'Don't use the word quit. You can adjust and we'll help you.That's not a good enough reason for quitting something you love,something you're good at. Hal's good people. He's respected in thisclubhouse, and I knew everybody would feel like I did.'
- Aaron Boone
Reds' third baseman when he met Hal
at spring training this year after
Hal said his eyesight might prevent
him from working.
'We love Hal. Guys in this clubhouse have reached out to Halbecause of who he is as a person. He's always fair in how he writes.He never makes the player look like a complete idiot, you know what Imean? And he writes it as he sees it.'
- Sean Casey
Reds' first baseman
'Hal is like the mailman: He delivers no matter what the climate.Baseball is one of the toughest beats in the business with thetravel, the deadlines and the clubhouse politics. Hal handles it likea pro, day in and day out. I admire him, I applaud him and most ofall I'm glad we're on the same staff, so I don't have to competeagainst him.'
-Tom Archdeacon
Dayton Daily News sports columnist
'I am so proud of him. His family is so proud of him. Thisceremony will be especially meaningful for all that he's beenthrough.'
-Nadine McCoy
Hal's wife
'There are many able reporters covering baseball. There are a fewexcellent writers. It's rare to find both attributes in one beatreporter. Hal McCoy is one such treasure. He is also fair. Tough attimes, but fair. As a result, he has earned the respect of those hecovers even when they don't always agree with what he writes. Theremay not be a more deserving Hall of Fame writer.'
-Paul Hagen
Philadelphia Daily News
'I know how much this means to him. I got an e-mail from him abouta half-hour before the announcement of his election to the Hall, andhe said he was so nervous the night before he could hardly sleep.When the election was final, he was awed by the fact people made sucha big deal about him. He couldn't understand it. That probably saysas much about Hal's modest nature as anything.'
- Joe Henderson
Tampa Tribune
'Thirty-one years of covering the Reds. That's 2,500 some games,more air miles, bad meals and lost suitcases than I can imagine. Yethe still tells everyone that he has the best job in the world. And hecontinues to do it as well and with as much energy as anyone outthere. Amazing.'
-Jim Massie
Columbus Dispatch
'Hal covers a baseball beat the way it is supposed to be covered.He brings dignity and class and he has an amazing work ethic. He isthe model all young baseball writers should follow. He's the LouGehrig of baseball writers.'
- Terry Pluto
Akron Beacon Journal
'Hal does as complete a job as any beat writer in any sportanywhere. Nobody has his longevity, his level of excellence. He's adinosaur. Being a baseball beat writer was once the most prestigiousjob you could have. It's not that way now because a lot of guys thinkit's just too much work. Hal, though, has never wavered. That's whatmakes him so amazing and why everybody respects him.'
- Marty Brennaman
Reds' broadcaster and fellow Hall of Famer
'As far as I'm concerned, Hal McCoy is the greatest baseballwriter of all time. Period.'
-Jeff Bruce
Dayton Daily News editor
'Think of it. Doing this 31 seasons means he's literally spent 15years on the road.'
- Rob Butcher
Reds' director of media relations
'I don't know how many times Reds owner Marge Schott banned HalMcCoy from the Reds' dining room. It was always supposed to be forsomething Hal wrote about Schott, but it was really because he hadused his pipeline to the Reds' players to find out something that wasembarrassing to the Reds' owner.
'The first time Hal was banned, I asked him how he could handleit. `By eating somewhere else,' he said. At first, he didn't evenhave to do that as his press-room friends ordered in pizza. It wasuncomfortable for the Dayton Daily News for him to be eating `forfree' in the dining room anyway, and I was already in negotiationwith the Reds to determine how the Daily News could pay for hisdinner.
'Hal is the most professional sports writer I know. He has morecontacts on clubs than he could ever use. Yet, if the occasion callsfor it, he never hesitates to write negatively about those contacts.That was what burned Schott. And got Hal banned from the dining room.
'Last year, when Hal and Nadine were vacationing in Key West, mywife, Patsy, and I joined them for dinner. It was obvious from ourconversations that Hal's enthusiasm for reporting on the Reds andbaseball has not waned. His induction into the Hall of Fame is richlydeserved.'
- Ralph Morrow
Executive Sports Editor, The Key West, Fla.,
Citizen and Former Executive Sports Editor,
Dayton Daily News
'Hal has displayed all of the important traits that reporters aresupposed to have. He doesn't try to ingratiate himself nor get evenwith the people he's writing about. He just does an honest job.Sounds like a Hall of Fame guy to me.'
- Sheldon Ocker
Akron Beacon Journal
