Paul Sullivan: A man of few words, Harold Baines let his bat do the talking — all the way to the Hall of Fame
CHICAGO - Harold Baines was getting ready to throw the ceremonial first pitch before a White Sox game a couple of weeks ago, standing alone on the field behind home plate.
I asked Baines if he was getting excited about his upcoming Hall of Fame induction.
"Not yet," he replied. "When it happens, I'll let you know."
It's going to happen, he knew, but he wasn't sure when. Showing emotion has never been Baines' thing, as most Sox fans know.
But when Baines steps onto that stage Sunday in Cooperstown, N.Y., and starts delivering his speech - one he probably never thought he would give after the Baseball Writers' Association of America soundly rejected him in Hall of Fame voting - the emotions finally will hit him and hit him hard.
"I told him he was going to cry," said Frank Thomas, his former teammate and fellow Hall of Famer. "He's like, 'No, no, no.' I said, 'Yeah, you're going to cry. It's been a long time coming, and you're going to start thinking about your family, and your father isn't here, just like mine wasn't (when Thomas was inducted in 2014). It's going to be tough.'
"His dad was big behind him playing baseball, and once you achieve this mountain, you wish all the people who helped you get there were here, but he's
