Jack Morris joins Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor for the St. Paul Wing at the Hall of Fame

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – Jack Morris took center stage Sunday afternoon with more than 50,000 fans in front of him and a pair of St. Paul's baseball legends behind him.

Even though it is arguable that one of the two made him more nervous that day, Morris said he could not be more proud to join Dave Winfield and Paul Molitor as Aboriginal Peoples of St. Paul's Hall of Fame.

"I am delighted to join them both at Cooperstown as the third hall of the St. Paul family," said Morris at the end of his induction speech.

The three were born at age five from one to the other and a few kilometers from each other. Winfield, 66, Morris, 63, and Molitor, 61, made a name for themselves by growing up and playing ball in St. Paul. They were the best of the best, and whenever they walked on the diamond, the rest of the neighborhood kids knew it.
"Think about it," said Molitor, stopping thinking how crazy he is that the trio is now in the Hall of Fame "A very small geographical area that produced three players that are part of the" 39, immortality of baseball. "

Morris never played with Winfield as a kid, although he certainly heard about him. Winfield's reputation as the dominant pitcher for Central High School preceded it.

"He used to walk halfway up to the house and he grumbled like a dragon," Morris said. "It scared people.I remember seeing him play a game in American Legion when I was a kid.I went to a game at Dunning Field to watch it pitch, and I go, "It's different, I have not seen that."

Winfield continued to play for the University of Minnesota, with Morris and Molitor maintaining ballfields in St. Paul.

"We played against one another probably since the age of 12," Morris said of Molitor. "He was a great athlete and his reputation at the time when I was a kid was," There is the best player in our city there. "

They rarely played each other High School Park – Highland Park High School – Molitor at Cretin-Derham Hall Most of their battles took place during the American Legion's summer season.

"You knew it was going to be something because it was different from everyone at that time," says Molitor, noting that Morris was still a bit unfamiliar on the mound – with problems of control noted. "I remember that he hit a kid in our team with a throw." It was one of the ugliest things I'd seen at that level. "