Ruppert, O'Day, White elected to baseball Hall

"We were surprised to learn he wasn't," former Yankees player and executive Bob Watson said.

Watson and a 16-member Hall panel changed that Monday, electing Ruppert, longtime umpire Hank O'Day and barehanded catcher Deacon White for their excellence through the first half of the 20th century.

The trio was picked from by the Hall's pre-integration panel — part of what once was known as the Veterans Committee — and gave the shrine exactly 300 members.

"The family is so thrilled," great-grand-nephew K. Jacob Ruppert told The Associated Press by phone. "His mark is now indelible."

"Growing up, I was under the impression that he was inducted sometime in the 1940s or 1950s. But I guess it never happened. Some things in history aren't appreciated. If it's not in the here and now, it's off the radar screen."

The Hall announcement was made at baseball's winter meetings. Induction ceremonies will be held July 28 in Cooperstown, N.Y., and the younger Ruppert is planning his first visit to the shrine.

"I'll grab some of my cousins, too," he said.

Ruppert and a partner bought the Yankees in 1915 and quickly turned them into a force. Under Ruppert's reign, the Yankees bought Ruth from the Boston Red Sox and presided over the club's first six World Series championships.

"This was the Colonel's toy. He liked to bring big stars to the team and built them a place to play, much the same way George Steinbrenner did," Ruppert's relative said.

O'Day umpired in 10 World Series, including the first one in 1903. He worked 35 years and made one of the most famous calls in the game's history, ruling Fred Merkle out in a 1908 play that long lived in baseball lore as "Merkle's Boner." He was the 10th umpire to go into the Hall.