Harry Dalton Should be Headed to Cooperstown

I am not unbiased on this topic--I grew up in Milwaukee and went to school with Harry Dalton's children. His daughter Debbie was in my grade and was a good friend and is a great person.

Dalton was the best GM the Brewers EVER had. His tenure from 1977-1991 is the longest in Brewers history. He brought the city of Milwaukee an AL Pennant in 1982. He built the Baltimore Orioles teams of the 1960s & 1970s. He helped build the California Angels teams in the 1970s. When Bud Selig fired Dalton in 1991 and replaced him with Sal Bando, it was one of the worst moves Bud ever made as Brewers owner. The team has yet to recover.

Dalton was known for making the big trades. He was was the one that brought Frank Robinson to Baltimore. The great manager Earl Weaver too. In December 1980, he engineered an historic trade with St. Louis GM Whitey Herzog resulted in both the Brewers and Cardinals going to the World Series 2 years later. The trade saw 7 players switch teams: Sixto Lezcano-OF (my favorite player as a small child), Dave LaPoint-SP, Lary Sorenson-SP, and mega-prospect David Green-OF went to St. Louis in exchange for Ted Simmons-C, Pete Vukovich-SP, and Rollie Fingers-RP. Both Fingers and Vuk won Cy Youngs in 1981 and 1982 resoectively. Deep into the 1982 season, he traded for future Hall of Famer Don Sutton, a move which solidified the Brewer pitching staff. Sutton's win over the Orioles in Baltimore on the last day of the regular season clinched the AL East for the Brewers. (Incidentally, that was Weaver's last game as manager).

Though Dalton died in October 2005 at age 77, he is eligible for consideration for the Hall of Fame on the Veterans' Committee ballot. Though he didn't make it last month, he deserves serious consideration in the future. There also needs to be a big damn statue or bust of him at Miller Park if there isn't already. He deserves at least that much.