’s not really any crazy, secretive way it happens. We believe everybody gets a fair shake. Anybody that comes up with 12 votes (out of 16) in that room gets honored in July.

Would you enjoy being baseball’s version of David Baker, the former Pro Football Hall of Fame president and CEO who knocked on doors to deliver the news?

What I really think is that moment is not about the person delivering the news; it’s about the person getting the news. To me, the worst thing you can do is make it about yourself.

But if David Baker knocked on your door, you knew you were a Hall of Famer.

I love that when Jane (Forbes Clark, the chairperson of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum board of directors) makes that phone call, her grandfather (Stephen Carlton Clark) started the Hall of Fame. So, for the Era Committee, you’re hearing from the granddaughter of the creator of this Hall of Fame. That, to me, is the same sort of thing as the knock on your door. And for (BBWAA secretary-treasurer) Jack O’Connell, he’s been doing it now for 80-something guys over 20-something years of doing this. For us, the gravitas moment comes when you look at the phone and you see that it literally says “Cooperstown” because now you have caller ID. It’s not just a 607 number. And that call is made from inside my office. There’s nothing really quite as cool as seeing that job. Nothing about this job ever seems real for someone who grew up a baseball fan.