Farewell Mr. Jim

When I was in college, my aunt started seeing a retired sportswriter who was also one of the official scorers for the Orioles.  My mom was so excited to tell me and was like, "You have to meet Jim!"  So, we found a weekend in August when the Yankees were playing in Baltimore and I went down there for the series and stayed with them.  Jim arranged for me to get a credential and sit in the press box.

On Friday night, while we were having dinner in the media room before the game, he introduced me to John Sterling.  That led to an invite to sit in the Yankees radio booth.  Roger Clemens started and Aaron Boone hit the go-ahead three-run homer in the top of the ninth, the first of his two signature moments as a Yankees player (still waiting for that signature moment as Yankees manager).

After the Boone home run, the producer (who I'd been sitting next to for the entire game) looked at my credential, then got upset.  Thinking I'd worn out my welcome, I took that as my cue to leave.  A couple minutes later, he came back in the booth and I learned what he was upset about.  It was because they needed somebody to go down with a microphone for a postgame interview and I didn't have field access!  So, he found a Yankees staffer, who escorted me down to the field so I could give Boone the mic!

Here I was, this 21-year-old college kid, sitting in a Major League broadcast booth, then walking through the Yankees clubhouse (I can still remember Don Zimmer walking right past me) on my way down to the field.  It wouldn't have been possible without Jim (aka, Mr. Jim), who was a legend in his own right.  (That was also the weekend I discovered crab meat, thanks to that day's fresh catch from the Inner Harbor.)

A few years later, the entire city of Baltimore went to Cooperstown for Cal Ripken, Jr.'s Hall of Fame induction.  My parents and I went, as well.  The day after the induction ceremony, they had a special invite-only Q&A event with the two inductees--Ripken and Tony Gwynn.  As a Hall of Fame voter (and active media member), Jim was invited.  Guess who he asked if he would be interested in going with him!  Another unforgettable moment in my life that wouldn't have been possible without Jim.

The first time Jim went to the Hall of Fame induction was in 1966.  That year's class: Ted Williams & Casey Stengel.  He eventually became a longtime voter, and every year I'd ask him about his votes (he was a consistent "No" on Bonds & Clemens).  Beyond that, he was a baseball historian and was regularly asked to be on the screening committee that determined the Eras Committee ballots.  He also voted on numerous Eras Committees, in addition to his annual BBWAA vote.  In more years than not, Jim would vote for one of the American League awards, too, as one of the Baltimore representatives.

By his own account, nobody had attended more Baltimore Orioles games than him, and the team didn't disagree.  He covered the Orioles for years in the Baltimore Sun, then became one of the team's official scorers (he was the official scorer for the game when Ripken's streak ended).  It wasn't just years of home and road games.  There were also annual trips to Sarasota for Spring Training.  So, when it came time for the Orioles' 60th anniversary, there was only one person who could write the commemorative book.  (If you're interested, here's my review.)

In my copy (which he, of course, signed), Jim told me that he hoped I enjoyed reading it as much as he enjoyed writing it.  I finished it in one night!  He also wanted to make sure I knew he was not responsible for the typo on page 211 (there's an exploded quote on that page that mentions Carl Ripken, Jr...the very Carl Ripken, Jr. whose Hall of Fame induction I had attended a few years earlier).

While the last time I saw Jim was several years ago, we'd still text back and forth every once in a while.  Whenever a comment was actually left on one of these blog posts, either here or on Facebook, it usually came from Jim.  He even reached out to me in October because he was working on a story about World Series ticket prices, so he wanted to know how I got mine (through the team or through the secondary market) and how much I paid.

He was also my go-to person when I had scoring questions.  I consider myself a pretty good official scorer, and I've kept score for hundreds of games at this point, but there are still those quirky plays that you've never seen before and aren't sure about.  So, being able to ask a veteran MLB official scorer was always a nice backup to have.  Whether it was just confirming that what I thought was correct or telling me how the play should've been scored, he always got back to me right away and it was never a problem that I asked.

Jim spent 23 years as one of the Orioles' official scorers before retiring in 2019.  Five years later, the press box at Camden Yards was renamed the "Jim Henneman Press Box" in his honor.  So, the man who's seen more Orioles home games than anyone will never miss another.  Which is only appropriate.  The dedication also included another honor that day--throwing out the first pitch.

And, even though he was a "retired" sportswriter, that was never actually true.  I was on his email list, so I knew every time he had a new article in Press Box, the publication he began writing for in 2006.  The sheer variety of his articles were such a treasure trove, too!  My favorites were the anecdotes from his 50-plus years of covering the Orioles and Major League Baseball in general.

One of my favorite stories doesn't even involve the Orioles, but it does involve a Hall of Famer!  Jim was a Baltimore native.  So was Hall of Famer Al Kaline.  They faced each other in a high school game one time, and he struck Kaline out.  The first of many great baseball stories in a career full of them.

That's what I'll miss the most about Jim Henneman.  I'll forever be grateful to have known him.  I'm even more grateful to have had the chance to call him a friend and a mentor.  I'm far from the only one.  All the tributes that have come pouring in since his death are proof of that.  And everyone has their own stories similar to mine about the impact that "Henny" had on their life and/or career (or, in many cases, both).