Former Law School Faculty Member Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as a Player [UPDATED]

I am pleased to report that Minnie Minoso has finally been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, making him the only former member of a law school faculty in Cooperstown (and making Northwestern the only law school faculty represented by a player in the Hall). Minnie was represented by Dennis Ferrazzano, who was the William H. Trumbull lecturer and adjunct professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law from 1979 to 1999 (and was awarded the Robert Childres Memorial Teaching Award in 1985).  Dennie brought Minnie to several of the student-faculty softball games in the 1980s, and we voted him an honorary member of the faculty instanter. As it was with the White Sox and other MLB teams, his performance was legendary. The adjoining photo is from 1987.

Orestes “Minnie” Minoso (1925-2015) was one of the great players in major league baseball. He was the first Black player on the White Sox in 1951 (two years before Ernie Banks broke the color line on the Cubs) and the first Black Latino player in the major leagues in 1949. You can read more about him here, here, and here. He had a lifetime batting average of .299 and played in nine All-Star Games (in seven seasons). He had over 2000 hits and over 1000 RBI. He was hit by pitches 16 times in his first season (a shameful statistic that shows what he had to endure, in addition to name calling by opposing players). 

Minoso began his professional career in Cuba, and then played for the New York Cubans in the Negro League for two years. He was signed by Cleveland in 1948, and played in MLB in five separate decades, mostly for the White Sox, making his last plate appearance with the White Sox in 1980 (before retiring and playing for the NULS Faculty All-Stars).

There may be HOF managers and executives who have taught law school classes, but I believe Minoso is the only player ever voted onto a law school faculty.

UPDATE: It turns out that Hank Greenberg was briefly appointed our honorary dean for the 1960 softball game -- recruited by then-3L Jerry Reinsdorf (not yet the owner of the Bulls and White Sox). So it turns out that we have two former faculty members in the Hall of Fame.

Comments

[PaulB]

Talk about having a ringer on your team!

[Doug Sylvester]

Bud Selig has been on the faculty of ASU Law since 2015 (i think) as Distinguished Professor of Sports & Society. I believe he has also taught at the faculties of Wisconsin Law and Marquette Law for, perhaps, an even longer time.

[Steve L.]

Thanks, Doug.

[Doug Sylvester]

Players though...i read your post...

[Walt Camp]

More law-related sports trivia:

"Whizzer" White played football at Colorado, finishing as a runner-up for the Heisman Trophy and graduating Phi Beta Kappa and a Rhodes Scholar. Drafted in the first round of the NFL draft he played three years for the Pittsbrugh Pirates and later the Detroit Lions while attending Yale Law School. He led the league in rushing in two of those years. He then clerked for Justice Fred Vinson. Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Oh yes, in 1962 JFK appointed him to the U.S. Supreme Court